Utah Symphony by Mills Publishing Inc.

JAN – FEB / 2014/15 UTAH SYMPHONY SEASON

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Contents PUBLISHER Mills Publishing, Inc. PRESIDENT Dan Miller OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR Cynthia Bell Snow ART DIRECTOR / PRODUCTION MANAGER Jackie Medina PROGRAM DESIGNER Patrick Witmer GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Leslie Hanna Ken Magleby Patrick Witmer ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES Paula Bell Karen Malan Dan Miller Paul Nicholas OFFICE ASSISTANT Jessica Alder ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Kyrsten Holland EDITOR Melissa Robison Cover photo: Thierry Fischer The UTAH SYMPHONY | UTAH OPERA program is published by Mills Publishing, Inc.,772 East 3300 South, Suite 200, Salt Lake City, Utah 84106. Phone: 801/467.8833 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.

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

25 New Years in Vienna

33 Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker

45 Debussy, Françaix, Poulenc & Ibert

55 Strauss’ A Hero’s Life

63 Mahler’s Symphony 3 6 Welcome 7 Board of Trustees 8 Testimonial 10 Administration 12 Utah Symphony 13 Musician Spotlight 14 Season Honorees 23 Season Sponsors 84 Campaign for Perpetual Motion 87 Utah Symphony Guild 88 Tanner & Crescendo Societies 89 Planned Giving 90 Corporate & Foundation Donors 92 Individual Donors 95 House Rules 96 Classical 89 Broadcasts 98 Acknowledgments

71 The Streisand Songbook

75 Beethoven’s Violin Concerto

Welcome

Welcome to Abravanel Hall and this concert featuring your Utah Symphony. Since you have joined us for a performance here in our primary home, you already know that we offer excellence in orchestral experiences that span the traditions of the past and expand the possibilities for our present and future audiences. But did you know that it is also core to our mission to lead in arts education and promote life-long learning through our art forms? Our Fifth-Grade Concerts are a great example of the musical influence we provide to Utahns. In the months of February and March, approximately 20,000 fifth-grade students within busing distance will attend special concerts in Abravanel Hall. The concerts are crafted on a theme that relates to other fifthgrade curriculum concepts, and teachers receive classroom materials in advance to help prepare students for the concert, as well as personal

Melia Tourangeau USUO President & CEO 6

visits from Utah Symphony Docents. These concerts are just one example of the many programs we offer that are accessible to every student, educator, and school in the state of Utah. Our efforts serve all school districts in Utah on a three- to five-year rotation schedule, and are available free of charge to supplement the core music curriculum for Utah students. Much credit is due to the Utah State Legislature, which has valued these programs and provides one third of the support for us to make these services available for our children. The remainder of that credit goes to our many individual donors, corporate sponsors and foundation sponsors who match the Stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s support 2:1. Thank you for your support and advocacy of Utah Symphony | Utah Opera. It is through your help that we are able to connect the community through great live music!

Thierry Fischer Utah Symphony Music Director

Dave Petersen USUO Board of Trustees Chair UTAH SYMPHONY JANâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;FEB 2015

Board of Trustees ELECTED BOARD David A. Petersen* Chair

Alex J. Dunn Kristen Fletcher* Kem C. Gardner* David Golden Gregory L. Hardy Thomas N. Jacobson Ronald W. Jibson* Laura S. Kaiser Thomas M. Love R. David McMillan Brad W. Merrill Greg Miller Edward B. Moreton Theodore F. Newlin III* Dr. Dinesh C. Patel Frank R. Pignanelli Mark H. Prothro Brad Rencher Bert Roberts Joanne F. Shiebler* Diane Stewart

Naoma Tate Thomas Thatcher Bob Wheaton John W. Williams

LIFETIME BOARD William C. Bailey Deedee M. Corradini Edwin B. Firmage Jon M. Huntsman Jon Huntsman, Jr.

G. Frank Joklik Clark D. Jones Herbert C. Livsey, Esq. David T. Mortensen Scott S. Parker

Patricia A. Richards* Harris Simmons Verl R. Topham M. Walker Wallace David B. Winder

TRUSTEES EMERITI Carolyn Abravanel Haven J. Barlow John Bates

Burton L. Gordon Richard G. Horne Warren K. McOmber

Mardean Peterson E. Jeffery Smith Barbara Tanner

HONORARY BOARD Senator Robert F. Bennett Rodney H. Brady Kim H. Briggs Ariel Bybee Kathryn Carter R. Don Cash Bruce L. Christensen Raymond J. Dardano

Geralyn Dreyfous Lisa Eccles Spencer F. Eccles Howard Edwards The Right Reverend Carolyn Tanner Irish Dr. Anthony W. Middleton, Jr. Marilyn H. Neilson

O. Don Ostler Joseph J. Palmer Stanley B. Parrish Marcia Price David E. Salisbury Jeffrey W. Shields, Esq. Diana Ellis Smith Ardean Watts

William H. Nelson* Vice Chair Annette W. Jarvis* Secretary John D’Arcy* Treasurer Melia P. Tourangeau* President & CEO Jesselie B. Anderson Doyle L. Arnold Edward R. Ashwood Dr. J. Richard Baringer Kirk A. Benson Judith M. Billings Howard S. Clark Gary L. Crocker David L. Dee*

MUSICIAN REPRESENTATIVES

John Eckstein* Travis Peterson* EX OFFICIO

Ann Petersen Utah Symphony Guild Genette Biddulph Ogden Symphony Ballet Association Jennifer Streiff Vivace Judith Vander Heide Ogden Opera Guild *Executive Committee

NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL Joanne F. Shiebler Susan H. Carlyle Chair (Utah) (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.)

Alvin Richer (Arizona)

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

Testimonial

It is a great honor to serve as co-chairs of the Campaign for Perpetual Motion and to be a part of the excellence in music offered by Utah Symphony | Utah Opera as it prepares to celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2015–16. Gail developed a love of music at a young age through Utah Symphony—participating in Fifth-Grade Concerts and education programs under Maurice Abravanel himself and the outreach provided to students at local universities. These programs are so impactful. Our love of classical music, popular music, and the whole range of musical experiences that USUO provides, has lasted through our lifetimes.

Gail Miller & Kim Wilson

Recently, we had the honor of supporting USUO’s Fifth-Grade Concerts, ensuring that this remarkable program continues to serve Utah’s students by providing them with live musical opportunities and classroom materials to learn about great symphonic music. The Fifth-Grade Concert series is just one of the many wonderful outreach programs USUO offers to every student, educator, and school district in the state of Utah every three to five years. We have received many wonderful thankyou letters from young students across the state who have enjoyed these concerts. We continue to support these outstanding education programs along with Maestro Thierry Fischer’s commitment to the artistic reputation of the orchestra, which includes bringing the best conducting talent to Utah for us to enjoy. In support of Maestro Fischer’s vision to elevate this organization’s overall level of excellence, and to attract new audiences and acclaim, we are pleased to provide the 75th Anniversary Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation Guest Conductor Fund. We are honored to support the leadership of Maestro Fischer as he attracts the very best musical talent from around the world to join our Utah Symphony and to share the joy of live music with audiences at Abravanel Hall and with students across the state of Utah.

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

WHERE WHERE OTHERS OTHERS SEE SEE CHALLENGES, CHALLENGES, WE SEE OPPORTUNITIES. WE SEE OPPORTUNITIES.

Administration

Thierry Fischer, Music Director

ADMINISTRATION

Melanie Steiner-Sherwood

President & CEO

Natalie Cope

Melia P. Tourangeau David Green

Senior Vice President & COO

Julie McBeth

Executive Assistant to the CEO

Marsha Bolton

Executive Assistant to the Music Director and the Senior VP & COO

Heather Weinstock

Annual Giving Manager Special Events Manager

Director of Education & Community Outreach

Conor Bentley

Beverly Hawkins

Symphony Education Manager

Kate Throneburg

Tracy Hansford

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

Brooke Adams

Development Coordinator Development Manager

Jon Miles

Office Manager

Vice President of Marketing & Public Relations

SYMPHONY ARTISTIC

Renée Huang

Symphony Music Director

Chad Call

Thierry Fischer

Anthony Tolokan

Vice President of Symphony Artistic Planning

Jerry Steichen

EDUCATION

Paula Fowler

Director of Public Relations Marketing Manager

Aaron Sain

Graphic Design & Branding Manager

Education Assistant Education Fellow

Abigail Levis Tyson Miller Will Tvrdik Rachel Sigman Lindsay Woodward Resident Artists

OPERA TECHNICAL

Jared Porter

Opera Technical Director

Principal Pops Conductor

Mike Call

Vladimir Kulenovic Associate Conductor

Ginamarie Marsala

Barlow Bradford

Symphony Chorus Director

Crystal Young-Otterstrom

Eric V. Johnson

PATRON SERVICES

Properties Master

Director of Tickets Sales & Patron Services

Assistant Props

Director of Orchestra Personnel

Myroslava Hagen

Orchestra Personnel Manager SYMPHONY OPERATIONS

Jeff Counts

Vice President of Operations & General Manager

Website Manager Marketing Communications Manager Vivace & Cadenza Coordinator

Jay Morris

Assistant Technical Director

Keith Ladanye

Production Carpenter

Kelly Nickle

Nina Richards

Lane Latimer

Natalie Thorpe

John Cook

Patron Services Manager

Shawn Fry

Group & Corporate Sales Manager

Scene Shop Manager & Scenic Artist COSTUMES

Verona Green

Costume Director

Charlotte Craff

Faith Myers

Cassandra Dozet

Andrew J. Wilson

Chip Dance

Ellesse Hargreaves

Mark Barraclough

Kati Garcia Ben Ordaz Jackie Seethaler Powell Smith Robb Trujillo

Vicki Raincrow

Nick Barker Emily O’Connor Aubrey Shirts Steven Finkelstein Hilary Hancock

Anna Marie Coronado

Manager of Artistic Operations Operations Manager Production & Stage Manager Assistant Stage & Properties Manager

Melissa Robison

Program Publication & Front of House Manager 0PERA ARTISTIC

Christopher McBeth Opera Artistic Director

Caleb Harris

Opera Chorus Master

Carol Anderson Principal Coach

Michelle Peterson

Sales Manager Patron Services Assistant Account Coordinator

Sales Associates

Ticket Agents

ACCOUNTING & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Melonie Fitch

Assistant Rentals Supervisor

Kierstin Gibbs LisaAnn DeLapp Rentals Assistant

Wardrobe Supervisor

Milivoj Poletan Tailor

Tara DeGray Cutter/Draper

Milliner & Crafts Artisan

Chris Hamberg Monica Hansen Yoojean Song Connie Warner Stitchers

Steve Hogan

Yancey J. Quick

Production Coordinator

Mike Lund

DEVELOPMENT

SaraLyn Pitts

Shelley Carpenter Tanner Crawford Daniel Hill

Opera Company Manager

Shaun Tritchler Leslie Peterson

Vice President of Development

Hillary Hahn

Director of Foundation & Government Gifts

Ashley Magnus

Manager of Corporate Gifts

Vice President of Finance & CFO Director of Information Technologies Controller

Wigs/Make-up Designer

Wigs/Make-up Crew

Alison Mockli

Payroll & Benefits Manager

Jared Mollenkopf

Patron Information Systems Manager

Julie Cameron

Accounts Payable Clerk

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.

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

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Utah Symphony Thierry Fischer, Music Director / The Maurice Abravanel Chair, endowed by the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation Jerry Steichen Principal Pops Conductor Vladimir Kulenovic Associate Conductor Barlow Bradford Utah Symphony Chorus Director VIOLIN* Ralph Matson Concertmaster The Jon M. & Karen Huntsman Chair, in honor of Wendell J. & Belva B. Ashton Kathryn Eberle Associate Concertmaster The Richard K. & Shirley S. Hemingway Chair

VIOLA* Brant Bayless Principal The Sue & Walker Wallace Chair Roberta Zalkind Associate Principal Joel Gibbs Julie Edwards Silu Fei Carl Johansen Scott Lewis Christopher McKellar Whittney Thomas

David Park Assistant Concertmaster

CELLO* Rainer Eudeikis Principal The J. Ryan Selberg Memorial Chair

Alex Martin Acting Assistant Concertmaster

Matthew Johnson Associate Principal

Claude Halter Principal Second

John Eckstein Walter Haman Noriko Kishi†† Anne Lee Kevin Shumway Pegsoon Whang

Wen Yuan Gu Associate Principal Second Hanah Stuart Assistant Principal Second Karen Wyatt •• Tom Baron • Leonard Braus • Associate Concertmaster Emeritus Joseph Evans LoiAnne Eyring† Teresa Hicks Lun Jiang Rebekah Johnson Tina Johnson†† Veronica Kulig David Langr Melissa Thorley Lewis Yuki MacQueen Rebecca Moench David Porter Lynn Maxine Rosen Barbara Ann Scowcroft • M. Judd Sheranian Lynnette Stewart Julie Wunderle ••

BASS* David Yavornitzky Principal Corbin Johnston Associate Principal James Allyn Frank W. Asper, Jr. Edward Merritt Claudia Norton Jens Tenbroek Thomas Zera HARP Louise Vickerman Principal FLUTE Mercedes Smith Principal The Val A. Browning Chair Lisa Byrnes# Associate Principal

OBOE Robert Stephenson# Principal

TROMBONE Larry Zalkind† Principal

James Hall Acting Principal

Mark Davidson Acting Principal

Titus Underwood†† Acting Associate Principal

Zachary Guiles†† Acting 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

TIMPANI George Brown Principal Eric Hopkins Associate Principal

Lee Livengood

PERCUSSION Keith Carrick Principal

BASS CLARINET Lee Livengood E-FLAT CLARINET Erin Svoboda BASSOON Lori Wike Principal The Edward & Barbara Moreton Chair Leon Chodos Associate Principal Jennifer Rhodes CONTRABASSOON Leon Chodos HORN Bruce M. Gifford Principal Edmund Rollet Associate Principal Llewellyn B. Humphreys Ronald L. Beitel Stephen Proser

Melanie LanÇon†† PICCOLO Caitlyn Valovick Moore

Jeff Luke Associate Principal Peter Margulies Nick Norton

TUBA Gary Ofenloch Principal

Erin Svoboda Associate Principal

TRUMPET Travis Peterson Principal The Robert L. & Joyce Rice Chair

Caitlyn Valovick Moore Acting Associate Principal

BASS TROMBONE Graeme Mutchler

Eric Hopkins Michael Pape†† KEYBOARD Jason Hardink Principal LIBRARIAN Clovis Lark Principal Maureen Conroy Associate Librarian ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL Eric V. Johnson Director of Orchestra Personnel Myroslava Hagen Orchestra Personnel Manager STAGE MANAGEMENT Chip Dance Production & Stage Manager Mark Barraclough Assistant Stage & Properties Manager • First Violin •• Second Violin * String Seating Rotates † Leave of Absence # Sabbatical †† Substitute Member

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

Musician Spotlight Biography

Peter Margulies trumpet

Peter Margulies has been a member of Utah Symphony since 1989. During the 1990–91 Season, he was Principal Trumpet of the San Antonio Symphony. He has also performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra. Margulies received his Bachelor of Music degree summa cum laude from the Eastman School of Music in 1984. After a brief period as a member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, he attended the Julliard School where, in 1987, he received his Master of Music degree. Since 1992, Margulies has been a faculty member at the University of Utah where he teaches applied trumpet. He has appeared as soloist with various university ensembles and in October 2002, he was a soloist with Utah Symphony, performing the world premiere of Anthony Plog’s Double Concerto for Two Trumpets. Hobbies & Skills

Peter’s hobbies include bicycling, gardening, and cooking. He also became a landlord of his mother’s house next door to him! He and his wife, Principal Harpist Louise Vickerman also like to support the Salt Lake County Animal Shelter. They have two rescue dogs from there: Ollie and Bella. Musical Notes

Peter enjoys helping represent musicians to Utah Symphony staff by serving on several committees and task forces.

UTAH SYMPHONY

PRE-CONCERT LECTURES Arrive early and enjoy our Conductor and/or Guest Artist give a fun, behind the music lecture for the Masterworks Concerts. 7:00 pm in the first tier room.

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

Season Honorees M I LLE N I U M $250,0 0 0 & A B OV E Utah Symphony | Utah Opera is grateful to our generous donors who through annual cash gifts and EDWARD R. multi-year commitments make our ASHWOOD & GAEL BENSON programs possible. The following CANDICE A. listing reflects contributions and multiyear commitments received between JOHNSON 11/1/2013 and 11/1/2014.

DIANE & HAL BRIERLEY

LAWRENCE T. & JANET T. DEE FOUNDATION

E.R. (ZEKE) & KATHERINE W.† DUMKE

KEM & CAROLYN GARDNER

MR. & MRS. MARTIN GREENBERG

ANTHONY & RENEE MARLON

CAROL & THEODORE NEWLIN

PATRICIA A. RICHARDS & WILLIAM K. NICHOLS

MARK & DIANNE PROTHRO CORPORATION

THEODORE SCHMIDT

SHIEBLER FAMILY FOUNDATION

UTAH STATE LEGISLATURE/ UTAH STATE OFFICE OF EDUCATION

JACQUELYN WENTZ

NAOMA TATE & THE FAMILY OF HAL TATE

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

Utah Symphony | Utah Opera 2014-15 Season Sponsor

George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles

Eccles Foundation Board of Directors Robert M. Graham • Spencer F. Eccles • Lisa Eccles

The Tradition Continues

or more than 30 years, unwavering support from the George S. and

Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation has been integral to the success of Utah Symphony | Utah Opera. It remains so today!

