Center
Mondavi
2 0 1 0 2 0 1 1
Program
3
7
13
Tord Gustavsen, Solveig Slettahjell, and Sjur Miljeteig
alexander string quartet
Marachi los camperos de nati cano
17
23
29
35
kronos quartet
dr. beverly daniel tatum
lara downes family concert
american bach soloists: messiah
Issue 4: dec 2010
Before the show Before the Curtain Rises, Please Play Your Part
• As a courtesy to others, please turn off all electronic devices.
Photo: Lynn Goldsmith
• If you have any hard candy, please unwrap it before the lights dim.
a message from
Don Roth, Ph.D. Executive Director Mondavi Center
D
ecember at the Mondavi Center is a month of music with some concerts that are distinctly holiday-flavored, drawing from centuries of traditions, from the classic to the contemporary, from Norway to Mexico. As you might expect, many of these events are of a celebratory nature, such as the wonderful Fiesta Navidad brought to us by our good friend Nati Cano and his Mariachi Los Camperos. The holidays and the approaching new year are also, for many of us, a time for thoughtfulness and meditation, as well as celebration. A number of the musical events this month allow ample space for reflection—on the significance of holidays, on the renewal of a new year, and on what it means to live well as a human being. Art gives us the space to have those reflections, and at such times, the Mondavi Center can become something of a sanctuary, a bright place in the darkness of the winter that provides sustenance and guidance in times that are not always joyful for everyone. In particular, you will find that kind of meditative space with two distinctly different performances in the Vanderhoef Studio Theatre: pianist Tord Gustavsen and vocalist Solveig Slettahjell bring their lovely jazz-inflected holiday music to the U.S. for the first time; and the Alexander String Quartet perform Beethoven’s intensely hypnotic Grosse Fuge. In Jackson Hall, Kronos Quartet’s selections of music by the eerily beautiful Icelandic group Sigur Rós and other like-minded contemporary composers might provide you with that thoughtful space. And 2010 in the Mondavi Center concludes with Handel’s Messiah, a wonderful reminder of how we can be brought together in a joyful space across centuries and religious traditions by the unifying humanity of great music. Before closing, I want to draw your attention to a very important event, the talk by Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, author of Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, which culminates the many activities of the Campus Community Book Project. We are proud to partner with UC Davis’s Office of Campus Community Relations to bring this timely discussion into Jackson Hall on Friday, December 10. I hope you will join us for Dr. Tatum’s talk. All of us at the Mondavi Center wish everyone a very joyous holiday season.
Don Roth Executive Director Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
• Please remember that the taking of photographs or the use of any type of audio or video recording equipment is strictly prohibited. • Please look around and locate the exit nearest you. That exit may be behind you, to the side, or in front of you. In the unlikely event of a fire alarm or other emergency please leave the building through that exit. • As a courtesy to all our patrons and for your safety, anyone leaving his or her seat during the performance may not be re-admitted to his/her ticketed seat while the performance is in progress.
info
Accommodations for Patrons with Disabilities 530.754.2787 • TDD: 530.754.5402 In the event of an emergency, patrons requiring physical assistance on the Orchestra Terrace, Grand Tier, and Upper Tier levels please proceed to the elevator alcove refuge where this sign appears. Please let us know ahead of time for any special seating requests or accommodations. See p. 55 for more information.
Membership 530.754.5436 Member contributions to the Mondavi Center presenting program help to offset the costs of the annual season of performances and lectures, and provide a variety of arts education and outreach programs to the community. Friends of Mondavi Center 530.754.5000 Contributors to the Mondavi Center are eligible to join the Friends of Mondavi Center, a volunteer support group that assists with educational programs and audience development. Volunteers 530.754.1000 Mondavi Center volunteers assist with numerous functions, including house ushering and the activities of the Friends of Mondavi Center and the Arts and Lectures Administrative Advisory Committee.
Tours 530.754.5399 One-hour guided tours of the Mondavi Center’s Jackson Hall, Vanderhoef Studio Theatre, and Rumsey Rancheria Grand Lobby are given regularly by the Friends of Mondavi Center. Reservations are required.
Lost and Found Hotline 530.752.8580 Recycle We reuse our playbills! Thank you for returning your recycled playbill in the bin located by the main exit on your way out.
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
1
Davis Hospitality...
Proud Sponsors of The Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, UC Davis
Amenities Include:
Breakfast Buffet with Cook To Order Omelets Nightly Cocktail Reception Deluxe Plush Bedding WIFI Throughout Bee Kind Amenities 32” LCD TV’s
Now Featuring: Complimentary Bicycle Program* For reservations or more information* Please contact us at: (800) 753-0035 110 F Street Davis, CA 95616 • www.hallmarkinn.com
2
| mondaviarts.org
Robert and Margrit Mondavi
Center for the Performing Arts
| UC Davis
Presents
MC
Debut
Tord Gustavsen, Solveig Slettahjell, and Sjur Miljeteig Natt I Betlehem A Capital Public Radio Studio Jazz Series Event Wednesday-Saturday, December 1-4, 2010 • 8PM Vanderhoef Studio Theatre, Mondavi Center, UC Davis Sponsored by
The artists and your fellow audience members appreciate silence during the performance. Please be sure that you have switched off all electronic devices. Videotaping, photographing, and audio recording are strictly forbidden. Violators are subject to removal.
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
3
tord gustavsen, solveig slettahjell, and Sjur Miljeteig
Natt i Betlehem — A musical pilgrimage In 2008, Solveig Slettahjell, trumpeter Sjur Miljeteig, and I traveled to Israel and Palestine to record this music in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. We installed ourselves in a historic hotel in East Jerusalem, and traveled through the checkpoints into Bethlehem every evening to record a few hours during the night, after tourist hours and mass. We brought a laptop and some basic recording gear, borrowed the only Steinway piano in the Palestinian territories from the music conservatory there and recorded in the Roman Catholic section of the church.
The songs: I dennesøtejuletid “In the Sweet Hour of Christmas” A song about finding Christmas inside oneself. Kling no klokka “Ring Them Bells” A call to celebration and meditation; we need both. Some Children See Him
Doing this combined pilgrimage and recording session to the holy, and yet so troubled and divided, land felt intensely meaningful. We searched for musical intimacy and artistic honesty in all of this and came up with stripped-down versions of Christmas hymns: slow tempos, almost like meditations; silent moods, but with passion and dynamics building up when it felt right, and an understated gospel feel to many of the hymns. With all the political tensions and miseries of the region as a backdrop and undercurrent, and with the historical sites and spiritual shrines right at our feet while playing, it was one of the most intriguing and challenging recording sessions we had ever done. We have been developing this material in concert every December since then, and the songs keep growing and evolving with us. The repertoire consists of Scandinavian and English lyrics alike and establishes a dialogue between well-known and lesser-known hymns. The musical and spiritual content of the cherished songs continues to be a great source of inspiration. They offer strong melodies and carry the manifold mysteries of incarnation—“Be born in us today”—where childlike simplicity and philosophical depth walk hand-in-hand.
