OKC Philharmonic program magazine Fall 2013 by Michelle Winters

YO-YO MA

NEIL SEDAKA

SARAH CHANG

ANDREW VON OEYEN, piano September 28, 2013

Jennifer Koh, violin October 19, 2013

JOEL LEVINE MUSIC DIRECTOR sci-fi spectacular with george takei November 1-2, 2013

Garrick ohlsson, piano November 16, 2013

Who will you find at GiveSmartOKC.org? The Oklahoma City Philharmonic and nearly 200 other nonprofit organizations in central Oklahoma.

At GiveSmartOKC.org, these nonprofit organizations are providing donors and others interested in philanthropy with detailed information on: • Financial Reports • Governance & Management • Program Descriptions • And much more!

Visit www.givesmartokc.org and search for nonprofit organizations that fit your interests. Don’t find your favorite nonprofit organization on GiveSmartOKC? Encourage them to contact us at givesmartokc@occf.org or call Jana Steelman at 405/606-2922.

A Project of

Just as symphony musicians spend years rehearsing in the concert hall, chefs-in-training hone their skills at District 21, the teaching restaurant of Francis Tuttle’s School of Culinary Arts. Serving as a capstone experience for students, District 21 offers seasonal, modern American cuisine in a shared-plate environment.

Francis Tuttle School of Culinary Arts D E D I C AT E D T O E X C E L L E N C E I N C U L I N A R Y E D U C AT I O N

Open Tuesday through Friday, with dinner seatings between 6 and 8:30. Call 717.7700 for reservations 12777 N. Rockwell Avenue d21dining.com

Who will you find at GiveSmartOKC.org? The Oklahoma City Philharmonic and nearly 200 other nonprofit organizations in central Oklahoma.

A Project of

Francis Tuttle School of Culinary Arts D E D I C AT E D T O E X C E L L E N C E I N C U L I N A R Y E D U C AT I O N

Open Tuesday through Friday, with dinner seatings between 6 and 8:30. Call 717.7700 for reservations 12777 N. Rockwell Avenue d21dining.com

JOYFUL MAKE A

WELCOME

KIP WELCH, President Oklahoma Philharmonic Society, Inc. Welcome to the 25th Anniversary season of our Oklahoma City Philharmonic. I’m sure most of us have been touched and lifted by the Phil at one point or another. Naturally my pride for this incredible group of talent has swollen to maximum levels. I am also touched to see the great work the Phil does in our community. The educational outreach is such a big part of the mission and through the combined efforts of the Orchestra League and the Associate Board, hundreds, if not thousands of youngsters in our communities have been exposed to music on a level that is personal and life-changing.

NOISE

We are proud to support the Oklahoma City Philharmonic as it celebrates its 25th season of making joyful noises.

I believe our Philharmonic rivals any other in the country and feel a great deal of gratitude toward our leaders, Maestro Joel Levine and our Executive Director, Eddie Walker. Their partnering spirit is an example to other organizations like ours. And of course the musicians are the soul of what makes our Phil so outstanding. We are blessed to be in a community where music (and the arts in general) is so plentiful and its value so appreciated. I am grateful to be a part of this organization and realize none of it would be possible without the generous support of our individual contributors and our corporate and foundation sponsors. Here’s to a great 25th season!!

DEBBIE MINTER, President Oklahoma City Orchestra League, Inc. SandRidgeEnergy.com 1966-13-ESKL OKC Philharmonic Program (LS).pdf

8/6/13

2:08 PM

SandRidge-OKC-Philharmonic-Mag-2013-v1.indd 1

7/30/2013 5:14:04 PM

As the 25th Anniversary season of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic gets under way, the Orchestra League is preparing for another rewarding year. The efforts of our volunteers help make every Philharmonic season possible, but that’s just part of our mission. We sponsor seventeen educational programs for the youth of central Oklahoma and a February series of music competitions for young performers. Through these endeavors, we work to stimulate interest in orchestral music and to support the young people who will ensure it continues to thrive. Each spring, central Oklahoma’s top decorators create a magnificent display that attracts thousands of visitors and generates the largest portion of our funding for the Phil. I’m talking about the Symphony Show House. This year’s 41st Show House promises to be truly grand, and I know you’re as excited about it as we are. On behalf of the volunteers of the Oklahoma City Orchestra League, I’d like to express gratitude to Maestro Joel Levine and to the skilled and dedicated musicians of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic. Our outstanding orchestra makes it a joy to come together and celebrate our love of music. Enjoy the show!

BRENT HART, President Associate Board It is an honor to serve as the President of the Philharmonic’s Associate Board for this very exciting 25th anniversary season. This year is sure to be one of celebration, reminiscence and appreciation for our rich culture of orchestral music. When you reinvent automotive excellence, there may be an expectation that you’re finished. You climbed Mt. Everest. You swam the Atlantic. There’s nowhere else to go. Since the Lexus LS is the standard bearer of luxury, adding intuitive technology, enhanced agility, and an F SPORT model seems as if we’re competing with ourselves. That’s exactly what we did. Meet the all new, redesigned, still first in its class 2013 Lexus LS. Standards, you’ve been raised. For 60 years, Eskridge Auto Group has continued to combine years of experience with cutting edge thinking. Here’s to 60 more.

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The Associate Board has grown its Overture membership group, geared toward young professionals, from a bright idea into a full section of new season subscribers. We expect this season to be our best yet. With an enthusiastic team of AB officers and members, we are planning new and innovative ways to complement this year’s incredible concert line-up. Overture members will be treated to special events including pre- and post-concert parties, networking events and volunteer opportunities. We hope you’ll join us in sharing the orchestral music of the OKC Philharmonic with new audiences across the metro. Learn about upcoming events first on Facebook at facebook.com/overtureokc or twitter @overtureokc.

ESKRIDGELEXUS.COM

JOYFUL MAKE A

WELCOME

NOISE

We are proud to support the Oklahoma City Philharmonic as it celebrates its 25th season of making joyful noises.

DEBBIE MINTER, President Oklahoma City Orchestra League, Inc. SandRidgeEnergy.com 1966-13-ESKL OKC Philharmonic Program (LS).pdf

8/6/13

2:08 PM

SandRidge-OKC-Philharmonic-Mag-2013-v1.indd 1

7/30/2013 5:14:04 PM

2013 LS 450

700 WEST MEMORIAL ROAD

405.755.9000

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Music to the ears is medicine for the soul mercy.net

Enjoy pre-concert talks offering insight and anecdotes about the evening’s program. Free to ticket holders. Saturdays :: 7PM :: Civic Center :: Before each CLASSICS SERIES concert

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013 There will be no Concert Preview this evening. Please join us for a celebration in honor of the Philharmonic’s 25th Anniversary starting at 7PM in the lobby of the Civic Center. Refreshments will be served.

OCTOBER 19, 2013 Jennifer Koh, Violinist, and Peter Markes, Director of Orchestras, Edmond North High School Jennifer Koh, violin soloist for the evening’s concert, is interviewed by Peter Markes, violinist and educator, for a lively discussion of the upcoming performance and about the life of a soloist.

NOVEMBER 16, 2013 Dr. Mark Reighard, Professor, Southern Nazarene University Back by popular demand, Dr. Mark Reighard, a favorite lecturer on music at SNU, is known for his skill of teaching complex ideas with humor and clarity. He’ll speak on Beethoven and his Symphony No. 5.

Educating in Mind, Body, Spirit Casady’s holistic approach to education leads students to pursue a diverse range of interests, inspiring academic, athletic, artistic and spiritual growth.

JANUARY 11, 2014 Joel Levine, Music Director, OKC Philharmonic Founding music director of the OKC Philharmonic, Joel Levine has dedicated his career to music in our city. He will share highlights of the 25th season and the history of orchestras in Oklahoma.

FEBRUARY 1, 2014 Anthony Stoops, Co-Principal Bass, OKC Philharmonic and Associate Professor of Double Bass, University of Oklahoma From his point of view in the bass section of the orchestra, co-Principal Anthony Stoops sees the Philharmonic from the foundation. He shares his perspective and thoughts on the evening’s program.

MARCH 1, 2014 Gaye LeBlanc, Principal Harp, OKC Philharmonic and Visiting Assistant Professor of Harp, University of Oklahoma Gaye LeBlanc is one of the most “in-demand” harpists in the Southwest United States. She’s a versatile musician who is also expert performing on the piano, organ and flute, giving her a fascinating point-of-view to comment on the upcoming concert.

APRIL 5, 2014 Irvin Wagner, Second Trombone, OKC Philharmonic and David Ross Boyd and Regents Professor of Music, University of Oklahoma Dr. Irvin Wagner has influenced the lives of thousands of music students as a teacher, conductor, advisor and fellow musician. His balance of entertainer and educator has made him beloved by audiences as well.

This is CASADY.

MAY 10, 2014 Dr. Randi Von Ellefson, Artistic Director, Canterbury Choral Society and Director of Choral Activities, Oklahoma City University

405.749.3185 • www.casady.org •

As artistic director of Canterbury Choral Society and director of choral activities at OCU, Dr. Randi Von Ellefson will share highlights of the program that features various choral voicings with orchestra including the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky.

Casady School admits students of any race, color, creed and national or ethnic origin.

MUSIC DIRECTOR -

JOEL LEVINE Beginning his twenty-fifth season leading the Philharmonic, Joel Levine is the longest serving music director in our City’s history. Including his tenure with the Oklahoma Symphony, Maestro Levine is enjoying his thirty-fourth year on the podium at Civic Center Music Hall. Under his leadership, the orchestra has appeared on international, national and local television broadcasts and released several recordings. Maestro Levine’s reputation for exceptional musical collaboration has enabled the Philharmonic to present one of the country’s most distinguished series of world-renowned guest artists. He has collaborated with many of the greatest performing artists of our time and has been called a “remarkable musician and visionary” by Yo-Yo Ma.

Maestro Levine has conducted many of America’s major ensembles including three seasons with The National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and the orchestras of St. Louis, Detroit, Minneapolis, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Seattle, Denver, Nashville and New Orleans. The national press has praised his performances: “the orchestra played with clarity and energy” (Los Angeles Times), “fine musicianship” (Washington Post), “Levine brings the needed sheen and rhythmic verve to the music” (Minneapolis Star), “Levine drew a crisp, bold and tonally lustrous account of the varied score from the orchestra and full-throated chorus” (Houston Post). His Detroit Symphony performances received “four stars” — the highest rating from the Detroit News.

For three decades, Maestro Levine has conducted many of the city’s historic programs including “Porgy and Bess” with the legendary Cab Calloway, the Paris Opera Ballet starring Rudolf Nureyev, “Rodeo” for Ballet Oklahoma under the direction of Agnes DeMille, the Philharmonic’s 100th anniversary production of “La Boheme,” the State of Oklahoma’s official Centennial Celebration, and the National Memorial Service following the Oklahoma City bombing. He has also conducted Young People’s programs around the State for thousands of children, twenty-three OKC productions of “The Nutcracker” since 1980, and led programs featuring Oklahoma’s celebrated native stars including Vince Gill, Reba McEntire, Jimmy Webb, Patti Page, Blake Shelton, Toby Keith, Kristin Chenoweth, Kelli O’Hara, Megan Mullally, Sandi Patty, and Leona Mitchell.

Known for his work with major artists in the world of classical dance, he has conducted for three of the greatest male dancers: Rudolf Nureyev, Edward Villella, and Peter Martins. For the Kansas City Ballet, he collaborated with famed choreographer, Alvin Ailey and conducted the first contemporary performance of a “lost” Balanchine ballet, “Divertimento.”

He has received international recognition for performances reflecting many different styles in the classical repertoire. His program of Schubert and Schumann symphonies with Germany’s Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra led the reviewer to write: “Joel Levine proved that he is an absolute master of his profession; the audience honored this impressive performance with much applause.” Engagements in the great European capitols include concerts with the Czech National Symphony in Prague’s Dvorák Hall, and the Symphony Orchestra of Portugal in Lisbon. Other international invitations have included orchestras in Spain, Israel, Belgrade, Bucharest, and an appearance with the Mexico City Philharmonic.

Maestro Levine’s résumé includes collaborations with many of the immortal names of jazz, musical theater, film and television. Several of his recordings with Mexico’s Xalapa Symphony Orchestra are in international release and have been broadcast on the BBC. Maestro Levine has taken an active role in the cultural life of Oklahoma City since he arrived in 1976 as music director for Lyric Theatre. He worked actively for the passage of MAPS 1 and played a key role in the renovation of our hall. For his work as a founder of the Orchestra, he received The Governor’s Arts Award (1989), was named Oklahoma Musician Of The Year (1991), is a 2008 “Treasures of Tomorrow” honoree of the Oklahoma Health Center Foundation, and received an Honorary Doctorate in Music from Oklahoma City University.

“Levine brings the needed sheen and rhythmic verve to the music” — Minneapolis Star

Enjoy pre-concert talks offering insight and anecdotes about the evening’s program. Free to ticket holders. Saturdays :: 7PM :: Civic Center :: Before each CLASSICS SERIES concert

Educating in Mind, Body, Spirit Casady’s holistic approach to education leads students to pursue a diverse range of interests, inspiring academic, athletic, artistic and spiritual growth.

This is CASADY.

MAY 10, 2014 Dr. Randi Von Ellefson, Artistic Director, Canterbury Choral Society and Director of Choral Activities, Oklahoma City University

405.749.3185 • www.casady.org •

Casady School admits students of any race, color, creed and national or ethnic origin.

MUSIC DIRECTOR -

“Levine brings the needed sheen and rhythmic verve to the music” — Minneapolis Star

OKLAHOMA PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY, INC.

P R O V I D I N G

I N S P I R A T I O N

A N D

J O Y

T H R O U G H

O R C H E S T R A L

M U S I C .

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Officers

Directors

Kip Welch President

Patrick Alexander Gary Allison Zonia Armstrong Edward Barth Bill Boettger Louise Cleary Robert Clements Joseph Fleckinger Debbie Fleming Ryan Free Kirk Hammons Brent Hart Patricia Horn Dr. Sonja Hughes Michael E. Joseph Brad Krieger Jean McLaughlin

Debbie Minter Berta Faye Rex John Richels Becky Ross Roten Rodney Sargent John Shelton Sam Sims, APR Jeff Starling Doug Stussi Glenna Tanenbaum

Michelle Ganson Education Coordinator

Janie Keith Subscriber Service Specialist

Pam Glyckherr Development Director

Kris Markes General Manager

Chris Stinchcomb Concert Operations and P.R. Coordinator

Daniel Hardt Finance Director

Jennifer Owens Annual Fund Manager

Stephen Howard Customer Service

Elizabeth Shultz Database/Records Coordinator

John Higginbotham President Elect Teresa Cooper Vice President Mike Dickinson Treasurer Renate Wiggin Secretary Penny McCaleb Immediate Past President Lifetime Director Jane B. Harlow

Honorary Directors

Josephine Freede Mary Nichols Richard L. and Jeannette Sias

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

Eddie Walker Executive Director Michelle Winters Marketing & P.R. Director

Judy Smedley Administrative Assistant

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Classical KCSC 90.1 Garman Productions Heritage Press

Reynolds Ford Ryan Audio Services, LLC. The Skirvin Hotel

Stubble Inc. Tuxedo Junction

THE OKLAHOMA PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY, INC. 428 W. California Ave., Ste 210 • Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73102 Tickets: 405-842-5387 • Administration: 405-232-7575 • Fax: 405-232-4353 • www.okcphilharmonic.org

OKLAHOMA PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY, INC.

P R O V I D I N G

I N S P I R A T I O N

A N D

J O Y

T H R O U G H

O R C H E S T R A L

M U S I C .

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Officers

Directors

Kip Welch President

Debbie Minter Berta Faye Rex John Richels Becky Ross Roten Rodney Sargent John Shelton Sam Sims, APR Jeff Starling Doug Stussi Glenna Tanenbaum

Michelle Ganson Education Coordinator

Janie Keith Subscriber Service Specialist

Pam Glyckherr Development Director

Kris Markes General Manager

Chris Stinchcomb Concert Operations and P.R. Coordinator

Daniel Hardt Finance Director

Jennifer Owens Annual Fund Manager

Stephen Howard Customer Service

Elizabeth Shultz Database/Records Coordinator

John Higginbotham President Elect Teresa Cooper Vice President Mike Dickinson Treasurer Renate Wiggin Secretary Penny McCaleb Immediate Past President Lifetime Director Jane B. Harlow

Honorary Directors

Josephine Freede Mary Nichols Richard L. and Jeannette Sias

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

Eddie Walker Executive Director Michelle Winters Marketing & P.R. Director

Judy Smedley Administrative Assistant

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Classical KCSC 90.1 Garman Productions Heritage Press

Reynolds Ford Ryan Audio Services, LLC. The Skirvin Hotel

Stubble Inc. Tuxedo Junction

OKLAHOMA CITY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE, INC. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Debbie Minter President Martha Pendleton Secretary Judy Moore Treasurer

Deanna Pendleton/ Renee O’Donnell Membership VP

Mike Belanger Legal Advisor (Ex-Officio)

Joan Bryant Public Relations VP

Minna Hall Parliamentarian (Ex-Officio)

Lucy Cheatwood Carol Bowman Social Events VP

Michelle Ganson Education Coordinator (Advisory)

Wanda Reynolds Sue Hanan Jones Ways & Means VP

Eddie Walker Executive Director Oklahoma City Philharmonic (Advisory)

Asst. Treasurer

Administrative VP

Sarah Sagran Judy Denwalt Budget & Finance VP (Ex-Officio) Competitions VP Kirsten Hawley Education VP

Cindy Raby Past President & Chairman Nominating Committee

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Jay Bass Margaret Biggs Carol Bowman Joan Bryant Betty Burns Larry Buss Beth Chenoweth Judy Denwalt John Ederer Ashley Fitzpatrick Dana Galiga Rachel Geiger Maria Gravley

Jean Hartsuck Vonda Henderson Cinda Lafferty Carol Lawrence Marilyn Long Peggy Lunde June McCoy LaDonna Meinders Ann Mogridge Phyllis Morrow JonEvah Murray Renee O’Donnell P.K. Palmer

Deanna Pendleton Barbara Pirrong Teresa Pope Kathlyn Reynolds Jeannie Sanford Sara Ann Scott Pam Shoulders Dwayne Webb Cheryl Weintraub Eleanor Whitsett Polly Worthington

Mona Preuss Iva Fleck Priscilla Braun Susan Robinson Minna Hall Yvette Fleckinger June Parry Marge Duncan Jean Hartsuck Grace Ryan Judy Austin LaDonna Meinders

Dixie Jensen Lois Salmeron Glenna Tanenbaum Debbie McKinney Anna McMillin Sue Francis Peggy Lunde Cathy Wallace Sharon Shelton Rhonda White Cindy Raby

PAST PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL Mary Ruth Ferguson Katherine Kirk Janelle Everest Lael Treat Josephine Freede Jane Harlow Jane Rodgers Joyce Bishop Ann Taylor Lil Ross Berta Faye Rex Sandra Meyers

ORCHESTRA LEAGUE OFFICE 13815 N. Santa Fe Ave. • Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73118 Phone: 405-601-4245 • Fax: 405-601-4278 • Hours: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

OKLAHOMA CITY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE, INC. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Debbie Minter President Martha Pendleton Secretary Judy Moore Treasurer

Deanna Pendleton/ Renee O’Donnell Membership VP

Mike Belanger Legal Advisor (Ex-Officio)

Joan Bryant Public Relations VP

Minna Hall Parliamentarian (Ex-Officio)

Lucy Cheatwood Carol Bowman Social Events VP

Michelle Ganson Education Coordinator (Advisory)

Wanda Reynolds Sue Hanan Jones Ways & Means VP

Eddie Walker Executive Director Oklahoma City Philharmonic (Advisory)

Asst. Treasurer

Administrative VP

Sarah Sagran Judy Denwalt Budget & Finance VP (Ex-Officio) Competitions VP Kirsten Hawley Education VP

Cindy Raby Past President & Chairman Nominating Committee

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Jay Bass Margaret Biggs Carol Bowman Joan Bryant Betty Burns Larry Buss Beth Chenoweth Judy Denwalt John Ederer Ashley Fitzpatrick Dana Galiga Rachel Geiger Maria Gravley

Jean Hartsuck Vonda Henderson Cinda Lafferty Carol Lawrence Marilyn Long Peggy Lunde June McCoy LaDonna Meinders Ann Mogridge Phyllis Morrow JonEvah Murray Renee O’Donnell P.K. Palmer

Deanna Pendleton Barbara Pirrong Teresa Pope Kathlyn Reynolds Jeannie Sanford Sara Ann Scott Pam Shoulders Dwayne Webb Cheryl Weintraub Eleanor Whitsett Polly Worthington

Mona Preuss Iva Fleck Priscilla Braun Susan Robinson Minna Hall Yvette Fleckinger June Parry Marge Duncan Jean Hartsuck Grace Ryan Judy Austin LaDonna Meinders

Dixie Jensen Lois Salmeron Glenna Tanenbaum Debbie McKinney Anna McMillin Sue Francis Peggy Lunde Cathy Wallace Sharon Shelton Rhonda White Cindy Raby

PAST PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL Mary Ruth Ferguson Katherine Kirk Janelle Everest Lael Treat Josephine Freede Jane Harlow Jane Rodgers Joyce Bishop Ann Taylor Lil Ross Berta Faye Rex Sandra Meyers

ORCHESTRA LEAGUE OFFICE 13815 N. Santa Fe Ave. • Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73118 Phone: 405-601-4245 • Fax: 405-601-4278 • Hours: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

University of Central Oklahoma 2013-2014 Season Highlights

ruth meyers

EVERY TABLE

is a STAGE BROADW AY TON IG HT Greg Edelman in Broadway State of Mind 7:30 pm, Feb. 22, Mitchell Hall Theater Join us for a dazzling evening of charm and song.