Season Honorees E N C O R E $10 0, 0 0 0 & A B OV E

DR. J. R. BARINGER & DR. JEANNETTE J. TOWNSEND

R. HAROLD BURTON FOUNDATION

ROGER & SUSAN HORN

THE RIGHT REVEREND CAROLYN TANNER IRISH

EMMA ECCLES JONES FOUNDATION

FREDERICK Q. LAWSON FOUNDATION

EDWARD & BARBARA MORETON

GIB & SUSAN MYERS

WILLIAM H. & CHRISTINE NELSON

DR. DINESH AND KALPANA PATEL

DELL LOY & LYNNETTE HANSEN

RESTAURANT TAX RAP TAX

B R AVO $ 50, 0 0 0 & A B OV E

Scott & Jesselie Anderson Thomas Billings & Judge Judith Billings Patricia Dougall Eager† Marriner S. Eccles Foundation The Florence J. Gillmor Foundation Elaine & Burton L. Gordon Grand & Little America Hotels* Janet Q. Lawson Foundation

Montage Deer Valley** Scott & Sydne Parker Frank R. Pignanelli & D’Arcy Dixon Albert J. Roberts IV St. Regis Deer Valley** Stein Eriksen Lodge** Wells Fargo Lois A. Zambo

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

Season Honorees OV E R T U R E $25, 0 0 0 & A B OV E

Mr. & Mrs. William C. Bailey

Jack & Jan Massimino

BMW of Murray

Kristen Fletcher & Dan McPhun

BMW of Pleasant Grove

Carol & Anthony W. Middleton,

Chevron Corporation Thomas D. Dee III & Dr. Candace Dee John H. & Joan B. Firmage

Jr., M.D.

The Sam & Diane Stewart Family Foundation Norman C. & Barbara Tanner Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation

James A. Parke

Vivint

Charles Maxfield &

M. Walker & Sue Wallace

Gloria F. Parrish Foundation

Jack Wheatley

Thierry & Catherine Fischer**

Alice & Frank Puleo

John W. Williams

Holland & Hart**

S. J. & Jessie E. Quinney Foundation

Workers Compensation Fund

Richard K. & Shirley S.

Simmons Family Foundation

Edward & Marelynn Zipser

Hemingway Foundation

Harris H. & Amanda Simmons

M A E S T R O $10, 0 0 0 & A B OV E

Adobe Scott & Kathie Amann American Express Anonymous Arnold Machinery Art Works For Kids! Ballard Spahr, LLP** Bambara Restaurant* Haven J. Barlow Family B. W. Bastian Foundation David & Sylvia Batchelder Brent & Bonnie Jean Beesley Foundation Berenice J. Bradshaw Charitable Trust Judy Brady & Drew W. Browning Carol Franc Buck Foundation Caffe Molise* Marie Eccles Caine Foundation-Russell Family CenturyLink Rebecca Marriott Champion Howard & Betty Clark C. Comstock Clayton Foundation Daynes Music* Skip Daynes* Dorsey & Whitney LLP The Katherine W. Dumke & Ezekiel R. Dumke, Jr. Foundation Sue Ellis Ferguson Bath, Kitchen & Lighting Gallery George & Debra Felt

Mr. Joseph F. Furlong III Sterling & Shelli Gardner Foundation Gastronomy, Inc.* GE Foundation Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation Douglas & Connie Hayes Susan & Tom Hodgson Hotel Monaco* Hyatt Escala Lodge at Park City** Tom & Lorie Jacobson Jones Waldo** Katharine Lamb Mr. & Mrs. Charles McEvoy Elinor S. McLaren & George M. Klopfer Harold W. & Lois Milner Rayna & Glen Mintz Moreton Family Foundation Fred & Lucy Moreton Mount Olympus Waters* Mountain Dentistry Sally Boynton Murray Trust Terrell & Leah Nagata New York Ltd. Ogden Opera Guild Park City Chamber/Bureau Mr. David A. Petersen Promontory Foundation ProTel Networks* Residence Inn* Dr. Clifford Reusch

The Joseph & Evelyn Rosenblatt Charitable Fund Salt Lake City Arts Council Lori & Theodore Samuels Peggy & Ben Schapiro Sky Harbor Apartments* Summit Sotheby’s Marilyn Sorensen Thomas & Marilyn Sutton The Swartz Foundation Jonathan & Anne Symonds Zibby & Jim Tozer Thomas & Caroline Tucker Utah Food Services* Utah Hispanic Chamber Of Commerce* Utah Symphony Guild John & Marva Warnock Wheeler Foundation See pages 98–102 for an additional listing of our generous donors whose support has made this season possible.

* In-Kind Gift ** In-Kind & Cash Gift † Deceased

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

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OUR AMERICA

FebruAry 6–MAy 17, 2015

THE LATINO PRESENCE IN AMERICAN ART From the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum

PRESENTING SPONSOR: SPONSORS: S. J. and Jessie E. Quinney Foundation Ray, Quinney & Nebeker Foundation MARCIA AND JOHN PRICE MUSEUM BUILDING umfa.utah.edu Olga Albizu, Radiante, 1967, oil, Smithsonian American Art Museum. Gift of JPMorgan Chase. Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Generous support for the exhibition has been provided by Altria Group, the Honorable Aida M. Alvarez; Judah Best, The James F. Dicke Family Endowment, Sheila Duignan and Mike Wilkins, Tania and Tom Evans, Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino, The Michael A. and the Honorable Marilyn Logsdon Mennello Endowment, Henry R. Muñoz III, Wells Fargo and Zions Bank. Additional significant support was provided by The Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center. Support for “Treasures to Go,” the museum’s traveling exhibition program, comes from The C.F. Foundation, Atlanta.

Utah Symphony gratefully acknowledges the following generous donors who made our 2014–15 season possible.

SEASON SPONSOR

MASTERWORKS SERIES SPONSOR

ENTERTAINMENT SERIES SPONSOR

EMMA ECCLES JONES FOUNDATION FAMILY SERIES SPONSOR

KEM & CAROLYN GARDNER 75TH ANNIVERSARY MAHLER CYCLE SPONSOR

75TH ANNIVERSARY MASTERWORKS SERIES GUEST CONDUCTOR SPONSOR

JOANNE SHIEBLER GUEST ARTIST FUND UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

2014/15 UTAH SYMPHONY SEASON

YOUR

CHANCE TO

PLAY WITH

UTAH SYMPHONY SYMPHONY PRO-AM 2015 March 31 / 7 pm Abravanel Hall One night only! Side-by-side on the Abravanel Hall stage, professionals and amateurs rehearse and perform together. Application materials and information available online January 5, 2015. For more information visit usuo.org/pro-am or call 801-869-9091. Season Sponsor:

New Years in Vienna

program

New Years In Vienna Jan 2–3 | 8 pm Abravanel Hall Thierry Fischer, conductor

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH ALEXANDER BORODIN DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH

Festive Overture, op. 96 “Polovtzian Dances” from Prince Igor Suite for Variety Stage Orchestra I. March II. Dance 1 III. Dance 2 IV. Little Polka V. Lyric Waltz VI. Waltz 1 VII. Waltz 2 VIII. Finale / INTERMISSION /

HECTOR BERLIOZ JOHANN STRAUSS, JR. HANS CHRISTIAN LUMBYE WOLFGANG RIHM

“Hungarian March” from La Damnation de Faust, op. 24 Künstlerleben, Waltzes, op. 316 Champagner Galop “Sehnsuchtswalzer” from Drei Walzer

JOHANNES BRAHMS ARR. MARTIN SCHMELING

Hungarian Dance No. 5

JOHANN STRAUSS, JR.

Im Krapfenwald’l, op. 336 Éljen a Magyar!, op. 332

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

MASTERWORKS

New Years in Vienna

artist’s profile

Swiss conductor Thierry Fischer recently renewed his contract as Music Director of the Utah Symphony Orchestra, where he has revitalized the music-making and programming, and brought a new energy to the orchestra and organization as a whole. Fischer was Principal Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales from 2006–12 and returned as a guest at the 2014 BBC Proms. Guest engagements have included the Czech Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, BBC Symphony, Scottish Chamber and London Sinfonietta. In October 2014 he made his debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Thierry Fischer music director The Maurice Abravanel Chair, endowed by the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation

Fischer has made numerous recordings, many of them for Hyperion Records, whose CD with Fischer of Frank Martin’s opera Der Sturm with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus was awarded the International Classical Music Award (opera category) in 2012.

Fischer started out as Principal Flute in Hamburg and at the Zurich Opera. His conducting career began in his 30’s 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 “The Swiss conductor is the Abbado. He spent his apprentice years in Holland, and then became Principal real thing—a musician of clear Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Ulster Orchestra 2001–06. He was Chief intelligence, technical skill, and Conductor of the Nagoya Philharmonic 2008–11, making his Suntory Hall podium personality, drawing debut in Tokyo in May 2010, and is now Honorary Guest Conductor.

performances that blended

impeccable balancing, textural clarity and fizzing exhilaration” - Chicago Classical Review, July 2013

MASTERWORKS

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

New Years in Vienna

program notes

1/5

The notes for this program are grouped together by composer.

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–75)

Festive Overture Instrumentation: 2 flutes, piccolo, 3 oboes, 3 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon; 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba; timpani, snare drum, crash cymbals, bass drum, triangle; strings. Performance Time: approximately 7 minutes.

Suite for Variety Stage Orchestra Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2nd doubling piccolo, oboe, 2 clarinets, bassoon, soprano saxophone, doubling tenor saxophone, 2 alto saxophones; 3 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba; timpani, glockenspiel, vibraphone, xylophone, snare drum, tambourine, crash cymbals, bass drum, triangle; celeste, pianofour-hands; strings. Performance Time: approximately 19 minutes.

Speed and energy could be the themes of Shostakovich’s compositional process for this work, as well as those of the music itself. He was commissioned to write the overture only days before it was needed for a concert to celebrate the 37th anniversary of the October Revolution of 1917. The assignment came shortly after he had completed a symphony and in the midst of an exhausting stretch of piano recitals, he felt plagued by “composer’s block.” Shostakovich was at home with his friend Lev Lebedinsky, a musicologist, when he received the commission, and considered this a good omen. “Dmitri…had the notion that I brought him good fortune,” according to Lebedinsky, “though to my knowledge I never brought him any particular luck. He said, ‘Lev…sit down here beside me and I’ll write the overture in no time at all.’ ”

Fans of the television series Mom may have noticed this dark sitcom’s offbeat use of classical music fragments that are generally just a few seconds long. They offer a fleeting impression of a hidden world of music—chief among them about eight seconds of the overture to Mikhail Glinka’s opera Russlan and Ludmilla.

Lebedinsky’s surprise did not end there. He describes Shostakovich writing the overture at astonishing speed, laughing and talking as he worked. Within two or three days, the compositional process was over and the overture was ready for the copyists to prepare for rehearsal. If it all sounds like a madcap scramble, so does the music—in Lebedinsky’s words, “like uncorked champagne.”

Shostakovich’s descriptively titled Festive Overture also traces its lineage to Glinka’s joyful curtainraiser. But it comes to Russlan from the opposite direction: while a micro-moment of opera represents a shred of light, order and innocence amid the grim humor of Mom, Shostakovich’s composition is more like an open-hearted homage to a classic. The similarity between the two is intentional and overt. Shostakovich based the structure of his joyful, buoyant overture directly upon Russlan more than a century after the opera’s premiere, composing it in 1954 for a concert at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre.

Shostakovich’s Suite for Variety Stage Orchestra, though equally charming, is less welldocumented. Slightly later than the Overture (post-1956), it was for many years misidentified as the “lost” Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2, which was actually a different three-movement work that had been lost during World War II. (No corresponding suite no. 1 is known.) The suite’s eight movements quote earlier Shostakovich works in an effervescent musical montage reminiscent of the amusing musical pastiches of earlier eras. Shostakovich noted that the suite’s movements could be excerpted

BACKGROUND

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

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New Years in Vienna

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The notes for this program are grouped together by composer.

and reordered in any way that might be deemed appropriate for the particular occasion—a lighthearted approach like that of Saint-Saëns’ musical amusements or Offenbach’s quadrilles.

timapani, bass drum, crash cymbals, glockenspiel, snare drum, suspended cymbal, tambourine, triangle; strings. Performance Time: approximately 14 minutes.

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

BACKGROUND

Remembering the Shostakovich of the symphonies who labored under the tyranny of Stalin, the lightheartedness of these two works can surprise us. Turning back to Glinka’s Russlan Overture as a point of comparison, the buoyancy is there, but Shostakovich’s style is quite different and palpably more modern: Glinka bolts from the starting gate with a fusillade of shots from the timpani and a rollicking string theme that starts fast and gets faster, while Shostakovich greets us with a fanfare of deceptive solemnity voiced by two trumpets. This brassy announcement, which the trumpets seem in no hurry to dispatch, eventually delineates the overture’s first presto theme. Only when this theme is finally taken up by the winds does the Russlan-like fun begin: a sense of onrushing momentum, with the orchestra’s sections chasing each other at a breakneck pace.

Considering the enduring distinction Alexander Borodin achieved in his second career, we could wish he had not been so successful in his primary vocation as a physician—then, perhaps, we would have more of his richly melodic music to enjoy more than 125 years after his death. The singing melodies of his String Quartet No. 2 famously form the basis of the Broadway show Kismet; a gorgeous quartet and the explosively energetic “Polovtzian Dances” from his opera Prince Igor are among a handful of musical works that he produced. But they are not merely the work of a gifted amateur; Borodin was an accomplished pianist and cellist who had composed music since childhood, then resumed advanced musical studies as an adult.

The overture combines a casual, fun-loving spirit with a formal sense of classical structure. The rollicking presto eventually resolves into a stately, lyrical theme in the horns and cellos. But behind this courtliness a driving beat is still at play, and when the two themes are played in counterpoint, boisterous energy wins out: the fanfare theme returns in the brasses, giving rise to an exuberant coda. Alexander Borodin (1833–87)

“Polovtzian Dances” from Prince Igor Instrumentation: 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons; 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba; 28

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WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

Prince Igor is in the tradition of monumental Russian operas that treat historical subjects without flinching and portray the violence and grimness of Russia’s past. Set in the 12th Century, the opera focuses on the reign of Prince Igor Severski, his son Vladimir, and their corrupt rivals. Borodin worked on this epic work for almost 20 years, and though he never finished it, the opera exists today in workable performing editions that have impressed audiences and critics at the world’s leading opera houses, including New York’s Metropolitan Opera. The suite of dances from Prince Igor has been popular in concert halls far longer than the opera itself. Listening to their brilliant orchestral textures and folk-like melodies, it’s no surprise that they fit into the drama as festive dances presented as political pageantry. What we can’t hear is the darker side of the drama: the UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

New Years in Vienna

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The notes for this program are grouped together by composer.

dances are entertainment for Igor and Nikolai once they have been taken prisoner, and are an assertion of dominance over them. The dances fairly burst with energy, and have an irresistible appeal and exotic flavor. The idea of excerpting dances from musical dramas into orchestral suites gained acceptance through the popularity of this virtuosic suite. Hector Berlioz (1803–69)

“Hungarian March” from La Damnation de Faust Instrumentation: 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 3 bassoons; 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 cornets, 3 trombones, tuba; timpani, snare drum, crash cymbals, triangle, bass drum; strings. Performance Time: approximately 5 minutes. BACKGROUND

There is something heroic about the depth of Hector Berlioz’ passions. He combined the authority and discipline of his career in music with a backstory that met the Romantic ideal, or perhaps the ideal of the American Beat Poets of the 1950s—life lived at a fever pitch that was next to madness. This was a man whose writing as a music critic was statesmanlike and measured, yet who flung himself on the altar of great dramatists, falling in love with (and eventually marrying) an actress he had never met, with whom he did not even share a common language. He idolized Shakespeare and Goethe. Who better to compose a strange oratorio-cum-opera based on the romantic torments and temptations of Goethe’s Faust? Composed for five solo voices and a double chorus, La Damnation de Faust is a légende dramatique that was first presented in Paris in December 1846.

flavor that can be traced to its origins as a Hungarian folk song; in song form, the March was the unofficial state anthem of Hungary before its formal adoption as the Hungarian national anthem in a version by Ferenc Kölcsey. Berlioz is only one of many composers who used it as a source: Franz Liszt produced various arrangements and based his Hungarian Rhapsody No. 15 on its main theme; the great 20th-century pianist Vladimir Horowitz thrilled audiences with a bravura showpiece that combines elements of Berlioz’ march with Liszt. In Berlioz’ hands, the March retains the zest and emphatic energy unique to the Hungarian sound. Johann Strauss, Jr. (1825–99)

Künstlerleben, op. 316 Instrumentation: flute, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons; 4 horns, 2 trumpets, trombone; timpani, snare drum, crash cymbals, bass drum, triangle; strings. Performance Time: approximately 7 minutes.

Im Krapfenwald’l, op. 336 Instrumentation: flute, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons; 4 horns, 2 trumpets, trombone; timpani, snare drum, crash cymbals, bass drum, triangle; strings. Performance Time: approximately 5 minutes.

Éljen a Magyar!, op. 332 Instrumentation: flute, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons; 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones; timpani, bass drum, crash cymbals, snare drum; strings. Performance Time: approximately 4 minutes.