Mitt hjertealltidvanker “My Heart Always Wanders where Jesus was Born” A meditation on the poor and fragile newborn king, and about letting the miracle happen inside of us. Sleep Holy Babe Poor Little Jesus Jegsyngerjulekvad “I Sing a Christmas Chant” About rejoicing in Christ now and forever. Stillenatt “Silent Night” You all know it, but this version is a new Norwegian translation or re-working, carried out by Erik Hillestad who also produced the recording. I wish you could read it in Norwegian; it’s hard to translate back. Star Carol (Long Years Ago)
Most of these songs have been among our families’ most cherished tunes all along, sung by all of us from childhood each year. The Natt i Betlehem project has become a very personalized, biographical journey for all of us, connecting today’s creative explorations with deeply rooted musical and spiritual heritage. —Tord Gustavsen
O, Little Town of Bethlehem Jul, jul, strålandejul “The Glowing Light of Christmas” About us longing for light in the months of darkness.
in our lobby The Mondavi Center display will preview pieces from: Vanishing Traditions: Textiles and Treasures from Southwest China
Showcasing wearable textiles and ornaments, a new exhibition at the UCD Design Museum, Vanishing Traditions: Textiles and Treasures from Southwest China, opening in fall 2010, displays the life, culture, and continuing loss of adornment skills of the minority people who live in Southwest China. The exhibition curator, Bea Roberts, shares her visually superb collection, acquired during her early visits to the region, when the villages were primarily intact in their cultural identity, before the traditions started to vanish in today’s globalization race. At the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, we are deeply interested in the visual arts and the ways in which painting, photography, and other forms may enhance the experience of the performing artists we present. Located at the north end of the Yocha Dehe Grand Lobby, the art display case is a collaboration among the Mondavi Center, the Design Museum, the C. N. Gorman Museum, and the Richard L. Nelson Gallery & Fine Arts Collection.
4
| mondaviarts.org
In addition to the Slow Motion Orchestra, Solveig performs solo accompanying herself on the piano and has a duo with trumpeter Sjur Miljeteig, a member of the Slow Motion Orchestra. She has toured Norway and Europe extensively and visited other parts of the world, including Russia, India, and Chile. She has given only a few U.S. performances, the most recent at Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina. Solveig’s work has repeatedly received high marks from the press in Norway and abroad in such publications as The Guardian, The Independent, Die Welt, and Billboard. Before starting on her solo career, Solveig collaborated with some of Norway’s leading jazz artists, such as Sidsel Endresen and Jon Balke, and worked in a diverse array of ensembles including experimental a cappella vocal groups, a funk band, and jazz/folk groups. From childhood, her fundamental performing format has been to be alone by the piano singing. She grew up with church music and was very influenced by the black American spirituals that flooded the Christian youth choirs of Norway in the 1980s. These and Norwegian traditional hymns remain part of her basic musical references and have influenced her deep and profound approach to singing.
tord gustavsen, solveig slettahjell, and Sjur Miljeteig
Solveig Slettahjell Solveig Slettahjell is a Norwegian singer, composer, lyricist, and bandleader born in 1971. She studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music and completed her master’s degree in 2000. She performs principally with her band of 10 years, the Slow Motion Orchestra, and has released six albums: Slow Motion Orchestra (2001); Silver (2004), for which she was awarded the Norwegian Grammy, the Spellemannsprisen; Pixiedust (2005), a nominee for the Spellemannsprisen; Good Rain (2006); Domestic Songs (2007), devoted to Solveig’s solo work as singer and pianist; and Tarpan Seasons (2009), based on Solveig’s commissioned piece for the Norwegian jazz festival Vossajazz and also a nominee for the Spellmannsprisen. Her first albums were recorded on the Norwegian jazz label Curling Legs and licensed to the German/ International label ACT. In 2008, she started her collaboration with the international label Universal and is now working on her second album on this label.
The urge for individual expression fuses with acutely attentive listening in creative interplay, making Tord a very special experience both as a soloist and as an ensemble player. While relating to fields like Scandinavian folk music, gospel, Caribbean music, and cool jazz alike, Tord’s ensembles present a unique universe of lyricism and subtle funkiness. His way of conversing jazz history with “Nordic” reflective moods and lyrical beauty brings about an intriguing voice on today’s music scene. Before starting his solo career, Tord had already been an important part of the Norwegian jazz scene for several years. His playing has formed a cornerstone in projects featuring some of Norway’s finest singers, including Silje Nergaard, Siri Gjære and Kristin Asbjørnsen. The Natt i Betlehem project with vocalist Solveig Slettahjell and trumpet player Sjur Miljeteig is now his major “side project,” offering a musical environment that highlights his lyricism and expressive minimalism while establishing a fruitful dialogue with two of the most compelling “lyricists” on the Norwegian music scene. Sjur Miljeteig Sjur Miljeteig has been working as a professional jazz trumpeter in Norway since high school. He has toured most of the world with artists such as Bugge Wesseltoft, Christian Wallumrød, Ingebrigt Flaten, Tord Gustavsen, Trygve Seim and Paal Nilssen Love. He has been working as a freelance trumpeter in all genres, but his main project in recent years has been the Solveig Slettahjell Slow Motion Orchestra, where he is one of the writers and producers. In addition to his career as a musician, Sjur runs a recording studio in the woods of Sweden, IS IT ART, where he works as a producer for other artists and composers of music for film and TV.
Natt i Betlehem is Solveig, Tord and Sjur’s first album together and also the first album where Solveig sings in Norwegian and delves into the songs of her childhood.
Tord Gustavsen Pianist Tord Gustavsen has released four albums under his own name on the prestigious ECM label, with his ensemble and trio: Changing Places (2003), The Ground (2005), Being There (2007), and Restored, Returned (2009/2010). His music has been met by critical approval around the world. The most recent release won the Norwegian Grammy Award, the Spellemannsprisen. Tord has received several other critical awards in the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Germany, and Korea. His albums have been featured in publications such as Downbeat, Billboard, The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Independent. Tord tours extensively world-wide with his projects and has made several visits to the U.S. and Canada over the last five years, appearing at festivals and concert halls across the continent.