DA N CE UCO Kaleidoscope Dancers in Concert 7:30 pm, Nov. 21-23, Mitchell Hall Theater Dance performance featuring new and innovative choreography from UCO faculty and guest artists.

LOVE the applause!

M USIC UCO Wind Symphony Concert 7:30 pm, Oct.15, Mitchell Hall Theater This concert begins a yearlong Wind Symphony theme titled “Central STANDARD Time.” L’Elisir D’Amore 7:30 pm, April 23-26 & 2 pm, April 27, Mitchell Hall Theater Come see one of the most popular comedic operas ever written. Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery

To purchase tickets please call the Mitchell Hall Theater Box Office at (405) 974-3375 or visit click4tix.com/uco.

www.uco.edu/cfad/events

Fellow, American College of Surgeons Member, American Society of Plastic Surgeons American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery CareCredit Welcome

LUNCH DINNER COCKTAILS SUNDAY BRUNCH 6471 Avondale Drive Nichols Hills 405.842.1478

1201 N. Walker 405.235.2200 stellaokc.com CLOSED MONDAYS

University of Central Oklahoma 2013-2014 Season Highlights

ruth meyers

EVERY TABLE

is a STAGE BROADW AY TON IG HT Greg Edelman in Broadway State of Mind 7:30 pm, Feb. 22, Mitchell Hall Theater Join us for a dazzling evening of charm and song.

DA N CE UCO Kaleidoscope Dancers in Concert 7:30 pm, Nov. 21-23, Mitchell Hall Theater Dance performance featuring new and innovative choreography from UCO faculty and guest artists.

LOVE the applause!

To purchase tickets please call the Mitchell Hall Theater Box Office at (405) 974-3375 or visit click4tix.com/uco.

www.uco.edu/cfad/events

Fellow, American College of Surgeons Member, American Society of Plastic Surgeons American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery CareCredit Welcome

LUNCH DINNER COCKTAILS SUNDAY BRUNCH 6471 Avondale Drive Nichols Hills 405.842.1478

1201 N. Walker 405.235.2200 stellaokc.com CLOSED MONDAYS

We support the Arts in Oklahoma!

Gregory Lee, Concertmaster Gertrude Kennedy Chair John Arnold, Associate Concertmaster Densi Rushing, Assistant Concertmaster Sam Formicola Hong Zhu Beth Sievers James Thomson Marat Gabdullin Deborah McDonald Janet Gorton Sophia Ro Tristan Selke Ai-Wei Chang Lu Deng

Second Violin

community. We’re committed to keeping our

Katrin Stamatis, Principal McCasland Foundation Chair Catherine Reaves Michael Reaves, Principal Emeritus Brenda Wagner James Brakebill Mary Joan Johnston Sarah Brown Laura Young Angelica Pereira Klaudia Cop Lois Fees June McCoy

state vibrant and keeping you connected to the

Viola

The Oklahoman supports our thriving arts

things that matter most to you.

To subscribe, log on to newsok.com/subscribe or call 1.877.987.2737.

THE ORCHESTRA

JOEL LEVINE, Music Director and Conductor EDDIE WALKER, Executive Director

First Violin

Whether you’re a painter or a performer,

Royce McLarry, Principal Mark Neumann Joseph Guevara Joseph Young Kelli Ingels Steve Waddell Donna Cain Brian Frew Shaohong Yuan Jennifer Scott

Cello

Jonathan Ruck, Principal Orchestra League Chair Tomasz Zieba, Associate Principal Meredith Blecha Valorie Tatge Emily Stoops Jim Shelley Angelika Machnik-Jones Jean Statham Dorothy Hays Rob Bradshaw

BASS

George Speed, Principal Anthony Stoops, Co-Principal Larry Moore Parvin Smith Mark Osborn Jesus Villarreal Christine Craddock Kara Koehn

FLUTE

Valerie Watts, Principal Parthena Owens Nancy Stizza-Ortega

PICCOLO

Nancy Stizza-Ortega

OBOE

Lisa Harvey-Reed, Principal Dan Schwartz Katherine McLemore

ENGLISH HORN Dan Schwartz

CLARINET

BASSOON

Rod Ackmann, Principal James Brewer Barre Griffith Larry Reed

CONTRABASSOON Barre Griffith

HORN

Eldon Matlick, Principal G. Rainey Williams Chair Nancy Halliday Kate Pritchett Frank Goforth

TRUMPET

Karl Sievers, Principal Jay Wilkinson Michael Anderson

TROMBONE

John Allen, Principal Irvin Wagner Wayne Clark, Bass Trombone

TUBA

Ted Cox, Principal

PERCUSSION

Dave Steffens, Principal Stuart Langsam Roger Owens

TIMPANI

Lance Drege, Principal

HARP

Gaye LeBlanc, Principal

Bradford Behn, Principal Tara Heitz James Meiller

PIANO

BASS/E-FLAT CLARINET

PERSONNEL MANAGER/LIBRARIAN

James Meiller

Peggy Payne, Principal Mike Helt

PRODUCTION MANAGER Leroy Newman

We support the Arts in Oklahoma!

Second Violin

community. We’re committed to keeping our

state vibrant and keeping you connected to the

Viola

The Oklahoman supports our thriving arts

things that matter most to you.

To subscribe, log on to newsok.com/subscribe or call 1.877.987.2737.

THE ORCHESTRA

JOEL LEVINE, Music Director and Conductor EDDIE WALKER, Executive Director

First Violin

Whether you’re a painter or a performer,

Royce McLarry, Principal Mark Neumann Joseph Guevara Joseph Young Kelli Ingels Steve Waddell Donna Cain Brian Frew Shaohong Yuan Jennifer Scott

Cello

Jonathan Ruck, Principal Orchestra League Chair Tomasz Zieba, Associate Principal Meredith Blecha Valorie Tatge Emily Stoops Jim Shelley Angelika Machnik-Jones Jean Statham Dorothy Hays Rob Bradshaw

BASS

George Speed, Principal Anthony Stoops, Co-Principal Larry Moore Parvin Smith Mark Osborn Jesus Villarreal Christine Craddock Kara Koehn

FLUTE

Valerie Watts, Principal Parthena Owens Nancy Stizza-Ortega

PICCOLO

Nancy Stizza-Ortega

OBOE

Lisa Harvey-Reed, Principal Dan Schwartz Katherine McLemore

ENGLISH HORN Dan Schwartz

CLARINET

BASSOON

Rod Ackmann, Principal James Brewer Barre Griffith Larry Reed

CONTRABASSOON Barre Griffith

HORN

Eldon Matlick, Principal G. Rainey Williams Chair Nancy Halliday Kate Pritchett Frank Goforth

TRUMPET

Karl Sievers, Principal Jay Wilkinson Michael Anderson

TROMBONE

John Allen, Principal Irvin Wagner Wayne Clark, Bass Trombone

TUBA

Ted Cox, Principal

PERCUSSION

Dave Steffens, Principal Stuart Langsam Roger Owens

TIMPANI

Lance Drege, Principal

HARP

Gaye LeBlanc, Principal

Bradford Behn, Principal Tara Heitz James Meiller

PIANO

BASS/E-FLAT CLARINET

PERSONNEL MANAGER/LIBRARIAN

James Meiller

Peggy Payne, Principal Mike Helt

PRODUCTION MANAGER Leroy Newman

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PLANNED GIVING

The Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra’s program-

NCORE

matic activities are made possible in part by the

SOCIETY

O F

T H E

O K L A H O M A

P H I L H A R M O N I C

S O C I E T Y ,

I N C .

The Oklahoma Philharmonic Society, Inc. is honored to recognize its Encore Society members — visionary thinkers who have provided for the future of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic through their estate plans. Steven C. Agee, Ph.D. Mr. and Mrs. Patrick B. Alexander Gary and Jan Allison Dr. Jay Jacquelyn Bass Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Clements Thomas and Rita Dearmon Dr. and Mrs. James D. Dixson Paul and Donna Fleming Hugh Gibson Pam and Gary Glyckherr Carey and Gayle Goad Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Gowman

Carol M. Hall Ms. Olivia Hanson Jane B. Harlow Dr. and Mrs. James Hartsuck Mr. and Mrs. Michael E. Joseph John and Caroline Linehan Mr. and Mrs. Marvin C. Lunde, Jr. Mrs. Jackie Marron Mr. and Mrs. John McCaleb R.M. (Mickey) McVay Robert B. and Jane H. Milsten W. Cheryl Moore

Mrs. Virginia D. Pollock Carl Andrew Rath Mr. and Mrs. William J. Ross Drs. Lois and John Salmeron Mr. and Mrs. William F. Shdeed R.L. and Jeannette F. Sias Doug and Susie Stussi Larry and Leah Westmoreland Mr. John S. Williams Mrs. Martha V. Williams Mr. and Mrs. Don T. Zachritz

Oklahoma Arts Council, through an appropriation by the Oklahoma State Legislature and additional funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition, these activities are supported by a grant from the Allied Arts Foundation.

Thank You to Max A. Brattin The OKC Phil was recently honored to receive a generous bequest from the late Max A. Brattin, Professor of Economics at OBU from 1966 to 2000. Purposefully involved in Education and the Arts all of his life, Mr. Brattin served and supported the community professionally as well as personally. By planning to leave his special legacy gift to the Philharmonic, Mr. Brattin will be continuing to support the music he loved far beyond his own lifetime. Mr. Brattin was especially passionate about the Philharmonic’s Inasmuch Classics Series, and for years he arranged to occupy the same seat during these favorite performances. In addition to purchasing his annual Classics subscription, each season Mr. Brattin also made a donation to further support the orchestra’s programs. Through his annual commitment to the orchestra’s success, Mr. Brattin helped the Philharmonic to provide its very best for the community’s enjoyment. Through his generous bequest placed in the Philharmonic’s Endowment Fund, the Philharmonic’s audiences will continue to benefit for years to come. On behalf of all who will experience and enjoy our orchestra’s music this 25th Anniversary Season and into the future, we take this opportunity to thank and to recognize a very special friend.

THANK YOU The Oklahoma Philharmonic Society, Inc. is grateful for the support of caring patrons who want to pass on a legacy of extraordinary music to future generations. You can join this special group of music enthusiasts by including a gift for the OKC Philharmonic’s future in your own will or estate plan. For more information on how to become an Encore Society member, contact the Development Office at (405) 231-0146 or pam@okcphilharmonic.org.

2824 N. Pennsylvania Ave. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73107 405-528-2824

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PLANNED GIVING

The Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra’s program-

NCORE

matic activities are made possible in part by the

SOCIETY

O F

T H E

O K L A H O M A

P H I L H A R M O N I C

S O C I E T Y ,

I N C .

2824 N. Pennsylvania Ave. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73107 405-528-2824

GIFTS TO THE PHILHARMONIC

The Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the commitment and generosity of individuals, corporations, foundations, and government agencies that support our mission. To help us provide inspiration and joy to the community through performances and education programs, please contact the Philharmonic’s Development Office at (405) 232-7575. This Annual Fund recognition reflects 2012-2013 contributions and 2013-2014 contributions of $100 and above through August 20, 2013. If your name has been misspelled or omitted, please accept our apologies and inform us of the error by calling the phone number listed above. Thank you for your generous support!

CORPORATIONS, FOUNDATIONS & GOVERNMENT

MAESTRO SOCIETY

Providing leadership support.

GOLD SPONSORS $5,000 - $9,999

GOLD PARTNERS $1,250 - $1,749

Allied Arts Foundation Anschutz Family Foundation/OPUBCO Communications Group Chesapeake Energy Corporation Devon Energy Corporation Inasmuch Foundation Oklahoma Arts Council Oklahoma City Orchestra League, Inc. The Oklahoman The Skirvin Hilton Hotel

Classical KCSC 90.1 The Crawley Family Foundation Express Employment Professionals Gordon P. and Ann G. Getty Foundation Great Plains Coca-Cola Bottling Company Mekusukey Oil Company, LLC SandRidge Energy The Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation

Flips Restaurant, Inc. The Fred Jones Family Foundation The Hertz Corporation Kimray Inc. Norick Investment Company Oklahoma Natural Gas Potts Family Foundation, Inc. RealTime Layout Solutions, LLP The Reserve Petroleum Company

PLATINUM SPONSORS $10,000 - $39,999

SILVER SPONSORS $3,000 - $4,999

Ad Astra Foundation American Fidelity Corporation BancFirst Bank of Oklahoma The Boeing Company Cole & Reed, P.C. Express Employment Professionals International Headquarters Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores Mathis Brothers Furniture Co., Inc. MidFirst Bank OGE Energy Corp. Robert Glenn Rapp Foundation Slice Magazine Tri-State Industrial Group, LLC W&W Steel, LLC

Access Midstream Partners Clements Foods Foundation Garman Productions Magic Services, Inc. Rotary Club of Oklahoma City

BRONZE SPONSORS $1,750 - $2,999 Anthony Flooring Systems Inc. Oklahoma Allergy & Asthma Clinic Target Stores Testers, Inc. Globe Life and Accident Insurance

MATCHING GIFT COMPANIES AND FOUNDATIONS Double the impact of an individual’s gift. American Fidelity Corporation Bank of America Matching Gifts Program Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation Inasmuch Foundation

SILVER PARTNERS $750 - $1,249 Corporate Accommodations Garvin County News-Star James Farris Associates Mr. and Mrs. C.M. Zeeck

BRONZE PARTNERS $300 - $749 Accell Financial Staffing Specialists Atchley Resources, Inc. The Boldt Company Freepoint Pipe & Supply, Inc.

Special Thanks to: E.L. & Thelma Gaylord Foundation and The Hearst Foundations

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Guarantor $10,000 and above Mr. and Mrs. Gary E. Allison Ms. Mary Lou Avery Mr. Howard K. Berry, Jr. The Freede Family Mr. and Mrs. Andrew J. Evans Mr. and Mrs. David L. McLaughlin Mrs. John W. Nichols Mr. and Mrs. George J. Records Mr. and Mrs. John Richels Mr. and Mrs. Richard L. Sias

Express their generous commitment to the community.

UNDERWRITER $40,000 & Above

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Benefactor $5,000 - $9,999 Steven C. Agee, Ph.D. Mr. and Mrs. Patrick B. Alexander Mrs. Betty D. Bellis Dr. Yung Hye Choe and Ms. Caroline McKinnis Mrs. Molly Crawley Mr. and Mrs. Douglas R. Cummings Mr. and Mrs. John A. Frost Mrs. Jane B. Harlow Dr. and Mrs. John H. Holliman Mr. Wendell E. Miles Mrs. Virginia D. Pollock Mr. H.E. Rainbolt Mr. and Mrs. Richard Tanenbaum Dr. and Mrs. Kenneth and June Tucker Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Wiggin

INDIVIDUALS Providing essential support for the Annual Fund. Patron $3,000 - $4,999 Mr. and Mrs. Thomas D. Barbour Mr. and Mrs. William A. Boettger Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Davis Mr. Scott Davis and Mr. David Leader Paul and Debbie Fleming Mrs. Bonnie B. Hefner Ms. Veronica L. Pastel and Mr. Robert B. Egelston Mr. and Mrs. Douglas J. Stussi

Sustainer $1,750 - $2,999 Dr. and Mrs. Dewayne Andrews Dr. and Mrs. Philip C. Bird Priscilla and Jordan Braun Mr. and Mrs. Russal Brawley Dr. and Mrs. Robert C. Brown Mr. Thomas Davis Mr. James Dubois Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Duncan Mr. and Mrs. Robert Y. Empie Mr. and Mrs. Joseph M. Fleckinger Mr. and Mrs. Justin C. Gardner Mr. and Mrs. George Gibson Mr. and Mrs. Carey Don Goad Curtis Greenwood Mr. G. Curtis Harris Dr. and Mrs. James M. Hartsuck

Mr. and Mrs. Paul D. Hulseberg Mrs. Janice Singer Jankowsky Gloria Stanley Jean Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Joseph Mr. and Mrs. Harrison Levy, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Duke R. Ligon Ms. Princes Faye Mandrell Dr. and Mrs. Patrick McKee Mr. and Mrs. Herman Meinders Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Milsten Mr. J. Edward Oliver Mr. and Mrs. William G. Paul Mrs. Ruby C. Petty Dr. Joseph H. Phillips Mr. and Mrs. Jerry W. Plant Mr. and Mrs. Steven Raybourn Mr. and Mrs. William J. Ross Mr. Donald Rowlett Mr. and Mrs. Patrick J. Ryan Drs. Lois and John Salmeron Mrs. Sally B. Saunders Ms. Jeanne Hoffman Smith Mrs. Millicent Sukman Fredrick and Nancy Thompson Mr. and Mrs. James P. Walker Mr. and Mrs. Ron K. Walker Mrs. Martha V. Williams Mr. and Mrs. Dick Workman Ms. Nancy Yaffe

Associate $1,250 - $1,749 Leigh Ann and Paul Albers Mrs. Mary Louise Adams Mr. Kenneth Ainsworth Mrs. Ann Simmons Alspaugh Mr. Barry Anderson Mr. J. Edward Barth Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Benham Ms. Robin Black Ms. Pamela Bloustine MAJ. GEN. William P. Bowden, Rt. Mr. and Mrs. Del Boyles Dr. and Mrs. L. Joe Bradley Mr. Drew Braum Mr. and Mrs. William R Buckles Phil and Cathy Busey Dr. Jay Cannon Dr. and Mrs. J. Christopher Carey Dr. John M. Carey Dr. and Mrs. Charles W. Cathey Mrs. Anita Clark-Ashley and Mr. Charles Ashley Ms. Louise Cleary and Mr. Bill Churchill Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Clements Mr. Rodney Coate and Mr. Juan Camarena Mr. and Mrs. Jack H. Coleman Mrs. Emogene Collins Dr. Thomas Coniglione Mrs. Teresa Cooper CONTINUED ON PAGE 53

GIFTS TO THE PHILHARMONIC

CORPORATIONS, FOUNDATIONS & GOVERNMENT

MAESTRO SOCIETY

Providing leadership support.