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

BACKGROUND

The “Hungarian March” or “Rákóczy March” from La Damnation de Faust has a Magyar

It was one of the great musical dynasties of all time, and it was, by the Viennese standards of

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New Years in Vienna

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the day, big music business: Johann Strauss the Elder and his sons Johann II (also known as Johann Jr.) and Eduard. All were conductors of dance orchestras and composers of music, primarily waltzes. At various times they were partners and rivals, strategizing with and against each other in ways more complex than we need remember. For our purposes, it helps to keep our eyes and ears on Johann II—the Strauss whom we now know as the “Waltz King,” an affectionate designation that extends to polkas, marches, and even whole operettas. The lilting essence of the Viennese waltz is said to be magic and inexpressible, but its heart and soul are embodied in Johann, Jr.’s operetta Die Fledermaus. The Strausses’ dance music was the soundtrack of Viennese social life as the 19th Century drew to a close. With its inimitable lilt and romantic charm, this music was indispensable to a highly structured society in which appearances were all-important— fashions, the style of dance, and who went about with whom. Promenades and public dances were occasions to see and be seen. In Die Fledermaus, which winks at infidelity and turns on a prank, we see this society from all sides—the elegance and gaiety, the rigid caste system with its would-be social climbers, the leering sexual innuendos, the spouses looking for every chance to cheat without being cheated upon. There are no children in the gilded world of the Strausses. Even the dances hide their complexity: the whirling couples who encircle the ballroom in a Viennese Waltz are actually revolving in a clockwise motion as they rotate in a counter-clockwise orbit around the hall. Don’t try this at home! WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

It’s easy for us to sit back, relax, and let the orchestra do the dancing as the waltz king’s enchanting melodies surround us. For the orchestra, it’s not so easy. The test of this music: does it sound truly Viennese? The trick is that 30

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coy, hesitating lilt that is almost impossible to demonstrate through the gesture of the conductor’s baton; after a lifetime of whipped cream and waltzing, it enters the bloodstream. The waltz titles have meanings that their melodies can suggest to us, but sometimes it takes an Austrian native to know for sure why, for example, the Künstlerleben waltz has a sound suggestive of “The Artist’s Life,” or why the polka titled Im Krapfenwald’l might hail from “In Krapfen’s Forest.” (The title actually relocates this Frenchstyle polka from the Russian Pavlovsk Woods of the original title to a scenic Austrian village in the Wienerwald.) The tangy, Magyar-sounding Éljen a Magyar! is a polka that Johann II penned “in tribute to the Hungarian nation,” and includes a brief quotation from Berlioz’s “Rákóczy March.” Hans Christian Lumbye (1810–74)

Champagner Galop Instrumentation: flute, piccolo, oboe, 2 clarinets, bassoon; 4 trumpets, trombone, tuba; glockenspiel, cork, xylophone, snare drum, crash cymbals, bass drum; strings. Performance Time: approximately 4 minutes. BACKGROUND

The Danish composer Hans Christian Lumbye was anything but melancholy. After early musical studies he joined the Horse Guards in Copenhagen as a trumpeter while continuing his musical education. There, at age 29, his exposure to a Viennese orchestra seems to have resulted in a musical conversion of sorts: he became a devotee of the music of Johann Strauss, Sr. and earned the nickname “The Strauss of the North.” WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

Lumbye’s music is full of delightfully imitative writing—of a telegraph in the Telegraph Galop and UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

New Years in Vienna

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The notes for this program are grouped together by composer.

a train in the Copenhagen Steam Railway Galop, for example. That pop you hear at the beginning of the Champagner Galop is, yes, a Champagne cork. What else you hear is up to you—perhaps the sound of chasing and being chased while under the sublime influence of Champagne. Wolfgang Rihm (b. 1952)

“Sehnsuchtswalzer” from Drei Walzer Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2nd doubling piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons; 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones; timpani; strings.

fair number in his extensive catalog, including suites such as Drei Walzer (“Three Waltzes”) and Sechs kurze Walzer (“Six Short Waltzes”)—this prolific composer infuses the traditional waltz rhythm with novel elements and a distinctly modern sound. Whether his music is simple or complex, Rihm consistently strives to prompt his listeners to listen to music in new, fresh ways. Johannes Brahms (1833–97)

Hungarian Dance No. 5 (arr. Martin Schmeling)

Performance Time: approximately 5 minutes.

Instrumentation: 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons; 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones; timpani, bass drum, crash cymbals, triangle; strings.

BACKGROUND

Performance Time: approximately 2 minutes.

Prolific and musically erudite, German composer Wolfgang Rihm is head of the Institute of Modern Music at the Karlsruhe Conservatory of Music. He has been composer-in-residence at the Lucerne and Salzburg Festivals. Rihm’s musical education included composition studies with some of the most eminent avant-garde composers in the world, including Karlheinz Stockhausen. But he has developed a style that is entirely his own, that—to many listeners—sounds simpler and more accessible than the spiky work of composers such as Stockhausen and Pierre Boulez. In fact, he was associated with a movement dubbed “New Simplicity” in the late 1970s and early 1980s. WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

Rihm’s work combines contemporary compositional techniques with an emotional expressiveness that harks back to the early days of the second Viennese school, and to composers such as Mahler and the early Schoenberg, but his restless musical consciousness encompasses far more than that. In his waltzes—and there are a UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

BACKGROUND

Brahms, who enjoyed a deep friendship with Johann Strauss, Jr., adored Hungarian music and was deeply influenced by it. With the struggles of the Romani people as we understand them today, the term “Gypsy” can only be used with historically informed sensitivity; but in Brahms’ day, what became known as the Gypsy style of violin playing was important to him and influenced his writing for the instrument—especially after he met the violinists Eduard Reményi and Joseph Joachim, both masters of the style. WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

Soulful and tangy, the Hungarian Dance No. 5 is the kind of music that makes us want to close our eyes and toss our hair—even those of us who don’t have very much hair to toss. But this is one work during which it pays to watch as well as listen. We’re likely to see the players, especially the string players, having an unusually good time as they sway deeply and dig in with their bows— almost as if they were actually dancing. MASTERWORKS

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Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker

program

Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Jan 9–10 | 8 pm Abravanel Hall Mark Wigglesworth, conductor DIMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH

Symphony No. 15 in A major, op. 141 I. Allegretto II. Adagio III. Allegretto IV. Adagio-Allegretto / INTERMISSION /

PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY

Act II of The Nutcracker, op. 71

The Kingdom of Sweets Clara and the Prince Divertissement: Chocolate (Spanish Dance) Divertissement: Coffee (Arabian Dance) Divertissement: Tea (Chinese Dance) Divertissement: Trepak (Russian Dance) Divertissement: Dance of the Reed Flutes Divertissement: Mother Ginger Waltz of the Flowers Pas de Deux: Intrada Pas de Deux: Tarantella Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy Pas de Deux: Coda Final Waltz And Apotheosis

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Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker

artist’s profile

Born in Sussex, England, Mark Wigglesworth studied music at Manchester University and conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He won the Kondrashin International Conducting Competition in The Netherlands in 1989, and since then has worked with many of the leading orchestras and opera companies of the world.

Mark Wigglesworth conductor The Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation 75th Anniversary Masterworks Series Guest Conductor Sponsor

In addition to concerts with most of the UK’s orchestras, Mark Wigglesworth has guest conducted many of Europe’s finest ensembles, including the Berlin Philharmonic; Amsterdam Concertgebouw; Filarmonica della Scala, Milan; Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Rome; Stockholm Philharmonic; Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra and the Budapest Festival Orchestra. He has been just as busy in North America, having been invited to the Cleveland Orchestra; New York Philharmonic; Philadelphia Orchestra; Chicago Symphony; Los Angeles Philharmonic; San Francisco Symphony; Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal; Toronto Symphony; and the Boston Symphony. He often visits the Minnesota Orchestra, and has an on-going relationship with the New World Symphony. Further afield he regularly works with the Symphony Orchestras of Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Tokyo. Equally at home in the Opera House, Mark Wigglesworth started his operatic career with a period as Music Director of Opera Factory, London. Since then he has worked regularly at Glyndebourne (Peter Grimes, La Bohème, Le Nozze di Figaro); Welsh National Opera (Elektra, The Rake’s Progress, Tristan und Isolde); and English National Opera (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Così fan Tutte, Falstaff, Katya Kabanova, Parsifal). He has conducted at the Netherlands Opera (Peter Grimes); La Monnaie (Mitridate, Wozzeck, Gurrelieder, Pelléas et Mélisande); The Sydney Opera House (Peter Grimes, Don Giovanni); The Metropolitan Opera, New York (Le Nozze di Figaro); and The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg). Future highlights include returns to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Tokyo Symphony, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Sydney and Melbourne symphony orchestras, a BBC Prom with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Owen Wingrave at the Aldeburgh and Edinburgh Festivals. In 2015, Mark becomes Music Director of English National Opera.

MASTERWORKS

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Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker

program notes

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–75)

Symphony No. 15 in A major Instrumentation: 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons; 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba; timpani, snare drum, vibraphone, xylophone, glockenspiel, whip, bass drum, crash cymbals, tam tam, triangle, castanets, high tom tom, woodblock, celeste; strings. Performance Time: approximately 42 minutes. Given the turbulent history of 20th-century Russia, it is perhaps understandable that the style of every Shostakovich symphony varies as much as the periods for which each was written. There is little logical chronology running through them all. A composer who always had to respond to the vagaries of his time was unlikely to be able to follow a purely musical compositional path. Nevertheless, there is a totality and succinctness to the Fifteenth that makes it hard not to interpret it as anything other than the story of the composer’s life and a chronicle of his time. To emphasize the work’s autobiographical nature, Shostakovich either directly quotes from, or at least conveys the atmospheres of, all his previous symphonies. We hear the precocious revolutionary energy of the First, the life-numbing emptiness and baffling absurdity of the Second and Third; the terror of the Fourth, kept private for so long, and the more public expression of that terror which is the Fifth; the loneliness of the Sixth and the heroic defiance of the Seventh and Eighth; the irony of the Ninth; the tragedy of the Tenth; the historical tributes of the Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth; and the poetic mourning of the Fourteenth. Along with references to his operas and film scores, not to mention excerpts from, among others, Beethoven, Rossini, Glinka, and Wagner, all are knitted together into some kind of musical biopic. That the work does not come across purely as an homage to Shostakovich the man, and the fact that it never resembles an 36

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incongruous patchwork collage is an enormous tribute to Shostakovich the composer. As always, the man and composer are inseparable, bound by a prescriptive yet creative thread perhaps unique in the history of music. “I don’t myself quite know why the quotations are there,” Shostakovich told his friend Isaak Glickman, “but I could not, could not, not include them.” The composer’s own explanation of the first movement is typical of the doublespeak that has so often been posthumously attributed to him. It “describes childhood, a toy-shop with a cloudless sky above.” But as a purely nostalgic reminiscence of a time in which Shostakovich the boy would play for hours with puzzles and mechanical amusements, it is unconvincing. The conductor Kurt Sanderling, whose comments on the composer come with more authority than most, is unequivocal about its true meaning. “In this ‘shop’ there are only soulless dead puppets hanging on their strings which do not come to life until the strings are pulled. [It] is something quite dreadful for me, soullessness composed into music, the emotional emptiness in which people lived under the dictatorship of the time.” Perhaps it was not unconnected in Shostakovich’s mind that the USSR’s largest toy store stood just across the street from the Lubyanka, the infamous KGB torture headquarters. “We are all marionettes,” Shostakovich once grimly remarked. The music seems to suggest that if you play games with life, they can easily get out of control. The legend of William Tell is one of a humble peasant, who sparked a revolution by refusing to kowtow to the tyrannical rule of the authorities. Is this the obvious reason behind Shostakovich’s integration of Rossini’s famous tune into his danse macabre? Or is it because it was his earliest musical memory? Maybe it is an allusion to the fact that it was one of Stalin’s favourites. With Shostakovich, it could easily be all three. But whatever the reason, its banality enforces the superficial jollity of the movement in a way that UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker

program notes

can make an audience feel uncomfortable if they giggled at its first appearance. The second movement opens with a public and austere brass chorale alternating with a private and lyrical cello solo whose haunting beauty belies its twelve-tone composition. The juxtaposition of the two is jarring and the perfect cadences that link them sound like a sarcastic attempt at integration. The sparsity of texture in so much of this movement, indeed in so much of the symphony as a whole, was as much a result of the painfully debilitating polio in Shostakovich’s right hand, as it was of the emotional desolation that he wanted to express. The practical difficulties of writing resulted in a simplicity of texture, hiding, or perhaps revealing, a complex world of untold secrets, ominous stillness, and unanswered questions. From the sublime to the ridiculous, the bassoons’ rather overblown consecutive fifths that form a bridge into the third movement; recall from Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben a section originally entitled Adversaries of the Hero. The older composer’s jibes against his musical critics appear rather lightweight in the context of the sort of political opposition Shostakovich had to deal with. The humour in this scherzo is as absurd as it is grotesque: Alice in Wonderland as told by the brothers Grimm. Shostakovich composed most of this symphony whilst lying in a hospital bed and it is not especially hard to imagine why an invalid composer might want to quote the music that Wagner writes for the impending death of a hero. Shostakovich uses the famous Fate motive from The Ring to herald the work’s finale and after a passing reference to the opening of Tristan und Isolde, the music dissolves into what sounds like the distant memory of a song by Glinka. Any shroud of mystery behind this seemingly enigmatic connection of events is lifted when one reads the song’s original text. UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

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O do not tempt me without reason: Affection lost cannot return. How foreign to the broken-hearted Are all the charms of bygone days! I can no longer trust thy promise; I have no longer faith in love; And cannot suffer once again To be deceived by phantom visions. Do not augment my anguish mute; Say not a word of former gladness. And, kindly friend, o do not trouble A convalescent’s dreaming rest. I sleep: how sweet to me oblivion: Forgotten all my youthful dreams! Within my soul is naught but turmoil, And love shall wake no more for thee. The central section of the movement is a passacaglia, a dance that does not go anywhere, an unchanging bass line that imprisons the melodies above it. The symbolism of this form led Shostakovich to use it many times, and it is apposite that it forms the climax of his last major work. The theme quotes the struggle and resistance of the Seventh Symphony, the rhythm of which in turn refers back to Beethoven’s Egmont Overture. Like William Tell, Egmont stood up to his oppressors, and Shostakovich’s empathy with them both is understandable. Only at this point is the full power of the orchestra unleashed, playing all together for the first time in the piece. Its force is all the more shattering for having been delayed so long. But the intensity of this final protest takes its toll and the music collapses in exhaustion as a result. The end of the work evaporates into a mesmerizingly empty texture, a sound world ticking, time running out, leaving a hollow culture behind, the diminishing resistance of the Egmont theme, and the final toll of a bell, the bell with which the whole symphony began. It is not exactly the “happy symphony” Shostakovich claimed he had wanted to write. MASTERWORKS

Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker

program notes

Like all autobiographies, it looks backwards, and it does so with an acceptance that is realistic and honest. Having contributed more symphonies to the standard modern concert repertoire than any other composer, his theme is one that continues to speak to many, a testimony to the realities of his life and time, and though the music can stand alone, one can tell that the importance of its message lies way beyond its notes. Like many Russian artists, Shostakovich felt a moral responsibility to speak the truth. He did not live long enough to witness the reforms of the last decade of the twentieth century. But though he would undoubtedly have welcomed both perestroika and glasnost, he may have been too realistic to welcome them as the panacea for which many hoped. Struggle has always been part of the Russian psyche. Given that nearly half of Russians today claim to have an essentially positive opinion of Stalin, and nearly a quarter would vote for him if they could, Shostakovich’s music needs to be heard more loudly than ever. Sometimes things change, only to remain the same. © Mark Wigglesworth 2014 Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–93)

Act II, The Nutcracker Instrumentation: 3 flutes, 2rd doubling piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons; 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba; timpani, castanets, glockenspiel ratchet, snare drum, tambourine, crash cymbals, suspended cymbal, triangle, bass drum, tam tam, celeste; strings. Performance Time: approximately 41 minutes. BACKGROUND

In ballet, choreography and music combine to transport our imagination. But if the experience is dreamlike and seemingly airborne onstage, the meshing disciplines of dance and music 38

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are as worldly and precise as engineering, and just as deeply rooted in numbers. No composer ever developed greater mastery of writing music for classical dance than Tchaikovsky. Today we venerate his amazing ballet scores as much for their consummate construction—they almost function as a dancer’s invisible, miraculously supportive partner—as we do for their colorful, melodic storytelling. Even for Tchaikovsky, this manner of composing did not come easily. The painstaking process was not unlike that of the immigrant composers who wrote music for the Hollywood studios in the 1930s and 40s, for whom tempos and timings were often prescribed to the second. The richness of his three great story ballets—The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and The Nutcracker—is generally considered without equal in the annals of dance music. All three scores stand alone as popular concert works. And in composing all three, he had choreographers and producers breathing down his neck, counting bars and beats. In their unique combination of beguiling melody, balletic rhythm and vivid atmosphere, Tchaikovsky’s ballet scores set the standard for narrative possibility in dance just as it was needed—when ballet was coming of age as an independent art, emancipated from the huge operatic productions in which the opera company’s corps de ballet provided an interlude of voiceless respite, pretty girls and graceful dancing to break up five long acts of singing. Tchaikovsky’s entry into the world of ballet came in 1875 with the commission for Swan Lake. He was inspired by the French composer Leo Delibes, whose innovative scores for the ballets Coppélia (1870) and Sylvia (1876) showed that the music for danced dramas could be far more than had earlier been supposed. But the scenarios for those ballets proved far less ambitious than those for Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty. By UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

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Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker

program notes

the time Tchaikovsky received the commission for The Nutcracker, in 1890, he was Russia’s most esteemed composer and had surpassed Delibes by sheer necessity. Compare the scope of Coppélia and The Nutcracker: both are based on stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann and include magical toys. But Coppélia unfolds as a modest, rustic romance with a twist, while The Nutcracker—in the hands of the visionary choreographer Marius Petipa—lays far heavier emphasis on fantasy, magic and the imagination. Petipa’s ambitious scenario required Tchaikovsky to produce a virtual travelogue. WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

Since the 1960s, productions of The Nutcracker have been a holiday staple in cities throughout America, and its music is equally popular in the concert hall. But neither Tchaikovsky nor his critics were easy on it. “Tchaikovsky did not think highly of the music he wrote for The Nutcracker,” the authoritative 1980 edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians tells us, “rightly ranking it below that of The Sleeping Beauty.” Still, Tchaikovsky appreciated its appeal well enough to compose an orchestral suite based on 20 of its most popular numbers. Listening to it, we can only wonder if the judgment that he and his critics laid on the score reflected their predilection for complex characters and grown-up romance, rather than the enchanted world of childhood and toys come to life. The Sleeping Beauty’s Princess Aurora embodies all the radiance of an adolescent girl emerging into womanhood, surrounded by a realistic community of parents, suitors, and villains. But when we listen to the music of The Nutcracker, we experience a very different world: the world of Clara, who can only imagine such things.

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But what an imagination Clara has! It animates her toys and her romantic fantasies, providing her with exotic tableau and a gallant suitor who loves the woman she will become—and promises to wait for her. Heard in this way, both The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker weave their musical spell around chastely observed stories of sexual awakening. Whether the music of The Nutcracker has less substance is, at the very least, debatable. Where The Sleeping Beauty offers us a more conventionally evoked narrative and complex characters who engage in conflict and develop as the drama progresses, the glistening score of The Nutcracker takes us into the mind of a child for one night, evoking the magical world she imagines and making every detail palpably real. It is hardly a lesser musical challenge. The element of enchantment that figures so strongly in The Nutcracker Suite is supported in the scenario by Clara’s adored but mysterious (and possibly supernatural?) uncle Drosselmeyer, and by musical innovations such as the use of a sidereal chorus (which we do not hear in the Suite) and a celesta (which we do). The sound of their sparkle adds sheen to the entire score, intensifying the atmosphere of wonder. Simple melodies are made to sound exotic because everything appears new to Clara. Sticklers note that the narrative line of the ballet suddenly shifts from Act I’s world of domestic reality to Clara’s dreamworld in Act II. But has anything really changed? As we listen, we know that magic is everywhere in both acts: the magic of Clara’s joyful perceptions. It is one reason why the Christmas Eve celebration depicted in The Nutcracker has become part of the season wherever Christmas is celebrated.