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
5
6
| mondaviarts.org
Robert and Margrit Mondavi
Center for the Performing Arts
| UC Davis
Presents
Alexander String Quartet Zakarias Grafilo & Frederick Lifsitz, violins Paul Yarbrough, viola Sandy Wilson, cello An Alexander String Quartet Series Event December 5, 2010 • 2PM & 7PM Vanderhoef Studio Theatre, Mondavi Center, UC Davis Lecturer: Robert Greenberg (2PM concert only) Post-performance Q&A following the 7PM show.
Program String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat Major, Op. 130 (1825) Adagio ma non troppo — Allegro Presto Andante con moto ma non troppo Alladanzatedesca: Allegro assai Cavatina: Adagio molto espressivo Grosse Fuge
Beethoven
Finale: Allegro (alternative movement for Op. 130) (1826)
Beethoven
The artists and your fellow audience members appreciate silence during the performance. Please be sure that you have switched off all electronic devices. Videotaping, photographing, and audio recording are strictly forbidden. Violators are subject to removal.
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
7
Lili Received the GIFT of LIFE Born two months early, Lili Jimenez had a difficult start in life. Weighing barely three pounds, Lili suffered a host of ailments, including a life-threatening intestinal disease unique to preemies. With little time to spare, Lili was transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit at UC Davis Children’s Hospital—the region’s only comprehensive children’s hospital. After two complex surgeries, four months of round-the-clock care and lots of TLC, Lili was sent home to a future now in full bloom. At UC Davis Health System, our next medical breakthrough just may have your name on it.
Lili’s care team included neonatologist Mark Underwood, nurse Christa Mu and other specialists in the research and treatment of preterm birth complications.
A gift for advancing health.
8
| mondaviarts.org
String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat Major, Op. 130 Ludwig van Beethoven Born December 16, 1770, in Bonn; died March 26, 1827, in Vienna) Beethoven composed the Quartet in B‑flat Major between July and December of 1825, and the music had its premiere in Vienna the following March, almost exactly a year to the day before the composer’s death. This massive quartet, consisting of six movements that span a total of nearly 50 minutes, concluded with a complex and extremely difficult fugue that left the first audience stunned. Beethoven, by this time totally deaf, did not attend the premiere, but when told that the fourth and fifth movements had been so enthusiastically applauded that they had to be repeated, he erupted with anger at the audience: “Yes, these delicacies! Why not the Fugue? Cattle! Asses!” But it was not just the audience at the premiere that found the concluding fugue difficult. With some trepidation, Beethoven’s publisher asked the crusty old composer to write a substitute finale and to publish the fugue separately. To everyone’s astonishment, Beethoven agreed to that request and wrote a new finale—a good-natured rondo—in the fall of 1826. Since that time, critics have debated which ending makes better sense artistically, and this is one of those debates that will probably continue forever. For generations, the Quartet in B‑flat Major was performed with the substitute rondo as the finale, but recently that practice appears to have evolved, and quartets today are increasingly following Beethoven’s original intention and concluding the Quartet in B-flat Major with the Grosse Fuge; this performance offers the quartet in its original form. In either version, this music presents problems of unity, for its six movements are quite different from each other. The issue is intensified when the Grosse Fuge is used as the finale, for this movement is so individual, so fierce, that it does seem an independent statement. In its original form, the quartet consists of two huge outer movements that frame four shorter movements (two scherzos and two slow movements). The music encompasses a huge range of emotion, from the frankly playful to some of the most deeply felt music Beethoven ever wrote. The unifying principle of this quartet may simply be its disunity, its amazing range of expression and mood. The first movement, cast in the highly modified sonata form Beethoven used in his final years, is built on two contrasting tempos: a reverent Adagio and a quick Allegro that flies along on a steady rush of 16th notes. These tempos alternate, sometimes in sections only one measure long—there is some extraordinarily beautiful music here, full of soaring themes and unexpected shifts of key. By contrast, the Presto—flickering and shadowy—flits past in less than two minutes; in ABA form, it offers a long center section and a sudden close on the return of the opening material. The solemn opening of the Andante is a false direction, for it quickly gives way to a rather elegant movement in sonata form, full of poised, flowing, and calm music. Beethoven titled the fourth movement Alladanzatedesca, which means “Dance in the German
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
Alexander String quartet
Program Notes By Eric Bromberger
Style”; in 3/8 meter, it is based on the rocking, haunting little tune that opens the movement. The Cavatina has become one of the most famous movements in all Beethoven’s quartets. Everyone is struck by the intensity of its feeling, though few agree as to what it expresses—some feel it tragic, others view it as serene. Beethoven himself confessed that even thinking about this movement moved him to tears. Near the end comes an extraordinary passage that Beethoven marks Beklemmt (“Oppressive”): the music seems to stumble and then makes its way to the close over halting and uncertain rhythms. This performance concludes with the Grosse Fuge Beethoven had intended as the original finale. Let it be said right from the start: the Grosse Fuge is a brilliant piece of music and a very tough one, and it should come as no surprise that it has excited quite different responses. Though he was no particular admirer of Beethoven, Stravinsky near the end of his long life came to know and respect the late quartets, and his admiration for the Grosse Fuge led him to call it an “absolutely contemporary piece of music that will be contemporary forever.” At the other extreme, the iconoclastic American critic B.H. Haggin was adamant that the Grosse Fuge should be considered “inaccessible—except for a quiet and lovely episode—by some music lovers who have listened to it repeatedly.” The Grosse Fuge is in fact not one fugue, but three different fugal sections, each in a contrasting tempo; Beethoven described it as a “Grand Fugue, freely treated in some places, fugally elaborated in others.” The brief Overtura suggests the shape of the fugue subject in three different permutations (all of which will reappear and be treated differently) and then proceeds directly into the first fugue, an extremely abrasive Allegro in B-flat major that demands a great deal from both performers and audiences. Much of the complexity here is rhythmic: not only does the fugue subject leap across a span of several octaves, but its progress is often obscured by its overlapping triple, duple, and dotted rhythms. The lyric, flowing central section, a Menomosso e moderato in G-flat major, is fugal in character rather than taking the form of a strict fugue. It gives way to the Allegro molto e con brio, which is derived from the second appearance of the fugue subject in the Overtura; here it bristles with trills and sudden pauses. Near the close, Beethoven recalls fragments of the different sections, then offers a full-throated restatement of the fugue theme before the rush to the cadence. Individual listeners may draw their own conclusions about the use of the Grosse Fuge as a fitting close to this quartet, but there can be no doubt that the Quartet in B‑flat Major—by turns beautiful, aggressive, charming, and violent—remains as astonishing a piece of music for us today as it was to that first audience in 1826. Finale: Allegro from the String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 130 Ludwig van Beethoven Born December 16, 1770, in Bonn; died March 26, 1827, in Vienna) This concert concludes with a sort of “programmed encore,” the substitute rondo-finale that Beethoven composed in the fall of 1826 after he had agreed to detach the Grosse Fuge from the Quartet in B-flat Major and publish it separately. The substituted
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
9
Alexander String quartet
rondo has troubled many listeners precisely because it is so different from the fugue it replaces. Where the fugue had provided a violent—and disruptive—conclusion, the substitute finale has seemed to some to go too far in the other direction. Such a view may seem particularly true when the rondo is heard immediately after the Grosse Fuge, as it is on this concert. After the abrasive furies of the Grosse Fugue, the rondo will inevitably sound a little sugar-coated, and those who disagree with Beethoven’s decision to change finales note that the replacement movement rounds off too smoothly a quartet whose whole thrust had been disunity. Does the replacement finale, pleasing and engaging as it is on its own terms, represent artistic capitulation—or a tacit admission by Beethoven that the fugue had been wrong as a conclusion to the quartet? What we can say is that it was Beethoven himself who decided to detach this fugue, to write this new (and more congenial) finale, and to regard the Grosse Fuge as an independent work. It need not follow that every decision a composer makes about his music is correct, and there are many who sharply regret Beethoven’s decision. This concert offers the rare opportunity to hear this music in the sequence Beethoven composed it and to decide for ourselves. Beethoven began this rondo-finale in September 1826 and mailed the manuscript to his publisher on November 22. He returned to Vienna the following week, took to bed, and died the following March. This dancing, high-spirited music is the last that Beethoven completed.