GOLD SPONSORS $5,000 - $9,999

GOLD PARTNERS $1,250 - $1,749

PLATINUM SPONSORS $10,000 - $39,999

SILVER SPONSORS $3,000 - $4,999

Access Midstream Partners Clements Foods Foundation Garman Productions Magic Services, Inc. Rotary Club of Oklahoma City

BRONZE SPONSORS $1,750 - $2,999 Anthony Flooring Systems Inc. Oklahoma Allergy & Asthma Clinic Target Stores Testers, Inc. Globe Life and Accident Insurance

SILVER PARTNERS $750 - $1,249 Corporate Accommodations Garvin County News-Star James Farris Associates Mr. and Mrs. C.M. Zeeck

BRONZE PARTNERS $300 - $749 Accell Financial Staffing Specialists Atchley Resources, Inc. The Boldt Company Freepoint Pipe & Supply, Inc.

Special Thanks to: E.L. & Thelma Gaylord Foundation and The Hearst Foundations

SOCIETY

Express their generous commitment to the community.

UNDERWRITER $40,000 & Above

MAESTRO

GRAND OPENINGSeptember NIGHT 28, 2013 8:00 P.M.

CLASSICS Andrew von Oeyen, piano JOEL LEVINE, CONDUCTOR

It is a joy and privilege to celebrate this 25th Anniversary Season of the OKC Philharmonic. We take great pride in our growth over this quarter century, and we thank the many people and organizations who have made it all possible. Our success is built on solid relationships. We are closely tied to the many universities in our area. Our education programs offer valuable opportunities for deeper connections to music to schools and to both advanced and beginning children and adults. The bonds between the entire Phil family — musicians, volunteers, staff and board — are strong and unified. And of course, there is the music. In the program books this year, you will find pages dedicated to our rich history — our 24 past seasons, plus the years before us. I encourage you to reminisce and explore. Thank you for your role in this inspiring journey. The Orchestra belongs to us all, and I hope you share our pride. See you at the concerts! Eddie Walker Executive Director Oklahoma City Philharmonic

Wolf-Ferrari ............. Overture to The Secret of Suzanne

Saint-SaËns ................ Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 (“Organ”) Adagio—Allegro moderato—Poco adagio Allegro moderato—Maestoso--Allegro

INTERMISSION

Tchaikovsky .............. Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23 Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso—Allegro con spirito Andantino semplice—Prestissimo—Tempo I Allegro con fuoco

Andrew von Oeyen, piano

THIS CONCERT IS GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY:

MRS. JANE HARLOW

Listen to a broadcast of this performance on KCSC 90.1 FM on Wednesday, October 23 at 8:00 pm on “Performance Oklahoma.”

GRAND OPENINGSeptember NIGHT 28, 2013 8:00 P.M.

CLASSICS Andrew von Oeyen, piano JOEL LEVINE, CONDUCTOR

Wolf-Ferrari ............. Overture to The Secret of Suzanne

Saint-SaËns ................ Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 (“Organ”) Adagio—Allegro moderato—Poco adagio Allegro moderato—Maestoso--Allegro

INTERMISSION

Tchaikovsky .............. Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23 Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso—Allegro con spirito Andantino semplice—Prestissimo—Tempo I Allegro con fuoco

Andrew von Oeyen, piano

THIS CONCERT IS GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY:

MRS. JANE HARLOW

Listen to a broadcast of this performance on KCSC 90.1 FM on Wednesday, October 23 at 8:00 pm on “Performance Oklahoma.”

GUEST ARTIST C

Overture to The Secret of Susanna Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari First Performance: 3/17/1946 Conductor: Victor Alessandro Last Performance: 3/31/2000 Conductor: Joel Levine

ANDREW VON OEYEN Andrew von Oeyen has already established himself as one of the most captivating pianists of his generation. Since his debut at age 16 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and EsaPekka Salonen, Mr. von Oeyen has performed to critical acclaim in recital and orchestral appearances around the world. Commanding an extensive and diverse repertoire, Mr. von Oeyen has performed the major concertos of the keyboard literature – Bartok, Barber, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Gershwin, Grieg, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Schumann, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky — with such ensembles as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony, Grant Park Orchestra, Ravinia Festival Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Slovenian Philharmonic and Slovak Philharmonic. As both soloist and conductor he has led concerti and orchestral works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Ravel and Kurt Weill at Spoleto Festival USA. On July 4, 2009, von Oeyen performed at the U.S. Capitol with the National Symphony in “A Capitol Fourth,” reaching millions worldwide in the multi-award winning PBS live telecast. Mr. von Oeyen has appeared in recital at Wigmore Hall and Barbican Hall in London, Lincoln Center in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Zurich’s Tonhalle, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, Bolshoi Zal in St. Petersburg, Dublin’s National Concert Hall, Royce Hall in Los Angeles, the Herbst Theater in San Francisco, Sala Sao Paulo, Teatro Olimpico in Rome, in Bucharest, Vietnam, Macau, and in every major concert hall of Japan and South Korea.

During the 2009-2010 season, he toured Japan twice, performing Beethoven and Rachmaninoff concerti with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, and later that season in recital. He also appeared in recital with violinist Sarah Chang throughout Europe, North America and Asia, which culminated in a recording for EMI Classics, in addition to regular guest appearances with orchestras worldwide and appearances at the Aspen and Saratoga music festival. 2011 saw the release of an award-winning album of Liszt works under the Delos label, including the Sonata in B Minor, Vallee d’Obermann and Wagner and Verdi opera transcriptions. The 2011-12 season included appearances with the Prague Philharmonia, Detroit Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, North Carolina Symphony, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Omaha Symphony, Slovak Philharmonic, a tour with the Slovenian Philharmonic and recitals in the U.S., Austria, France, Italy, Spain and Japan. In recent seasons, Mr. von Oeyen has appeared at the festivals of Aspen, Ravinia, Saratoga, Spoleto, Schubertiade, Festival de Sole, Grant Park, Grand Teton, Mainly Mozart, Bellingham and Gilmore. He won the prestigious Gilmore Young Artist Award in 1999 and also took First Prize in the Leni Fe Bland Foundation National Piano Competition in 2001. Born in the U.S. in 1979, Andrew von Oeyen began his piano studies at age 5 and made his solo orchestral debut at age 10. An alumnus of Columbia University and graduate of The Juilliard School, where his principal teachers were Herbert Stessin and Jerome Lowenthal, he has also worked with Alfred Brendel and Leon Fleisher. Mr. von Oeyen lives in New York and Paris.

Born: January 12, 1876, in Venice Died: January 21, 1948, in Venice Work composed: 1909 Work premiered: December 4, 1909, at the Hof Theater in Munich, in German, with Felix Mottl conducting Instrumentation: Two flutes and piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, harp, and strings

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari was a bicultural composer. As his compound surname suggests, his father was German (Bavarian, to be precise) and his mother Italian. His musical instincts honored both sides of his heritage. Born in Venice, he initially studied (in Rome) to be a painter, following in his father’s footsteps; but in 1892 he decided instead to pursue music, and he moved to Munich, where his teachers included Joseph Rheinberger. He returned to Italy without having graduated and became a protégé of Arrigo Boito, Verdi’s sometime librettist and a notable composer in his own right. This back-and-forth shuttle would characterize most of Wolf-Ferrari’s career. His final decade seems a metaphor for the geographical ambivalence of his entire life: in 1939 he settled in Salzburg to accept a professorship in composition at the Mozarteum, in 1946 he moved to Zurich (where he had sat out the First World War three decades earlier), and he returned to his native city of Venice for the final year of his life. His musical output may be taken to reflect the fact that his feet were planted on both sides of the Italo-Germanic divide. When Wolf-Ferrari first began achieving notice, it was as a composer of deep, Germanic, post-Romantic seriousness, drawing inspiration from both the solid structuralism of the Mendelssohn-Schumann-Brahms tradition and the rhapsodic chromaticism of the Wagner-Liszt camp—paralleling to some extent Max Reger, his almost exact contemporary. But soon the “Wolf” half of Wolf-Ferrari yielded to the “Ferrari” half, and he turned his attention to disparate strands of Italian opera, both time-honored opera buffa, including Il segreto di Susanna (The Secret of Susanna — 1909), and newfangled Mascagni-style verismo, as in I gioielli della Madonna (1911, a tale of Neapolitan ne’er-do-wells in which bodies litter the stage as the final curtain falls).

The Secret of Susanna does not pretend to be more than fluff. Cast as a one-act “intermezzo,” it runs a mere 45 minutes and involves only two singing characters (a mezzo-soprano and a baritone). The 30-year-old Count Gil suspects that his 20-year-old wife, Susanna, is having an affair. Two clues fuel his suspicion: he smells tobacco smoke in the house, though both he and his mute servant are non-smokers, and he has spotted Susanna hurrying

PROGRAM NOTES I

down the street on an occasion when she did not ask his permission to go outside. The truth surfaces: it is Susanna who is the smoker, and she occasionally slips away to stock up at the tobacconist’s shop. Count Gil is delighted by this revelation—he would prefer that his wife be a smoker than a cheating tramp—and he celebrates by relinquishing his own non-smoker status and lighting up with her. In The New Grove Dictionary of Opera John C.G. Waterhouse remarks trenchantly that “the slender but distinctive idea of the libretto, combined with the elegant if rather miscellaneous charm of the music, has an obvious appeal which even subsequent cancer research has not seriously undermined.” If the opera itself exhibits a “rather miscellaneous charm,” the Overture to The Secret of Susanna is unmistakably specific in setting the scene. “This is an opera buffa,” it proclaims, vivaccissimo, beginning with its perky opening theme. A second high-spirited tune is announced by the solo horn, and a third by the high winds (flute and clarinet, initially); and a fourth theme is little more than a flowing scale passage, which comes across as leisurely in this context. All of these melodies end up being treated in contrapuntal fashion, even joining into a few measures of fugato—all of this in less than three minutes. Wolf-Ferrari’s tiny and enduring contribution to the concert repertoire is a delight from start to finish, and it fully deserves a place of distinction in the parade of the best comic overtures, prefigured by Mozart’s for Le nozze di Figaro and Smetana’s for The Bartered Bride, and a precursor to Bernstein’s for Candide.

Getting to Know Wolf-Ferrari Wolf-Ferrari completed 13 operas between 1900 and 1943, most of them derived from plays by classic authors: the French fabulist Charles Perrault (Cenerentola and Das Himmelskleid), the Italian comic playwright Carlo Goldoni (Le donne curiose, I quatro rusteghi, Gli amanti sposi, La vedova scaltra, and Il campiello), the French comedian Molière (L’amore medico), the Spanish dramatist Lope de Vega (La dama boba), and even William Shakespeare (Sly, based on The Taming of the Shrew). He was also an adept composer of instrumental music who turned out many chamber and orchestral pieces. Concerted works figure prominently among the latter, which include the occasionally played Idillio-concertino for Oboe, Suite-Concertino for Bassoon, and Concertino for English Horn, in addition to largely ignored concertos for violin and for cello. But his most performed piece is the Overture to The Secret of Susanna, which is heard so much more than anything else he wrote that a listener could almost be excused for thinking him a one-work composer. — JMK

GUEST ARTIST C

Overture to The Secret of Susanna Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari First Performance: 3/17/1946 Conductor: Victor Alessandro Last Performance: 3/31/2000 Conductor: Joel Levine

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PROGRAM NOTES

Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 Camille Saint-Saëns First Performance: 12/11/1949 Conductor: Victor Alessandro Last Performance: 5/8/2004 Conductor: Joel Levine Born: October 9, 1835, in Paris, France Died: December 16, 1921, while on vacation in Algiers, Algeria Work composed: April 1886 Work dedicated: “To the memory of Franz Liszt” Work premiered: May 19, 1886, at a concert of the Philharmonic Society in St. James’s Hall, London, with the composer conducting Instrumentation: Three flutes (third doubling piccolo), two oboes and English horn, two clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, cymbals, bass drum, organ, piano (two-hands and four-hands), and strings

and Mendelssohn’s, and embarked on composition and organ instruction at seven (by which time he was already performing Bach, Handel, and Mozart in public). In 1846, when he was ten, he played his formal debut recital at Paris’ Salle Pleyel, with a program that included piano concertos by Mozart and Beethoven. The applause was resounding, so he topped off the event by offering to play any of Beethoven’s piano sonatas from memory, as an encore. “He knows everything, but lacks inexperience,” lamented his friend Hector Berlioz.

A Touching Dedication Saint-Saëns decided to dedicate his new Symphony to his long-time friend Franz Liszt, who was by then a grand old man of music. On receiving this information, Liszt responded on June 19, 1886: Very dear friend, Happy in the friendship you have so often shown to me, I express to you my heartfelt gratitude. The success of your symphony in London gives me great pleasure, and it will continue in a crescendo in Paris and elsewhere. For any dedication I would ask you simply to inscribe my name. I must content myself with writing just the same thing beneath these lines due to the weakness of my vision. With much devotion and cordial friendship, Franz Liszt But Saint-Saëns did not follow Liszt’s request precisely. On July 31 Liszt died, and when the Symphony appeared in print that November, it was instead headed with the words “A la Mémoire de Franz Liszt.”

by a semitone (“it didn’t want to stay in B minor, and is not in C minor), that one “aggravation” would be that the piano part would involve one player at first and two later (“Happily, pianists are not rare in our epoch”). On May 18, 1886 SaintSaëns wrote from London to his publisher, Jacques Durand: “We have sight-read the symphony. I was right: it is really terribly challenging.” But the premiere went well the next day, and the composer could follow up with a glowing report: “The Symphony enjoyed a colossal success, spiced up by just enough opposition to make the success more intense.” The prominent use of the organ has earned this piece the nickname “Organ Symphony,” a rubric never sanctioned by the composer. It is, in fact, a bit misleading, since French composers of that time composed a good many pieces that were titled “organ symphonies”; these were not orchestral works at all but rather big-boned, multi-movement pieces for solo organ. Saint-Saëns recognized that requiring an organ could limit performance possibilities, since many concert halls lacked them, but he was perfectly content with the idea of a small organ being brought in for the occasion—and in fact suggested specifically that solution for a performance by the Concerts Colonne in Paris. He briefly considered allowing the use of a harmonium as an option, but after hearing the organ at the London premiere he told Durand that such a substitution must be ruled out as insufficient.

Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky First Performance: 12/5/1941 Pianist: Reginald Stewart Last Performance: 9/15/2007 Pianist: Fabio Bidini Born: October 9, 1835, in Paris, France Born: April 25 (old style)/May 7 (new style), 1840, at Votkinsk, in the district of Viatka, Russia Died: October 25/November 6, 1893, in Saint Petersburg. Work composed: November and December 1874, with the orchestration completed on February 9/21, 1875; revised in 1876 and again in 1889 Work premiered: October 25, 1875, at the Music Hall in Boston, Massachusetts, with Hans von Bülow (its dedicatee) as soloist and with Benjamin Johnson Lang conducting a freelance orchestra Instrumentation: Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, and strings, in addition to the solo piano.

“We have sight-read the symphony. I was right: it is really terribly challenging.” - Saint-Saëns

— JMK

Young People’s Concert “Monsieur Saint-Saëns possesses one of the most astonishing musical organizations I know of. He is a musician armed with every weapon. He is a master of his craft as no one else is. . . . He plays, and plays with the orchestra as he does the piano. One can say no more.” So wrote the composer Charles Gounod of his fellow Frenchman, and in marveling over SaintSaëns’ talents, Gounod might also have noted that his fellow Parisian was also a highly accomplished organist (who for two decades reigned in the loft at the Madeleine), a champion of forgotten earlier music and of contemporary composers, an inspiring teacher (who, as professor of the École Niedermeier in Paris, did much to shape the raw talents of Gabriel Fauré and André Messager), a gifted writer, a world traveler, and an avid and informed aficionado of such disciplines as Classical languages, astronomy, archaeology, philosophy, and even the occult sciences. He started piano lessons at the age of two-and-a-half, soon began studying piano with a former pupil of Kalkbrenner’s

The last of Saint-Saëns’ completed symphonies (not counting an early symphony not blessed with an opus number), the Third was composed at the behest of the Philharmonic Society of London, which at that time was conducted by Sir Arthur Sullivan (of “Gilbert &” fame). In August 1883, the orchestra’s secretary expressed the wish that Saint-Saëns’ might come to London the following year “either to play one of your concertos, or to compose a new one and play it, or to play a concerto by some other master, whichever you prefer; but I need scarcely add, they would prefer you to appear in one of your own compositions.” Talk soon turned instead to the possibility of a new symphony, and by March SaintSaëns was far enough along in his planning to inform the orchestra of the new work’s instrumentation (“there are no harps, happily”), that it would be cast in two movements (in that regard mirroring his coeval Fourth Piano Concerto and Violin Sonata No. 1), that the symphony would be difficult, that “this devil of a symphony” had moved up in his mind

In his memoirs Ecole buissonière: notes et souvenirs (1913), Saint-Saëns described the first stirrings of his passion for the orchestra: [My parents] took me to a symphony, and my mother held me in her arms near the door. Until then I had only heard single violins and their tone had not pleased me. But the impression of the orchestra was entirely different and I listened with delight to a passage played by a quartet, when suddenly, came a blast from the brass instruments—the trumpets, trombones— and cymbals. I broke into loud cries, “Make them stop They prevent my hearing the music.” They had to take me out. — JMK

Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto in B-flat minor was his first of three essays in the genre, though his other two have long been consigned to the bin of curiosities and today are nearly as obscure as the First is famous. Despite the fact that he was already 34 years old when he wrote it, in late 1874, he had composed nothing earlier that would earn a firm place in posterity (the sole exception being his Overture-Fantasy Romeo and Juliet, of 1869—and even that is played almost always in the composer’s 1880 revision). Tchaikovsky was earning his keep as a composition professor at the Moscow Conservatory when he embarked on this concerto. Not being much of CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

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“We have sight-read the symphony. I was right: it is really terribly challenging.” - Saint-Saëns

— JMK

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a pianist himself, he took the liberty of asking the advice of his colleague Nikolai Rubinstein on certain technical matters concerning the solo part. Nikolai Rubinstein was acknowledged as a leading piano professor and concert virtuoso, as well as a conductor of note; by that time he had led the premieres of Tchaikovsky’s first two symphonies, his Romeo and Juliet, his orchestral tone poem Fatum, and his symphonic fantasy The Tempest, in addition to which he had championed a handful of Tchaikovsky’s piano pieces. What’s more, in 1866 he had become the founding director of the Moscow Conservatory, a position he would hold until his death (in 1881), and it was his brother Anton Rubinstein (also a famous pianist and composer) who had been Tchaikovsky’s mentor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and who had recommended Tchaikovsky as a charter member of Nikolai’s faculty. Tchaikovsky’s impulse to run his score past Nikolai Rubinstein was therefore perfectly logical on a musical, professional, and personal level. The two squeezed in a look through the score just before a Christmas Eve party. Some three years later the composer recounted the experience in a letter to his patron, Nadezhda von Meck. “I played the first movement. Not a word, not an observation. If you only knew how uncomfortably foolish one feels when one places before a friend a dish one has prepared with one’s own hands, and he eats thereof and—is silent. At least say something: if you like, find fault in a friendly way, but, for heaven’s sake, speak—say something, no matter what. But Rubinstein said nothing; he was preparing his thunder ….” This changed soon enough. “At first,” Tchaikovsky continued, “he spoke quietly, but by degrees his passion rose, and finally he resembled Zeus hurling thunderbolts. It appeared that my concerto was worthless and absolutely unplayable, that the passages were manufactured and withal so clumsy as to be beyond correction, that the composition itself was bad, trivial, and commonplace, that I had stolen this point from somebody and that point from somebody else, that only two or three pages had any value whatsoever, and all the rest should be either destroyed or entirely remodeled ….” Tchaikovsky skipped the party and decided to have his concerto published just as it stood. He dedicated it to the German pianist-and-conductor Hans von Bülow (replacing composer Sergei Taneyev, whose is name is scratched out on the manuscript). Von Bülow could scarcely have been more delighted and resolved to unveil the work during his upcoming American tour. That explains why this ultra-familiar emblem of “the Russian style” received its premiere in Boston, played by a German pianist on an American Chickering piano, with a longforgotten American conducting an orchestra of Massachusetts freelancers. The piece created a sensation throughout the tour, and its popularity has never faded since. The score Rubinstein reviled during the “Christmas Eve Massacre” was not exactly the score as we know it today. Apparently there was considerable room for improvement— including in details of the keyboard writing—and Tchaikovsky

would put his piece through two revisions, the second of which, from 1889, brought the piece into the form in which it is nearly always heard today. Rubinstein had already reversed his opinion long before that: he conducted the concerto’s Moscow premiere in late 1875 and would go on to serve as midwife for many Tchaikovsky masterworks.