MASTERWORKS

A DOWNTOWN CLASSIC JUST GOT CLASSIER.

8 01 - 5 9 6 - 57 0 8 | S A LT L A K E . L I T T L E A M E R I C A . C O M

Debussy, Françaix, Poulenc & Ibert

program

Debussy, Françaix, Poulenc & Ibert Jan 15 | 8 pm St. Mary’s Church, Park City Vladimir Kulenovic, conductor CLAUDE DEBUSSY ARR. JEAN-FRANÇOIS PAILLARD

JEAN FRANÇAIX

Six épigraphes antiques (Six Antique Epigraphs) I. For the invocation of Pan, god of the summer wind II. For a tomb without a name III. For whom the night is propitious IV. For the dancer with finger cymbals V. For the Egyptian VI. For thanks for the morning rain Sérénade pour petit orchestre (Serenade for small orchestra) I. Vif II. Andantino con moto III. Un poco allegretto IV. Vivace / INTERMISSION /

FRANCIS POULENC

JACQUES IBERT

Sextet I. Allegro vivace II. Divertissement: Andantino III. Finale: Prestissimo Divertissement I. Introduction II. Cortège III. Nocturne IV. Valse V. Parade VI. Finale CONCERT SPONSOR

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Debussy, Françaix, Poulenc & Ibert

artist’s profile

Following the completion of his post-graduate conducting studies at the Juilliard School, Vladimir Kulenovic was named Associate Conductor of Utah Symphony | Utah Opera in the U.S., Principal Conductor of the Kyoto International Music Festival in Japan and Resident Conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra in Serbia. Upcoming engagements include debuts with Chicago Symphony, Houston Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic, Knoxville Symphony, Lubbock Symphony, Macedonian National Opera (Aida) and returns to Belgrade, Macedonian Philharmonic, and Jacksonville Symphony, where Mr. Kulenovic was a featured conductor at the biennial League of American Orchestras Bruno Walter National Conducting Preview in March of 2013. Recent engagements include performances with the Beethoven‐Orchester Bonn at the Beethovenhalle, Deutsche Vladimir Kulenovic Kammerakademie/Neuss am Rhein, Belgrade, Slovenian, conductor Zagreb, and Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestras, Lake Forest, Grand Rapids, and Evergreen Symphony Orchestras, the Juilliard Orchestra at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, and the “An admirable statement National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. Festival appearances include of talent and potential…” Aspen, Cabrillo, Salzburg Mozarteum, and Verbier. He has collaborated - The Baltimore Sun with celebrated soloists such as Leon Fleisher, Augustin Hadelich, Mischa Maisky, Akiko Suwanai, Philippe Quint, Joseph Silverstein, and Ralph Votapek, and will perform with Emmanuel Pahud, José Feghali, Elena Bashkirova, Torleif Thedéen, and the Wanderer Trio in 2014–15. In addition to studying with Kurt Masur from 2008-12, Kulenovic is an alumnus of the Juilliard School and was awarded the Charles Schiff Conducting Prize for Excellence upon the completion of his post-graduate studies with James DePreist. He also earned graduate degrees from the Peabody Institute, where he studied with Gustav Meier, and the Boston Conservatory where he graduated summa cum laude, as valedictorian, and was awarded the Alfred B. Whitney Award for the highest scholastic achievement. As a pianist, Vladimir Kulenovic has been a Second Prize winner of the Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Paris. 46

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Debussy, Françaix, Poulenc & Ibert

program notes

Claude Debussy (1862–1918)

Six épigraphes antiques (arr. Jean-François Paillard) Instrumentation: strings. Performance Time: approximately 16 minutes. BACKGROUND

Poetry is so marginalized in American culture that we can easily forget how central it is in others. It is likely, for example, that Claude Debussy could not have become the Claude Debussy who pioneered Impressionism in music without the influence of the poets with whom he surrounded himself, especially the revolutionary poet Stéphane Mallarmé, the Belgian symbolist playwright Maurice Maeterlinck, and Pierre Louÿs, author of the work upon which Six épigraphes antiques is based. Debussy’s fascination began with Mallarmé, whose extraordinarily moody, dense poems hover in the netherworld between conscious thought and the unconscious mind. Rich in allusions and symbols that reveal the hidden world of human eroticism, they were crafted at a time when Freud’s study of the unconscious was changing the way we view erotic impulse. Mallarmé was about 20 years older than Debussy, who composed a musical setting for one of Mallarmé’s poems when he was just 22. Quoted by the poet Paul Valéry, Mallarmé seems to have had his strong reservations about the very idea of composing such a work. After all, the words of a poem are their own music…why graft a redundant set of musical notes onto them? Nonetheless, just three years later the young composer joined Mallarmé’s salon, an influential and now legendary group of poets and artists who met on Tuesday evenings to exchange ideas and argue companionably. In 1892, when Debussy was about 30, he 48

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began working on a composition inspired by another Mallarmé poem, Afternoon of a Faun. But in this case, the work is not a direct setting of the words, but an autonomous “prelude” suggested by the poem’s dense, drowsy eroticism. Mallarmé called the poem an “eclogue,” a brief, nature-oriented lyric recalling the poems of Virgil; its narrator-subject, the faun, is the half-man-half-goat exemplified by the god Pan, always haunting the forest and un-selfconsciously randy. And this time, according to Debussy’s biographer Maurice Dumesnil, Mallarmé greatly admired the result when he heard it in concert—impressed with Debussy’s success in capturing the poem’s elusive and all-important qualities of mood. Two years later, Debussy embarked upon his monumental Pelléas et Mélisande, an opera based upon Maeterlinck’s sad, densely Freudian fable set in a magical forest. Debussy was a mature and world-famous composer when he composed Six épigraphes antiques, originally as a set of pieces for four-hand piano, in 1914. The suite has been re-scored in many arrangements, including a full orchestration used by choreographer Jerome Robbins for the ballet Antique Epigraphs, made on the New York City Ballet. Based on a volume of 143 poems entitled Chansons de Bilitis first published in Paris in 1894, it is one of only three published works by Debussy that were originally for four-hand piano. WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

If the quality of the music and the poetry is authentic, should it matter to us that the Chansons de Bilitis was an elaborate hoax? The volume of poetry was presented by the writer and classical scholar Pierre Louÿs as a collection of poems by a woman named Bilitis, said to be a friend of Sappho’s, offered in direct translation from the original Greek. Chansons de Bilitis had every appearance of authenticity; the scholarly Louÿs had even UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

Debussy, Françaix, Poulenc & Ibert

program notes

larded the volume with quotations from poets including Sappho and her contemporaries. If deception is part of Chansons de Bilitis, the result is not a joke, and its unflinching look at sex is central to our listening experience with the Six épigraphes. We may never know why Louÿs went to such lengths, but far from pranking a particular target or going for cheap laughs, Chansons de Bilitis is a serious extension of the Sapphic tradition, presenting lesbian eroticism in a sensitive way. This side of sensuality is a foundational element in Debussy’s music, as we can hear as far back as The Afternoon of a Faun: the erotic element is everywhere in nature. To this day, Chansons de Bilitis is respected by lesbian organizations—including one in the U.S. called the Daughters of Bilitis. For Debussy, who was a close friend of Louÿs, the volume inspired a suite that is rich with the sensuality he brought to earlier poems by Mallarmé and Maeterlinck, along with touches of the exotic—the distant landscapes of Egypt and Greece, and the sensations of the natural world filtered through the darkness of night and the suggestive sensuality of rain on skin. Jean Françaix (1912–1997)

Sérénade pour petit orchestre Instrumentation: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon; horn, trumpet, trombone; strings. Performance Time: approximately 16 minutes. BACKGROUND

Few composers had more auspicious beginnings in life than Jean Françaix, who was born in 1912 in the French town of Le Mans. Here, in the locale of the famous endurance race for sports cars, Françaix was off to the races as well: not only were his UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

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parents esteemed professional musicians, but his father was also director of the regional Conservatoire. When young Jean showed his remarkable musical talent at a young age, his parents were well equipped to begin his instruction at home. At the age of only 10 he went to Paris, where he studied with the legendary pedagogue Nadia Boulanger—first in harmony, and later in counterpoint. In the heady atmosphere of her salon, the powerful focus on composition and on “finding one’s voice” as a composer was surely not lost on him despite his youth. He produced his first composition, Pour Jacqueline (an admired cousin) that same year; when it was published two years later, he was encouraged by no less a composer than Maurice Ravel to enroll at the Paris Conservatoire to study piano and composition. He won a first prize in piano at age 18 and, at age 20 along with Claude Delvincourt, represented the new generation of French composers at the international music festival in Vienna. Françaix maintained close relationships with Francis Poulenc and the other rebellious composers of “Les Six.” But as with Poulenc, Françaix had a questing musical mind of his own, and cared too little about musical ideology to affiliate with such a group. “I wish to be honest,” he noted, “when I am composing, the finest theories are the last things that come to mind. My interest is not primarily attracted by the ‘motorways of thought,’ but more the ‘paths through the woods.’” In a long, productive career, Françaix’s catalogue includes more than 200 works in a wide variety of forms, and he seems to have begun composing the next one as soon as he was finished with the last. Yet in a long, productive career that outlasted the explorations of Neoclassicism, Serial Music, Minimalism and Post-Modernism, his compositions never lost the graceful wit and charm demonstrated in his early works. CHAMBER

Debussy, Françaix, Poulenc & Ibert

program notes

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

The Sérénade demonstrates Françaix’s characteristic lightness and wit; it is sophisticated but more reserved and perhaps more refined than the boisterous Ibert Divertissement. The orchestration, spare but diverse, is sparkling and supremely elegant—crafted with a mastery that shows why Poulenc called upon Françaix to orchestrate his L’histoire de Babar. The intimacy of the scoring brings us close to the music, and to the emotions that Françaix expressed only with reticence. Listening to this ingratiating score, it’s interesting to consider that Françaix’s most emotion-charged works are even more veiled than the Sérénade in their expressiveness, rather than bolder. Masterworks such as his oratorio L’Apocalypse de St. Jean are possessed of a religiously informed, nearly ecstatic serenity. Considered alongside orchestral works such as the Sérénade, they demonstrate the formidable range of his musical mind. In the Sérénade we hear his confidence in every bar and rich textures achieved with economy of means. Such effects are sure signs of a master’s hand. Francis Poulenc (1899–1963)

Sextet Instrumentation: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon; horn; keyboard. Performance Time: approximately 18 minutes. BACKGROUND

Harold C. Schonberg, who reigned over American music critics from his desk as Chief Classical Music Critic for The New York Times from 1960 to 1980, could be devastating in his judgments. Over time, some of these have entered the realm of “things we wish we hadn’t said”—for example, his characterization of Mahler’s symphonies as the works of a 50

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“simpering adolescent.” His consistent criticisms of Leonard Bernstein’s conducting style say as much about Schonberg’s style as Bernstein’s. But often, behind the harshness, Schonberg’s acuity as a listener and analyst planted an important observation behind the surface harshness. Thus it was when he wrote, in a retrospective article on the composers known as “Les Six,” “Poulenc was the one who kept on growing.” The five other composers of “Les Six,” all French or French speakers, included Darius Milhaud, Arthur Honegger, Germaine Tailleferre, Georges Auric and Louis Durey (Honegger was Swiss). At first reading, Schonberg’s observation seems to be a critique of the static posture of rebellion that these composers had adopted—not only against Romantic composers (especially those of the GermanAustrian tradition), but also against the purity of Impressionist composers such as Debussy and Ravel, which could be doctrinaire in its own way. Their hero was Erik Satie—quirky and casual, a rule-breaker who dwelled somewhere between the cafe and the concert hall. But Schonberg is also embedding praise of Poulenc here. In the race for critical approbation, Poulenc was something of a dark horse, coming from behind with compositions of clear ideas and beautiful, disciplined construction, tinged with Neo-Classicism. In this regard his work has been compared to that of Stravinsky’s Neo-Classical period, though it does not really fit any particular category. Poulenc’s decision to study and build upon the past compositional techniques, rather than just to make them the objects of parody, would have surprised musical handicappers. In fact, the sweepstakes analogy is not so outlandish: In 1949, when Poulenc had reached the fullness of his maturity as a composer, Georges Bernanos’ script for The Dialogues of the Carmelites was published posthumously and became the object of fierce competition for the rights to UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

Debussy, Françaix, Poulenc & Ibert

program notes

adapt it as an opera. When Poulenc emerged as the winner, surprise and even skepticism emerged among musical insiders; perhaps they did not hear what we have come to recognize as the earmarks of greatness in his earlier works, but the profound, austere Dialogues des Carmélites has earned recognition as one of the masterpieces of 20th-century opera. WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

Poulenc composed the Sextet for Piano and Winds between 1930 and 1932—the period when, according to analysts, he began taking the compositional techniques of past composers more seriously. The Sextet’s brilliant yet subtle construction opens a window on the music rather than calling attention to itself. It opens at a lively pace, with an allegro vivace of active discourse in the winds underlined by the pianist. (Combining these instruments gracefully is difficult, but Poulenc makes it sound natural.) This opens onto a lyrical central movement, marked divertissement that is as much a literal ramble as it is a Classical divertimento, devised to entertain us. The finale barrels along at a heedless pace; with its jazz references, sheer speed, and sense of abandon, this sizzling movement seems to hark back to the Jazz Age of the 1920s as it reprises themes from the earlier movements to bring the Sextet to a close. Jacques Ibert (1890–1962)

Divertissement Instrumentation: flute, doubling piccolo, clarinet, bassoon, doubling contrabassoon; horn, trumpet, trombone; timpani, snare drum, suspended cymbal, wood block, bass drum, tam tam, tambourine, celeste, piano; strings. Performance Time: approximately 14 minutes. BACKGROUND

It is always risky to try to correlate a composer’s circumstances in life with the sound UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

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of his or her music, but in the case of Jacques Ibert, it’s positively misleading. The facts of his biography present us with an artist of utmost seriousness. Born in Paris in 1890, he studied composition with Paul Vidal at the Paris Conservatoire and received multiple prizes there. He came of age just before World War I, a time when European composers were experimenting with new modes of expression, and served in the war, directly experiencing the undreamed-of horrors it unleashed upon Europe. Service in World War I, for the artists who survived it, turned many toward only the darkest of subjects or left them unable to create at all—but not Ibert. Upon his demobilization in 1919, he was awarded the Prix de Rome, France’s most prestigious honor for young composers, and traveled extensively in Italy, Spain, and Tunisia (The award provides for two years of foreign travel). His time abroad affected him deeply, and in 1937 he returned to Rome as Director of the Académie de France, a position he held for more than twenty years. For all of this well-earned gravitas, Ibert’s most popular works are characterized by a cheerful buoyancy and exquisitely crafted lightness. Not all of his compositions are so perky (and none are trivial); for example, during his Prix de Rome days he produced the important La Ballade de la geôle de Reading, based on Oscar Wilde’s long narrative poem on the suffering of prisoners in Reading Gaol, where he was imprisoned after his conviction for gross indecency. But the much lighter symphonic suite Escales, produced during the same period, has proved far more popular. Divertissement is a six-movement suite that Ibert drew from the wonderful French farce Un Chapeau de paille d’Italie (“The Italian Straw Hat”). Opera fans will recognize this as the subject of a superb chamber opera by Nino Rota; it was also adapted as a film by the great French director René Clair. CHAMBER

Debussy, Françaix, Poulenc & Ibert

program notes

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

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contemporary listeners and is reflected in the gleeful mock-seriousness of the Cortege. The quick-step movement that follows barely qualifies as a march, but reflects the breakneck pace of the play’s comic complications; a parodic incorporation of the wedding march from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is unmistakable.

Melodic and effervescent, Divertissement dates from 1930 and can be described with the harshest of condemnations from that era: “accessible.” But in listening closely we hear that Ibert did not reject innovation in music, but absorbed it. “As a whole his work is stylistically difficult to define because the elements are, like the output itself, extremely diverse,” notes Eckhard Neubauer in The New Grove’s Dictonary of Music (1980). For his part, Ibert asserted that “All systems are valid provided that one derives music from them.” Always interested in the broader panoply of the arts, especially drama, he composed seven operas (two in collaboration with the Swiss composer Arthur Honegger), and we can hear his facility with complex, rambunctious plot developments in Divertissement.

American Jazz has been identified as one of Ibert’s diverse influences (many French composers have been fascinated by it), and in the Nocturne movement some listeners hear inspiration from George Gershwin in the blue-note harmonies, the piano cadenza, and sweeping glissandos on the trombone. The Waltz movement is not one waltz, but a virtual waltz travelogue, quoting sources from French ballet scores to Johann Strauss II.

In the suite’s boisterous introduction, he sets the comic tone in much the way an opera overture presents us a sampling of what’s to come, making us impatient to hear more. The second movement is a Cortege—normally a funeral procession, but in this case referencing the doom-like embarrassment (or worse) that may lie in store for a bride-to-be whose respectability is threatened because a mule has eaten her straw hat. This giddy, idiotic turn of events was well known to Ibert’s

By the time we reach the final movements, a Parade and Finale, Ibert’s meticulous craftsmanship creates the wildly contrary effect of music that is coming apart at the seams: The parade seems to be a procession of amiable grotesques, and the Finale is a weird march-cumdance. It is introduced by a dangerous-sounding cadenza on the piano; only immaculate work by the composer and the pianist can produce music that seems to careen so precariously near the edge of disastrous mistakes.

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Strauss’ A Hero’s Life

program

Strauss’ A Hero’s Life Jan 30–31 | 8 pm Abravanel Hall Thierry Fischer, conductor Baiba Skride, violin Ralph Matson, violin

RICHARD WAGNER ALBAN BERG

Siegfried Idyll Concerto for Violin and Orchestra

I. Andante - Allegretto II. Allegro - Adagio

Baiba Skride, violin (artist in residence)

/ INTERMISSION /

RICHARD STRAUSS

Ein Heldenleben, op. 40 (A Hero’s Life)

The Hero The Hero’s Adversaries The Hero’s Helpmate The Hero’s Battlefield The Hero’s Works of Peace The Hero’s Retreat from the World and his Transfiguration

Ralph Matson, violin

See page 26 for Thierry Fischer’s artist profile.