The Alexander String Quartet has performed in the major music capitals of five continents, securing its standing among the world’s premier ensembles over nearly three decades. Widely admired for its interpretations of Beethoven, Mozart, and Shostakovich, the quartet has also established itself as an important advocate of new music through more than 25 commissions and numerous premiere performances. At home in San Francisco, the members of the Alexander String Quartet are a major artistic presence, serving as directors of the Morrison Chamber Music Center at the School of Music and Dance in the College of Creative Arts at San Francisco State University and Ensemble-inResidence of San Francisco Performances. Over the past decade the Alexander String Quartet has added considerably to its distinguished and wide-ranging discography. Currently recording exclusively for the FoghornClassics label, the Alexander’s most recent release (June 2009) is a complete Beethoven cycle. Music Web International has described the performances on this new Beethoven set as “uncompromising in their power, intensity, and spiritual depth,” while Strings Magazine described the set as “a landmark journey through the greatest of all quartet cycles.” FoghornClassics released a three-CD set (Homage) of the Mozart quartets dedicated to Haydn in 2004. Foghorn released a six-CD album (Fragments) of the complete Shostakovich quartets in 2006 and 2007, and a recording of the complete quartets of Pulitzer Prize-winning San Francisco composer Wayne Peterson was released in 2008. BMG Classics released the quartet’s first recording of the Beethoven cycle on its Arte Nova label to tremendous critical acclaim in 1999.
10
| mondaviarts.org
The Alexander String Quartet’s annual calendar of concerts includes engagements at major halls throughout North America and Europe. The quartet has appeared at Lincoln Center, the 92nd Street Y, and the Metropolitan Museum in New York City; Jordan Hall in Boston; the Library of Congress and Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D. C.; and chamber music societies and universities across North America. Recent overseas tours have included the U.K., the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, France, Greece, the Republic of Georgia, and the Philippines. The many distinguished artists to collaborate with the Alexander String Quartet include pianists Menahem Pressler, Gary Graffman, Roger Woodward, Jeremy Menuhin, and Joyce Yang; clarinetists Eli Eban, Charles Neidich, Joan Enric Lluna, and Richard Stoltzman; cellists Lynn Harrell, Sadao Harada, and David Requiro; violist Toby Appel; soprano Elly Ameling; and saxophonists Branford Marsalis, David Sánchez, and Andrew Speight. The Alexander String Quartet’s 25th anniversary was also the 20th anniversary of its association with New York City’s Baruch College as Ensemble-in-Residence. This landmark was celebrated through a performance by the ensemble of the Shostakovich string quartet cycle at Engelman Recital Hall in the Baruch Performing Art Center. Of these performances, The New York Times wrote, “The intimacy of the music came through with enhanced power and poignancy in the Alexander quartet’s vibrant, probing, assured and aptly volatile performances…Seldom have these anguished, playful, ironic and masterly works seemed so profoundly personal.” The Alexander String Quartet was also awarded Presidential Medals in honor of its longstanding commitment to the arts and education and in celebration of two decades of service to Baruch College. Highlights of the 2010-2011 season include two multiple-concert series for San Francisco Performances, one presenting the complete quartets of Bartók and Kodály and the other, music of Dvořák; the conclusion of a Beethoven cycle for Mondavi Center; and a continuing annual series at Baruch College in New York City. The quartet also performs an all-Beethoven program at the Lied Center of Kansas, two tours of Spain (including the inaugural performances of a new festival in Godella), and a second tour of Argentina. They also continue their annual residencies at Allegheny College, Lewis & Clark College, and St. Lawrence University. The Alexander String Quartet was formed in New York City in 1981, and the following year became the first string quartet to win the Concert Artists Guild Competition. In 1985, the quartet captured international attention as the first American quartet to win the London International String Quartet Competition, receiving both the jury’s highest award and the Audience Prize. In 1995, Allegheny College awarded Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees to the members of the quartet in recognition of their unique contribution to the arts. Honorary degrees were conferred on the ensemble by St. Lawrence University in 2000. In celebration of the Alexander String Quartet’s forthcoming 30th anniversary, San Francisco Performances has commissioned a new work for string quartet and mezzo-soprano from Jake Heggie; the work will be premiered in a performance in collaboration with
The Alexander String Quartet is represented by BesenArts LLC 508 First Street, Suite 4W Hoboken, NJ 07030-7823 www.BesenArts.com The Alexander String Quartet records for FoghornClassics www.asq4.com
Robert Greenberg Robert Greenberg was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1954, and has lived in the San Francisco Bay area since 1978. Greenberg received a B.A. in music, magna cum laude, from Princeton University in 1976. In 1984, Greenberg received a Ph.D. in music composition, with distinction, from the University of California, Berkeley.
Alexander String quartet
Joyce DiDonato in February 2012 at the Herbst Theater. Other recent Alexander premieres include Rise Chanting by Augusta Read Thomas, commissioned for the Alexander by the Krannert Center and premiered there and simulcast by WFMT radio in Chicago. The quartet has also premiered String Quartets Nos. 2 and 3 by Wayne Peterson and works by Ross Bauer (commissioned by Stanford University), Richard Festinger, David Sheinfeld, Hi Kyung Kim, and a Koussevitzky commission by Robert Greenberg.
