Guest Artist Biographies
ANNA LARSSON
Anna Larsson graduated from the University College of Opera in Stockholm in 1996. Her international debut followed immediately in Mahler Symphony No. 2 with the Berliner Philharmonic Orchestra and Claudio Abbado, and her opera debut as Erda in Wagner’s Das Rheingold at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, conducted by Daniel Barenboim.
Among her many roles are Kundry in Wagner’s Parsifal, Herodias in Massenet’s Hérodiade, Erda in Wagner’s Siegfried and Fricka in Die Walküre, Delilah in Saint-Saëns’s Samson and Delilah, and Genevieve in Debussy’s Pelleas et Mélisande at theatres including Teatro alla Scala, Vienna State Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Salzburg and Aix-en-Provence festivals, the Opéra de Paris, the Royal Opera House in London, Teatro Maggio Musicale in Florence, La Monnaie Brussels, Palau des Arts Valencia, Royal Opera Copenhagen, Finnish National Opera, and the Swedish Royal Opera.
In concert, Larsson is internationally renowned as a consummate interpreter of Gustav Mahler’s works. She regularly sings with the world’s great orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, London Symphony, and London Philharmonic orchestras. She has sung with illustrious conductors including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Daniel Harding, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Antonio Pappano, Gustavo Dudamel, Alan Gilbert, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. In December 2010, Larsson was appointed Court Singer by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, and in 2011, she opened her own concert house, Vattnäs Concert Bam.
Recent engagements have included Erda with Barenboim for the Deutsche Staatsoper with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Klytemnestra (Elektra) for Deutsche Oper Berlin, Zia Principessa (Suor Angelica) for Malmö Opera, Royal Swedish Opera, and Den Norske Opera, Erda (Siegfried) for Musikhuset Esbjerg, and Waltraute (Gotterdammerung) at MUPA Bupdaest. On the concert platform, recent appearances have included Wesendoncklieder with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Das Lied von der Erde for the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and Beethoven’s Mass in C with the LA Philharmonic, and Maher’s Symphony No. 2 with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Lyon, and with the Orchestra of Teatro alla Scala.
In 2022.23, Larsson returns to the operatic stage as Klytemnestra (Elektra) for Den Norske Opera. On the concert platform, Larsson sings Das Lied von der Erde with Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and for the NOVA Chamber Music Series Utah, Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 for Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Sao Paulo State Symphony, and Utah Symphony, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 on tour with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and Verdi’s Requiem with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra.
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Congratulations to MSO Retiree: Laurie Shawger
Laurie Shawger joined the second violin section of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in 1989. She grew up in Pennsylvania and earned her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees at The Juilliard School in New York. Ms. Shawger has participated in the MSO’s Arts in Community Education (ACE) program, a nationally recognized in-school education initiative, and the Lullaby Project, a collaboration between the MSO and the Sojourner Family Peace Center. The beauty of music is the power of human connection through the creative expression of the broad range of our experiences of love, loss, and rebounding joy. Ms. Shawger is thankful for the many years of being a part of the MSO and for the MSO’s vital role in our community’s cultural landscape.
Program notes by Elaine Schmidt
GUSTAV MAHLER
Born 7 July 1860; Kaliště, Czech Republic
Died 18 May 1911; Vienna, Austria
Symphony No. 2 in C minor, “Resurrection”
First performance: 13 December 1895; Berlin, Germany
Last MSO performance: June 2011; Edo de Waart, conductor; Twyla Robinson, soprano; Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano
Instrumentation: 4 flutes (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th doubling on piccolo); 4 oboes (3rd and 4th doubling on English horn); 4 clarinets (3rd doubling on bass clarinet, 4th doubling on 2nd E-flat clarinet); E-flat clarinet; 4 bassoons (3rd and 4th doubling on contrabassoon); 9 horns; 6 trumpets; 4 trombones; tuba; 2 timpani; percussion (bass drum, chimes, cymbals, glockenspiel, snare drum, suspended cymbals, tam tam, triangle); 2 harps; organ; strings
Approximate duration: 1 hour and 20 minutes
Gustav Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection,” touches something universal in listeners: loss, longing, and the contemplation of death. Some of the reason for the emotions it elicits in listeners clearly lies in his use of melodic and harmonic language and his choice of texts. But his own emotional state as he stopped working on the piece and then returned to it, completing it seven years after he began, is undoubtedly at the heart of the piece’s expressive power.