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UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

MASTERWORKS

Strauss’ A Hero’s Life

artist’s profile

Baiba Skride’s list of prestigious orchestras with whom she has worked includes the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Orchestre de Paris, London Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, and NHK Symphony. Notable conductors she collaborates with include Christoph Eschenbach, Paavo and Neeme Järvi, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, John Storgårds, and Mario Venzago.

Baiba Skride violin (artist in residence) Joanne Shiebler Guest Artist Fund

Highlights in the 2014–15 Season include appearances with Gewandhausorchester Leipzig with Andris Nelsons, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France with Vasily Petrenko, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande with Kazuki Yamada, and Orchestre National de Lyon with Leonard Slatkin, including a concert at the Vienna Konzerthaus. In the USA Baiba makes her much anticipated return with the Boston Symphony Orchestra to perform Gubaidulina’s Offertorium, on the violin that the concerto was originally written. Skride was born into a musical Latvian family in Riga where she began her studies, transferring in 1995 to the Conservatory of Music and Theatre in Rostock. In 2001 she won the First Prize of the Queen Elisabeth Competition. From November 2010 onwards Skride plays the Stradivarius “Ex Baron Feilitzsch” violin (1734), which is generously on loan to her from Gidon Kremer. Ralph Matson was appointed Utah Symphony Concertmaster in 1985. He began his violin studies in Detroit with Emily Mutter Austin. Mr. Matson received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale College and a master’s degree from the Yale School of Music. His principal teachers were Joseph Silverstein and Steven Staryk. He was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra, and prior to his Utah Symphony appointment, was Assistant Concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra. Mr. Matson’s solo appearances with the Minnesota Orchestra and the Utah Symphony include collaborations with Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Leonard Slatkin, Sir Neville Marriner, Eiji Oue, Joseph Silverstein, Keith Lockhart, and Pavel Kogan. Since 1996, he has participated in the Grand Teton Music Festival, where he is Concertmaster of the Festival Orchestra.

Ralph Matson violin The Jon M. & Karen Huntsman Chair, in honor of Wendell J. & Belva B. Ashton

MASTERWORKS

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

Strauss’ A Hero’s Life

program notes

Richard Wagner (1813–83)

Siegfried Idyll Instrumentation: flute, oboe, 2 clarinets, bassoon; 2 horns, trumpet; strings. Performance Time: approximately 19 minutes. BACKGROUND

First, let’s get our Siegfrieds straight. The Siegfried of Richard Wagner’s impossibly beautiful Siegfried Idyll is not the Siegfried for whom the third opera of Wagner’s gigantic tetralogy The Ring of the Nibelung is named. Nor does it have anything to do with the gorgeous passage known as “Dawn and Siegfried’s Rhine Journey” from the prelude of the Ring’s fourth opera, Götterdämmerung, though elements from the Idyll did find their way into the Ring. In these comprehensively imagined music dramas, Wagner projects his personal cosmology onto a mythic universe—a place of normative values whose inhabitants journey toward moral perfection. But Wagner’s personal life, which gave rise to the Siegfried Idyll, was something else again. Siegfried Idyll takes its name from Wagner’s son with his second wife, Cosima. At the time they fell passionately in love, Cosima—who was Franz Liszt’s illegitimate daughter by the glamorous Parisian socialite Marie d’Agoult—was married to the distinguished conductor Hans von Bülow, one of Wagner’s strongest supporters. Beset by financial and artistic turmoil, Wagner accepted the Bülows’ offer of refuge in their country house in Tribschen, near Lake Lucerne. Wagner’s affair with Cosima von Bülow was just one of many on his part, but it proved fateful, finally dooming his marriage to his first wife, Minna. Wagner felt that his genius and his passion were reasons enough for his UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

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host and former pupil to step aside; inflamed by love, he was inspired to begin work on his revolutionary opera Tristan und Isolde. For her part, Cosima became pregnant with their daughter Isolde. When Minna conveniently died in 1866, Cosima’s husband granted her a divorce, and she and Wagner married. Two more children followed: Eva and Siegfried. When Cosima entered Wagner’s life, it was as if they were transfigured beings who had entered the world of Wagner’s creative imagination. Their shared passion crystallized for Wagner the premise of Tristan und Isolde—the transcendence of inner, spiritual love over external reality and human law—and their relationship unleashed his work on his most innovative music. Together, Wagner and Cosima embodied not only the creative fantasies of his music dramas, but also the principles of his writing on aesthetic philosophy, including his insistence on the purity of German art and myth, and his virulent anti-Semitism. Cosima furthered these ideas after Wagner’s death, managing the opera house at Bayreuth as a shrine to her husband and his ideas. Though it is relatively short (for Wagner) and intimately scaled for a chamber ensemble, the Siegfried Idyll is in a sense a token of this special moment in the life of one of music history’s most remarkable and disturbing figures. Composed in appreciation of the marital joy that Wagner and Cosima enjoyed after his years of turmoil, it was conceived as a gift for Cosima and specifically scored for an orchestra of 13 to 15 players to be positioned on the stairway leading to Cosima’s bedroom. It was rehearsed in secret and played to awaken her on Christmas Day in 1870. WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

Originally titled the Tribschen Idyll, the Siegfried Idyll is ecstatic and flowing; like so much MASTERWORKS

Strauss’ A Hero’s Life

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of Wagner’s music, it seems to nullify the external sense of time with its own timeless pulse. It begins with a sunrise both literal and figurative, a beautiful dawn that also marks the beginning of a new kind of life. The work’s original subtitle indicates that the sunrise is orange, and that a bird, “Fidi,” is singing; both the roseate tones of the morning sky and the poetic birdsong are evident in the music. As a kind of gift card to supplement the Idyll, Wagner provided a poetic dedication to Cosima in which he explained the work as follows: It was your self-sacrificing, noble will That found a place for my work to develop, Consecrated by you as a refuge from the world, Where my work grew and mightily arose, A hero’s world magically became an idyll for us, An age-old distance became a familiar homeland. Then a call happily rang forth into my melodies; “A son is there!” —he had to be named Siegfried. For him and you I had to express thanks in music— What lovelier reward could there be for deeds of love? We nurtured within the bounds of our home The quiet joy, that here became sound. To those who proved ever faithful to us, Kind to Siegfried, and friendly to our son, With your blessing, may that which we formerly enjoyed As sounding happiness now be offered. The Idyll can be heard as an attempt to transmute infidelity into nobility, like lead into gold. The morality may be questionable, but it is difficult to argue with the beauty of the music.

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Alban Berg (1885–1935)

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 doubling piccolo, 2 oboes, 2nd doubling English horn, 3 clarinets, 3rd doubling alto saxophone, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon; 4 horns, 2 trumpets, trombones, bass trombone, tuba; timpani, gong, snare drum, suspended cymbal, crash cymbals, gong, low tam tam, bass drum, triangle; strings. Performance Time: approximately 22 minutes. BACKGROUND

Who’s afraid of Alban Berg? Too many of us. As a hero of the Second Viennese School, the innovative musical movement pioneered by Arnold Schoenberg, Berg employed the compositional framework that became associated with terms such as “serial music,” “twelve-tone,” and “atonality.” To traditionalists, these words and the music they described were terrifying, signaling a new kind of sound and a new way of listening—and the end of centuries of evolutionary development in compositional technique. Schoenberg was acknowledged as the father of the movement, which many listeners identify with two critical dates: his ravishing Verklärte Nacht (1899), a string sextet that seemed to mark the ultimate boundary for traditional composition, and his encyclopedic Harmonielehre (1910), the text that provided the theoretical basis for twelve-tone composition. But if Schoenberg built the foundations of the Second Viennese School, it was Berg who found its heart, with works such as the Violin Concerto and his opera Wozzeck. Operagoers cherish tradition, and Wozzeck, which Berg composed between 1914 and 1922, struck terror into the hearts of many of them. Though its premiere in 1925 brought it immediate recognition as a landmark of Western theatre, American classical music enthusiasts greeted it with an almost reflexive resistance. They UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

Strauss’ A Hero’s Life

program notes

assumed that listening to Berg requires some kind of special preparation or secret knowledge. 90 years after the premiere of Wozzeck, we’ve all gained that secret knowledge by listening to the popular sci-fi movie and television soundtracks that could not have been composed without Berg’s innovations. According to one old trope, “The better part of Schoenberg is Berg,” a saying that is still with us because Berg’s once-newfangled music richly conveys old-fashioned emotion and dramatic effect. It doesn’t require a special kind of listening or the decoding of tone-rows; we need only sit back and let the music do its work on us. The emotionalism of Berg’s music is especially relevant to the Violin Concerto, a work of exquisite and unexpected beauty that is rooted in personal tragedy. The network of personal relationships woven around the concerto is so large and complex that it’s hard to know where relevance ends and prurient interest begins. As with so many stories about the great artistic figures of Fin de Siècle Vienna, the woman at the center of it all is the beautiful and magnetic Alma Schindler, who served as muse to a succession of geniuses and married three of them: composer Gustav Mahler, architect Walter Gropius, and writer Franz Werfel. When Berg spent an evening with Alma and Walter Gropius in August 1916, she was pregnant, and the daughter she bore six weeks later, Manon, was by all accounts an angelic child. “…[N]obody could see her without loving her,” noted Alma. “She was the most beautiful human being in every sense. She combined all our good qualities. I have never known such a divine capacity for love, such creative power to express and to live it.” Her comments were in the past tense because Manon contracted polio in April 1934 and died one year later, six months before her nineteenth birthday. Three months before her death, Berg had been approached by Louis Krasner to compose a violin UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

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concerto; Krasner, a young American violinist, had been enormously impressed by performances of Berg’s Wozzeck and his Piano Sonata. Berg resisted the idea at first, assuming that Krasner wanted to force a twelve-tone concerto into the traditional virtuosic mold of the Romantic concertos that most violinists favored. “You know, that is not my kind of music,” he told Krasner. But Krasner had something else in mind. “The attacking criticism of twelve-tone music everywhere is that this music is only cerebral and without feeling or emotion,” he told Berg. “Think what it would mean for the whole Schoenberg movement if a new Alban Berg violin concerto should succeed in demolishing the antagonism of the ‘cerebral, no emotion’ cliché and argument.” With his opera Lulu still unfinished, Berg tackled the concerto with mixed feelings, and initial progress was slow. But when he heard the news of Manon Gropius’ death, emotion—and inspiration—poured forth. He called Alma and asked her permission to dedicate the concerto “to the memory of an angel,” and wrote it in a fever of creativity and cathartic grief. In early June, Berg summoned Krasner to play through the first part of the concerto and to collaborate on the cadenza for the second part. They worked intensively, and by July 15 the score was complete in outline; orchestration was completed by August 12. “I have never worked harder in my life,” Berg told Krasner. WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

In spite of his modernist approach to composition, Berg incorporated thematic sources much as European composers did in centuries past, but he felt no need for listeners to recognize them outright—as he made clear in comments about Wozzeck, which is larded with folk and martial airs. For the concerto, his composing assistant and eventual biographer, Willi Reich, researched materials including a Bach chorale and a folk song from Carinthia, the southernmost region of Austria. Recent scholarship has shed further light on the particular connections between the poetry of these songs and Manon Gropius, but MASTERWORKS

Strauss’ A Hero’s Life

program notes

that does nothing to illuminate the concerto’s effect on us. It is beautiful and heartbreaking at once. Reich provided the following note, with Berg’s supervision and approval, to introduce the concerto in an edition published as a birthday present to Alma Gropius: …[T]he whole work may be described as follows: delicate andante melodies emerge from the rising and falling movement of the introduction. These crystallize into a grazioso middle section and then dissolve back into the waves of the opening. The Allegretto Scherzo rises from the same background; this part captures the vision of the lovely girl in a graceful dance which alternates between a delicate and dreamy character and the rustic character of a [Carinthian] folk tune. A wild orchestra cry introduces the second main part, which begins as a free and stormy cadenza. The demonic action moves irresistibly towards catastrophe, interrupted once—briefly—by a reserved point of rest. Groans and strident cries for help are heard in the orchestra, choked off by the suffocating rhythmic pressure of destruction. Finally: over a long pedal point—gradual collapse. At the moment of highest suspense and anxiety, the chorale enters, serious and solemn, in the solo violin. Like an organ the woodwinds answer each verse with [Bach’s] original harmonization of the classical model. Ingenious variations follow, with the original chorale melody always present as a cantus firmus, climbing misterioso from the bass while the solo violin intones a plaint that gradually struggles towards the light. The dirge grows continually in strength; the soloist, with a visible gesture, takes over the leadership of the whole body of violins and violas; gradually they all join in with his melody and rise to a mighty climax before separating back into their own parts. An indescribably melancholy reprise of the [Carinthian] folk tune “as if in the distance (but much slower than the first time)” reminds us once more of the lovely image of the girl; then the chorale, with bitter harmonies, ends this sad farewell while the solo violin arches high over it with entry after entry of the plaint. 60

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Richard Strauss (1864–1949)

Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life) Instrumentation: 3 flutes, piccolo, 4 oboes, 4th doubling English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, clarinet in E-flat, 3 bassoons, contra bassoon; 8 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 trumpets in E-flat, 3 trombones, tuba, tenor tuba; timpani, snare drum, large rührtrommel, crash cymbals, suspended cymbal, tam tam, triangle, bass drum; strings; solo violin. Performance Time: approximately 46 minutes. BACKGROUND

In earlier notes for other orchestras, your intrepid annotator has waggishly remarked that Richard Strauss made music with the regularity of a dentist. A bit snarky? Perhaps, but the thought counteracts two stereotypes that have grossly distorted history’s view of Strauss, whose long life in music is often viewed in isolated segments that distort the whole. Strauss was born while the American Civil War was still under way, yet outlasted World War II by four years. In the modern era we have the stereotype of the late-Romantic Viennese composer as oblivious of everyone and everything outside his music. By contrast, many of the young Strauss’ contemporaries pegged him as a showy piano virtuoso and composer of colorful tone poems. Both his keyboard and his orchestral works were extravagantly complex and chromatic, extending late-Romantic harmonies beyond previous limits. In fact, one didn’t need to hear them to get an idea of their difficulty; his scores were always the most thickly inked in the music library, with every page blackened with dizzying configurations of notes and seemingly impossible arrays of multiple sharps and flats. One glimpse, and one knew: the man responsible for these nearly unplayable scores had to be a Lisztian talent, and probably a flamboyant egotist to boot. UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

Strauss’ A Hero’s Life

program notes

Talented? Yes. Flamboyant? Not really. In Vienna, where classical music composition was the most revered of professions, Strauss husbanded his career with the discipline and strategic acumen of a career coach. He was intent upon achieving the stature of a great man of music even as the Viennese fretted that the era of greats such as Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert might be gone forever—indeed, that Classical music might be headed for a dead end, its harmonies exhausted and atonality waiting in the wings. Last year’s sesquicentennial celebrations of Strauss’ birth focused mainly on his illustrious career as a composer of operas and art songs. But in the late 1880s and the 1890s, when the finicky Viennese viewed Strauss as a flashy talent who was not yet fulfilling his promise of greatness, Strauss was patiently building his career as a conductor and soloist. He produced his great tone poems during this period, demonstrating his supreme mastery of orchestral color and post-Wagnerian harmonics. He composed Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life) in 1898, when he was 34, and had already proven that he was not exactly shy when it came to revealing his own life through his music; the hero of this tone poem is Strauss himself. He composed Also Sprach Zarathustra in the same year (1898), making them the last in the series of tone poems and programmatic symphonies he had begun a decade earlier. WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

So was the Strauss sound old-fashioned, or modern for its day? Both, actually. To his contemporary listeners, Strauss represented a new generation. His harmonies were complex and challenging, and his orchestrations made unprecedented demands of the players. But he was born into the Romantic tradition and was thoroughly schooled in its ways. Many of his compositions have gained popularity and a place in the standard repertory; they sound traditional to us now, but were once criticized with a wide range of complaints. His universally beloved opera Der Rosenkavalier was UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

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dismissed as sentimental and retrograde in 1911, but only after the daring Salome and Elektra were attacked years earlier as spiky modern noise. All of Strauss’ tone poems and symphonies present themselves with extremely rich harmonies and orchestral effects. They are accessible to us today, but were revelatory to Strauss’ contemporaries. Ein Heldenleben proceeds in six sections, the first of which reveals a portrait of the young composer and the challenges that lie ahead of him; in the second section, “The Hero’s Adversaries” are depicted in musical caricatures. Critics, of course, get the worst of it, in sketches reminiscent of Wagner’s musical lambasting of his critics in compositions such as Die Meistersinger. In the third section, “The Hero’s Helpmate,” we hear a sympathetic, layered portrait of Strauss’ wife, Pauline, a distinguished soprano whom he had directed as Isolde, and who receives rather harsher treatment in his operatic comedy of marital discord, Intermezzo. The frankly romantic depiction of their relationship provides an apt transition from the comedy of the hero’s conniving adversaries to the nobler challenges facing him as his life takes shape—“The Hero’s Battlefield” (depicting literal combat in graphic musical terms) and the retrospective section on “Works of Peace” (in which Strauss quotes from earlier tone poems); and finally his “Retreat from the World,” elegiac and serene, in which the hero looks back on a life well-lived. In its subject and contemplative mood, this movement may have been informed by Liszt’s set of three piano suites entitled Années de pèlerinage—which was, after all, rooted in Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister. Strauss was inspired by works of literature throughout his career. From a musical and a narrative standpoint, Ein Heldenleben is a work of stunning confidence (and ego) for a 34-year-old composer. It is also hugely enjoyable for the sheer virtuosity of its craft, and for the orchestras capable of playing it. MASTERWORKS

Mahler’s Symphony No. 3

program

Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 Feb 6–7 | 8 pm Abravanel Hall Thierry Fischer, conductor Tamara Mumford, mezzo-soprano Women of the Utah Symphony Chorus Barlow Bradford, Utah Symphony chorus director The Madeleine Choir School Melanie Malinka, director of music, The Madeleine Choir School

GUSTAV MAHLER

Symphony No. 3 in D minor

I. Kräftig. Entschieden II. Tempo di Menuetto. Sehr mässig III. Comodo. Scherzando. Ohne Hast IV. Sehr langsam. Misterioso. Durchaus ppp V. Lustig im Tempo und keck im Ausdruck VI. Langsam. Ruhevoll. Empfunden

Tamara Mumford, mezzo-soprano Women of the Utah Symphony Chorus The Madeleine Choir School

See page 26 for Thierry Fischer’s artist profile.