Van Cliburn Foundation, the Chautauqua Institute (where he was the Everett Scholar in Residence for the summer of 2006), the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, and Music@Menlo. Greenberg has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal, the Times of London, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, and San Francisco Chronicle. For many years Greenberg was the resident composer and music historian to National Public Radio’s Weekend All Things Considered, and presently plays that role on Weekend Edition, Sunday with Liane Hansen. In 1993, Greenberg recorded a 48-lecture course, How to Listen to and Understand Great Music for the Teaching Company/SuperStar Teachers Program, the preeminent producer of college level courses-on-media in the United States. Twelve further courses— Concert Masterworks, Bach and the High Baroque, The Symphonies of Beethoven, How to Listen to and Understand Opera, Great Masters, The Operas of Mozart, The Life and Operas of Verdi, The Symphony, The Chamber Music of Mozart, The Piano Sonatas of Beethoven, The Concerto and The Fundamentals of Music—have been recorded since, totaling more than 500 lectures. In 2003, the Bangor (Maine) Daily News referred to Greenberg as “the Elvis of music history and appreciation,” an appraisal that has given him more pleasure than any other. Dr. Greenberg is currently writing a book on opera and its impact on Western culture, to be published by Oxford University Press.
Greenberg has composed more than 45 works for a wide variety of instrumental and vocal ensembles. Recent performances of his works have taken place in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, England, Ireland, Greece, Italy, and the Netherlands, where his Child’s Play for String Quartet was performed at the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam. Greenberg has received numerous honors, including three Nicola de Lorenzo Composition Prizes and three Meet-TheComposer Grants. Recent commissions have been received from the Koussevitzky Foundation in the Library of Congress, the Alexander String Quartet, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Strata Ensemble, San Francisco Performances, and the XTET ensemble. Greenberg is a board member and an artistic director of Composers, Inc., a composers’ collective/production organization based in San Francisco. Greenberg has performed, taught, and lectured extensively across North America and Europe. He is currently music historian-inresidence with San Francisco Performances, where he has lectured and performed since 1994, and a faculty member of the Advanced Management Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. He has served on the faculties of the University of California, Berkeley; California State University, East Bay; and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he chaired the Department of Music History and Literature from 1989-2001 and served as the Director of the Adult Extension Division from 19911996. Greenberg has lectured for some of the most prestigious musical and arts organizations in the United States, including the San Francisco Symphony (where for 10 years he was host and lecturer for the Symphony’s nationally acclaimed “Discovery Series”), the Ravinia Festival, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
11
U C
D A V I S
CAMPUS COMMUNITY BOOK PROJECT 2010 - 2011
“ W hy A r e A l l the B l a c k K i ds S i t t i n g To g e t h e r i n t h e C af e t e r i a? ” And Other Conversations About Race
As the ninth president of Spelman College, Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum set an expectation that Spelman College would be recognized as one of the finest liberal arts colleges in the country – a place where young women of African descent could say, “This place was built for me and it is nothing less than the best!” With her creative energy focused on five strategic goals – Academic Excellence, Leadership Development, Improving our Environment, Visibility of our Achievements, and Exemplary Customer Service (collectively known as Spelman ALIVE), Spelman College has experienced great growth. Dr. Tatum is widely recognized as an accomplished adminitrator, scholar, teacher, race relations expert and leader in higher education. The recipient of numerous honorary degrees, in 2005 Dr. Tatum was awarded the prestigious Brock International Prize in Education for her innovative leadership in the field. Her best-selling titles include
Can We Talk About Race? And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation (2007) and Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race (1997).
BEVERLY DANIEL TATUM, PH.D. December 10, 2010 - - Author’s Talk:
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?
Actively involved in the Atlanta community, Dr. Tatum is a member of several boards and of several national non-profit boards Appointed by President Obama, she is a member of the Advisory Board for the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. She also serves on the Georgia Power corporate board of directors. Dr. Tatum earned a B.A. degree in psychology from Wesleyan University, M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from University of Michigan and a M.A. in Religious Studies from Hartford Seminary. She has served as a faculty member at UC Santa Barbara, Westfield State College, and Mount Holyoke College, where she also served as dean and acting president.
8 PM – 9:30 PM, Jackson Hall, Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts The Campus Community Book Project is sponsored by the Office of Campus Community Relations, Offices of the Chancellor and Provost.
12
| mondaviarts.org
Robert and Margrit Mondavi
Center for the Performing Arts
| UC Davis
Presents
Mariachi los Camperos de Nati Cano Fiesta Navidad Natividad Cano, Director Jesus “Chuy” Guzman, Musical Director A World Stage: Music Series Event Sunday, December 5, 2010 • 7PM Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center, UC Davis Sponsored by Office of Campus Community Relations
There will be one intermission.
The artists and your fellow audience members appreciate silence during the performance. Please be sure that you have switched off all electronic devices. Videotaping, photographing, and audio recording are strictly forbidden. Violators are subject to removal.