Interpreting the Andantino The second movement of his Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto involves the contrast between the rather slow beginning and ending and a quicker section in the middle. Although performance tradition tends to stress the extreme difference in tempo between the slow music and the fast, there is some evidence that the composer may have wanted to temper this tendency. The Scottish pianist Frederic Lamond, a pupil of von Bülow and Liszt, left an interesting account in his memoirs: A notable experience was mine in connection with the Valse in the slow movement of the B-flat-minor Piano Concerto. Tschaikowsy [Lamond uses the German spelling] took it very quickly, but only as quickly as would allow the soloist to bring out the keyboard figuration distinctly and pianissimo: he made the strings play with half bows, the wood-wind extremely soft, but all without the slightest alteration of tempo—the effect was magical. Many a famous, even very famous conductor, takes this middle section at such a breathless tempo, that he has practically finished before he has begun: and some pianists make out of this tender, delicate fabric a German waltz, horrible to listen to! Both conceptions are absolutely wrong! I have listened to this work twice under the composer’s direction, so I can bear witness. — JMK

oklahoma city philharmonic Society, inc. Associate board

Earlier versions of these notes appeared in the programs of the San Francisco Symphony (Wolf-Ferrari) and New York Philharmonic (Saint-Saëns, Tchaikovsky) and are used with permission.

CLASSICS Jennifer Koh, violin JOEL LEVINE, CONDUCTOR

Cheryl Brashear, Vice President Jenni Fosbenner, Treasurer Adele Rehm, Secretary

Matt Bell Bryon Chambers

Smetana ...................... The Moldau (from My Fatherland)

Jason Dunnington Cassie Gage Jennifer Godinez Lindsay Houts Tricia Jones

Barber ........................ Concerto for Violin, Op. 14 Allegro Andante Presto in moto perpetuo

Jennifer Koh, violin

Travis Kirk Matt Latham

INTERMISSION

Christopher Lloyd

Mitch McCuistian James M. Keller is Program Annotator of the New York Philharmonic (the Leni and Peter May Chair) and the San Francisco Symphony, and is the author of Chamber Music: A Listener’s Guide (Oxford University Press).

8:00 P.M.

Brent Hart, President

Lindsey Marcus

James M. Keller

Beethoven’s Fifth October 19, 2013

Rachel Morris

Beethoven .................. Symphony No.5 in C minor, Op. 67 Allegro con brio Andante con moto Allegro Allegro (There is no pause between the third and fourth movements)

Suzzan Taylor Matt Thomas Michael Thomas THIS CONCERT IS GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY:

Long Vu Dwayne Webb

Listen to a broadcast of this performance on KCSC 90.1 FM on Wednesday, November 13 at 8:00 pm on “Performance Oklahoma.”

PROGRAM NOTES C L A S S I C S S E

oklahoma city philharmonic Society, inc. Associate board

Earlier versions of these notes appeared in the programs of the San Francisco Symphony (Wolf-Ferrari) and New York Philharmonic (Saint-Saëns, Tchaikovsky) and are used with permission.

CLASSICS Jennifer Koh, violin JOEL LEVINE, CONDUCTOR

Cheryl Brashear, Vice President Jenni Fosbenner, Treasurer Adele Rehm, Secretary

Matt Bell Bryon Chambers

Smetana ...................... The Moldau (from My Fatherland)

Jason Dunnington Cassie Gage Jennifer Godinez Lindsay Houts Tricia Jones

Barber ........................ Concerto for Violin, Op. 14 Allegro Andante Presto in moto perpetuo

Jennifer Koh, violin

Travis Kirk Matt Latham

INTERMISSION

Christopher Lloyd

8:00 P.M.

Brent Hart, President

Lindsey Marcus

James M. Keller

Beethoven’s Fifth October 19, 2013

Rachel Morris

Beethoven .................. Symphony No.5 in C minor, Op. 67 Allegro con brio Andante con moto Allegro Allegro (There is no pause between the third and fourth movements)

Suzzan Taylor Matt Thomas Michael Thomas THIS CONCERT IS GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY:

Long Vu Dwayne Webb

Listen to a broadcast of this performance on KCSC 90.1 FM on Wednesday, November 13 at 8:00 pm on “Performance Oklahoma.”

GUEST ARTIST C

The Moldau (Vltava), No. 2 from My Fatherland (Má vlast) Bedich Smetana First Performance: 1/14/1947 Conductor: Victor Alessandro Last Performance: 3/30/2001 Conductor: Joel Levine

JENNIFER KOH Violinist Jennifer Koh is recognized for her intense, commanding performances, delivered with dazzling virtuosity and technical assurance. With an impassioned musical curiosity, she is forging an artistic path of her own devising, choosing works that both inspire and challenge. She is dedicated to performing the violin repertoire of all eras from traditional to contemporary, believing that the past and present form a continuum. Since the 1994-95 season when she won the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Concert Artists Guild Competition, and the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Ms. Koh has been heard with leading orchestras and conductors worldwide. Also a prolific recitalist, she appears frequently at major music centers and festivals. The exploration of Bach’s music and its influence in today’s musical landscape has played an important role in Ms. Koh’s artistic journey. She is also passionate in her efforts to expand the violin repertoire and has established relationships with many of today’s composers, regularly commissioning and premiering new works. In 2009 she debuted “Bach and Beyond” a three recital series that explores the history of the solo violin repertoire from Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas to works by modern day composers and new commissions including a film by Tal Rosner and works by composers Phil Kline and John Harbison; last season, with her former teacher from the Curtis Institute of Music, violinist Jaime Laredo, she launched “Two x Four,” a project that pairs Bach’s Double Violin Concerto with newly commissioned double concerti by Anna Clyne and David Ludwig; and she frequently performs the complete Bach Sonatas and Partitas in a single concert.

Highlights of her 2013-14 season include “Bach and Beyond” recitals worldwide and “Two x Four” concerts with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. She makes her Munich Philharmonic debut performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto conducted by Lorin Maazel, and performs Barber’s Violin Concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra, Berg’s Violin Concerto with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and Tchaikovsky’s Concerto with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. She performs the role of Einstein in Philip Glass’s Einstein on the Beach in Los Angeles. Her New York concerts include the U.S. premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s Frises for Violin and Electronics and Bach’s Partita No. 2 at Miller Theatre and the New York premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s The Singing Rooms, a concerto for violin and chorus with the New York Choral Society at Carnegie Hall. Ms. Koh regularly records for the Cedille label. Her recently released album featuring works from her first “Bach and Beyond” recital was chosen as one of the best recordings of 2012 by the New York Times. Her next album “Signs, Games & Messages” with pianist Shai Wosner will be released in October 2013. A committed educator, Ms. Koh has won high praise for her performances in classrooms around the country under her innovative “Music Messenger” outreach program. Now in its 10th year, the program continues to form an important part of her musical activities. Born in Chicago of Korean parents, Ms. Koh made her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 11. In a shift of disciplines, she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Oberlin College before studying at the Curtis.

Born: March 2, 1824, in Litomyšl, Bohemia Died: May 12, 1884, in Prague Work composed: November 20-December 8, 1874, in Prague Work dedicated: To the City of Prague Work premiered: April 4, 1875, in Prague, with Adolf Čech conducting the Orchestra of the Prague Provisional Theatre Instrumentation: Two flutes and piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, bass drum, cymbals, harp (or piano), and strings

We remember Bedich Smetana as one of the great figures of Czech nationalism, the composer of numerous operas (of which The Bartered Bride surfaces most regularly) and, most famously, of the group of six symphonic poems known as Má Vlast (“My Fatherland”) and especially the second item in that set, Vltava (“The Moldau”), which has achieved the status of unofficial musical ambassador from the Czech Lands. Smetana was the son of a relatively prosperous brewer who loved music but discouraged his son from pursuing it as a profession. He was a prodigy, turning heads as a promising pianist by the time he was six and confounding his early teachers by always seeming to be a step or two ahead of them. He managed to get himself transferred briefly to a high school in Prague, where he immersed himself in as much music as he could, composed a string quartet for friends to play, and marveled at a piano recital Liszt performed when passing through on an 1840 tour. By the time he graduated from the school in the far less interesting town of Plze (as in “Pilsen” beer”), Smetana had achieved considerable musical prowess; but he also knew that his native musical talent left technical gaps that only rigorous training could fill. He therefore returned to Prague, entered into a three-year appointment as live-in piano teacher for a wealthy family, and used his earnings to finance further study of harmony, counterpoint, and composition. By 1851, thanks to a kind word from Liszt, Smetana could take pride in seeing one of his compositions accepted by a publisher. Finally he had hope of being a professional composer.

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But times were difficult in Bohemia. Civil war had broken out in many areas of the Habsburg Empire, including Bohemia, and Smetana found himself stirred to political activism. The installation of a repressive regime surely played a part in his decision to leave Bohemia in 1856 to seek opportunities in Sweden. He remained there five years, but success eluded him. When he returned to Prague, in 1862, he set about promoting his work in a more consistent way, and within a few years he occupied a place of prominence in the Czech musical world, as a conductor, a critic, and, increasingly, a composer. In 1866, he was named principal conductor of the Provisional Theatre, where he would build an orchestra that included among its ranks the violist—and fledgling composer—Antonín Dvořák. His life was not happy in all respects. His first wife died young, and he lost three of his four daughters in childhood. In June 1874, he began losing his hearing, and within a few months he became substantially deaf. Although this forced him to withdraw from conducting, he appreciated the silence it afforded him and he immediately plunged into composing the first two movements of Má vlast. The other four would follow in the next five years.

Vltava follows the general idea of the symphonic poem as set forth by Liszt in the 1850s, which is to say that it is a self-contained orchestral composition that explicitly depicts a literary description or a clearly delineated scene. Here Smetana’s subject is the Moldau, the Bohemian river that flows north through Prague on its way to join the Elbe, which in turn leads its waters to the North Sea. In this score we witness the incipient gurgling of the streams from which it emerges and then travel with it through a variety of Czech landscapes until it becomes an impressive river as it passes through Prague, with the Vyšehrad castle towering on a promontory alongside. The Vyšehrad had itself been the subject of the opening symphonic poem in Má vlast, and a theme from that work recurs in Vltava (and also in the final piece, Blanik), helping instill a sense of unity in the cycle. Early on it seemed as if Vyšehrad was destined to be the most famous movement from Má vlast, but in the end it was Vltava that most enduringly captured hearts and ears in the Czech Lands and beyond.

What’s Going On in The Moldau? Although no explicit literary program is attached to the symphonic program The Moldau, Smetana left no doubt as to what each section of his symphonic poem is meant to depict thanks to specific headings for each section of the score, with double bars demarcating the sections: The two sources of the Moldau (Allegro commodo non agitato); Forest hunt; Peasant wedding (L’istesso tempo, ma moderato); Moonlight: Nymph’s Dance (L’istesso tempo); St. John’s Rapids; The Moldau in its greatest breadth (Più moto); Vyšehrad motif (Symphonic Poem No. 1)

GUEST ARTIST C

The Moldau (Vltava), No. 2 from My Fatherland (Má vlast) Bedich Smetana First Performance: 1/14/1947 Conductor: Victor Alessandro Last Performance: 3/30/2001 Conductor: Joel Levine

PROGRAM NOTES I

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Continuing Controversy

Concerto for Violin, Op. 14 Samuel Barber Single Performance: 11/13/1998 Violin: Robert McDuffie Born: March 9, 1910, in West Chester, Pennsylvania Died: January 23, 1981, in New York City Work composed: Summer 1939 through July 1940; revised in 1948 Work premiered: February 7, 1941, in Philadelphia, with Eugene Ormandy conducting The Philadelphia Orchestra and violinist Albert Spalding; the revised version was introduced January 7, 1949, with Serge Koussevitzky conducting the Boston Symphony and soloist Ruth Posselt Instrumentation: Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, snare drum, piano, and strings, in addition to the solo violin

When the Curtis Institute of Music opened its doors to receive its first students, on October 1, 1924, Samuel Barber was second in line. It was a violinist who managed to pass through the portal before him: Max Aronoff, a future member of the Curtis String Quartet. Barber’s musical gifts had been apparent from an early age, and he was fortunate to be born into a family that was attuned to recognize them. Though his parents were not professional musicians, his aunt, the contralto Louise Homer, was a mainstay at the Metropolitan Opera, and her husband, Sidney Homer, was well known as a composer of light lieder of the parlor-song sort. At Curtis, Barber studied principally piano (with Isabelle Vengerova), composition (with Rosario Scalero), and voice (with the baritone Emilio de Gorgorza, who was a colleague of Barber’s aunt’s at the Met). While a student there he produced several works that have entered the enduring repertoire, including his Dover Beach for baritone and string quartet (which he himself sang in its first commercial recording) and his orchestral Overture to The School for Scandal and Music for a Scene from Shelley. Thanks to a

Rome Prize he spent 1935-37 at the American Academy in that city completing, among other pieces, his Symphony in One Movement: it quickly received high-profile performances in Rome, Cleveland, and New York, as well as in the opening concert of the 1937 Salzburg Festival. The following year his reputation was cemented when Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony broadcast his Essay No. 1 and his Adagio for Strings; the latter would become one of the most recognized compositions of the century. Barber was famous, and he was not yet 30 years old. In 1939, he returned to the Curtis Institute, this time as composition professor, and he maintained that position until 1942, when he traded his affiliation with Curtis for one with the U.S. Army Air Forces. During this period he composed his Violin Concerto, which also grew out of a Curtis connection. Samuel Fels, of Fels Naptha soap fame, served on Curtis’s Board of Directors, and he had taken it upon himself to support a needy child-prodigy violinist named Iso Briselli, who had come from his native Odessa to enroll at Curtis at the age of 12. (Eventually Fels legally adopted Briselli, making him the heir to his substantial estate.) In early 1939, Fels offered Barber a $1000 commission to write a violin concerto for Briselli, half to be paid in advance, the other half upon completion. Barber accepted, and that summer he got to work on the piece while staying in Sils-Maria, Switzerland. When Briselli received the first two movements he worried that they were “too simple and not brilliant enough for a concerto.” Barber moved on to Paris, planning to complete there a finale that would allay Briselli’s concerns; but as war clouds gathered in the east, he returned to America to continue writing his finale. For whatever reason, Briselli rejected the concerto. Barber told his publisher that Briselli found the finale too difficult; Briselli later argued that he had found it “too lightweight.” Nonetheless, the “playability” question loomed large. Fels asked that the initial installment of his commission payment be refunded, and Barber felt the way to counter this was to demonstrate that the piece was indeed violinistically feasible. A Curtis student was recruited to test the piece; he was allowed to study a portion of the finale for just two hours, and then he played what all listeners agreed was a dazzling performance. In the wake of this experiment, Fels paid the rest of the commission fee and Briselli relinquished the right of first performance. After further work on the finale, provisional read-throughs, and technical input from the violinist Oscar Shumsky, Barber showed his concerto to the noted violinist Albert Spalding (another beneficiary of a corporate fortune, in his case from sporting equipment). Spalding signed on instantly, and it was he who introduced the work, with Eugene Ormandy conducting The Philadelphia Orchestra, following its extended and troubled gestation.

It remains unclear precisely where the truth lies in the hullabaloo surrounding the commission and composition of Barber’s Violin Concerto. “Barber’s side” was put forth in Nathan Broder’s 1956 biography of the composer: “When the [third] movement was submitted, the violinist declared it too difficult. The sponsor demanded his money back, and Barber, who had already spent it in Europe, called in another violinist … who performed the work for the merchant and his protégé, to prove that the finale was not unplayable.” By 1956, Broder was working for Barber’s publisher, G. Schirmer, and one assumes that he drew his information from company files, or at least company lore—though he was incorrect about Fels and Briselli being present at the read-through demonstration. Briselli apparently did not object until 1982, when he contacted Barbara Heyman, then at work on an extensive Barber biography, to present his differing viewpoint: that the finale was too lightweight in the context of the preceding movements and that he had proposed that Barber address this by expanding the finale’s middle section, which Barber refused to consider doing. By then the “unplayable” story had become widely circulated and was constantly repeated in program notes. So it was that in 1996 orchestras across the land received a sternly worded letter from Briselli’s attorney in Philadelphia: “Mr. Briselli has brought to our attention false and defamatory statements concerning, among other inaccuracies, his ability to perform the third movement of Samuel Barber’s ‘Violin Concerto, Op. 14.’ … We must advise you … that your publication of the defamatory version of events may lead to the commencement of a defamation action against you on behalf of our client.” A few commentators were thus inspired to think through the question more deeply, and admitted that it was hard to reconcile implications of Briselli’s technical shortcomings with the fact that he did include a number of highly virtuosic concertos in his repertoire and received good reviews when he played them. My late colleague Michael Steinberg proposed that the issue was not so much one of technical ability as of stylistic incompatibility: that Briselli was inherently drawn to conservative repertoire and didn’t relate to certain aspects of Barber’s finale on a musical, rather than a technical, basis. I would add that Briselli was right about the finale seeming slight in the context of the whole concerto; after two gorgeous, slowish, and generously scaled movements, the finale bustles away and is gone before you know it. This was not the only time Barber was flummoxed by a finale. While he was writing the Violin Concerto, for example, he was also searching for the right way to end his String Quartet (Op. 10), the finale of which he would “reinvent” several times over the course of seven years. —JMK

PROGRAM NOTES The Composer Speaks Barber contributed this comment to the Philadelphia Orchestra’s programs for the premiere of his Violin Concerto. Written in the third person, it refers to tempo markings that Barber would later simplify: The Concerto for Violin and Orchestra was completed in July, 1940, at Pocono Lake, Pennsylvania, and is Mr. Barber’s most recent work for orchestra. It is lyric and rather intimate in character and a moderate-sized orchestra is used: eight woodwinds, two horns, two trumpets, percussion, piano, and strings. The first movement—allegro molto moderato— begins with a lyrical first subject announced at once by the solo violin, without any orchestral introduction. This movement as a whole has perhaps more the character of a sonata than concerto form. The second movement—andante sostenuto—is introduced by an extended oboe solo. The violin enters with a contrasting and rhapsodic theme, after which it repeats the oboe melody of the beginning. The last movement, a perpetual motion, exploits the more brilliant and virtuoso characteristics of the violin.

Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 Ludwig van Beethoven First Performance: 10/25/1938 Conductor: Victor Alessandro (debut concert) Last Performance: 9/17/2005 Conductor: Joel Levine Born: December 16, 1882, in Kecskemét, Hungary Born: Probably December 16, 1770 (since he was baptized on the 17th), in Bonn, Germany Died: March 26, 1827, in Vienna Work composed: Sketches begun in early 1804, score completed in early 1808 Work premiered: December 22, 1808, at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna Work dedicated: to Prince Franz Joseph Maximilian von Lobkowitz and Count Andreas Kirillovich Rasumovsky Orchestration: Two flutes and piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons and contrabassoon, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, and strings.