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Mahler’s Symphony No. 3

artists’ profiles

This season, mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford returns to the Utah Symphony. She also makes her debut at The Dallas Opera and returns to The Metropolitan Opera for A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Wozzeck, and appears in concert with the New York Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and the Kansas City Symphony. A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Ms. Mumford made her debut there as Laura in Luisa Miller, and has since appeared as Smeaton in the new production of Anna Bolena, and in productions of Rigoletto, Ariadne auf Naxos, Il Trittico, Parsifal, Idomeneo, Cavalleria Rusticana, Nixon in China, The Queen of Spades, the complete Ring Cycle, and The Magic Flute. Other recent opera engagements have included the title role in the American premiere of Henze’s Phaedra and the title role in The Rape of Lucretia at the Opera Company of Philadelphia, the title role in Dido and Aeneas at the Glimmerglass Opera, Ottavia Tamara Mumford in L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival mezzo-soprano and the BBC Proms, Isabella in L’Italiana in Algeri at the Palm Beach Opera, the title role in The Rape of Ms. Mumford was also a Mathia Lucretia, conducted by Lorin Maazel at the Castleton Festival; the title role in Carmen Winner and PBS Conert Soloist for at the Crested Butte Music Festival, Principessa in Suor Angelica and Ciesca the MacAllister Awards in Gianni Schicchi with the Orchestra Sinfonica Giuseppe Verdi di Milano in Italy; and the title role in La Cenerentola at Utah Festival Opera. Ms. Mumford has appeared in the Metropolitan Opera’s Met: Live in HD series broadcasts of Anna Bolena, Das Rheingold, Götterdämmerung, The Magic Flute, Nixon in China, Manon Lescaut, and Il Trittico. In 2005 she was one of 16 singers invited to work with Naxos Records and Yale University in a collaborative project to record the complete songs of Charles Ives. A native of Sandy, Utah, Ms. Mumford holds a Bachelor of Music from Utah State University. Her many awards include the Arthur E. Walters Memorial Award in the 2005 Opera Index Competition, second place in the advanced division in the 2005 Palm Beach Opera Competition, and awards in the 2005 Sullivan Foundation Competition, the 2005 Connecticut Opera Guild Competition, and the 2004 Joyce Dutka Foundation Competition. Ms. Mumford was also a Mathias Winner and PBS Concert Soloist for the MacAllister Awards. 64

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UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

Mahler’s Symphony No. 3

artists’ profiles

Located in downtown Salt Lake City, The Madeleine Choir School is a mission of The Cathedral of the Madeleine, serving young people in Pre-Kindergarten through Grade Eight. Modeled after the historic cathedral schools in Europe, the Choir School offers a rigorous academic program in the humanities, mathematics and sciences, and the arts, as well as strong character formation and activities designed to nurture the whole child. It provides every student an exceptional music education, including two years of violin study and intensive vocal training. The choristers assist with the worship life of the Cathedral serving over 9,000 hours every year and performing in the Cathedral’s annual concert series. National and international performance tours are an integral part of every student’s experience at The Madeleine Choir School. Past tours have encompassed performances in Rome, Paris, Sevilla, Prague, Leipzig, and Vienna. In addition, the choristers sing regularly with local arts organizations, including Utah Symphony | Utah Opera, and have been featured in performances with Ballet West, Utah Chamber Artists, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Helena Symphony, and the San Francisco Opera. For information on concerts, CDs and school admissions please visit www.utmcs.org.

Musical preparation by Melanie Malinka Chloe Barrett Isabella Barrett Sophie Corroon Penelope Dalton Julia Denton Sofi Denton Emma Diazmontes Sarena Hardy Sophia Hickey Emma Holmgren Katie Horvath Clare Keeler Madeleine Klement Olivia Leonard Sophia Loose Roma Jane Maloney Eadan McCarthy UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

Gillian Mozdy Reyna Murphy Hannah Nordhoff Hannah Ohman Mimi Pendergrast Elizabeth Peterson Jordan Petersen Kathryn Vargas Gretchen Walsh Anya Weglarz Zosia Weglarz Frank Adler Liam Alfred Airam Alvarez-Marmolejo Jossan Arano Peter Corroon Diego Delgado-Rojas

Stephen Grant Max Gross Oliver Haley Jonas Malinka-Thompson Calvin Mumm Ian Murphy Harrison Payne Nicholas Payne Henry Poppe Anthony Richardson Will Schulte William Selfridge Eric Stevens Michael Stokes Anthony Villanueva Alex Yannelli MASTERWORKS

Mahler’s Symphony No. 3

artists’ profiles

Conductor, composer, arranger, pianist, and teacher Barlow Bradford founded the Utah Chamber Artists in 1991 and has since led the organization to international acclaim for its impeccable, nuanced performances and award-winning recordings. His 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 from 1999–2003. In 2012 Dr. Bradford was named the Ellen Nielsen Barnes Presidential Chair of Choral Studies at the University of Utah, where he conducts the University’s Chamber Choir and A Cappella Choir and directs the graduate choral conducting program. Under Bradford’s direction, the University Chamber Choir won both the Grand Prix and Audience Favorite awards at the Florilege Vocal de Tours 2014 international competition. Dr. Bradford was named Director of the Utah Symphony Chorus in the fall of 2013. Barlow Bradford Utah Symphony chorus director

Bradford’s compositions and arrangements have garnered much attention for their innovation and dramatic scope, from delicate, transparent intimacy to epic grandeur. Many of his arrangements have been performed and/or recorded by Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Tucson Symphony, Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Utah Chamber Artists. His music is performed throughout the world by prominent university, high school and church choirs.

Women of the Utah Symphony Chorus Soprano

Alto

Christin Abbott Brooke Elise Adams Stephanie Bradshaw Erica Glenn Renee L. Hunter Martha F. Lauritzen Bryn McDougal Hannah LaRue Miller Karem Rodriguez-Ryker Norma F. Sonntag

DaVauna Arbon Jessica Benson Joan Jensen Bowles Mary Burris Tarasina Compagni Molly Dickamore Rena D’Souza Susan Fazio Kate Fitzgerald Marilyn K. Heightman Jeanne Marie Kelly Jeanne Leigh-Goldstein Nancy B. Matro

MASTERWORKS

Susan Moore Kristine B. Motta Rebecca Nelson Victoria Norton-Strong Celeste Porter Patricia A. Richards Ruth Rogers Carolee R. Schofield Jennifer Tanner Michele Golder Tyler Amanda Watson Tatjana Weser Nina Wolf

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

Mahler’s Symphony No. 3

program notes

Gustav Mahler (1860–1911)

Symphony No. 3 in D minor Instrumentation: 4 flutes, 4th doubling piccolo, 4 oboes, 4th doubling English horn, 5 clarinets, 3rd doubling bass clarinet, 4th and 5th doubling English clarinet, 4 bassoons, 4th doubling contrabassoon; 8 horns, 5 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba; bass drum, rute, snare drum, suspended cymbal, tam tam, crash cymbals, glockenspiel, tambourine, triangle, offstage snare drum; strings; women’s chorus, solo mezzo-soprano. Performance Time: approximately 1 hour, 40 minutes. BACKGROUND

The fascinating life of Gustav Mahler has been the subject of great literature—and a great deal of it, at that. From Thomas Mann’s 1912 novella Death in Venice to the monumental four-volume biography by Henri-Louis de La Grange, writers have provided a fascinating view of Mahler’s talents, concerns, and contradictions. Still, no matter how deeply we contemplate his life and music, his complicated feelings about the symphony can stun modern listeners. They are a strange mixture of insecurity and faith, of fragile ego and his indestructible belief in his art. He fretted about the critical reception his compositions would receive, yet seems never to have doubted their greatness. This moodiness contrasts markedly with the inner torment suffered by some composers; think, for example, of those moody Russians such as Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff! For them, words of criticism could confirm feelings of worthlessness that were all but paralyzing. As a symphonist with a mission, Mahler famously said that “[i]n 30 or 40 years Beethoven’s symphonies will no longer be played in concerts; my symphonies will take their place.” This astonishing assertion shows confidence in his symphonies, yet hedges that with a waiting period that would exceed his own lifetime, making immediate success immaterial. UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

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But the composition of his Symphony No. 3 came during one of the most critically successful periods of his career. In London in the summer of 1892 Mahler was conducting a season of German operas at Covent Garden and Drury Lane at the invitation of Sir Augustus Harris. They were enthusiastically received, and he returned to composition with his reputation enhanced, making progress on his song cycle Des Knaben Wunderhorn and enjoying the success of his Symphony No. 2. His friendship with composer Richard Strauss, marred over time with feelings of resentment and rivalry, was at its height during this period, and Strauss used his influence to arrange performances of Mahler’s Symphonic Poem in 1894 and the first three movements of the Symphony No. 2 in 1895. Mahler had finished his Second in 1894, and the premiere of the full score in December of 1895 was his first great public success as a composer. He worked on his monumental Symphony No. 3 over the following two summers. WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

Though Beethoven’s Ninth was already 70 years old when Mahler completed this symphony, his self-conscious affirmation of his symphonies in comparison with Beethoven’s shows just how dark the earlier master’s shadow loomed for him and for all symphonists. But in the case of Mahler’s Third, the comparison is especially apt; it is often thought of as Mahler’s “Pastorale.” All of Mahler’s symphonies can be said to contemplate universal questions; this one listens deeply, and with an exquisitely poetic ear, to the relationship between human existence and the natural world that surrounds us. Where Beethoven’s Sixth delights us with sounds of the weather, country dances and the contentment of peasant life, Mahler’s Third inquires into the place of human existence amid the wonder of creation. “My symphony will be something the like of which the world has never heard,” he told a friend just before completing it. “In it all of nature finds a voice.” MASTERWORKS

Mahler’s Symphony No. 3

program notes

Precedents for the symphonic exploration of nature hardly began or ended with Beethoven; from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons to Debussy’s evocation of the sea in La Mer to Mendelssohn’s stormy Hebrides Overture, the orchestral repertory was full of representations of the natural world with which Mahler was intimately familiar. Perhaps even more significant to him was the world of opera, where, as a conductor, he was experiencing his greatest professional success at the time he composed the Third; he knew firsthand the dramatic scenes of wind and weather in operas such as Rossini’s Barber of Seville and Verdi’s Otello, not to mention the encyclopedic account of creation set forth in Wagner’s Ring. Still, while Mahler understood the means and the effects in these great works, he was less concerned with drama and more concerned with aesthetics—the sheer beauty of the natural world and its relation to the nature of human existence. In this symphony, beauty is like a lens that allows us to see nature for what it is. In a letter dated 1896, Mahler wrote that he sought to create a symphony that would “present me to the public as the ‘sensuous’ and perfumed ‘singer of nature.’ ” This, he insisted, was the sole

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program for the symphony. “Everywhere and always, it is only the voice of nature…nature in its totality, which is, so to speak, awakened from fathomless silence that it may ring and resound.” This celebration of natural beauty is comprehensive and celebratory—Mahler’s most popular symphony, despite being his longest. The symphony spans six movements and begins with a series of marches that inaugurate summer and then explore its abundance with unreserved thoroughness. In the second movement, the delicacy of flowers is introduced with a melody for the oboe; then, in the third, we encounter the possibility of darkness in an environment of moonlight and shadows, where Mahler explores “what the creatures in the forest tell me.” Inevitably, with Mahler, darkness and light are fraught with significance, and by the fourth movement we have moved from sunlight to deep night—the realm of humankind (and of the mezzo-soprano soloist). But the fifth, and sixth movements continue the cycle through morning, bringing us the blessings of the completed cycle of creation. The symphony that begins with the teeming abundance of summer ends with an ecstatic benediction with the arrival of morning, of love, and of rebirth.

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The Streisand Songbook

program

The Streisand Songbook Feb 13–14 | 8 pm Abravanel Hall Jerry Steichen, conductor Ann Hampton Callaway, vocalist

Selections to be announced from the stage.

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The Streisand Songbook

artists’ profiles

Maestro Gerald Steichen has established himself as one of America’s most versatile conductors. He currently holds the positions of Principal Pops Conductor of the Utah Symphony and Music Director of the Ridgefield Symphony (Connecticut). He also completed 16 seasons as Principal Pops Conductor of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. Steichen began his tenure as the Music Director for Ballet West in 2014.

Jerry Steichen conductor

Steichen is a frequent guest conductor with the New Jersey Symphony and has appeared with the Boston Pops, Cincinnati Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, as well as the symphonies of Naples, Florida; Portland, Oregon; the Florida Orchestra in Tampa; Columbus, Oklahoma City, Hartford, and the New York Pops. International appearances include the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo City Symphony, the NDR Philharmonie Hannover at the Braunschweig Festival, and numerous appearances with the Norwegian Radio Symphony. During ten seasons with the New York City Opera, Steichen led performances including La Bohème, L’Elisir d’Amore, Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince, Jonathan Miller’s production of The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance, and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella. In …one of America’s 2007, he led the New York City Opera Orchestra and soloists in a live WQXR most versatile conductors. broadcast of Wall to Wall Opera from New York’s Symphony Space. A gifted pianist, he performed onstage for the New York City Opera’s acclaimed productions of Porgy and Bess and Carmina Burana. He has also conducted Utah Opera, Anchorage Opera, New Jersey Opera Theater, Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, NY, and Opera East Texas. Steichen toured nationally as Associate Conductor with The Phantom of the Opera, The Secret Garden, and Peter Pan, and he conducted CATS in New York for two years. He has also appeared on Broadway, portraying Manny the Accompanist in the Tony Award-winning Master Class. In pursuit of his passion for education, Steichen spent eighteen years with the “Meet the Artist” series at Lincoln Center as conductor, clinician, and pianist. Originally from Tonkawa, Oklahoma, Maestro Steichen holds degrees from Northern Oklahoma College, Oklahoma City University and the University of Southern California. He currently resides in New York City.

ENTERTAINMENT

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

The Streisand Songbook

artists’ profiles

Ann Hampton Callaway is best known for her Tony-nominated performance in the hit Broadway musical Swing! and for writing and singing the theme song to the hit TV series The Nanny. Callaway is a Platinum Award-winning writer whose songs are featured on five of Barbra Streisand’s recent CDs. The only female composer to have collaborated with Cole Porter, she has also written songs with Carole King, Rolf Løvland, and Barbara Carroll, to name a few.

Ann Hampton Callaway vocalist

Callaway’s live performances showcase her warmth, spontaneous wit, and passionate delivery of standards, jazz classics, and originals. She is one of America’s most gifted improvisers, taking words and phrases from her audiences and creating songs on the spot, whether alone at a piano or with a symphony orchestra. Ann has been a special guest performer with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood, and is featured at many of the Carnegie Hall tributes. She has sung with more than 25 of the world’s top orchestras and big bands, and has performed for President Clinton in Washington, D.C., and at President Gorbachev’s Youth Peace Summit in Moscow. Callaway performed with her sister, Broadway star Liz Callaway, in their award-winning show Sibling Revelry at London’s Donmar Warehouse, and in Berlin’s famed Philharmonie Hall by special invitation. Ann’s dream of working in film and TV is being realized in several recent projects. She made her feature film debut opposite Angelina Jolie and Matt Damon in the Robert De Niro film The Good Shepherd, performing the standard “Come Rain or Come Shine.” She recorded “Isn’t It Romantic?” and “The Nearness of You” in Wayne Wong’s Last Holiday, starring Queen Latifah. Ann is currently writing songs for the upcoming movie musical State of Affairs, to be directed by Philip McKinley. Ann’s father was John Callaway, Chicago’s legendary TV and radio journalist, and an acclaimed author, moderator, and speaker. Her mother, Shirley Callaway, a superb singer, pianist and one of New York’s most in-demand vocal coaches, was recently featured at New York’s Town Hall, singing with Ann and her sister, Liz. Ann resides in New York. She lives by the creed best expressed in the André Gide quote: “Art is the collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does, the better.”

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

ENTERTAINMENT

The Romantics

Utah Symphony | Utah operaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CUltUral FeStival 2014/15

The artistic movement we call Romanticism swept through Western civilization at the beginning of the 1800s. Its practitioners rebelled against the structure and order cherished by previous generations, and regarded the free expression of individual feelings and experiences as more reliable sources of truth than rational thought. In the 2014-15 season, Utah Symphony Utah Opera celebrates the Romantics of the 19th century. We will explore art, dance, food, film, and music created under the Romantic influence.