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
13
mariachi los camperso de nati cano
Mariachi los Camperos de Nati Cano Fiesta Navidad
La Posada El Tren/Guadalajara A Los Cuatro Vientos La Morena Somos Novios *Nati Speaks* La Burrita Jesusita En Chihuahua Jose Alfredo Aca Entre Nos Soldadode Levita Le単ade Pirul Michoacan Intermission We Wish You - Jingle Bells La Negra White Christmas Silver Bells Sleigh Ride La Petenera El Huizache Hay Unos Ojos La Feria De Las Flores Espa単a Ca単i Veracruz I Noche De Paz Joy to the World Jarabe Tapatio Feliz Navidad Viva Mexico
14
| mondaviarts.org
Violin Jimmy Cuellar Jesus Guzman Ismael Hernandez Raul Cuellar
Guitar Nati Cano
Trumpet Javier Rodriguez Jesus Guzman
Vihuela German Lopez
Harp Sergio Alonso
Guitarrón Juan Jimenez
Dancers Rosalinda Rocha Miguel Diaz
Mariachi los Camperos is led by Natividad “Nati” Cano. A traditionalist and a visionary, Cano has both mirrored and shaped the history of mariachi music. He was born in 1933 into a family of mariachi musicians in Jalisco, Mexico, one of the many west Mexican communities that gave life to the mariachi tradition. His career took him first to nearby Guadalajara, Mexico’s second largest city, and then further away to Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, he and Los Camperos emerged as a major driving force of the mariachi music tradition in the United States. Los Camperos de Nati Cano has existed for nearly 50 years and is noted for demanding musical arrangements that highlight the individual skills and voices of the players. The ensemble employs the finest musicians from Mexico and the United States and has performed for audiences worldwide. In December 2006, Cano’s contributions to the American music landscape were recognized when he became one of the first artists nationwide to win a USA Fellowship from United States Artists. In its inaugural year, United States Artists awarded 50 USA Fellowships to a total of 54 artists. Cano was one of only five musicians to be named a USA Fellow in the inaugural year. Mariachi los Camperos was one of four mariachis that collaborated on Linda Ronstadt’s album Canciones de Mi Padre (Songs of my Father). In 1988-89, the group worked on the promotion of the album, including national television appearances on programs including The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and the Grammy Awards telecast. They also appear on Linda Ronstadt’s Mas Canciones (More Songs). The ensemble has recorded 10 albums: Puro Mariachi (Indigo Records, 1961); North of the Border (RCA/Carino Records, 1965); El Super Mariachi, Los Camperos (Latin International, 1968); Valses de Amor (La Fonda Records, 1973); Canciones de Siempre (PolyGram Latino, 1993); Sounds of Mariachi (Delfin Records,
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
mariachi los camperso de nati cano
Mariachi los Camperos de Nati Cano
1996); Fiesta Navidad (Delfin Records, 1997); Viva el Mariachi (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2003); Llegaron Los Camperos (Smithsonian Folkways, 2005); and Amor, Dolor y Lágrima (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2008). Los Camperos shared a 2005 Best Musical Album for Children Grammy Award for cEL‑ LAbration!, A tribute to Ella Jenkins. In 2006, the album Llegaron Los Camperos was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album. In 2009, Amor, Dolor y Lágrima won the 2009 Grammy for Best Regional Mexican Album. In 2010-11, Mariachi los Camperos will be touring with a special program, Viva Mexico, to commemorate the bicentennial of Mexico and the ensemble’s 50th anniversary. Jesus “Chuy” Guzman, Musical Director Widely recognized as an arranger, director, instructor, and musician in the genre of Mexican mariachi music, Jesus “Chuy” Guzman is the musical director of Mariachi los Camperos and master of such traditional mariachi instruments as trumpet, vihue‑ la, guitarrón, guitar, and violin. Over the last decade, Guzman has served as head instructor for more than 40 international mariachi festivals in the Unites States and Mexico and continues as the instructor for Ethnomusicology 91K, Music of México, at the University of California, Los Angeles. His career highlights include collaboration on the orchestration and musical arrangements for the Symphony Orchestra of Jalisco and recording as a guest artist with the prestigious Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán. Guzman also toured and recorded with Linda Ronstadt on her Grammy Awardwinning album, Canciones de mi Padre, and has appeared in several Hollywood films, including Mi Familia and Jerry Maguire. Instruments of Mariachi The original mariachi came from rural western México, primarily the states of Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán, Nayarit, and Sinaloa. The first groups were string-based ensembles, making the term mariachi “band” inappropriate as bands, by definition, emphasize brass and woodwinds. The first mariachi instrumentation consisted primarily of violins and the diatonic harp—a non-pedal and, therefore, non-chromatic instrument. The harp provided rhythmic and harmonic support while the violins played the melodic lines. As the mariachi ensemble developed, a small, generally five-stringed flat-back guitar, called quinta or guitarra de golpe was added to support the rhythm. The five-stringed vihuela, a round-back instrument, along with the more recent addition of the guitar, provides the underlying rhythm essential for the musical sound of every mariachi ensemble. The guitarrón, a larger round-back instrument, plays the bass line. The original guitarrón used four or five gut strings; eventually the instrument became standardized with six nylon strings, giving it sufficient volume to support the bass. Because it is capable of modulating to different keys (and easier to carry), the guitarrón eventually replaced the harp in most ensembles. In the early 1930s, when the ensembles began to think in terms of arrangements and commercial possibilities, a trumpet was added, the rationale being that it would create a better, more penetrating sound for radio broadcasts. In later years, two trumpets have become a standard part of mariachi ensembles, although it is not uncommon to find three or more in some of today’s groups.
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
15
16
| mondaviarts.org
Robert and Margrit Mondavi
Center for the Performing Arts
| UC Davis
Presents
Kronos Quartet Kronos Live! David Harrington, violin John Sherba, violin Hank Dutt, viola Jeffrey Zeigler, cello Laurence Neff, Lighting Designer Scott Fraser, Sound Designer A Director’s Choice Series Event Thursday, December 9, 2010 • 8PM Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center, UC Davis
There will be one intermission.
further listening see p. 20
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
17
Kronos Quartet
Kronos Live! Bryce Dessner: Aheym (Homeward) * Sigur Rós (arr. Stephen Prutsman): Flugufrelsarinn (The Fly Freer) + Clint Mansell (arr. Kronos Quartet): Death is the Road to Awe from The Fountain + Missy Mazzoli: Harp and Altar * Thierry Pécou: Les rameursobscurs de la barque de Rê (The Dark Rowers of Ra’s Barque) * U.S. premiere Intermission Raz Mesinai: Crossfader * Clint Mansell (arr. David Lang): Requiem for a Dream Suite + I. Ghosts of a Future Lost II. Meltdown III. Lux Aeterna Café Tacuba (arr. Osvaldo Golijov): 12/12 *
Program Subject To Change * Written for Kronos + Arranged for Kronos
Program Notes I notice that our audience is getting younger—and they are giving us a lot of energy. The people who come to our concerts want to hear the best new stuff we can find. We’re always on the lookout for what charges us up. We seek work that is exciting and something we haven’t been a part of before. I’m interested in making artistic experiences that are very focused, strong, and intensely human. We’re living in a very fertile time for musicians. The world of music is a more dynamic and diverse place than it was back in 1973 when Kronos started. I feel I’m continually on the edge of my chair, and I want to spend my time encouraging artists to stretch beyond what they ever imagined they could accomplish. This program—created especially for the Mondavi Center— includes music originally written for film by Clint Mansell (Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain), music by the Icelandic rock band Sigur Rós and the Mexican band Café Tacuba, a quartet by Bryce Dessner (guitarist of The National), the first American performance of a new piece by French composer Thierry Pécou, and works by 30-something composers Raz Mesinai and Missy Mazzoli. All of this music was written or arranged especially for Kronos. Bringing elements into our live shows that haven’t been there before is something I’ve tried to do since we formed Kronos. With fellow artists, I want to explore what it means to be a musician, what a concert is and what a musical experience is in 2010. —David Harrington Artistic Director, Kronos Quartet
18
| mondaviarts.org
Aheym (2009) Bryce Dessner (born 1976) Bryce Dessner is a composer/guitarist/curator based in New York City, best known as the guitarist for the rock band The National. Their albums Alligator (2005) and Boxer (2007) were named albums of the year in publications throughout the world; High Violet was released in 2010. Dessner has received widespread acclaim as a composer and guitarist for the improvising quartet Clogs. He has performed and/or recorded with Sufjan Stevens, Antony Hegarty, Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo, Philip Glass, Michael Gordon, the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and visual artist Matthew Ritchie, among others. He premiered and recorded 2x5 by Steve Reich in 2009. As a composer, he is the recipient of a Jerome Grant from the American Composers Forum and the Kitchen (New York), for a full concert of his music in 2007, and a commission from Thyssen Bornemisza Art Contemporary (Vienna) to create a 40-minute spatial sound work for the Morning Line, an outdoor sound pavilion by Matthew Ritchie. He has also received commissions from the Rosenbach Library in Philadelphia in honor of Abraham Lincoln’s bicentennial, and BAM’s Next Wave Festival for The Long Count, an evening-length work with his brother Aaron Dessner. He composed the score for Turn the River, a film written and directed by Chris Eigman. Dessner is the creator and artistic director of the Music Now Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the co-founder and owner of the Brassland record label. He and Aaron Dessner recently produced an AIDS charity compilation, Dark Was the Night, for the Red Hot Organization. Dessner serves on the board of The Kitchen and is a graduate of Yale College and the Yale School of Music.