“Let us be silent about this work! No matter how frequently heard, whether at home or in the concert hall, this symphony invariably wields its power over people of every age like those great phenomena of nature that fill us with fear and admiration at all times, no matter how frequently we may experience them.” —Robert Schumann CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

PROGRAM NOTES

Continuing Controversy

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One is truly tempted to heed Schumann’s advice and say nothing about this work, which everyone knows and of which everything has already been said. Probably no work in the orchestral canon has been analyzed and discussed as exhaustively as has the first movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. In this music we may imagine that we catch a glimpse of Beethoven’s state of mind during the four-year period in which he wrote this piece, or at least one facet of the complicated prism of his being. He had tasted more than his fair share of disarray and anguish. As early as October 1802, when he penned his heartrending Heiligenstadt Testament, he was losing his hearing—a great adversity for anyone, but a catastrophe for a musician. In the six years since, his deafness had increased dramatically. What’s more, in March of 1808 a raging infection threatened the loss of a finger, which would have spelled further disaster for a composer who was greatly attached to the keyboard. He was surrounded by a nervous political climate; Vienna had been occupied by Napoleon’s troops since November of 1805, and the civic uneasiness would erupt into violence within months of the Fifth Symphony’s premiere. On the home front, his brother Caspar Carl had gotten married on May 25, 1806, leaving Beethoven a bit at sea in his affairs, since the brother had essentially served as the composer’s secretary until then. At the end of 1807, he found himself rejected in love, and not for the first time. Whatever confusion these circumstances engendered in Beethoven’s personal life could only have been exacerbated by his habit of constantly moving from one lodging to another. In the course of 1808 alone—the year when the Fifth Symphony was completed and premiered—he hung his hat at no fewer than four addresses. This biographical turmoil did not, however, represent the totality of Beethoven’s life at the time, any more than the Fifth Symphony represents the totality of his music. He frequently escaped the hustle and bustle of Vienna to spend time in the suburban parks and countryside surrounding Vienna; that’s where we imagine the composer when we hear his Sixth Symphony, the Pastoral, which was roughly coeval to the Fifth. For that matter, Beethoven wrote his entire Fourth Symphony while he was engaged in his Fifth, and there is little in that score to suggest the troubled soul we spy in the Fifth. We are not necessarily wrong to imagine that biographical overtones reside in Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, but we shouldn’t get too carried away in seeking them, either. When all is said and done, this is a unique work, just as all of Beethoven’s masterpieces are, a vehicle in which the composer explores and works out strictly esthetic challenges that he has set for himself. In any case, the all-Beethoven marathon concert at which the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies were premiered was a disaster. (Also on the program: the concert scena “Ah! perfido,” the Gloria and Sanctus from the C-major Mass, the Piano Concerto No. 4, a piano fantasy improvised by Beethoven, and the Choral Fantasy.) Vienna was experiencing a particularly unpleasant cold spell just then, and after expenses for the hall and the musicians, there was not enough money left

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to apply to such niceties as heat. Sitting through the fourhour concert in the theatre was more than most concertgoers could endure. The composer Johann Friedrich Reichardt, installed next to Beethoven’s patron Prince Lobkowitz in the aristocrat’s box, regretfully reported: “There we held out in the bitterest cold from half-past six until half-past ten, and experienced the fact that one can easily have too much of a good—and even more of a strong—thing.”

Listen For Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony opens with what must be the most famous four notes in history. In fact, three of them are identical: eighth notes on the pitch of G. Even if those three notes were heard alone, out of context, 99 out of 100 listeners—no, probably the whole hundred of them—would chime in to punctuate them with the half-note E-flat extended by a fermata, just as Beethoven did. Of course, music is made up of more than just notes. It’s also composed of silences, which in their way are every bit as important as the sounds themselves. Beethoven’s Fifth actually opens with a silence, an eighth-note rest that, in retrospect, is as palpable as the eighth-note Gs that follow it. Anton Schindler, Beethoven’s sometime amanuensis whose reminiscences, however welcome, were often highly embroidered, claimed that the composer once pointed to this motif in his score and proclaimed “Thus Destiny knocks at the door!” Whether it happened or not, it has become so thoroughly entrenched in Beethoven lore that most people choose to hear it that way.

The Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Philharmonic Society, Inc. presents the 25th Anniversary Season in honor of the following individuals for their tireless and dedicated efforts in establishing the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra:

Maestro Joel Levine The late William B. Cleary Patrick Alexander Priscilla Braun Charles Ellis Berta Faye Rex

25th Anniversary Committee

A Novel Observation

Jane B. Harlow, Chair

“It will be generally admitted that Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is the most sublime noise that has ever penetrated the ear of man. … You are bound to admit that such a noise is cheap at two shillings. It is cheap, even if you hear it in the Queen’s Hall, dreariest music-room in London, though not as dreary as the Free Trade Hall, Manchester.” —the character Helen Schlegel, in E.M. Forster’s Howard’s End (1910)

James M. Keller James M. Keller is Program Annotator of the New York Philharmonic (the Leni and Peter May Chair) and the San Francisco Symphony, and is the author of Chamber Music: A Listener’s Guide (Oxford University Press). Earlier versions of these notes appeared in the programs of the New York Philharmonic and are used with permission.

Mrs. Jane B. Harlow

Honorary Chairs Mrs. Josephine Freede Mrs. Mary Nichols Richard L. & Jeannette Sias

Committee Patrick Alexander Priscilla Braun Irving Faught Pam Glyckherr Kirk Hammons Jean Hartsuck Penny McCaleb Debbie McKinney

Jean McLaughlin Debbie Minter Alice Pippin Cindy Raby Berta Faye Rex Lil Ross Grace Ryan Lois Salmeron

Jeannette Sias Sam Sims Amalia Silverstein Matt Thomas Eddie Walker Kip Welch Renate Wiggin Michelle Winters

PROGRAM NOTES C L A S S I C S S E

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Maestro Joel Levine The late William B. Cleary Patrick Alexander Priscilla Braun Charles Ellis Berta Faye Rex

25th Anniversary Committee

A Novel Observation

Jane B. Harlow, Chair

Mrs. Jane B. Harlow

Honorary Chairs Mrs. Josephine Freede Mrs. Mary Nichols Richard L. & Jeannette Sias

Committee Patrick Alexander Priscilla Braun Irving Faught Pam Glyckherr Kirk Hammons Jean Hartsuck Penny McCaleb Debbie McKinney

Jean McLaughlin Debbie Minter Alice Pippin Cindy Raby Berta Faye Rex Lil Ross Grace Ryan Lois Salmeron

Jeannette Sias Sam Sims Amalia Silverstein Matt Thomas Eddie Walker Kip Welch Renate Wiggin Michelle Winters

OUR HISTORY (Series I)1 9 T H E B E G I N N I N G 1 9 0 8 -

OUR HISTORY (Series I)

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experience. The orchestra presented public rehearsals and open concerts in various schools and at a lodge room at the Shrine Temple. But finally the first public concert, with a VIP ticket costing a whopping 55 cents, was presented to some 3000 people on January 3, 1938, with the orchestra playing the Symphony No. 6 of Peter Tchaikovsky. Guy Maier was featured as soloist in a performance of the Piano Concerto No. 1 by Franz Liszt. Maier, in addition to his position on the faculty of the Juilliard School and his touring career, was affiliated with the WPA as a regional director in New York.

Oklahoma City Philharmonic (1988 – present) Oklahoma Federal Symphony / Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra (1937-1987) Oklahoma City Symphony (1924 – 1931) Based on information compiled by J. Landis Fleming, Mabel Hovdahl Alexander and Joel Levine

artistic, economic and political challenges, orchestral music was heard in Oklahoma City as early as 1924 and continues to thrive as we enter the 2013-2014 Season.

A Matter of Pride — The Oklahoma City Symphony

2011-2012 Season Joel Levine Conducting

September 2013 marks the beginning of the 25th season of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, which performs under the leadership of founding music director Joel Levine. Achieving one milestone after another, the OKC Philharmonic has become recognized as one of the most successful regional orchestras in the country with acclaimed performances, positive community impact, and a solid financial foundation. The chorus of support that raised the Philharmonic from its challenging beginning came from dedicated professional musicians, corporate leaders, civic volunteers, audience members and patrons who offered their talents and loyalty to create the vital organization we have today. However, this medley echoes Oklahoma’s past. The history of our state carries a tradition of symphonic music that goes back more than 90 years. “Symphony” is a word that can be translated as “harmony together” and Oklahoma City’s cultural life began to create harmony early as community leaders came together to increase the artistic offerings when our state was new. Launching and sustaining a symphony orchestra was an ambitious priority and, despite

The story starts in 1908 with the founding of The Ladies Music Club, which eventually boasted of more than 800 members. For decades, the group brought to Oklahoma City the greatest musicians, singers, dancers and speakers of the era. The club’s crowning achievement was the establishment of the Oklahoma City Symphony. This orchestra, conducted by Frederick Holmberg, dean of The University of Oklahoma’s School Of Music, was an outgrowth of the Ladies Music Club string choir, started in 1921 by Mrs. Frank Buttram, an accomplished musician and a leader of The Ladies Music Club. On May 21, 1924, the city heard its first local symphony concert, a 54-piece ensemble of all volunteer musicians, at the Shrine Temple, N.W. 6th Street and Robinson Avenue. The first season included concerts for children. Jubilant organizers reported that the orchestra played to 2,500 fifth and sixth graders in addition to six classical concerts. An audience of 1500 people at the opening performance grew with each subsequent concert. The announcement of a series of Symphony concerts marks a big step forward in the marvelous growth and history of our city. Perhaps no city of such few years growth has ever achieved a like accomplishment. Cities which have Symphonies regard them as their very best, highest civic advertisement. From the program of the first concert of the Oklahoma City Symphony – May 21, 1924 Oklahoma City was one of 49 American cities to have an orchestra in 1928; however, its days were numbered. The young orchestra flourished until the spring of 1931, when the combination of The Great Depression, politics, and the effects of the Dust Bowl brought the curtain down on the group. Some say the group was ended by Governor William “Alfalfa Bill” Murray. It’s said that he was annoyed that the supporters of the Symphony were not political allies and cited Holmberg’s participation as a conflict of interest between the University and the privately-funded Symphony. He forced Holmberg to resign and there was no one else willing or able to take the podium of the young orchestra.

1937-1938: The first season of the Oklahoma Federal Symphony

The Next Level The Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra In 1937 an orchestra was created in Oklahoma City as a Federal Music Project (FMP) through the Federal One program of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), and had a solid base of community support from Holmberg’s Oklahoma City Symphony. From the mid-1930s to the early 1940s, the FMP funded programs across the country designed to put musicians to work in all aspects of the field. The $25 million Federal One program also had a stated goal to create a unified American culture as well as generating support for the government’s programs to help citizens during the Great Depression. The offer of federal support came first to Tulsa but the idea did not take hold until culture boosters in Oklahoma City became interested in the idea of rebuilding a city orchestra. The orchestra was licensed in 1937 as an ensemble to serve the entire state but with administration and operations centered in Oklahoma City. Ralph Rose, the first conductor of Oklahoma’s new “Oklahoma Federal Symphony Orchestra,” deserves credit for putting the orchestra on stage in the face of great odds. Despite being just 27 years old himself, he recruited a group of very young musicians to perform in the orchestra; most were just out of high school. Ninety percent of the players were “certified” for WPA funding because they were out of work. The non-certified musicians were the older players, who generally had more

February 1938: An early concert promotion

The first anniversary concert of the Federal Symphony was held on Thursday, January 5, 1939, and was billed as a “Fun Night: Celebrating the First Birthday of the Oklahoma Federal Symphony Orchestra.” Patrons were promised a program of nonsense and hilarity, laughs and surprises and warned that “Anything (or almost anything,) goes…” A promotional announcement listed selections including “Pops Goes the Weasel,” “Toy Symphony,” “The Chicken and the Worm,” “Fleas,” “Hippo Dance,” and other whimsical pieces. Patrons were warned that this program included “some of the things we may do if we feel like it –“

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artistic, economic and political challenges, orchestral music was heard in Oklahoma City as early as 1924 and continues to thrive as we enter the 2013-2014 Season.

A Matter of Pride — The Oklahoma City Symphony

2011-2012 Season Joel Levine Conducting

1937-1938: The first season of the Oklahoma Federal Symphony

February 1938: An early concert promotion

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Throughout that first season, the Oklahoma Federal Symphony Orchestra played more than 40 concerts for children and in many more appearances across the state reaching over 55,000 people. The musicians were paid $75 per month and the organization was managed by a federally appointed director, Dean Richardson. The OKC operations were moved to the newly completed Municipal Auditorium in February 1938 and Rose conducted an inaugural concert in the new performance space in April 1938. A concert later that spring featured guest conductor 21-year-old Victor Alessandro, Jr., who would become music director the following year. A youthful Mickey Rooney even took the baton for a rehearsal of the Prelude of Act 3 from Wagner’s Lohengrin that season. Ralph Rose continued to conduct through the summer when a series of “Starlight Concerts” were presented at Taft Stadium (on May at N.W. 23rd Street) drawing crowds of nearly 6,000 music lovers. Richardson was responsible for all the FMP activities throughout the state and reported to supervisors at both the regional and federal level. His focus on the new orchestra led him to neglect his other duties and there were complaints about his work. Nikolas Sokoloff, director of the FMP and former conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, visited Oklahoma City in May 1938 and was “agreeably surprised” by the performance of the orchestra. The national director gave a brief talk at the concert. He urged the public and the musicians to understand that the Federal Music Project was not a relief program but a works program. The aim of the program, he said, was to provide a permanent intelligent effort toward improvement and progress in musical activities. — quoted from the Daily Oklahoman, May 3, 1938

August 2, 1940: Outdoor Summer Concerts at the Taft Stadium. Photo: courtesy The Oklahoman

Sokoloff’s position was not held universally, even within the administration of the WPA and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. The New Deal programs created controversy from the start and role of the government was perhaps even more hotly debated then than now. Richardson worked to preserve the financial status and operations of the orchestra while caught in the squeeze between the private and public funders. Meanwhile, the new conductor, Victor Alessandro, worked to build the quality of the ensemble while his forces were routinely lured away by orchestras and bands across the country. The exceptional quality of the musicians coming from the Southwest region was suddenly recognized as the Oklahoma Federal Symphony was acknowledged by some to be the best symphony between Chicago and Los Angeles.

March 1938: Program cover featuring Gail Laughton, harp soloist

April 1938: Opening concert of the Municipal Auditorium, a new home for the orchestra

1947: Conductor Victor Alessandro with school children. Photo: courtesy The Oklahoman

It’s A Raid! Orchestras Compete. At one point, both Tulsa and Oklahoma City had created private foundations to support a WPA Federal Symphony. As part of the agreement with the FMP, a portion of the operating funds for the orchestra had to come from private support. Civic leaders in Tulsa were opposed to the idea of receiving federal support and were determined not only to fully fund their own orchestra but also have the “best” ensemble in the state. With an offer of an additional $25 per month salary, they lured away 15 musicians from the Oklahoma City project. Unfortunately not only were they unable to sustain the level of donated support necessary to manage an independent orchestra, but they were unable to garner the means to continue as a WPA Federal Symphony. The Tulsa Philharmonic was successfully founded in 1948 and became a thriving regional orchestra for many years.

April 1939: “Teepees to Towers” – A program to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Oklahoma City

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August 2, 1940: Outdoor Summer Concerts at the Taft Stadium. Photo: courtesy The Oklahoman

March 1938: Program cover featuring Gail Laughton, harp soloist

April 1938: Opening concert of the Municipal Auditorium, a new home for the orchestra

1947: Conductor Victor Alessandro with school children. Photo: courtesy The Oklahoman

April 1939: “Teepees to Towers” – A program to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Oklahoma City

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PROGRAM NOTES C L A S S I C S S E

Sci-Fi Spectacular with GeorgeNovember Takei 1-2, 2013

8:00 P.M.

POPS

Sci-Fi Spectacular

Featuring the music of John Williams

Victor Alessandro with school children to promote the Youth Concerts

Federal funding for all the Federal Music Projects ended in 1943 and the Oklahoma Symphony Society was faced with the loss of 75% of the orchestra’s budget. Because they had been charged with supplying only 25% of the necessary funds as the sponsoring organization, they had found a comfortable level of support within the community. Now responsible for 100% of the orchestra’s support, the group struggled for several years but accumulated a significant deficit and then voted to liquidate the orchestra in July 1945. The announcement of their decision shocked the community and sufficient support was raised to continue operations. Structural changes to the board of directors and by-laws, the administration and key volunteers were necessary to create an independent organization. The board of directors was reorganized and included 36 members and the name was changed to The Oklahoma State Symphony Orchestra. Next issue:: From Alessandro to Harrison to Herrera — An Orchestra Heard Around the World

A Good Start Fifteen year old harpist Gail Laughton (1921-1985) barely made the cut to become a member of the new orchestra in 1937. He was plenty talented but just met the minimum age to be hired into the federal program. Gail made the front page of the Daily Oklahoman at age 4 when he played violin for industrialist Henry Ford. However, his future was made when he moved to California. Gail Laughton had a tremendous career as a jazz harpist, as a studio musician, and provided harp music for many Warner Brothers films and Looney Tunes scores. His hands are featured playing the harp in The Bishop’s Wife, with Cary Grant.

JACK EVERLY CONDUCTOR

Gail worked closely with Harpo Marx on some of his filmed harp solos and played for the West Coast’s Air Force’s Radio Production Unit. Gail’s beautiful classic recording Harps of the Ancient Temples was excerpted in the Ridley Scott film Bladerunner.

George Takei

Kristen Plumley

NARRATOR/HOST

“Musically, Oklahoma City has accomplished more in its short span of existence than any other city in the nation...” Arthur Judson, orchestra consultant, manager of the New York Philharmonic and president of Columbia Artists (circa 1945)

vocalist

With

The Philharmonic Pops Chorale Vince Leseney, director PRESENTED BY:

A Special Thank You to LOCAL catering, Melissa Scaramucci, owner, for providing musician’s catering services

PROGRAM NOTES C L A S S I C S S E

Sci-Fi Spectacular with GeorgeNovember Takei 1-2, 2013

8:00 P.M.

POPS

Sci-Fi Spectacular

Featuring the music of John Williams

Victor Alessandro with school children to promote the Youth Concerts

JACK EVERLY CONDUCTOR

George Takei

Kristen Plumley

NARRATOR/HOST

vocalist

With

The Philharmonic Pops Chorale Vince Leseney, director PRESENTED BY:

A Special Thank You to LOCAL catering, Melissa Scaramucci, owner, for providing musician’s catering services

PROGRAM P

GUEST ARTIST S E R I E S

Sci-Fi Spectacular Featuring the music of John Williams

Williams........................................................................Main Title from Star Wars The Philharmonic Pops Chorale Various, arr. Everly.......................................................Lost in Syndication The Philharmonic Pops Chorale Williams........................................................................Adventures on Earth: E.T. Barry............................................................................Somewhere in Time The Philharmonic Pops Chorale Williams........................................................................Superman March The Philharmonic Pops Chorale Various, arr. Custer......................................................Star Trek Through The Years George Takei and Kristen Plumley

INTERMISSION

Strauss, R..................................................................... 2001: A Space Odyssey Williams........................................................................Close Encounters of the Third Kind The Philharmonic Pops Chorale Giachinno.....................................................................Star Trek 2009 suite The Philharmonic Pops Chorale

JACK EVERLY Jack Everly is the Principal Pops Conductor of the Baltimore and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestras, Naples Philharmonic Orchestra and National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa), and the Music Director of the National Memorial Day Concert and A Capitol Fourth on PBS. He has been on stage with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall and appears regularly with The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Center. His frequent guest conducting engagements include the orchestras of Pittsburgh, Edmonton and this season with The Philadelphia Orchestra at The Mann Center. Appointed by Mikhail Baryshnikov, Mr. Everly was conductor of the American Ballet Theatre for 14 years, where he served as Music Director. In addition to his ABT tenure, he has teamed with Marvin Hamlisch in Broadway shows that Mr. Hamlisch scored including, The Goodbye Girl, They’re Playing Our Song, and A Chorus Line. He conducted Carol Channing hundreds of times in Hello, Dolly! in two separate Broadway productions. Mr. Everly has conducted the songs for Disney’s animated classic, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and led the Czech Philharmonic on the C’s: “In the Presence”, featuring Daniel Rodriguez and Sandi Patty’s 2011 Broadway Stories. He also conducted the critically praised “Everything’s Coming Up Roses: The Complete Overtures of Broadway’s Jule Styne”, and was music director for numerous Broadway cast recordings.

In 1998, Jack Everly created the Symphonic Pops Consortium serving as Music Director. The Consortium, based in Indianapolis, produces new theatrical pops programs, and in the past thirteen years more than 250 performances of SPC programs have taken place across the U.S. and Canada. When not on the podium or arranging, Maestro Everly indulges in his love for films, Häagen-Dazs, and a pooch named Max.