>> For additional information visit:

usuo.org/festival

Beethoven’s Violin Concerto

program

Beethoven’s Violin Concerto Feb 20–21 | 8 pm Abravanel Hall Thierry Fischer, conductor Baiba Skride, violin

SERGEI PROKOFIEV

Symphony No.1, op. 25, “Classical”

AUGUSTA READ THOMAS

I. Allegro con brio II. Larghetto III. Gavotte: Non troppo allegro IV. Finale: Molto vivace

EOS: Goddess of the Dawn (A Ballet for Orchestra)

In honor of Pierre Boulez (World Premiere, Utah Symphony Commission)

/ INTERMISSION /

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Concerto in D major for Violin and Orchestra, op. 61 I. Allegro ma non troppo II. Larghetto III. Rondo: Allegro

Baiba Skride, violin (artist in residence)

See page 26 for Thierry Fischer’s artist profile, See page 56 for Baiba Skride’s artist profile. B E E T H OV E N M I N I - S E R I E S SPONSOR

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MASTERWORKS

Beethoven’s Violin Concerto

program notes

Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953)

Symphony No. 1 “Classical“ Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons; 2 horns, 2 trumpets; timpani; strings. Performance Time: approximately 13 minutes. BACKGROUND

Though he was one of the 20th century’s great symphonists, Sergei Prokofiev is better known in the West for his ballet scores and his popular children’s suite Peter and the Wolf. The symphonies of his compatriot Shostakovich are better known here, and have attracted new interest among scholars and listeners as new information has come to light about his troubled relationship with Stalin and the Kremlin’s arbiters of cultural policy. But Prokofiev, too, had his problems with Soviet cultural policies. His position in the forefront of modern music conferred prestige on the Soviet Union, but the government’s feelings about his reputation—and his own feelings—were not unmixed. After completing his first symphony, he traveled extensively in the West and lived as an expatriate, mainly in Paris, from 1918 through the mid 1930s. This kind of cosmopolitanism was always suspicious to Soviet authorities. Some densely difficult compositions that missed the mark critically, most notably his Second Symphony and Violin Concerto, extended his reputation as a bad boy of the avant garde, and his own self-doubts as a composer. It was not always that way. As with Shostakovich, who was born 15 years later, Prokofiev’s first symphony was a work that seemed to announce its own brilliance. But by the time he composed it, Prokofiev was 26 and had already established his reputation as a major composer and a rebellious musical intellect unafraid of public or critical resistance in the face of modernism. His music 76

MASTERWORKS

1/5

was heard as highly percussive, occasionally abrasive and often noisy. The year was 1917, with the horrors of World War I drawing to a close and the Bolshevik Revolution about to shake Russian and world history. About the last thing the musical community expected from him was a symphony so drenched in traditional symphonic techniques and so full of delectable humor that it could make listeners laugh out loud. When Prokofiev was at conservatory in St. Petersburg, his instructors were the most distinguished pedagogues of the Russian old guard: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, of course, along with Anatole Liadov, Alexander Glazunov, and Alexander Tcherepnin. Accounts of their attitudes toward the young Prokofiev make it clear that he was viewed as a disaffected youth out to make trouble. Though the Symphony No. 1 was not written as a gesture toward his critics, it showed that the disaffection was actually on the side of his elders, and not his own. For all its good cheer and energy, the symphony is the product of great discipline and of reverence for the past—and, in particular, for Classical form. As Stravinsky would decades later, Prokofiev turned for inspiration to a great master of Classical form, Franz Joseph Haydn. Prokofiev’s comments on his conception and development of the symphony are hardly the words of a precocious “bad boy,” but rather of a disciplined young composer who esteemed his teachers as well as the great musicians who preceded them: “I spent the summer of 1917 in complete solitude in the environs of [St. Petersburg]; I read Kant, and I worked hard. I had purposely not had my piano moved to the country because I wanted to establish the fact that thematic material worked out without a piano is better. I had been playing with the idea of writing a whole symphony without the piano. Composed in such a fashion, the orchestral colors would, of necessity, be clearer and cleaner. Thus did UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

Beethoven’s Violin Concerto

program notes

the plan of a symphony in the style of Haydn originate, since, as a result of my studies in Tcherepnin’s classes, Haydn’s technique had become especially clear to me, and with such thorough understanding it was much easier to plunge into the dangerous flood without a piano. It seemed to me that, if he were alive today, Haydn, while retaining his own style, would have appropriated something from the modern. Such a symphony I now wanted to compose: a symphony in the Classic manner.” WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

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 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. 1 displays all these qualities, and does so with an elegance and compactness that are rare in the symphonic realm. But it is best noted for the rarest and most enigmatic of musical traits: humor. How, after all, does an abstract, non-verbal art deliver a punchline? In this regard Prokofiev chose an apt model in Haydn, the occasional prankster who composed the “Surprise” Symphony, with its sudden, explosive fortissimos designed to awaken snoozing concertgoers, and the “Farewell” Symphony, during which the players exit the stage in random bunches, leaving us to wonder who’ll be left to turn out the lights. If Haydn punks his elite audience in these symphonies, Prokofiev writes for a broader group of listeners and embeds a more interesting point within the laughs: Perhaps we don’t all know the intricacies of symphonic structure and sonataallegro form, but we have enjoyed enough music to intuit these rules without quite being conscious of them. Throughout the symphony, Prokofiev UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

2/5

sets up our expectations and then shocks us by delivering something slightly different. The effect is most marked in the third movement, a gavotte—a French dance that usually comes off as elegant and stately. Prokofiev’s version is suitably paced and built on an appropriately gilded theme, but everything is upside-down: the modulations are slightly off, taking us in unexpected directions. The dynamics get loud when we expect them to soften, and viceversa. The finale peters out where it would usually come to a flourish. Where else in the repertory do we hear a movement that is simultaneously courtly and goofy? During the 1960s, this beautiful yet boffo gavotte became a mainstay in college courses on symphonic form. If we analyze how Prokofiev thwarts our expectations, then we can understand more deeply how all Classical symphonies operate. But isn’t it more fun just to sit back and enjoy them? And so it is throughout the Symphony No. 1, with its paradigmatic structure: sonata-allegro form in the outer movements, with a slow movement (a larghetto) and a ternary-form dance (the gavotte) in the inner movements. The symphony even begins with one of the vintage musical gestures of the Classical era: the “Mannheim rocket,” an ascending arpeggio through the tonic triad that lights up the opening bars like fireworks. Within a minute the movement has somehow slid from D major to C major, the second theme has already made its appearance, and the delicately prancing bassoons seem to be on their way to another symphony. Crossing into the larghetto, with its serenity of mood and sweetly singing string choir, we are reminded of the twilit slow movements of Haydn and Mozart. But is the bliss of this movement slightly off-balance, as if it came from a really good high? The gavotte is followed by a breathless, rollicking vivace that has the inexhaustible energy of a moto perpetuo, or perhaps a chasse—we can easily envision cats scampering in pursuit of the mice as we listen. And here our expectations are rewarded: the movement’s final chords strike with gleeful finality, leaving us grinning. MASTERWORKS

Beethoven’s Violin Concerto

program notes

Augusta Read Thomas (b. 1964)

EOS: Goddess of the Dawn Instrumentation: 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, bassoon; 2 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones; bongo drums, claves, small triangle, vibraphone, woodblock, congas, crotales, 3-finger cymbals, tubular bells, glockenspiel, large triangle, xylophone, marimba, medium suspended cymbals, medium triangle; celeste, piano; strings. Performance Time: approximately 19 minutes. BACKGROUND

Born in Glen Cove, New York, Augusta Read Thomas attended the Green Vale School and then St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire. She took piano lessons for ten years and trumpet lessons for fourteen years. She sang in choirs and played recorder as well as guitar. She studied composition with Jacob Druckman at Yale University, with Oliver Knussen at Tanglewood Music Center, and with Paul Patterson at the Royal Academy of Music; and with Alan Stout and M. William Karlins at Northwestern University. A passionate and devoted teacher, Ms. Thomas taught at the Eastman School of Music from 1993 to 2001. Despite receiving tenure there at the unusually young age of 33, she left to accept the endowed Wyatt Professorship of Music at the Northwestern University of School of Music in 2001 and continues to teach at the Tanglewood Music Center and Aspen Music Festival often during summers. In 2009 she was Director of the Festival of Contemporary Music at Tanglewood, and was the Mead Composer-in-Residence for Daniel Barenboim and Pierre Boulez from 1997 through 2006. Ms. Thomas was elected Chair of the Board of the American Music Center, a volunteer position that ran from 2005 to 2008. She is Luminary University Professor (one of six) at The University of Chicago. Augusta 78

MASTERWORKS

3/5

was MUSICALIVE Composer-in-Residence with the New Haven Symphony, a national residency program of The League of American Orchestras and Meet the Composer. In 2009 Ms. Thomas was inducted as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an honor society of 250 architects, composers, artists, and writers. The honor of election is considered the highest formal recognition of artistic merit in the United States. The citation, given at her induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in May 2009, reads as follows: Augusta Read Thomas’ impressive body of works embodies unbridled passion and fierce poetry. Championed by such luminaries as Barenboim, Rostropovich, Boulez, and Knussen, she rose early to the top of her profession. Later, as an influential teacher at Eastman, Northwestern and Tanglewood, chairperson of the American Music Center, and the Chicago Symphony’s longest-serving resident composer, she has become one of the most recognizable and widely loved figures in American Music. EOS: Goddess of the Dawn (A Ballet for Orchestra) receives its world premiere with Utah Symphony. Commissioned by Utah Symphony, it was composed in honor of Pierre Boulez. WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

Analysts have noted Thomas’ imagination for creative, organic, natural forms, some have discerned influences including jazz and composers such as Ravel, Debussy, Mahler, Stravinsky, and Luciano Berio in the energy, complex rhythms and harmonies of her work. For listeners, Ms. Thomas has provided an interesting clue in the titles of her compositions, which frequently turn us skyward and mention UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

Beethoven’s Violin Concerto

program notes

luminous, celestial effects. EOS, with its reference to the dawn, is one example. Others include her concerto for alto saxophone, subtitled “Prisms of Light”; “Midsummer Blaze Alleluia,” for choir; a piano trio, “…A Circle Around the Sun…”; “Radiant Circles” for orchestra; “Twilight Butterfly” and “Among Dawn Flowers” for soprano and piano; and even “Magneticfireflies” for band. Her recent recordings for Nimbus Alliance and Wyastone feature album covers showing the aurora borealis, a glowing full moon over calm waters, and luminous beads of light like floating jewels. The sound of Ms. Thomas’ music is a perfect analogue to these sensual auras. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

Concerto in D major for Violin and Orchestra Instrumentation: flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons; 2 horns, 2 trumpets; timpani; strings; solo violin. Performance Time: approximately 42 minutes. BACKGROUND

We can see all the clichés about classical composers of the Romantic era in the portraits of Beethoven that have come down to us over the generations. With his burning eyes and rock-star hair, he seems to be ignoring us as he listens to the ideas in his head, struggling through insuperable difficulties to achieve a beautiful result. Composing was a Promethean struggle for Beethoven. Yet the concerto was a form that seemed to fit him like a glove: grand in scale but formally congenial to him, offering a forum for discourse between a single soloist and the massed forces of the orchestra that reflected his concern with the individual’s place in society. We hear this aptness in all the piano concertos (Beethoven was, after all, a pianist), and perhaps most surprisingly in the ease and grace of his glorious Violin Concerto in D major. UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

4/5

This concerto, probably the most beloved and certainly the most frequently programmed in the repertory, possesses all the grandeur of the piano concertos. It exceeds the scale of any violin concerto that preceded it, and also begins with the longest introduction of any violin concerto preceding the soloist’s entrance. These are familiar hallmarks of Beethoven the formbreaker and innovator—signs of the new level of serious utterance that Beethoven brought to the concerto form. But we love this concerto more for its sheer beauty than for its innovations. Beethoven was said to be so confident of this work’s lasting merit that when he wrote it at age 36, he made a rash boast, predicting that violinists would still be playing it 50 years after his death. It was composed more than 2 centuries ago, in 1806, 21 years before Beethoven’s death in 1827; the story of his confidence in it is still told to illustrate both the scale of his talent and his outsized ego, fueled by determination and unconfined by seemly modesty. But the facts surrounding the composition of the concerto belie such picturesque lore, or at least some of it. Beethoven was persuaded to write the concerto for one of the best-known violin virtuosi of his day, Franz Clement, and everything about the circumstances of its creation seems to have contributed to a circus-like atmosphere at the premiere. Clement was by all accounts a remarkable soloist who had been a spectacular child prodigy, but he never outgrew a penchant for daredevil showmanship. There are no definitive firsthand reports of his first performance of this piece, but according to some hearsay accounts, he insisted on sight-reading it and inserting a sonata of his own composition in the middle or at the end of Beethoven’s work. In performing his own sonata, he is said to have held the violin upside-down and played on one string. Another surprising circumstance was the haste of the concerto’s composition. We know MASTERWORKS

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Beethoven’s Violin Concerto

program notes

5/5

that Beethoven often agonized over his music, but for this benefit concert (with Clement himself as beneficiary) there was no time for indecision or even for preparatory conferences with the soloist. The orchestra, too, was said to be virtually unrehearsed. Small wonder that the initial commentary was unenthusiastic. One contemporary critic, Johannes Moser, described Beethoven’s thematic material as commonplace, confused, wearisome, and repetitious. It’s difficult to reconcile that description with the concerto that we know and love today, but not with its performance history—which included only three public hearings between 1806 and 1844.

This sense of instrumental sympathy and singing line is achieved without cliché. The first movement declares its gravitas by opening with four startling beats on the timpani, and though it is marked allegro, there is an air of stateliness and a poetic introduction to the much-loved main theme—a six-note ascending scale that begins on the third note of the scale, F#, and ascends to the tonic of D before dropping back down to the dominant A. This simple melody, one of the most familiar in the violin repertory, could have been built around a central triplet, but Beethoven achieves a more poetic effect by using only half-, quarterand eighth-notes without triplet figures.

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

While the concerto’s second movement, a larghetto, is in G major, the third (and final) returns to D major, framing the concerto in moods of similarity and contrast. The opening movement Allegro is dignified and almost solemn (the allegro pace is marked ma non troppo—“but not too much”), built grandly upon a four-beat motif that sings. But the closing rondo, with a full-out allegro, dances—with a six-beat motif that is charged with energy and a sense of celebration. Its finale, a soaring arpeggiated phrase that ascends an octave and a fourth to end on a single blast of the tonic D major, is a short summation for Beethoven, but powerfully emphatic.

In addition to the characteristic grandeur and dignity we hear in Beethoven’s piano concertos, the Violin Concerto is also written with a sympathy for the instrument that is not always evident in Beethoven. It’s no accident that “against the instrument” is a phrase we often read in analyses of Beethoven’s compositions; some of his compositions for piano, voice, and strings (in the quartets) seem written to challenge or contradict the usual modes of expression for these instruments. In the Violin Concerto, by contrast, a cantabile quality prevails that is the very essence of violinistic writing, like a song without words.

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

MASTERWORKS

/upcoming concerts André Watts Plays Beethoven 5 March 6–7 / 8 pm Abravanel Hall March 6 / 10 am Finishing Touches Hugh Wolff, conductor COPLAND BEETHOVEN COPLAND

André Watts, piano

Fanfare for the Common Man Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor” Symphony No. 3

Mozart’s Così fan tutte Mar 14–20 / 7:30 pm Mar 22 / 2 pm Capitol Theatre Will Crutchfield, conductor Crystal Manich, director

Karin Wolverton, Fiordiligi Abigail Levis, Despina

Two sisters are surprised when their fiancés are suddenly called to war, but are the men really gone or did they simply hatch an elaborate plot to challenge the women’s faithfulness? The men’s return tests the limits of friendship, fidelity, and fortitude. Mozart’s tale of flirtatious seduction combines silly disguises, mistaken identities, and sublime music to see if love can conquer all.

Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf Mar 21 / 11 am & 12:30 pm Abravanel Hall Vladimir Kulenovic, conductor

Join a young boy on his adventure into the woods to save his animal friends from the wolf. This timeless tale will charm and delight your family with all the different sounds and instruments in the orchestra.

Beethoven & Wagner Mar 27–28 / 8 pm Abravanel Hall Jun Märkl, conductor BEETHOVEN WAGNER

Ingrid Fliter, piano

Piano Concerto No. 2 Orchestral Suite from The Ring

/upcoming concerts Daphnis & Chloe Apr 10–11 / 8 pm Abravanel Hall Thierry Fischer, conductor DEBUSSY STRAVINSKY RAVEL

Utah Symphony Chorus

Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun Symphony in Three Movements Daphnis et Chloé

Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony Apr 17–18 / 8 pm Abravanel Hall Paul Goodwin, conductor MOZART MOZART MOZART

Benedetto Lupo, piano

Symphony in D Major (after the “Posthorn” Serenade) Piano Concerto No. 21 Symphony No. 41 “Jupiter”

The Midtown Men Apr 24–25 / 8 pm Abravanel Hall Jerry Steichen, conductor Christian Hoff, Michael Longoria,

Daniel Reichard, J. Robert Spencer, vocalists

They took Broadway by storm in one of the biggest hits of all-time and now they’re together again with the Utah Symphony! The Midtown Men reunites stars from the original cast of Broadway’s Jersey Boys for their favorite “Sixties Hits” from The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Motown, The Four Seasons and more.

Peter Pan and Other Adventures Apr 25 / 11 am & 12:30 pm Abravanel Hall Vladimir Kulenovic, conductor

Travel through faraway lands with the Utah Symphony! We’ll take a trip to Never-Never Land with Peter Pan and visit other storybook adventures told through music.

Tickets start at just $18 ReseRve youR seats today at

utahsymphony.oRg oR call 801-355-ARTS (2787)

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CAMPAIGN LEADERSHIP Campaign Co-Chairs

Scott and Jesselie Anderson Lisa Eccles Kem and Carolyn Gardner Gail Miller and Kim Wilson Bill and Joanne Shiebler

Honorary Co-Chairs Spencer F. Eccles

Jon M. Huntsman The Right Reverend Carolyn Tanner Irish

UTAH SYMPHONY | UTAH OPERA IN PERPETUAL MOTION

We are grateful for the momentum of The Campaign for Perpetual Motion, a $20 million public campaign to celebrate Utah Symphony’s 75th Anniversary in 2015–16. We have exciting plans leading up to this anniversary—including recording, broadcasting, and touring at the state and national levels. We launched these plans with our unprecendented tour to Southern Utah last August providing a once-in-a-lifetime musical experience to visitors and citizens of those communities against the backdrop of Utah’s Mighty 5® National Parks. If you weren’t able to join on this historic tour, we hope you observed with pride the national attention it received in the press and classical music world. The Campaign began with a remarkable $5 million lead gift from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, whose tradition of support totaling more than $32 million spans three decades. This lead gift was made in addition to a $1 million gift from the Foundation to our Leadership Campaign, which during 2011 and 2012 prepared a solid foundation for the public fundraising effort. More than 35 individuals, corporations, and foundations contributed to the Leadership Campaign, including an extraordinary $4.6 million capstone gift from O.C. Tanner Company. Stay tuned for more—we know you will continue to be proud of our plans to build and showcase your world-class symphony and opera throughout Utah and beyond. Find out more at usuo.org/support.

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

P E RP ET UAL motion

We are forever grateful to the following leaders whose visionary support secured the permanence of Utah Symphony | Utah Opera through our Leadership Campaign in 2011 and 2012, and who are setting the stage for its bright future as lead supporters of The Campaign for Perpetual Motion.