“‘Aheym’ means ‘homeward’ in Yiddish, and this piece is written as musical evocation of the idea of flight and passage. As little boys, my brother and I used to spend hours with my grandmother, asking her about the details of how she came to America. She could only give us a smattering of details, but they all found their way into our collective imagination, eventually becoming a part of our own cultural identity and connection to the past. In her poem ‘Di rayzeaheym,’ the American-Yiddish poet Irena Klepfisz, a professor at Barnard in New York and one of the few child survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto, writes: ‘Among strangers is her home. Here right here she must live. Her memories will become monuments.’” “Aheym is dedicated to my grandmother, Sarah Dessner.” Bryce Dessner’s Aheym was written for the Kronos Quartet.
Kronos Quartet
About Aheym, Dessner writes: “David Harrington asked me to write a piece for Kronos Quartet for a performance in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. I live just two blocks from the park and spend many mornings running around it. The park for me symbolizes much of what I love about New York, especially the stunning diversity of Brooklyn with its myriad cultures and communities. My father’s family, Jewish immigrants from Poland and Russia, also lived near the park for many years in the 1940s and 1950s before moving to Queens. In discussing the new piece, David proposed to perform the work in Brooklyn, and then to retrace the journey of my grandparents and perform it in Lodz, Poland, a city where my great-grandparents lived and through which my grandmother passed on her voyage to America.
Harrington of Kronos and arranger Stephen Prutsman met the members of Sigur Rós and were invited to visit their studio outside of Reykjavík. The two ensembles later rehearsed together in Iceland. Born in Los Angeles in 1960, Stephen Prutsman began playing the piano by ear before more formal music studies. In his early teens he was the keyboard player for several rock groups, including Cerberus and Vysion. In the early 1990s, he was a medal winner at the Tchaikovsky and Queen Elisabeth piano competitions, which led to performances in various prestigious music centers and with leading orchestras in the U.S. and Europe. In 2004, Prutsman was appointed to a three-year term to the position of Artistic Partner with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, where he acts as composer, arranger, conductor, program host, and pianist. Prutsman’s long collaboration with Kronos has resulted in more than 40 arrangements of distinctive and varying musical languages. Stephen Prutsman’s arrangement of Flugufrelsarinn was commissioned for the Kronos Quartet by the Reykjavik Arts Festival. Kronos’ recording of Flugufrelsarinn is available as a download through the iTunes Store. Program note by Matthew Campbell. Death Is the Road to Awe from The Fountain (2006) Clint Mansell (born 1963) Arranged by Kronos Quartet Recorded track performed by Mogwai
Flugufrelsarinn (The Fly Freer) (1999/arr. 2002) Arranged by Stephen Prutsman (born 1960) The Icelandic group Sigur Rós is at the forefront of invention in today’s international rock scene. Led by the ethereal vocals and hauntingly bowed guitar of Jón Thor (“Jónsi”) Birgisson, the group leaves traditional song forms on some lower, less magical plane, slipping instead into ever-shifting environments of sound. It also doesn’t get much more enigmatic. Beyond the difficulties for non-Icelandic speakers in understanding some of Jónsi’s lyrics, there is the fact that Jónsi sings the remainder of his songs in a self-invented language he calls Hopelandish. In its original, sung version, Flugufrelsarinn relates a parable of salvation and sacrifice, in which an unnamed narrator tries to rescue helpless flies in a lake from the jaws of the approaching salmon. Fortunately the critical and popular response to Sigur Rós has been anything but enigmatic: In addition to its early fans around the world—including fellow musicians like David Bowie, Beck, the band Radiohead, and, of course, Kronos—the group reached new audiences through the inclusion of one of its songs, Svefn-g-englar (Dreams of Angels), on the soundtrack for the film Vanilla Sky. In 2001, Sigur Rós earned still more recognition in this country as the winner of the prestigious Shortlist Prize for new music.
The Fountain, a feature film written and directed by Darren Aronofsky, follows one man’s epic journey told through three concurrent storylines that take place in three eras: 16th-century Spain, modern day America, and deep space in the 26th century. The music on the soundtrack, composed by Clint Mansell and recorded by Kronos and the Glasgow-based band Mogwai, received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Score. Clint Mansell, composer of the score to The Fountain, was the front man and a founding member of the pioneering English rock/ hip-hop band, Pop Will Eat Itself. Mansell played guitar and keyboards for the band, which released five albums for RCA/BMG Records and Trent Reznor’s Nothing Records between 1986 and 1996. Mansell first worked with Aronofsky when he composed the original score for PI in 1997. Since then, Mansell has worked on scores and soundtracks for such films as Requiem for a Dream (2000), World Traveler (2002), and Abandon (2002) and produced remixes from Pi and Requiem for a Dream. The soundtrack to The Fountain was released on Nonesuch Records.