“Conductor Jack Everly has found some cool, off-the-beaten-track items that make the familiar ones seem just a little fresher, and his assured, sensitive guidance from the podium generates a consistently classy level of music-making.” — Tim Smith, Baltimore Sun

Herrmann.....................................................................The Day the Earth Stood Still George Takei and Kristen Plumley Williams....................................................................... Duel of the Fates from Star Wars: Phantom Menace The Philharmonic Pops Chorale Williams........................................................................Throne Room & End Title from Star Wars The Philharmonic Pops Chorale

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GUEST ARTIST S E R I E S

Sci-Fi Spectacular Featuring the music of John Williams

INTERMISSION

GUEST ARTIST P

EDUCATION UPDATE

GEORGE TAKEI Actor, social justice activist, social media mega-power, author of Oh Myyy! There Goes the Internet, and star of upcoming Broadway musical Allegiance. Best known for playing Sulu on the original Star Trek TV series and six movies that followed, George Takei is unlikely social media royalty. Unofficially dubbed the King of Facebook, he counts 4.2 million fans in his online empire - including Trekkies, Howard Stern listeners, and the LGBTQ community — who devour his quirky mix of kitten jokes, Star Trek references, heartfelt messages, and sci-fi/fantasy memes. An outspoken advocate for civil rights, Takei has used his unmistakable baritone in several satiric PSAs, including one in response to Tennessee’s infamous “Don’t

Say Gay” bill that encourages viewers to say, “It’s OK to be Takei.” His current projects include the musical Allegiance, drawn from his experience of growing up in Japanese American internment camps during World War II, and the recently published Oh Myyy! There Goes the Internet.

Kristen Plumley A soprano with a sparkling voice to match her personality, Connecticut native Kristen Plumley brings her joy of being on stage to every role she performs. Lauded as “sensationally note-perfect” St. Petersburg Times, “a roguish comedienne” The Middletown, CT Press and “Met-worthy” The Dallas Morning News, Ms. Plumley has portrayed Adina (L’Elisir d’Amore) and Gilda (Rigoletto) with Greensboro Opera Company, Musetta (La bohème) with Amarillo Opera, Norina (Don Pasquale) and Zerlina (Don Giovanni) with Virginia Opera, Barbarina (Le Nozze di Figaro) with New York City Opera, Norina (Don Pasquale) and Zerlina (Don Giovanni) with Virginia Opera, Nannetta (Falstaff) and Amor (Orfeo ed Euridice) with Opera Festival of New Jersey, Sophie (Werther) with Chautauqua Opera, Adele (Die Fledermaus) with Boheme Opera (NJ) and Opera Theatre of Connecticut, Despina (Così fan Tutte) with Lyric Opera of Cleveland, the Sultan of Egypt (Glück’s Les Pelerins de la Mecque) with L’Opéra Français de New York, Yum-Yum (The Mikado) with Opera Memphis and Josephine (H.M.S. Pinafore) with Nevada Opera. Other roles to her credit include Juliette (Roméo et Juliette), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), and Kathy (Student Prince), and musical theater favorites Maria (West Side Story), Carrie (Carousel), Fiona (Brigadoon) and Laurey (Oklahoma!). On the concert stage, Kristen Plumley has performed a broad spectrum of works, including Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Requiem, Haydn’s Mass in Time of War and Handel’s Sing Unto God with the New England Symphonic Ensemble at Carnegie Hall. Additionally, she has sung

Legends November 16, 2013

Mozart’s Mass in C minor, Elgar’s For the Fallen, Bach’s Coffee Cantata, Respighi’s Laud to the Nativity and Bach’s Cantata #1 across the US, as well as Jack Everly’s Sci-Fi Spectacular (music from science fiction movies and television shows) with the Cleveland, Indianapolis, Seattle, Baltimore and Toronto Symphonies and An Evening of Gilbert and Sullivan with the symphony orchestras of St. Louis, Richmond, Memphis and Minnesota. Enthusiastic about contemporary works, she has been active in many new operas at the prestigious Banff Centre for the Arts (Alberta, Canada) and in companies throughout New York City. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and seven-year-old twins.

The music education programs of the Orchestra League and Philharmonic are in full swing for the fall. Registrations are complete and We’ve Got Rhythm will serve a complement of 65 schools with the four-part program that prepares third graders for the spring Youth Concerts at the Civic Center next May. However, the fall Youth Concerts are now open for school registrations and will welcome thousands of elementary school children to the Civic Center for Philharmonic concerts on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 29 & 30, 2013. The class is full for Be the Orchestra as 24 adults (plus a waiting list) signed up for beginner lessons on violin, viola, cello or bass. Philharmonic cellist Dorothy Hays teaches and inspires her students in these classes as many of them continue to play and learn with the program she founded called Society of Strings (S.O.S.) You’re invited to hear the members of S.O.S. perform in their upcoming concerts on Monday, October 28 at 7:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of OKC at NW 23rd and Western Ave. They also offer an early Christmas present with both S.O.S. and the starting group, S.O.S. Encore, performing on Monday, December 9 at 7:30 p.m., again at First Presbyterian Church. We’re deeply invested in the idea that a key to opening a love of classical music is learning to play an instrument. The Instrument Playground is a primary key for many children. Thousands of youngsters have had their first chance to handle musical instruments of all types through this simple, yet effective program. Together with education coordinator Michelle Ganson, League volunteers take a section of violins, brass instruments, drums and other authentic orchestral instruments into the community for the enjoyment of Kids of all ages.

8:00 P.M.

CLASSICS Garrick Ohlsson, piano JOEL LEVINE, CONDUCTOR

Grieg ........................... Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46

Morning Mood Åse’s Death Anitra’s Dance In the Hall of the Mountain King

Liszt ............................. Mephisto Waltz No. 1

INTERMISSION

Brahms ........................ Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 Maestoso Adagio Rondo—Allegro non troppo

Garrick Ohlsson, piano

Upcoming Instrument Playgrounds Saturday, October 19 :: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Down Syndrome Buddy Walk at OKC Ballpark

THIS CONCERT IS GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY:

Sunday, October 27 :: 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Civic Center for Discovery Concert Join us as a volunteer or participant and come make some music with us! Listen to a broadcast of this performance on KCSC 90.1 FM on Wednesday, December 11 at 8:00 pm on “Performance Oklahoma.”

GUEST ARTIST P

EDUCATION UPDATE

Legends November 16, 2013

8:00 P.M.

CLASSICS Garrick Ohlsson, piano JOEL LEVINE, CONDUCTOR

Grieg ........................... Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46

Morning Mood Åse’s Death Anitra’s Dance In the Hall of the Mountain King

Liszt ............................. Mephisto Waltz No. 1

INTERMISSION

Brahms ........................ Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 Maestoso Adagio Rondo—Allegro non troppo

Garrick Ohlsson, piano

Upcoming Instrument Playgrounds Saturday, October 19 :: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Down Syndrome Buddy Walk at OKC Ballpark

THIS CONCERT IS GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY:

GUEST ARTIST C

Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46 Edvard Hagerup Grieg

Garrick Ohlsson

Since his triumph as winner of the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, pianist Garrick Ohlsson has established himself worldwide as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess. Although long regarded as one of the world’s leading exponents of the music of Frédéric Chopin, Mr. Ohlsson commands an enormous repertoire, which ranges over the entire piano literature. A student of the late Claudio Arrau, Mr. Ohlsson has come to be noted for his masterly performances of the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, as well as the Romantic repertoire. To date he has at his command more than 80 concertos, ranging from Haydn and Mozart to works of the 21st century, many commissioned for him. The 2013-14 season will include recitals in Montreal, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Kansas City, culminating in February in Carnegie Hall with a program including Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin and excerpts from his recent recording of works of Charles Tomlinson Griffes. In January, with the Boston Symphony, he will present the world premier of a concerto commissioned for him from Justin Dello Joio, as well as return visits to the orchestras of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and Cleveland. Performances outside North America include Stockholm (Sweden), São Paolo (Brazil), and Hong Kong (China), in addition to a Dvořák project with the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Ivan Fischer. The 2012-13 season included performances of Busoni’s rarely programmed piano concerto with the European Union Youth Orchestra and Gianandrea Noseda, including an appearance at the Edinburgh International Festival, two concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and a month-long tour in Australia, where he recorded, in performance, both Brahms concerti and Tchaikovsky’s second piano concerto. A season earlier, in recognition of the bicentenary of Chopin’s birth, Mr. Ohlsson presented a series of all-Chopin recitals in Seattle, Berkeley and La Jolla, culminating at Lincoln Center in the fall and winter of 2010. In autumn of that year he was featured in a documentary, “The Art of Chopin,” co-produced by Polish, French, British and Chinese television stations, followed one year later by a DVD of the two Chopin concerti. In the summer of 2010 he appeared in all-Chopin programs at the Ravinia and Tanglewood festivals, as well as appearances in Taipei, Beijing, Melbourne and Sydney.

An avid chamber musician, Mr. Ohlsson has collaborated with the Cleveland, Emerson, Takács and Tokyo string quartets, among other ensembles. Together with violinist Jorja Fleezanis and cellist Michael Grebanier, he is a founding member of the San Francisco-based FOG Trio. Passionate about singing and singers, Mr. Ohlsson has appeared in recital with such legendary artists as Magda Olivero, Jessye Norman, and Ewa Podle´s.

Single Performance: 3/30/1996 Conductor: Joel Levine Born: June 15, 1843, in Bergen, Norway Died: September 4, 1907, in Bergen Work composed: Grieg wrote his incidental music to the play Peer Gynt from May 1874 through September 1875, with additions and revisions continuing through 1902; he assembled the four movements of his Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 for publication in 1888. Work premiered: These movements figured in the incidental music played at the premiere of Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt in Christiania (later known as Oslo), Norway, on February 24, 1876, when Johan Hennum conducted. The first concert performance of the Suite No. 1 was given on January 24, 1889, at Chickering Hall, New York, with Theodore Thomas leading his orchestra. Instrumentation: Two flutes and piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, triangle, cymbals, and strings

PROGRAM NOTES I

compatriot who was spearheading nationalistic sentiments among artists in Norway. Immediately following Nordraak’s early death, in 1866, Grieg returned to his native land, which would be his home from that point on. Norway’s most significant literary figure during that time was Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), although his countrymen were slow to recognize that fact. Unlike Grieg, he enjoyed a strictly Norwegian upbringing. During his early years as a writer, he scraped by with the slight income he derived from work as a playwright, director, and administrator at theatres in Bergen and Christiania (later renamed Oslo). Success eluded him, and he grew so disenchanted that in 1864 he left for Italy, where he mostly remained in self-imposed exile for 27 years. While on the continent he penned a succession of admired plays: Brand, Peer Gynt (in 1867), A Doll’s House, Ghosts, An Enemy of the People, The Wild Duck, and Hedda Gabler. When Ibsen began sending parts of his Peer Gynt manuscript to his publisher, he explained the work’s startingpoint in an accompanying letter: “Peer Gynt was a real person who lived in the Gudbrandsal, probably around the end of the last century of the beginning of this one. … Not much more is known about his doings than you can find in Asbjørnsen’s Norwegian Fairy Tales…. So I haven’t had much on which to base my poem, but it has meant that I have had all the more freedom with which to work on it.”

Mr. Ohlsson can be heard on the Arabesque, RCA Victor Red Seal, Angel, BMG, Delos, Hänssler, Nonesuch, Telarc, and Virgin Classics labels. His ten-disc set of the complete Beethoven sonatas, for Bridge Records, has garnered critical acclaim, including a GRAMMY® for Vol. 3. His recording of Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 3, with the Atlanta Symphony and Robert Spano, was released in 2011. In the fall of 2008 the English label Hyperion re-released his 16-disc set of the complete works of Chopin. Hyperion recently released a disc of all the Brahms piano variations and “Goyescas,” by Enrique Granados, and music of Charles Tomlinson Griffes. The latest CDs in his ongoing association with Bridge Records are “Close Connections,” a recital of 20th-Century pieces, and two CDs of works by Liszt. A native of White Plains, N.Y., Garrick Ohlsson began his piano studies at the age of 8, at the Westchester Conservatory of Music; at 13 he entered The Juilliard School, in New York City. His musical development has been influenced in completely different ways by a succession of distinguished teachers, most notably Claudio Arrau, Olga Barabini, Tom Lishman, Sascha Gorodnitzki, Rosina Lhévinne and Irma Wolpe. Although he won First Prizes at the 1966 Busoni Competition in Italy and the 1968 Montréal Piano Competition, it was his 1970 triumph at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, where he won the Gold Medal (and remains the single American to have done so), that brought him worldwide recognition as one of the finest pianists of his generation. Since then he has made nearly a dozen tours of Poland, where he retains immense personal popularity. Mr. Ohlsson was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize in 1994 and received the 1998 University Musical Society Distinguished Artist Award in Ann Arbor, MI. He makes his home in San Francisco.

Edvard Grieg stands as the most essential composer in the history of Norwegian music, a distinction he already clinched during his lifetime and would not relinquish in posterity. When he was growing up, his native country could offer a composer only limited opportunities for advanced study; and so he left Norway to enroll from 1858-62 at the Leipzig Conservatory, a destination for many international music students of the time and a sturdy source of traditional learning when it came to musical fundamentals and composition. Although in his later years Grieg would speak of the Leipzig Conservatory in unflattering terms, the four years he spent there were undeniably important to his development thanks to his work with such eminent teachers as Ignaz Moscheles for piano and Carl Reinecke for composition. Following his conservatory studies, he spent a period in Copenhagen, which was then enjoying the most cosmopolitan musical life of any city in Scandinavia. There he developed a friendship with Rikard Nordraak, a

Left to his own devices, Ibsen came up with a meandering tale about an anti-hero (as described by Rolf Fjelde, who translated the play into English) “with no ruling passion, no calling, no commitment, the eternal opportunist, the charming, gifted, self-centered child who turns out finally to have neither center nor self.” In the course of 40 scenes, the title character has a variety of adventures and travels as far as North Africa before arriving back in Norway for a rather hallucinatory finale in which he is faced with the strands of his life that have gone awry and probably ends up dying, although we can’t be too sure. The verse-play met with reasonable success when published, but it didn’t receive a staged production until 1876, when it was produced in Christiania. Neither the playwright nor the composer was in attendance on that occasion. Ibsen had written from Italy to ask Grieg to provide incidental music for that production, and the composer had accepted, misjudging the amount of music that would be required. “Peer Gynt goes very slowly,” he wrote to a friend in 1874, while he was enmeshed in the project. “It is a horribly intractable subject except for a few places, for example, where Solvejg sings; in fact, I have done those parts already. And I have something for the hall of the troll-king that I literally can’t bear to listen to, it reeks so of cow-pads and super-Norwegianism ….” In the end he would provide 26 separate items for the play (a few having been added for revivals), totaling about 90 minutes of music. CONTINUED ON PAGE 48

GUEST ARTIST C

Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46 Edvard Hagerup Grieg

Garrick Ohlsson

PROGRAM NOTES I

PROGRAM NOTES

From Incidental Music to Concert Suite Grieg extracted two concert suites from his Peer Gynt music, the first being published in 1888, the second in 1893. The First Suite is far the more famous, and for many decades it was a staple of music education curricula for the young. Most people probably assume that its opening movement, “Morning Mood,” depicts the sun of dawn playing among the fjords, but in the play (it falls in Act IV) it accompanies a sunrise in the North African desert. “Åse’s Death” (from Act III) involves the death of Peer’s mother, whom he treated ungratefully but whose passing he mourns deeply. “Anitra’s Dance” falls shortly after “Morning Mood” in Act IV of the play, where it serves as a seductive waltz for a dancing girl in the tent of an Arab chief. “The Hall of the Mountain King” takes us back to Act II, where Peer matches wits with a menacing troll king, although for some listeners it may summon up images of an obsessed Peter Lorre in the 1931 Fritz Lang film M.

Mephisto Waltz No. 1 Franz Liszt

than wisdom; of Faust’s dealings with Mephistopheles, which enable him to acquire knowledge and a girlfriend (Gretchen); and the consequences his actions have on others (his seduction of Gretchen brings her to ruin, but at least his turn of heart leads to her eventual redemption). Lenau’s Faust: Ein Gedicht owes much to Goethe’s Faust, but where Goethe finds in the Faust story paths that lead to redemption, Lenau finds hopelessness as his hero wanders through a life absolutely devoid of meaningful values, a life of inconstancy at every level. Franz Liszt wrote several works based on this legend, most impressively his Goethe-derived Faust Symphony of 1854-57, which included an entire movement devoted to Mephistopheles. That character got pieces all his own in the composer’s four Mephisto Waltzes, of which the First is the best known. As with many Liszt compositions, this one exists in multiple settings—in this case, versions for solo piano and for piano duet in addition to the symphonic version. It used to be thought that the orchestral setting came first and that Liszt then arranged it for solo piano. Recent research has shown that the opposite is the case, that this piece was born as the Mephisto Waltz for piano (begun as early as 1856) and was adapted into orchestral form in 1860. The versions differ from each other in details, not always lining up measure for measure. In fact, even the orchestral Mephisto Waltz exists with two alternate endings, one a violent climax, the other dying away into restrained quietude.

Single Performance: 2/9/2002 Conductor: Joel Levine Born: October 22, 1811, in Raiding, Hungary Died: July 31, 1886, in Bayreuth, Germany Work composed: 1860, adapted from a piano piece begun as early as 1856 Work premiered: Uncertain Instrumentation: Two flutes and piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbals, triangle, harp, and strings

The tale of Faust traces its ancestry to Germany in the early 16th century, when a real-life Johann Faust (or maybe a pair of Fausts) claimed to have made a pact with the devil. Within a few decades, the stories of necromancy, alchemy, and even sodomy that swirled in the wake of Johann Faust’s death were codified in a published Faustbuch (1587). Translated and disseminated throughout Europe, that volume inspired further developments of the Faust legend, including important contributions by such figures as Christopher Marlowe, whose play Doctor Faustus was published in 1604; Gotthold Lessing, whose own Faust play remained unfinished when he died, in 1781; Nikolaus Lenau, whose fragmentary Faust drama was penned from 1836-46, bringing the tale right into the Liszt era; and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, whose two-part treatment of the Faust legend, published sequentially in 1808 and 1832, towers above all others. For most of us the general outline of the Faust story will be that presented by Goethe, particularly in his Part One. It deals with how the devil (Mephistopheles, a.k.a. Mephisto) seeks and receives God’s permission to try to corrupt Faust, a disaffected academic aware that he has more knowledge

galloping and seductive) would go on to great fame while the Night Procession receded into obscurity. Not long after the Mephisto Waltz appeared, the critic Frederick Niecks described it as “the ne plus ultra of weirdness and unbridled sensuality in the whole domain of music, and one of the most remarkable tours de force of imagination, combination, and instruments.”

The Composer Speaks Liszt included in his score of the Mephisto Waltz No. 1 this scenario, which seems to reflect the quieter of the optional endings he provided: At an inn in the village a marriage revel is in progress, and the night is noisy with the sound of music, dancing, and drunken laughter. Mephisto and Faust happen upon the scene and Faust is persuaded to enter and join in the fun. At this point the village fiddler, either wearied or befuddled, is playing with a certain indifference; and Mephisto snatches the violin from his hands and plays music of such irresistible seductiveness that Faust, already under the spell of an unnaturally recovered youth, seizes upon a voluptuous village maiden, dances with her madly, wildly, yet enticingly, and in a few minutes has danced her out of the inn and into the woods. The music gradually becomes fainter, the nightingale sings his amorous song, and the rest is silence.

Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 Johannes Brahms First Performance: 1/3/1950 Piano: Jacques Abram Last Performance: 9/16/2006 Piano: Yefim Bronfman This first Mephisto Waltz draws its inspiration not from Goethe but rather from Lenau’s slightly telling of tale. Liszt composed two movements connected to that poem, Der nächtliche Zug (Midnight Procession) and Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke (The Dance in the Village Inn). That he wanted the pair of pieces to be published together is made clear in a letter he wrote in 1862: “The publication of the two Lenau’s Faust episodes ... I entrust to Schuberth’s [i.e., the publisher’s] own judgment. As to whether the piano version or the score appears first, makes no difference to me; the only important thing is that both pieces should appear simultaneously, the Night Procession as No. 1 and the Mephisto Waltz as No. 2. There is naturally no thematic relationship between the two pieces; but they are related nonetheless by all the contrasts of emotions. A Mephisto of this kind may only arise from such a poodle!” In the end they would be published separately, and the Mephisto Waltz (by turns

Born: May 7, 1833, in Hamburg, Germany Died: April 3, 1897, in Vienna, Austria Work composed: Completed in early 1858, with some material written as earlier as 1854 Work premiered: January 22, 1859, with the composer as soloist and with Joseph Joachim conducting the Hanover Court Orchestra; the same forces had played in a “reading rehearsal” ten months earlier. Instrumentation: Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings, in addition to the solo piano

Johannes Brahms was the chief acolyte of the conservative stream of musical Romanticism, the movement that was born from the loins of Beethoven and that burst into flower throughout Europe in about 1830. As a young composer Brahms sought out Robert Schumann, one of the first generation of musical Romantics, appearing unannounced on the Schumanns’ doorstep in Düsseldorf in 1853. Schumann was hugely impressed by the young man’s talent, and on October 28 of that year he published in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik an effusive article titled “Neue Bahnen”

(“New Paths”), which acclaimed Brahms as a sort of musical Messiah, “destined to give ideal presentation to the highest expression of the time, … springing forth like Minerva fully armed from the head of Jove.” The euphoria would not last long. At the end of February 1854, Schumann pushed his way through carnival celebrators and leapt off a bridge into the Rhine in the suicide attempt that would signal the irretrievable progression of his insanity. He survived, but at his own request he was admitted to an asylum near Bonn, where he would die two and a half years later. Brahms fulfilled Schumann’s prophecy and became the figure who most fully adapted the models of Beethoven (via Mendelssohn and Schumann) to the evolving esthetics of the mid-to-late 19th century. He did not achieve this without considerable struggle, and, aware of the burden that fell on his shoulders, he was reluctant to sign off on works in the genres that invited direct comparison to Beethoven, such as string quartets and symphonies. He did, however, manage to bring his First Piano Concerto to completion in 1858, and he published it four years later. He would not follow up with his considerably more serene Piano Concerto No. 2 (1878-81) until two further decades had passed. The Piano Concerto No. 1, in contrast, is a stormy work of essentially “pure,” tumultuous Romanticism, closely related in its expression to Schumann’s ideals. This is not surprising in light of the fact that it was germinated precisely during the period of Schumann’s decline and completed only a year and a half after his death. Lacking Schumann to provide counsel, Brahms instead sought a musical confidante in Schumann’s wife (eventually widow) Clara, an eminent pianist who would become Brahms’ closest friend, if not more than that. Important support and advice also came from their friend the violinist Joseph Joachim, who would serve as the first conductor of this concerto. In 1854, Brahms had written at least three movements of a Sonata in D minor for Two Pianos, one of many of his works that would not be brought to completion but instead would be recycled into a piece for strikingly different forces. By April 1856, some of the Sonata’s music had morphed into a preliminary version of this Piano Concerto (without changing key), and Brahms began sending bits of it to Joachim for his comments. Joachim proved to be a patient and insightful editor and coach, and Brahms took many of his ideas to heart. He was characteristically loath to let loose of his piece, however, leading the frustrated Joachim to write, “I CONTINUED ON PAGE 50

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Mephisto Waltz No. 1 Franz Liszt

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beg of you, please, for God’s sake let the copyist get at the concerto”—which is what Brahms finally did a couple of months later. Joachim was serving as concertmaster at the Hanover Court Orchestra, and he mustered his orchestra for a read-through of the new work on March 30, 1858, and then oversaw the premiere ten months later. The premiere was at least politely received, but that was not the case when the concerto was aired in Leipzig five days later, with Julius Rietz conducting the Gewandhaus Orchestra. “No reaction at all to the first and second movement,” Brahms wrote to Joachim. “At the end, three pairs of hands tried slowly to clap, whereupon a clear hissing from all sides quickly put an end to any such demonstration. … For all that, one day, when I’ve improved its physical structure, this concerto will please, and a second one will sound very different.” James M. Keller James M. Keller is Program Annotator of the New York Philharmonic (the Leni and Peter May Chair) and the San Francisco Symphony, and is the author of Chamber Music: A Listener’s Guide (Oxford University Press). Earlier versions of these notes appeared in the programs of the New York Philharmonic (Brahms) and San Francisco Symphony (Liszt) and are used with permission

Once Bitten, Twice Not So Shy In the summer of 1871, a 26-year-old British pianist named Florence May arrived in Baden-Baden, where she had arranged to take piano lessons from Clara Schumann. After a number of weeks Frau Schumann needed to leave on a trip to Switzerland, so Brahms gallantly agreed to take over Ms. May’s instruction. In 1905, May published a two-volume biography of the composer, The Life of Johannes Brahms, which furnished a trove of anecdotes about the composer, including this one relating to the First Piano Concerto: At Leipzig, [Brahms] was always a little “out of tune.” He never quite forgave the first reception of his D-minor Concerto at the Gewandhaus, and he used to vent his bottled-up wrath by satirical remarks to the Directors. One of them, a tall and rather pompous gentleman who wore a white waistcoat, … asked Brahms before the concert with a patronizing smile, “Whither are you going to lead us to-night, Mr. Brahms? To Heaven?” Brahms: “It’s all the same to me which direction you take.”

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ORCHESTRA LEAGUE UPDATE

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INDIVIDUALS Providing essential support for the Annual Fund.

Since 1948, the Oklahoma City Orchestra League has worked to support our Philharmonic and to promote appreciation of orchestral music through special events, education programs, and competitions. Through the dedication of its volunteers, the League helps ensure that our Philharmonic has the resources it needs to keep following one outstanding season with another. Much of our work aims to stimulate interest in orchestral music, particularly among young people, and to encourage young musicians to excel. Together with the Philharmonic, the Orchestra League sponsors 17 educational programs. Prominent among these initiatives is We’ve Got Rhythm, which introduces third graders to orchestral music and instruments. Our goal is to bring the program to every school that has invited us, but we’re not there yet. This season, 18 schools are on our waiting list. Would you like to sponsor one of the 65 schools in the We’ve Got Rhythm program? To learn how, contact us at orchleag@coxinet.net or (405) 601-4245. Other education programs include Instrument Playground, where children can handle and play various instruments, Sound Images, a merging of classical music and visual art, and Musical Stories, which brings musical experiences to medically fragile young patients. An important part of our mission is to encourage and honor young musicians. Each year in February, we hold a competition for elementary, middle school and high school-aged musicians. This year’s competition takes place at Oklahoma City University on February 16, with a recital on February 23 featuring the winners of each division. How does the Orchestra League support the Phil, fund its education programs, and sponsor an annual music competition and recital? Through the tireless dedication of our volunteers, and through a series of fundraising events that have grown to become highlights of the music lover’s social season. Just ask the thousands of visitors who enjoy it every year: the Symphony Show House never fails to dazzle. Hundreds of volunteers, designers, businesses and sponsors work together to make this event possible, and their efforts provide tremendous support for the Philharmonic and the Orchestra League’s outreach initiatives. We’re excited about this 41st Symphony Show House. Please visit the project website at www.symphonyshowhouse.com for the latest information. Also prominent among our fundraising programs is our annual series of Note-Able Occasions, where we invite you to come meet and mingle with others who share your passion for orchestral music. On Wednesday, November 6th, we’ll kick off the series with a party you won’t want to miss. At Racing at Remington, Winning for Music Education, you’ll enjoy a delicious barbecue buffet, cash bar, and the excitement of live thoroughbred racing. Your $75 ticket will support the Philharmonic and the League’s mission to keep orchestral music thriving in Oklahoma. We hope you’ll join us! To learn more about the Orchestra League or for information about our upcoming events and programs, call us at (405) 601-4245 or visit us online at www.okcorchestraleague.org.

Mr. Jim Daniel Mr. and Mrs. Mike Darrah Mr. John Davis Mr. and Mrs. William E. Davis Mr. and Mrs. T. A. Dearmon Mr. and Mrs. David C. DeLana Mr. and Mrs. Michael W. Dickinson Dr. and Mrs. James D. Dixson Mr. Sidney G. Dunagan and Mrs. Sherry Wood Mrs. Carlene Edwards Dr. and Mrs. Robert S. Ellis Dr. and Mrs. Royice B. Everett Mr. and Mrs. Irving Faught Mr. and Mrs. George Faulk Ms. Rebecca Fenton Ms. Carolyn Frans Mr. and Mrs. Gary F. Fuller Mr. and Mrs. Gerald L. Gamble Mr. Kelly George Mr. Gary Gordon Mr. and Mrs. Fred Jones Hall Drs. Stephen and Pamela Hamilton Mr. and Mrs. Royce M. Hammons Mr. and Mrs. Michael Haynes Walt and Jean Hendrickson Mr. Robert Henry Mr. and Mrs. John D. Higginbotham Mr. and Mrs. Joe R. Homsey, Jr. Mr. David Hudson Mr. and Mrs. J. Clifford Hudson Dr. Julia Irwin Mr. and Mrs. George W. James Dr. and Mrs. Thomas P. Janssen Mr. and Mrs. Carlos Johnson Mr. Mike Jolley Mr. and Mrs. Michael E. Joseph Mrs. George R. Kalbfleisch Mr. Dan Kennedy and Dr. Diana Kennedy Mr. and Mrs. James T. Kerr, III Mrs. Lou Kerr Gary King Mr. and Mrs. Brad Krieger Ms. Karla Kurkjian Mr. and Mrs. Richard E. Lampton Dr. and Mrs. Jay E. Leemaster Mr. and Mrs. Jason Lees Mrs. Oxana Matthey Mr. and Mrs. John A. McCaleb Mr. and Mrs. John T. McCharen, III Mr. Ron McCord Mrs. Jean McCown Mr. Jeffrey McDougall Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth N. McKinney Mr. and Mrs. John P. McMillin Mr. and Mrs. K. T. Meade, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Ray Merritt Mr. and Mrs. Stewart E. Meyers, Jr.

Mr. William T. Milam, Jr. Mrs. Donna W. Miller Chip and Michelle Mullins Dr. Gene L. Muse Mr. and Mrs. Robert Z. Naifeh Ms. Deborah Nauser Mr. and Mrs. Ronald J. Norick Mr. and Mrs. Tom Pace Mr. and Mrs. James A. Payne Mrs. Barbara Pirrong Beverly and Bill Pirtle Mr. and Mrs. Kent Plaster Dr. Gary Porter and Dr. Mary Elizabeth Porter Mr. and Mrs. Ray H. Potts Mr. Joshua Powell Mr. and Mrs. Robert Prescott Ms. Laura N. Pringle Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth R. Rees Mrs. Berta Faye Rex Mr. and Mrs. Mark Rhea Mrs. Don Rhinehart Mrs. Ran Ricks Mr. Lance Ruffel Mr. Christopher Salyer Mr. and Mrs. Rodney N. Sargent Ms. Peggy Jean Scheffe Mrs. Janet G. Seay Mr. and Mrs. John M. Seward Mr. and Mrs. William F. Shdeed Sharon and John Shelton Mr. Robert Shoemaker Drs. Paul and Amalia Silverstein Mr. and Mrs. Darryl G. Smette Dr. Richard V. Smith Ms. Jane Smythe Dr. and Mrs. Brian E. Snell Mr. and Mrs. John S. Spaid Sr. Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Starling Mr. and Mrs. Frederick K. Thompson Ms. Betsy Timken William P. Tunell, M.D. Mr. and Mrs. John Waller Mrs. Marvin Weiss Mr. Kenneth K. Wert Mr. and Mrs. Lee Wescott Mr. and Mrs. John Wiesner Mr. John S. Williams Mrs. Carol Wright Mr. and Mrs. Ron Youtsey

Friend $750 - $1,249 Ms. Zonia Armstrong Mr. and Mrs. B. B. Beals

Ms. Melissa Beck Mr. Michael Belanger and Ms. Sarah Sagran Dr. and Mrs. William G. Bernhardt Mr. and Mrs. John Biggs Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Blumstein Mr. and Mrs. Don C. Boulton Mr. and Mrs. Alan Bowman Mr. and Mrs. Barney U. Brown Dr. and Mrs. David R. Brown Mr. and Mrs. Bob G. Bunce Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Couch Ms. Barbara Crabtree Dr. and Mrs. Anthony W. Czerwinski Tony and Pam Dela Vega Mr. Joel Dixon Mr. and Mrs. Richard Dugger Ms. Anna Eischen Mr. and Mrs. Kraettli Epperson Mr. and Mrs. Douglas G. Eason Bruce W. and Joanne Ewing Mr. Roger Farrell and Mrs. Trish Horn Dr. Thurma J. Fiegel Mr. and Mrs. Ryan Free Mr. Jerry A. Gilbert Mr. and Mrs. Nick S. Gutierrez, Jr., M.D. Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence K. Hellman Mr. and Mrs. David D. Hunt, II Colonel and Mrs. Dean C. Jackson Mr. David R. Johnson Mr. and Mrs. Alfred H. Karchmer Mr. and Mrs. Drake Keith Ms. Claren Kidd Mr. and Mrs. Paul Kimball Mr. Owen Lafferty Ms. Mary Jane Lawson Mr. Joel Levine Dr. and Mrs. Brad A. Marion Ms. Vickie McIlvoy Mr. and Mrs. Jere W. McKenny Mrs. Donna Muchmore Dr. and Mrs. William L. Parry Ms. Marilyn Pick Dr. and Mrs. Carl Rubenstein Dr. and Mrs. Olaseinde Sawyerr Todd and Melissa Scaramucci Ms. Madeline E. Schooley Ms. Elizabeth H. Schumacher Mr. and Mrs. Don Sherman Mr. and Mrs. Jeff and Nanette Shultz Mr. Frank J. Sonleitner Dr. and Mrs. James B. Stewart Mr. and Mrs. Thomas E. Stott Justice and Mrs. Hardy Summers Mr. and Mrs. Dale Toetz Mrs. Dorothy J. Turk

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GIFTS TO THE PHILHARMONIC

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INDIVIDUALS Providing essential support for the Annual Fund.

Friend $750 - $1,249 Ms. Zonia Armstrong Mr. and Mrs. B. B. Beals

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INDIVIDUALS Providing essential support for the Annual Fund. Mrs. Donna Vogel Mr. and Mrs. Tom Vollbrecht Dr. and Mrs. Larry L. Westmoreland Dr. James B. Wise Mr. and Mrs. Denver Woolsey Colonel and Mrs. James G. Young Mr. and Mrs. Don T. Zachritz

Partner $300 - $749 Dr. Gillian Air Ms. Lois Albert Mr. and Mrs. John C. Alsup Dr. and Mrs. John C. Andrus Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Ayres Ms. Sherry K. Barton Mr. and Mrs. G.T. Blankenship Mrs. Mary C. Blanton Mr. and Mrs. Morris Blumenthal Mr. Max A. Brattin Ms. Karen J. Beckman Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Bendorf Mr. and Mrs. Fred M. Buxton Mr. and Mrs. Edward Ciardi Mr. and Mrs. E.G. Colton, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Richard Creech Dr. Shirley E. Dearborn Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Flack Mr. and Mrs. Jack R. Foster Mr. and Mrs. Keith G. Golden Mr. M.H. Gragg Mr. Herbert M. Graves Mr. and Mrs. Maynard Greenberg Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Greenberg Mr. and Mrs. John T. Greiner, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. George M. Hall Mr. and Mrs. Frank D. Hill Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Hummel Gregory W. and Mary Joan Johnston Mrs. Jessica Martinez-Brooks Mr. and Mrs. Jere W. McKenny Mr. Joe A. McKenzie Mr. and Mrs. Harry Merson David Miller and Barbara Neas Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mogridge Mr. Robert A. Moore Mr. and Mrs. Dorman Morsman Mr. and Mrs. Michael R. Perri Mrs. Donald G. Preuss Mr. and Mrs. Jack B. Rackley Dr. and Mrs. Laurance Reid Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon M. Reznik Mr. and Mrs. Theodore A. Ruff Mr. and Mrs. Ben Shanker Mr. and Mrs. Paul A. Specht Mr. and Mrs. Carl Stover, Jr. Mrs. Evelyn Margaret Tidholm

Honor loved ones, celebrate occasions, recognize achievements and support the Philharmonicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mission. Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Towell Mr. Curtis VanWyngarden Mr. and Mrs. Justin E. Vogt Mr. Kip Welch and Mr. Kyle Rogers Ms. Linda Whittington

Member $100 - $299 Ms. Lois Albert Mrs. Ann Reneau Asbury Mr. Paul D. Austin and Jane Ford Austin Mr. and Mrs. Sanford Austin Mr. and Mrs. Earl Austin Mr. and Mrs. Van A. Barber Ms. Judith A. Barnett Mr. and Mrs. Marion Bauman Ms. Karen J. Beckman Mr. and Mrs. Paul B. Bell Ms. MarEllen Benson Ms. Aleta Biddy Ms. Phyllis Boone Mr. and Mrs. Harry S. Boyd Ms. Denise Bragg Mr. and Mrs. Bill D. Broughton Mr. and Mrs. Jay A. Burns Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Calvert Mrs. Jo Carol Cameron Vikki Ann Canfield, M.D. Ms. Kathryn Carey Ms. Janice B. Carmack Dr. and Mrs. Don R. Carter Mrs. Nancy G. Cheek Ms. Henrie Close Nancy Coats and Charlie Ashley Mr. and Mrs. Ed Cunningham Ms. Martha A. Custer Ms. Carol A. Davito Dr. Nancy L. Dawson, M.D. Mr. and Mrs. Sam Decker Mr. James DeWarns Dr. Lance Drege and Dr. Karen Beres Mr. W. Samuel Dykeman Mr. David W. Echols Mr. and Mrs. Richard Ehlers Ms. Elizabeth K. Eickman Dr. and Mrs. Robert B. Epstein Mrs. Edward Eskridge Mrs. Jo Ann Fair Mr. Michael Felice Dr. Thurma J. Fiegel Ms. Melinda Finley Ms. Lois Fix Mr. and Mrs. John E. Frank Dr. Athena Friese, M.D. Mr. and Mrs. M. Charles Gilbert Colonel and Mrs. Alvin L. Ginsberg Mrs. Pam Glyckherr

Mr. Barry Golsen Mr. C. Hubert Gragg Mr. Steven Graham and Mrs. Vicky Leloie Kelly LTC and Mrs. Walter A. Greenwood Mr. and Mrs. Barre Griffith Mr. and Mrs. C. Jack Harris Mr. Allen K. Harris Mrs. Diane Haser-Bennett and Mr. Ray Bennett Major and Mrs. John M. Heitz Mr. and Mrs. J. Michael Henderson Mr. and Mrs. George C. Hoebing Mr. Jerome A. Holmes Mr. and Mrs. K. R. Hornbrook Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Hummel Ms. Mary Lu Jarvis Mr. and Mrs. John B. Johnson, Jr. L.M. Johnston, Ph.D. Justice Yvonne Kauger Ms. Young Y. Kim Mr. and Mrs. Michael S. Laird Mrs. Ruth G. Levenson Mr. and Mrs. David W. Levy Bob and Kay Lewis Mr. and Mrs. Roy Love Mr. and Mrs. Roy Matthews Mrs. Marcia Matthews Hutton Mrs. M. Geraldine Mayes Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth R. McAlister Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. McKown Ms. Ann McVey Dr. and Mrs. Mark Mellow David Miller & Barbara Neas Terry L. Mock Mr. Jerry E. Murphy Ms. Sylvia Ochs Mr. and Mrs. William H. Orr Mrs. Mildred B. Parsons Mrs. Olga Pellow Mr. and Ms. Paul Pettigrew Dr. and Mrs. Marvin D. Peyton Dr. and Mrs. Roger D. Quinn Ms. Cindy Raby Dr. and Mrs. Gary E. Rankin Mrs. Elizabeth A. Rasmussen Dr. and Mrs. Morris Reichlin Mr. and Mrs. Paul Risser Mr. and Mrs. Tom Roach Dr. and Mrs. Michael Fred Robinson Mrs. Linda Kennedy Rosser James and Sherry Rowan Ms. Carolyn Sandusky-Williams Col. and Mrs. Warren M. Schaub Ms. Gayle A. Scheirman Mr. Fred Schneider Mr. and Mrs. Richard E. Schneider Mr. Kurt Schroeder