Although we remember Mahler as the composer of nine completed symphonies, some incomparable Lieder, and of course, his orchestral song cycle, Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth), he was much better known during his career as one of the most respected conductors of his day than as a composer. The fact that composing was secondary to conducting in his musical life gives some explanation for the span of seven years it took him to write his Symphony No. 2, but does not provide the entire picture.
Mahler began this piece in 1888 as he was working on completing his Symphony No. 1. He completed the single-movement tone poem that would eventually become the first movement of his Symphony No. 2 by the end of the year, but couldn’t decide if he should incorporate the tone poem into the new symphony or not. He also wrote a bit of the second movement, but that’s where he paused.
In 1889, Mahler’s personal world began to crumble. His father died in February, followed by one of his sisters in September, and his mother in October. Reeling from the enormity of those losses, Mahler had to take on the role of parent to his four younger siblings. All of this occurred as he was suffering multiple painful and debilitating health issues himself. To cap off the year, Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 premiered in November in Budapest. It was not at all well received.
Mahler did, of course, return to his Symphony No. 2, but did not complete it until 1894. In it, he calls for a large orchestra, a chorus, and two vocal soloists: a soprano and a mezzo-soprano. He explores the theme of death in this piece as he would in varying degrees with each of his symphonies.
The first movement, which is dramatic and distinctly funereal in character, is contrasted by a simple second movement that resembles a Ländler folk dance. Mahler asked for a long pause after the first movement to soften the contrast between the two movements.
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The third movement is a setting of a German folk song from Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth’s Magic Horn), a book of German folk poems and songs that Mahler loved and that inspired a number of his pieces. The song depicts St. Anthony of Padua’s sermon to the fishes. The fourth movement, “Urlicht” (Primal Light), is exquisite in its simplicity. Mahler’s marking for the movement reads “very solemn but simple.”
Mahler described his inspiration for the piece’s final movement, saying, “It flashed on me like lightning, and everything became clear in my mind!” That lightning strike occurred when Mahler heard a hymn that was based on a German poem at the funeral of conductor Hans von Bülow. Mahler said, “It was the flash that all creative artists wait for.”
Mahler’s music was generally not well received during his lifetime. It was not until after World War II, and thanks to the efforts of conductors Leonard Bernstein, Bruno Walter, and a few others, that orchestras began playing Mahler’s works. Today those works are pillars of the orchestral repertoire, and Mahler is hailed as a brilliant composer and an essential link between the Romantic and Modern musical eras.