FOUNDING CAMPAIGN DONORS George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation ($6 Million) O.C. Tanner Company ($4.6 Million) PRINCIPAL GIVING ($1 Million & above) Gael Benson The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Foundation Lawrence T. & Janet T. Dee Foundation Kem & Carolyn Gardner Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation Mark & Dianne Prothro Questar® Corporation Patricia A. Richards & William K. Nichols Shiebler Family Foundation Sorenson Legacy Foundation Zions Bank LEADERSHIP GIVING (up to $1 Million)

Anonymous (2) Scott & Jesselie Anderson Edward R. Ashwood & Candice A. Johnson Mr. & Mrs. William C. Bailey Dr. J. R. Baringer & Dr. Jeanette J. Townsend Thomas Billings & Judge Judith Billings R. Harold Burton Foundation Howard & Betty Clark Thomas D. Dee III & Dr. Candace Dee Deer Valley Resort E.R. (Zeke) & Katherine W.† Dumke Burton & Elaine Gordon Mr. & Mrs. Martin Greenberg Dell Loy & Lynette Hansen Roger & Susan Horn Frederick Q. Lawson Foundation

Anthony & Renee Marlon Carol & Anthony W. Middleton, Jr., M.D. Edward & Barbara Moreton William H. & Christine Nelson Carol & Ted Newlin Scott & Sydne Parker Dr. Dinesh & Kalpana Patel Frank R. Pignanelli & D’Arcy Dixon John & Marcia Price Family Foundation Bert Roberts Theodore Schmidt Norman C. & Barbara Tanner The Right Reverend Carolyn Tanner Irish Naoma Tate & the Family of Hal Tate M. Walker & Sue Wallace Wells Fargo

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

Tanner & Crescendo Societies Utah Symphony | Utah Opera thanks the members of our Tanner and Crescendo Societies, patrons who have included USUO in their financial and estate planning. Membership is open to all those who express their commitment through a planned gift at any level. Please contact Leslie Peterson at lpeterson@usuo.org or 801.869.9012 for more information.

Tanner Society of Utah Symphony Beethoven Circle gifts valued at more than $100,000 Anonymous (3) Dr. J. Richard Baringer Haven J. Barlow Alexander Bodi† Edward† & Edith Brinn Captain Raymond & Diana Compton Elizabeth W. Colton† Anne C. Ewers

Flemming & Lana Jensen James Read Lether Daniel & Noemi P. Mattis Joyce Merritt† Anthony & Carol W. Middleton, Jr., M.D. Robert & Dianne Miner Glenn Prestwich & Barbara Bentley Kenneth A. & Jeraldine S. Randall

Robert L.† & Joyce Rice Mr. & Mrs. Alvin Richer Patricia A. Richards Sharon & David† Richards Harris H. & Amanda P. Simmons E. Jeffrey & Joyce Smith G. B. & B. F. Stringfellow Mr. & Mrs. Norman C. Tanner Mr. & Mrs. M. Walker Wallace

Herbert C. & Wilma Livsey Mrs. Helen F. Lloyd† Gaye Herman Marrash Ms. Wilma F. Marcus† Dr. & Mrs. Louis A. Moench Jerry & Marcia McClain Jim & Andrea Naccarato Pauline C. Pace† Mr. & Mrs. Scott Parker Mr. & Mrs. Michael A. Pazzi Richard Q. Perry Chase† & Grethe Peterson Glenn H. & Karen F. Peterson Thomas A. & Sally† Quinn

Helen Sandack† Mr. Grant Schettler Glenda & Robert† Shrader Dr. Robert G. Snow† Mr. Robert C. Steiner & Dr. Jacquelyn Erbin† Kathleen Sargent† JoLynda Stillman Edwin & Joann Svikhart Frederic & Marilyn Wagner Jack R. & Mary Lois† Wheatley Afton B. Whitbeck† Edward J. & Marelynn Zipser

Mahler Circle Anonymous (3) Dr. Robert H.† & Marianne Harding Burgoyne Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth E. Coombs Patricia Dougall Eager† Mr. & Mrs.† Sid W. Foulger Paul (Hap) & Ann† Green Robert & Carolee Harmon Richard G. & Shauna† Horne Mr. Ray Horrocks† Richard W. James† Estate Mrs. Avanelle Learned† Ms. Marilyn Lindsay Turid V. Lipman

Crescendo Society of Utah Opera Anonymous Mr. & Mrs. William C. Bailey Alexander Bodi† Berenice J. Bradshaw Estate Dr. Robert H. † & Marianne Harding Burgoyne Elizabeth W. Colton† Dr. Richard J. & Mrs. Barbara N. Eliason Anne C. Ewers Edwin B. Firmage

Joseph & Pat Gartman Paul (Hap) & Ann† Green John & Jean Henkels Clark D. Jones Turid V. Lipman Herbert C. & Wilma Livsey Constance Lundberg Gaye Herman Marrash Richard W. & Frances P. Muir Marilyn H. Neilson Carol & Ted Newlin

Pauline C. Pace† Stanley B. & Joyce Parrish Patricia A. Richards Mr. & Mrs. Alvin Richer Robert L.† & Joyce Rice Richard G. Sailer† Jeffrey W. Shields G. B. & B. F. Stringfellow Norman & Barbara Tanner Dr. Ralph & Judith Vander Heide Edward J. & Marelynn Zipser †Deceased

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

Planned Giving Dr. Anthony W. Middleton, Jr., a native Utahan and avid cellist, has been a patron of the Utah Symphony his entire life and remembers Maurice Abravanel from his visits to the symphony with his parents. After he completed his medical training, he returned to Utah and made his first significant gift to the symphony in 1980. Tony joined the Elected Board of Trustees in 1985 and, after serving a three-year mission with his wife Carol, renewed his commitment to Utah Symphony | Utah Opera as a member of the Honorary Board.

Carol & Anthony W. Middleton, Jr., MD

J. Richard Baringer, MD, & Jeannette Townsend, MD

To learn how you, too, can support USUO through a planned gift or participate in Healthcare Professionals Night, contact us at 801.869.9001 or MSteinerSherwood@usuo.org. UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

Dr. J. Richard Baringer was a medical student when he received free tickets to the Cleveland Orchestra. This first encounter with symphonic music was transformative, and after Dick and his wife, Dr. Jeannette Townsend, moved to Salt Lake City in 1982 to accept appointments with the University of Utah School of Medicine, they became enthusiastic supporters of the Utah Symphony. Dick was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2008. Unbeknownst to each other, in the mid-1980s Dick and Tony began on a journey to ignite passion for classical music among their colleagues and medical students. As newly appointed board member, Tony facilitated a partnership between the symphony and his professional network. Meanwhile, Dick collected donations from colleagues to invite first-year medical students to a Utah Symphony concert. As their outreach efforts coincided, the seed was born for USUO’s annual Healthcare Professionals Night. As co-chairs of the Healthcare Committee, Dick and Tony have been leading a group of physicians who take the fundraising challenge of one concert each year. While medical students still attend a concert for free, the Healthcare committee also donates all proceeds to USUO’s education and outreach programs. Last season, the committee raised over $100,000, and Dick and Tony are confident that this season’s Healthcare Professionals Night, scheduled for March 6, will be as successful. Dick, who travels extensively and attends classical concerts abroad, emphasizes Utah Symphony’s enormous success at a time when other orchestras struggle. To safeguard the bright future of USUO, Tony and Dick are strengthening their already significant service to the organization by including USUO in their financial planning. “Utah Symphony is in my will,” Dick says, “because it is the cultural gem of this community.” Tony adds, “Our philanthropic support of our great USUO is crucial; they cannot make it on ticket sales alone.” The charitable bequests by Jeannette and Dick, Carol, and Tony will support an endowment fund for Utah Symphony that ensures the continuation of symphonic excellence in Utah for generations to come. 89

Corporate & Foundation Donors We sincerely appreciate our annual contributors who have supported our programs throughout the last year with gifts up to $10,000. The following listing reflects contributions received between 11/1/2013 and 11/1/2014. For a listing of our season honorees, who have made gifts of $10,000 and above, see pages 14–18.

$5,000 to $9,999 Anonymous (2) Bourne-Spafford Foundation Discover Financial Doubletree Suites* Durham Jones & Pinegar, P.C. The Jarvis & Constance Doctorow Family Foundation Spencer F. & Cleone P. Eccles Family Foundation EY Henry W. & Leslie M. Eskuche Charitable Foundation Hoak Foundation Hyatt Place Hotel* Every Blooming Thing* Fabian & Clendenin Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar* Goldener Hirsch Inns* Macy’s Martine* Marriott City Center* McCarthey Family Foundation Louis Scowcroft Peery Charitable Foundation Rasmussen Landscapes* Ruth’s Chris Steak House* Selecthealth Stoel Rives Union Pacific Foundation The Private Client Reserve of U.S. Bank U. S. Bancorp Foundation Victory Ranch Club Wrona, Gordon & DuBois $1,000 to $4,999 Advanced Retirement Consultant Bertin Family Foundation Timothy F. Buehner Foundation

Rodney H. & Carolyn Hansen Brady Charitable Foundation Robert S. Carter Foundation Castle Foundation Chevron Humankind Matching Gift Fund City Creek Center Epic Brewery* ExxonMobil Foundation Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund Goldman, Sachs & Co. Victor Herbert Foundation Thomas A. & Lucille B. Horne Foundation Iasis Healthcare J. Wong’s Thai & Chinese Bistro* Jones & Associates Jones Waldo Park City Kirton | McConkie M Lazy M Foundation Millcreek Cacao Roasters* Millcreek Coffee Roasters* George Q. Morris Foundation Nebeker Family Foundation Nordstrom Park City Foundation The Prudential Foundation Ray, Quinney & Nebeker Foundation The Charles & Annaley Redd Foundation Shilo Inn* Snell & Wilmer L.L.P. Snow, Christensen & Martineau Foundation Squatters Pub Brewery* Strong & Hanni, PC Swire Coca-Cola, USA* Bill & Connie Timmons Foundation United Jewish Community Endowment Trust Utah Families Foundation Wasatch Advisors

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

LIFELONG LEARNING Adult Learning Opportunities with Utah Symphony | Utah Opera

ONLINE LEARNING

Expand your experience before attending productions by learning about each opera’s history, composer, and music. Online materials are created by local scholars. www.utahopera.org/onlinelearning

PRE-PERFORMANCE LECTURES AND Q&A

One hour in advance of each opera performance or masterworks concert, artistic staff members give an introduction to the event. Utah Opera’s Artistic Director offers a Q & A sesssion after performances.

MASTERCLASSES WITH GUEST ARTISTS USUO offers masterclasses with both symphony and opera guest artists. www.usuoeducation.org/masterclass

PRO-AM

March 31, 2015, will mark the 4th annual Pro-Am Concert, during which adult members of community orchestras perform on the Abravanel Hall stage side-by-side with members of the Utah Symphony. Application materials will be available online at www.usuo.org/pro-am in January 2015.

ANNUAL CULTURAL FESTIVAL

Each season Utah Opera and Utah Symphony offer performances related by theme, and we create additional learning events on that theme with community partners. The 2014-15 festival, “The Romantics,” features music and art of 19th century Romantic artists. Check out Festival events at www.usuo.org/festival.

INFORMATION ABOUT COMMUNITY CHOIRS & ORCHESTRAS

Want to be actively involved in music making? We keep a current list of community music groups. Check it out at www.usuoeducation.org.

Visit www.usuoeducation.org website for more opportunities for adult learning.

Individual Donors We sincerely appreciate our annual contributors who have supported our programs throughout the last year with gifts up to $10,000. The following listing reflects contributions received between 11/1/2013 and 11/1/2014. For a listing of our season honorees, who have made gifts of $10,000 and above, see pages 14–18. ABRAVANEL & PETERSON SOCIETY $5,000 to $9,999 Anonymous (2) Doyle Arnold & Anne Glarner Mr. & Mrs. Chris Canale Hal M. † & Aileen H. Clyde Patricia Dougall Eager Trust Dr. & Mrs. Ralph Earle Spencer & Cleone† Eccles Thomas & Lynn Fey Jeffrey L. Giese, M.D. & Mary E. Gesicki John & Dorothy Hancock Gary & Christine Hunter Mary P. Jacobs & Jerald H. Jacobs Family G. Frank & Pamela Joklik Julie Koch John & Adrian McNamara Rich & Cherie Meeboer Richard & Jayne Middleton Brooks & Lenna Quinn James & Gail Riepe Stuart & Molly Silloway Janet Sloan Gibbs & Catherine W. Smith David & Susan Spafford George & Tamie Speciale Sam & Diane Stewart Dr. Paula M. Swaner Thomas & Kathy Thatcher Melia & Mike Tourangeau Albert & Yvette Ungricht Kathleen Digre & Michael Varner John Williams Tom & Wendy Wirth

$3,000 to $4,999

Anonymous (3) E. Wayne & Barbara Baumgardner Dr. & Mrs. Clisto Beaty Charles Black* Robert W. Brandt Brian Burka & Dr. J. Hussong Mr. & Mrs. Neill Brownstein Jonathan & Julie Bullen Mr. & Mrs. William D. Callister, Jr. Mark Casp Hal & Cecile Christiansen Edward & Carleen Clark Amalia Cochran Debbi & Gary Cook Mr. James Davidson B. Gale† & Ann Dick

J. I. “Chip” & Gayle Everest Midge & Tom Farkas Jack & Marianne Ferraro Robert & Elisha Finney Drs. Fran & Cliff Foster Robert & Annie-Lewis Garda Mr. & Mrs. Eric Garen Shari Gottlieb Ray & Howard Grossman Dr. & Mrs. Bradford D. Hare Annette & Joseph Jarvis Dale & Beverly Johnson Barbara Jones Mr. & Mrs. Kent Jones Robert & Debra Kasirer Hanko & Laura Kiessner Jeanne Kimball Mike & Jennifer McKee Elizabeth & Michael Liess Mr. & Mrs. Wayne Lyski Daniel & Noemi P. Mattis Michael & Julie McFadden Mr. & Mrs. Richard Mithoff Leslie Peterson & Kevin Higgins Victor & Elizabeth Pollak Dr. Glenn Prestwich & Dr. Barbara Bentley Mr. & Mrs. Alvin Richer Dr. Wallace Ring Mr. & Mrs. Robert Rollo Henry & Kathie Roenigk James Romano Estate of Kathy Lynn Sargent William G. Schwartz & Joann Givan Elizabeth Solomon Verl & Joyce Topham Dr. Jeannette J. Townsend Mr. & Mrs. Glen R. Traylor Mr. & Mrs. Vincent Trotta Dr. Ralph & Judith Vander Heide Ardean & Elna Watts Jeremy & Hila Wenokur Ms. Gayle Youngblood

$2,000 to $2,999

Anonymous (6) Craig & Joanna Adamson Robert & Cherry Anderson Drs. Wolfgang & Jeanne Baehr Mr. & Mrs. William Bierer Richard & Suzanne Burbidge Mr. & Mrs. Michael Callen Lindsay & Carla Carlisle Robyn Carter Raymond & Diana Compton Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth R. Cutler

Dr. & Mrs. J. Michael Dean James & Rula Dickson Mr. & Mrs. Robert Ehrlich Heidi Gardner Randin Graves David & SandyLee Griswold* Dennis & Sarah Hancock John B. & Joan Hanna Kenneth & Geraldine Hanni Sunny & Wes Howell Dixie S. & Robert P. Huefner Jay & Julie Jacobson M. Craig & Rebecca Johns Bryce & Karen† Johnson Neone F. Jones Family J. Allen & Charlene Kimball Carl & Gillean Kjeldsberg Donald L. & Alice A. Lappe Roger Leslie James Lether Harrison & Elaine Levy Herbert C. & Wilma S. Livsey Daniel Lofgren Milt & Carol Lynnes David & Donna Lyon Jed & Kathryn Marti David Mash David & Nickie McDowell Warren K. & Virginia G. McOmber George & Nancy Melling Linda Mendelson Matt & Andrea Mitton Dr. Louis A. Moench & Deborah Moench Mr. & Mrs. Barry Mower Dan & Janet Myers Marilyn H. Neilson Bradley Olch Joseph & Dorothy Ann Palmer Dr. Thomas Parks & Dr. Patricia Legant Linda S. Pembroke Chase† & Grethe Peterson Jon Poesch Dan & June Ragan Dr. & Mrs. Marvin L. Rallison Dr. Richard & Frances Reiser Gina Rieke Frank & Helen Risch Richard & Carmen Rogers David & Lois Salisbury Mark & Loulu Saltzman Margaret P. Sargent Bertram H. & Janet Schaap Deborah Schiller Mr. & Mrs. Eric Schoenholz K. Gary & Lynda Shields

Gibbs & Catherine W. Smith Christine St. Andre Jerry Steichen Drs. Gerald B. & Nancy Ahlstrom Stephanz JoLynda Stillman Bill & Connie Timmons Foundation Ann Marie & William Thomas Frederic & Marilyn Wagner David J. & Susan Wagstaff John & Susan Walker Gerard & Sheila Walsh Bryan & Diana Watabe Suzanne Weaver Mr. & Mrs. E. A. Woolston

$1,000 to $1,999

Anonymous (4) Fran Akita Christine A. Allred Alex Bocock & Amy Sullivan Joseph & Margaret Anderson Drs. Crystal & Dustin Armstrong Daniel & Sheila Barnett Richard & Alice Bass David Bateman Mr. Barry Bergquist James & Marilyn Brezovec Mr. & Mrs. Lee Forrest Carter William J. Coles & Dr. Joan L. Coles Dr. & Mrs. David Coppin Dr. & Mrs. Thomas Coppin Margaret Dreyfous Alice Edvalson Naomi K. Feigal Edward B. & Deborah Felt Robert S. Felt, M.D. Robert & Elisha Finney Blake & Linda Fisher Mr. & Mrs. Richard R. Graham Anabel Greenlee Geoffery Grinney C. Chauncey & Emily Hall Mr. G. K. Handley Kenneth & Kate Handley Robert & Marcia Harris Lex Hemphill & Nancy Melich John Edward Henderson Connie C. Holbrook Bob† & Ursula Hoshaw Kay Howells Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Huffman Ms. Caroline Hundley

UTAH SYMPHONY JAN–FEB 2015

OUT ON THE TOWN

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Consistently Rated “Tops”–Zagat 60 W. Market Street • 801.363.0166

Salt Lake City’s #1

MARKET STREET GRILL DOWNTOWN 48