Mr. and Mrs. A. Lee Segell Fred and Carolyn Selensky Bill and Kathleen Settle Mr. Robert R. Shaw Dr. and Mrs. Richard Shifrin Mr. Robert E. Simmons Mr. and Mrs. Sam Sims, APR Amanda and Rick Smith Dr. and Mrs. Jerry Neil Smith Mr. Jay Smith Mrs. Carol K. Sokatch Mr. and Mrs. Earl Statton Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Stice Mr. Wilford L. Stone Mr. and Mrs. John E. Stonecipher Mr. and Mrs. Richard Strubhar Ms. Xiao-Hong Sun and Mr. Xiaocong Peng Bud Throne Mr. and Mrs. Sammy Todd Mr. and Mrs. Charles R. Topinka Ms. Jan E. Turnbull Mr. and Mrs. Robert Varnum Juan and Elvia Vazquez LTC Ret. and Mrs. George B. Wallace Dr. and Mrs. Dennis A. Weigand Mr. and Mrs. Albert Weise Mr. and Mrs. Ted Wernick Mr. Don Wester Mr. David Whitten Ms. Ghita Williams Philip and Jane Woodruff Mr. and Mrs. James B. Worthington Mr. Daniel A. Wren Mr. and Mrs. R. Deane Wymer Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Youngheim

In Memory of Richard Adams Mrs. Mary Louise Adams In Memory of Helen P. Cleary Ms. Louise Cleary and Mr. Bill Churchill In Memory of William B. Cleary Steven C. Agee, Ph.D. Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Evans In Memory of William and Helen Cleary Mr. and Mrs. Fred M. Buxton Mr. Sam Hammons In Memory of James O. Edwards, Jr. Mrs. Carlene Edwards In Memory of John and Suzanne Herbert Gregory W. and Mary Joan Johnston In Memory of Orley Jones Don and Grace Boulton Ms. Teresa Rasco In Memory of Dr. George R. Kalbfleisch Mrs. George R. Kalbfleisch In Memory of Mary Virginia Klein Mr. and Mrs. Thomas D. Barbour In Memory of Rabbi Joseph Levenson Mrs. Ruth G. Levenson In Honor of Joel Levine Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. McKown In Memory of Seymour Levine Mrs. Jane B. Harlow Bill and Lil Ross Investrust In Memory of Dr. Charles Mankin Mrs. Pam Glyckherr In Memory of Terri Perri Mr. and Mrs. Michael R. Perri In Memory of Honorable Hardy Summers Mr. Robert D. Allen Mrs. Hilda Casey Mr. and Mrs. J. Michael Henderson Mr. and Mrs. John B. Johnson, Jr. Justice Yvonne Kauger Bill and Kathleen Settle Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Wiggin In Honor of Society of Strings/Dorothy Hays Mr. and Mrs. Jerry W. Plant In Honor of Our Children: John, Beth, Rick And Grandchildren: Mateo, Dominique, Miya, Aidan, Sofia Drs. Lois and John Salmeron

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2013-2014 Season Overture holds annual rooftop parties to provide new members an opportunity to meet one another and learn about the upcoming concert season.

The music continues with the annual Violins & Vino fundraiser, where members and guests are treated to violin lessons followed by a live performance. Ticket proceeds along with bids for silent auction items are earmarked for programs that connect the orchestra with the classroom.

SEPTEMBER 16-17 2013 GLORIA CHIEN, GUEST ARTIST Monthly happy hour/networking events are held around the metro where members meet, share what’s going on in the music scene and sample local cuisine.

[ Oklahoma City’s premier music ticket for young professionals. ] Combining music, art, networking, food and community service, Overture provides a connection for members with a passion for orchestral music. A members-only concert package is just the beginning. Members are treated to exclusive events hosted yearround including a pre-concert toast, members-only group seating, post-concert theme parties and monthly networking events.

BARBER: Souvenirs: Suite for Piano Four Hands, op. 28 BEETHOVEN: Piano Trio No. 7 in B-flat Major, op. 97 (“Archduke”) KORNGOLD: Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, op. 15

Gloria Chien

NOVEMBER 4-5 2013 POULENC: Sonata for Oboe and Piano, op. 185 BEETHOVEN: Sonata No. 1 in D Major for Violin and Piano, op. 12, no. 1 SAINT-SAËNS: Sonata for Oboe and Piano in D Major, op. 166 SCHUMANN: Sonata No. 1 in A Minor for Violin and Piano, op. 105 PROKOFIEV: Sonata for Flute and Piano, op. 94

JANUARY 20-21 2014 ARNOLD: Three Shanties for Wind Quintet, op. 4 MASLANKA: Wind Quintet No. 4 LIGETI: Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet MOZART: Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat Major, K.452 FRANÇAIX: “L’Heure du berger” for Winds and Piano

MARCH 10-11 2014 SOPHIE SHAO, GUEST ARTIST BEETHOVEN: Variations on “Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen,” WoO 46 for cello and piano MENDELSSOHN: Piano Trio No. 2 in C Minor, op. 66 SCHUBERT: String Quintet in C Major, op. post., D.956

APRIL 7-8 2014 WEBER: Introduction, Theme & Variations for Clarinet & String Qrt. KNIGHT: “Raven” PUTS: “And Legions Will Rise” SPOHR: Fantasia & Variations on a Theme by Danzi, op. 81 MOZART: String Quintet No. 3 in C Major, K.515

Sophie Shao

JUNE 2014 - SPRING FESTIVAL “The Music of France,” a multi-concert festival of French chamber music (T.B.A.) Overture offers members enriching volunteer opportunities that support the arts community in Oklahoma. Get your volunteer on with Overture at the Festival of the Arts, where members and volunteers partner with a vendor in the food court to raise funds to support the OKC Philharmonic.

Our concert after-parties are more than a backstage experience. Elaborate themes are woven through the decorations, food, music and specialty drinks to continue the fun after the concert. Members have the opportunity to mingle with orchestra members or guest artists or join the fun on the dance floor.

“Overture offers a unique Philharmonic experience for young professionals — it’s one part culture and one part party.”

Overture concerts are not your typical night out! Join us on facebook.com/OvertureOKC or on Twitter @OvertureOKC.

Concerts begin at 7:30 PM • Tickets available at the door ($15) Monday concerts at All Souls’ Episcopal Church (Penn & 63rd) Tuesday concerts at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral (downtown OKC)

2013-2014 Season Overture holds annual rooftop parties to provide new members an opportunity to meet one another and learn about the upcoming concert season.

SEPTEMBER 16-17 2013 GLORIA CHIEN, GUEST ARTIST Monthly happy hour/networking events are held around the metro where members meet, share what’s going on in the music scene and sample local cuisine.

BARBER: Souvenirs: Suite for Piano Four Hands, op. 28 BEETHOVEN: Piano Trio No. 7 in B-flat Major, op. 97 (“Archduke”) KORNGOLD: Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, op. 15

Gloria Chien

Sophie Shao

“Overture offers a unique Philharmonic experience for young professionals — it’s one part culture and one part party.”

Overture concerts are not your typical night out! Join us on facebook.com/OvertureOKC or on Twitter @OvertureOKC.

Concerts begin at 7:30 PM • Tickets available at the door ($15) Monday concerts at All Souls’ Episcopal Church (Penn & 63rd) Tuesday concerts at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral (downtown OKC)

BancFirst presents

Sundays :: 2PM :: Civic Center Orchestrate a family adventure filled with music and fun as Conductor Matt Troy and Phil the Penguin explore the orchestra! Designed for kids ages 4 to 13. Lobby activities start at 1pm before the hour-long concerts. Come early for the Instrument Playground, arts activities, demonstrations and more.

3-Concerts for just $21 Or $9 per concert General admission seating

October 27, 2013 Phil Phone Home Phil the Penguin gets a visitor from outer space and brings him to the concert!

February 23, 2014 Sports and Music Fight songs, Olympic fanfares, theme music and more!

April 27, 2014 Fiesta! A colorful concert that features happy music of celebration from around the world. Call 405-TICKETS (842-5387) www.okcphilharmonic.org

Midtown 432 N.W. 10th Street (E. of St. Anthony Hospital) (405) 602-6333

Moore 1611 South I-35 Service Rd. (S.of Warren Theater) (405) 794-3474

For more than a decade, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art has been our communityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cultural hub for creative expression. The Museum offers visitors world class special exhibitions and an extensive permanent collection. Our Film Program screens the finest independent, international, and classic films. Through art classes and camps, the Museum fosters creativity among both youth and adults. With all there is to see and do, OKCMOA is truly an enriching experience. Become a member today and take advantage of all the Museum has to offer!

BancFirst presents

3-Concerts for just $21 Or $9 per concert General admission seating

October 27, 2013 Phil Phone Home Phil the Penguin gets a visitor from outer space and brings him to the concert!

February 23, 2014 Sports and Music Fight songs, Olympic fanfares, theme music and more!

April 27, 2014 Fiesta! A colorful concert that features happy music of celebration from around the world. Call 405-TICKETS (842-5387) www.okcphilharmonic.org

Midtown 432 N.W. 10th Street (E. of St. Anthony Hospital) (405) 602-6333

Moore 1611 South I-35 Service Rd. (S.of Warren Theater) (405) 794-3474

Bring

art towithlife Calvert’s

Plant Interiors

lush tropicals • fashionable containers

5308 N. Classen Blvd. | 405.848.6642 www.calverts.com

TUXEDO RENTALS & SALES • Classic and Designer • Cruise Specials • Prom & Group Discounts • Wedding Packages including FREE Groom’s Rental Riverwalk, Moore • 793-0330 Quail Springs Mall • 751-1745 Windsor Park Center • 946-7853 www.tuxedojunction.com

Bring

art towithlife Calvert’s

Plant Interiors

lush tropicals • fashionable containers

5308 N. Classen Blvd. | 405.848.6642 www.calverts.com

Refuge for a Modern World

Developing creative thinking skills 173,000 kids served An agency of state government â&#x20AC;˘ arts.ok.gov

Refuge for a Modern World

Developing creative thinking skills 173,000 kids served An agency of state government â&#x20AC;˘ arts.ok.gov

Oklahoma City Philharmonic Foundation Providing Leadership and Annual Support The Oklahoma City Philharmonic Foundation was established to provide leadership and endowment expertise to help ensure a stable financial base for orchestral music and musical excellence in Oklahoma City for generations to come. Distributions from the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Foundation provide a meaningful and secure source of annual income for the Philharmonic’s operations, continually confirming the importance of endowment in an organization’s long-range planning and overall success. Current officers and directors of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Foundation are:

Officers

Michael E. Joseph, President Jean Ann Hartsuck, Vice President Douglas J. Stussi, Treasurer Penny M. McCaleb, Secretary

Directors

Steven C. Agee Patrick B. Alexander J. Edward Barth L. Joe Bradley Teresa Cooper Douglas R. Cummings T.A. Dearmon Paul Dudman Thomas J. Enis Misha Gorkuscha Sue Ann Hamm Jane B. Harlow Duke R. Ligon Michael J. Milligan Patrick J. Ryan Richard L. Sias Richard Tanenbaum

ANNIVERSARY

September 27-October 6, 2013 The Freede Little Theatre Rated G

CALL 232-SING

A Co-Production with the University of Central Oklahoma’s Department of Musical Theatre

November 22-24, 2013 The Freede Little Theatre Rated R for Adult Language and Themes February 14-23, 2014 The Freede Little Theatre Rated G A Co-Production with TheatreOCU

FRIDAY, O CTO B E R 4 , 2013 AT 8:00 P M

SU NDAY, D E CE MB E R 8, 2013 AT 7:00 P M

SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 2014 AT 8:00 PM

March 6-9, 2014 The Freede Little Theatre Rated G

April 24-27, 2014

The Kirkpatrick Auditorium in the Kirkpatrick Fine Arts Center on the campus of Oklahoma City University Rated G

A Co-Production with Oklahoma City University’s Bass School of Music, Oklahoma Opera and Music Theater Company

For single and group tickets call 405-297-2264. For FlexPass Reservations and Sales call (405) 848-3761. • www.cityrep.com

Bethany Antique Mall home to

S&J Designs 3909 N. College Ave. Bethany, Ok M-F 10-6 Handcrafted Greeting Cards, Floral Arrangements, Decorative Accessories and a Whole Lot More!

WWW.PINKITZEL.COM

SWEET TREATS FOR KIDS OF ALL AGES

bakery • chocolates • candy • gifts • taffy • toys • parties PINKITZEL IS PROUD TO BE A SPONSOR OF THE SWEET SOUNDS OF THE OKC PHILHARMONIC

Officers

Michael E. Joseph, President Jean Ann Hartsuck, Vice President Douglas J. Stussi, Treasurer Penny M. McCaleb, Secretary

Directors

ANNIVERSARY

September 27-October 6, 2013 The Freede Little Theatre Rated G

CALL 232-SING

A Co-Production with the University of Central Oklahoma’s Department of Musical Theatre

November 22-24, 2013 The Freede Little Theatre Rated R for Adult Language and Themes February 14-23, 2014 The Freede Little Theatre Rated G A Co-Production with TheatreOCU

FRIDAY, O CTO B E R 4 , 2013 AT 8:00 P M

SU NDAY, D E CE MB E R 8, 2013 AT 7:00 P M

SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 2014 AT 8:00 PM

March 6-9, 2014 The Freede Little Theatre Rated G

April 24-27, 2014

The Kirkpatrick Auditorium in the Kirkpatrick Fine Arts Center on the campus of Oklahoma City University Rated G

A Co-Production with Oklahoma City University’s Bass School of Music, Oklahoma Opera and Music Theater Company

For single and group tickets call 405-297-2264. For FlexPass Reservations and Sales call (405) 848-3761. • www.cityrep.com

Bethany Antique Mall home to

S&J Designs 3909 N. College Ave. Bethany, Ok M-F 10-6 Handcrafted Greeting Cards, Floral Arrangements, Decorative Accessories and a Whole Lot More!

WWW.PINKITZEL.COM

SWEET TREATS FOR KIDS OF ALL AGES

bakery • chocolates • candy • gifts • taffy • toys • parties PINKITZEL IS PROUD TO BE A SPONSOR OF THE SWEET SOUNDS OF THE OKC PHILHARMONIC

INFORMATION

THANKS TO YOUR SUPPORT

IN 2013 ALLIED ARTS RAISED

$3.33 MILLION FOR THE ARTS IN CENTRAL OKLAHOMA Special Thanks to Our Visionary Sponsors

Children of all ages are more than welcome at the Philharmonic Discovery Family Series and Holiday Pops performances; however, in consideration of the patrons, musicians and artists, those under five years of age will not be admitted to evening Classics and Pops concerts unless otherwise noted. Latecomers and those who exit the theater during the performance will be seated at intermission or during the first convenient pause as determined by the management. Lobby video monitors are available for your convenience. Video Monitors are located in the lobby for your convenience. Smoking in the Civic Center Music Hall is prohibited. The Oklahoma City Philharmonic promotes a fragrance-free environment for the convenience of our patrons. Mobile devices must be turned off and put away before entering the theater (no calling, texting, photo or video use please). Cameras, recording devices and food are not permitted inside the theater. Bottled water is permitted at the Classics Series concerts.

INDIVIDUAL ($5,000+) Ann S. Alspaugh Martha Burger Bob & Jan Campbell Steve & Maggie Dixon Jeanette & Rand Elliott Mrs. R.Y. Empie Jim & Christy Everest Tricia L. Everest Mrs. Henry Freede Nedra Funk Mrs. Robert Gordon Mr. & Mrs. Fred J. Hall Mr. & Mrs. Robert Keating/ Topographic, Inc. Mr. Christian K. Keesee Lou C. Kerr/ The Kerr Foundation, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Edward Krei Judy & Tom Love Mrs. Joan Maguire Aubrey & Katie McClendon Herman & LaDonna Meinders Mrs. Robert Z. Naifeh Larry & Polly Nichols Mrs. Mary Davis Nichols Mr. James A. Pickel Tom & Lisa Price John & Charlotte Richels

Mr. Lance & Cindy Ruffel Jeannette & Dick Sias Mr. & Mrs. Richard I. Tanenbaum Mr. Gregg Wadley & Dr. Susan E. Brackett Jim & Jill Williams CORPORATE & FOUNDATION ($5,000+) Access Midstream American Fidelity Assurance AT&T Oklahoma BancFirst Bank of America Bank of Oklahoma Brighton Collectibles Clements Foods Company Continental Resources Cox Communications Cox Connects Foundation The Cresap Family Foundation Dobson Family Foundation Dolese Bros. Co. E.L. and Thelma Gaylord Foundation Express Employment Professionals Flintco, L.L.C. Flogistix Frankfurt Short Bruza The Fred Jones Family Foundation

Griffin Communications Harrison Gypsum, LLC Hobby Lobby Hudiburg Auto Group INTEGRIS Health Jackie Cooper BMW Jacobs General Contracting JPMorgan Chase Foundation Kirkpatrick Family Fund Linn Energy, LLC Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores Mathis Brothers Furniture Mercy Health Center MidCon Compression, LLC MidFirst Bank Oklahoma Heart Hospital The Oklahoman ONEOK Foundation Pattye Moore and Associates Pelco Products, Inc. Sonic America’s Drive-In St. Anthony Hospital/ Bone & Joint Hospital Steelcase US Fleet Tracking Walton Family Foundation, Inc. Wells Fargo Donors listed as of August 5, 2013.

ENRICHING OUR COMMUNITIES THROUGH ADVANCEMENT OF THE ARTS 1015 N. Broadway Ave. Ste. 200, Oklahoma City, OK 73102 • (405) 278-8944 • www.AlliedArtsOKC.com

Beverages are permitted at the Pops Series concerts. Fire Exits are located on all levels and marked accordingly. Please note the nearest exit for use in case of an emergency. Wheelchair Available Seating Persons using wheelchairs or with walking and climbing difficulties will be accommodated when possible. Those wishing to use the designated wheelchair sections may purchase the wheelchair space and a companion seat. Please inform the Philharmonic Ticket Office staff of your need when ordering tickets so that you may be served promptly and appropriately. Please request the assistance of hall ushers to access wheelchair seating. Booster seats for children are available in the Civic Center event office. Please inquire at the ticket office. Elevators are located at the south end of the atrium of the Civic Center Music Hall. Lost & Found is located in the Civic Center Office (405-297-2584) weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Philharmonic Ticket Office may be contacted by calling 405-TIC-KETS (405-842-5387) or you can visit the Philharmonic Ticket Office located on the second floor of the McAlpine Center at 428 W. California in Suite 210. The Philharmonic Ticket Office is open Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and concert Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The Ticket Office at the Civic Center Music Hall (405-297-2264) will be open 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on performance evenings. Concert Night Phone: Call 405-842-5387 Civic Center Ticket Office hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., weekdays. Programs and Artists are subject to change. Information and listings were current at the time of printing. Please accept our apologies if any information has since changed. Thank you, and we greatly appreciate your support.

INFORMATION

THANKS TO YOUR SUPPORT

IN 2013 ALLIED ARTS RAISED

$3.33 MILLION FOR THE ARTS IN CENTRAL OKLAHOMA Special Thanks to Our Visionary Sponsors

ENRICHING OUR COMMUNITIES THROUGH ADVANCEMENT OF THE ARTS 1015 N. Broadway Ave. Ste. 200, Oklahoma City, OK 73102 • (405) 278-8944 • www.AlliedArtsOKC.com

825 N Interstate Dr, Norman

405.321.2411

7320 NW Expressway, OKC

405.728.2411

600 W Memorial Rd, Edmond

405.475.9000

825 N Interstate Dr, Norman

405.321.2411

7320 NW Expressway, OKC

405.728.2411

600 W Memorial Rd, Edmond

405.475.9000