32 MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
2022.23 SEASON
KEN-DAVID MASUR
Music Director
Polly and Bill Van Dyke
Music Director Chair
EDO DE WAART
Music Director Laureate
YANIV DINUR
Resident Conductor
CHERYL FRAZES HILL
Chorus Director
Margaret Hawkins Chorus Director Chair
TIMOTHY J. BENSON
Assistant Chorus Director
FIRST VIOLINS
Ilana Setapen, Acting Concertmaster, Charles and Marie Caestecker
Concertmaster Chair
Jeanyi Kim, Acting Associate Concertmaster (2nd Chair)
Alexanders Ayers, Acting Assistant Concertmaster
Yuka Kadota
Ji-Yeon Lee**
Dylana Leung
Allison Lovera
Lijia Phang
Margot Schwartz*
Alejandra Switala**
Yuanhui Fiona Zheng
SECOND VIOLINS
Jennifer Startt, Principal, Andrea and Woodrow Leung Second Violin Chair
Timothy Klabunde, Assistant Principal
John Bian, Assistant Principal (3rd Chair)
Glenn Asch
Lisa Johnson Fuller
Paul Hauer
Hyewon Kim
Shengnan Li*
Laurie Shawger
Mary Terranova
VIOLAS
Robert Levine, Principal, Richard O. and Judith A. Wagner Family Principal Viola Chair
Samantha Rodriguez, Acting Assistant Principal, Friends of Janet F. Ruggeri
Viola Chair
Alejandro Duque, Acting Assistant Principal (3rd Chair)
Elizabeth Breslin
Nathan Hackett
Erin H. Pipal
Helen Reich
CELLOS
Susan Babini, Principal, Dorothea C. Mayer Cello Chair
Nicholas Mariscal, Assistant Principal
Scott Tisdel, Associate Principal Emeritus
Madeleine Kabat
Peter Szczepanek
Peter J. Thomas
Adrien Zitoun
BASSES
Jon McCullough-Benner, Principal, Donald B. Abert Bass Chair
Andrew Raciti, Associate Principal
Nash Tomey, Assistant Principal (3rd Chair)
Brittany Conrad
Peter Hatch
Paris Myers
HARP
Julia Coronelli, Principal, Walter Schroeder Harp Chair
FLUTES
Sonora Slocum, Principal, Margaret and Roy Butter Flute Chair
Heather Zinninger, Assistant Principal
Jennifer Bouton Schaub
PICCOLO
Jennifer Bouton Schaub
OBOES
Katherine Young Steele, Principal, Milwaukee Symphony League Oboe Chair
Kevin Pearl, Assistant Principal
Margaret Butler
ENGLISH HORN
Margaret Butler, Philip and Beatrice Blank English Horn Chair in memoriam to John Martin
CLARINETS
Todd Levy, Principal, Franklyn Esenberg Clarinet Chair
Benjamin Adler, Assistant Principal, Donald and Ruth P. Taylor Assistant Principal Clarinet Chair
Taylor Eiffert
E FLAT CLARINET
Benjamin Adler
BASS CLARINET
Taylor Eiffert
BASSOONS
Catherine Van Handel, Principal, Muriel C. and John D. Silbar Family Bassoon Chair
Rudi Heinrich, Assistant Principal
Beth W. Giacobassi
CONTRABASSOON
Beth W. Giacobassi
HORNS
Matthew Annin, Principal, Krause Family French Horn Chair
Krystof Pipal, Associate Principal
Dietrich Hemann, Andy Nunemaker French Horn Chair
Darcy Hamlin
Kelsey Williams**
TRUMPETS
Matthew Ernst, Principal, Walter L. Robb Family Trumpet Chair
David Cohen, Associate Principal, Martin J. Krebs Associate Principal
Trumpet Chair
Alan Campbell, Fred Fuller
Trumpet Chair
TROMBONES
Megumi Kanda, Principal, Marjorie Tiefenthaler
Trombone Chair
Kirk Ferguson, Assistant Principal
BASS TROMBONE
John Thevenet, Richard M. Kimball Bass Trombone Chair
TUBA
Robyn Black, Principal
TIMPANI
Dean Borghesani, Principal
Chris Riggs, Assistant Principal
PERCUSSION
Robert Klieger, Principal
Chris Riggs
PIANO
Melitta S. Pick Endowed Piano Chair
PERSONNEL MANAGERS
Françoise Moquin, Director of Orchestra Personnel
Constance Aguocha, Assistant Personnel Manager
LIBRARIAN
Paul Beck, Principal Librarian, Anonymous Donor, Principal Librarian Chair
PRODUCTION
Tristan Wallace, Technical Manager & Live Audio Supervisor
Paolo Scarabel, Stage Technician & Deck Supervisor
* Leave of Absence 2022.23 Season
** Acting member of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra 2022.23 Season
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