In light of Sigur Rós’s own wide-ranging music, it is no surprise to discover that the group’s members are enthusiastic fans of the Kronos Quartet. After hearing Sigur Rós’s 1999 breakthrough album, Ágætis Byrjun, and seeing the group in concert, David
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
19
kronos quartet
further listening
by jeff hudson The Kronos Quartet has released upwards of 40 albums over a period of nearly 30 years, and along the way the technology platform for those recordings has changed from vinyl and cassettes to CDs, DVDs, and downloads. That’s a lot of material to explore, but to a degree, because Kronos tends to come back to certain composers and certain ideas over time, you can do a bit of grouping. There are: The numerous projects with composer Terry Riley This relationship goes back to 1978, when Riley was teaching at Mills College in Oakland, and Kronos (then a young group, getting established) had relocated to the Bay Area, and were recruited by Mills as artists in residence. Kronos asked Riley to write a piece for the group, and in 1980, Riley finished “Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector” (which was included in the 1985 Kronos/Riley album Cadenza on a Night Plain). Other Kronos/Riley recordings include the two-disc Salome Dances for Peace (1989), Requiem for Adam (2001), and The Cusp of Magic (2008). Mondavi Center audiences will also recall Sun Rings, which is scored for string quartet and large choir with sounds from space recorded by the Voyager probe—Kronos performed the piece in Jackson Hall in 2005, with Riley in attendance. Kronos is still hoping to get a Sun Rings DVD into release at some point. The projects with other Western composers The 1995 disc Kronos Quartet Performs Philip Glass includes the composer’s String Quartet No. 5, written for Kronos. The group has also recorded three discs of quartets by Polish composer Henryk Górecki, one by Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski, one by Soviet composer Alfred Schnittke, and works by Alban Berg and Anton Webern of the Second Viennese School. Kronos has also released discs of American music by early radical Harry Partch, minimalist Steve Reich, and minimalist-turned-mainstream composer John Adams. The world music albums Kronos loves to go four-wheeling beyond the usual string quartet repertoire. Projects have touched down musically, and sometimes physically, in Argentina (Five Tango Sensations by Astor Piazzolla, 1991), Pieces of Africa (1992), China (Tan Dun’s Ghost Opera, 1997), Mexico (Nuevo, 2002), Bollywood (You’ve Stolen My Heart, 2005), Azerbaijan (Mugam Sayagi, 2005), and most recently, Floodplain (last year, with music “from cultures based in areas surrounded by water and prone to catastrophic flooding”). And a special mention should be made of Black Angels, the 1990 album taking its title from George Crumb’s searing musical vision (subtitled “Thirteen Visions of the Dark Land”) composed during the Vietnam War. David Harrington of Kronos has said on a number of occasions that this piece motivated him to organize the group. Also on the album is the gloomy, anguished Quartet No. 8 by Dmitri Shostakovich (written when the composer was contemplating suicide, and dedicated to the victims of fascism and war) and “Doom: A Sigh” by Hungarian-born composer István Mártha. Needless to say, this album is anything but cheerful, but it’s a one-of-a-kind landmark, and a recording of which Harrington is particularly proud.
Jeff Hudson contributes coverage of the performing arts to Capital Public Radio, the Davis Enterprise, and Sacramento News and Review.
20
| mondaviarts.org
Complimentary wine pours in the Bartholomew Room for Inner Circle Donors. Pouring Robert Mondavi Wines on Dec 5 Mariachi los Camperos de Nati Cano Dec 18 American Bach Soloists
Sponsored by
Missy Mazzoli, born in Pennsylvania, has had her music performed all over the world by the Minnesota Orchestra, eighth blackbird, South Carolina Philharmonic, Spokane Symphony, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, NOW Ensemble, and others. She has been commissioned by Kronos Quartet, eighth blackbird, the Whitney Museum, Carnegie Hall, and the League of Composers/ ISCM Orchestra. Mazzoli’s critically acclaimed multi-media chamber opera Song from the Uproar: The Lives and Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt, premiered in Brooklyn in 2009. Mazzoli is a recipient of a Fulbright Grant to the Netherlands, three ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Awards, a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and grants from the American Music Center, the Jerome Foundation, and the Greenwall Foundation. In 2006, Mazzoli was a featured composer at Merkin Hall (New York) and the Gaudeamus New Music Festival (Amsterdam), and in 2007, she taught beginning composition at Yale University. She is Executive Director of the MATA Festival of New Music in New York, an organization founded by Philip Glass dedicated to commissioning and promoting new works by young composers. Mazzoli is also an active pianist, and often performs with Victoire, an all-female quintet she founded in 2008, dedicated exclusively to her own compositions. Victoire has performed in venues throughout New York and recently appeared at the 2009 Bang-on-a-Can Marathon. Their debut EP is A Door into the Dark. About Harp and Altar, Mazzoli writes: “Harp and Altar is a love song to the Brooklyn Bridge. The title comes from a poem by Hart Crane, in which he describes the Brooklyn Bridge as ‘that harp and altar of the Fury fused.’ The Borough of Brooklyn is impossible to describe, but the Brooklyn Bridge seems to be an apt symbol for its vastness, its strength and its history. Halfway through the work the vocalist sings fragments of these lines from Crane’s poem ‘The Bridge’: Through the bound cable strands, the arching path Upward, veering with light, the flight of strings, Taut miles of shuttling moonlight syncopate The whispered rush, telepathy of wires. “Crane lived for some time at 110 Columbia Heights in Brooklyn, in an apartment overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge. Only after completing his poem did Crane learn that one of its key builders, Washington Roebling, had once lived at the same address. Every day I take long walks around my Brooklyn neighborhood, often ending up at the site of the house where Crane lived when he wrote these lines. In writing this piece for the Kronos Quartet I tried to imagine the Brooklyn Bridge through Crane’s eyes, a new monument to technology, a symbol of optimism and faith. “Many thanks to the Kronos Quartet, Gabriel Kahane, Margaret Dorfman, and the Ralph I. Dorfman Family Fund for making this work possible.” Sampled Vocals by Gabriel Kahane. Missy Mazzoli’s Harp and Altar was commissioned for Kronos Quartet by Margaret Dorfman and the Ralph I. Dorfman Family Fund. Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
Kronos Quartet
Harp and Altar (2009) Missy Mazzoli (born 1980)
Les Rameursobscurs de la barque de Rê (2010) Thierry Pécou (b. 1965) For Thierry Pécou, to live is to travel, and to travel is to write, as if composing were both plunging into another universe, taking emotional possession of the places, and above all, stepping back— voluntarily becoming marginalized in relation to one’s everyday cultural milieu. Born in Paris, Thierry Pécou began studying the piano at the age of nine and continued his studies at the Paris Conservatoire Supérieur, where he won First Prizes in orchestration and composition. He was a pensioner at La Casa de Velázquez in Madrid, and laureate of the Prix Villa Médicis Hors les Murs. He has won numerous prizes, including the Tribune Internationale des compositeurs de l’UNESCO (1990),Prix Georges Enesco et des jeunes compositeurs de la SACEM (1993 and 2004), Prix Musique de la SACD (1999), Prix Simone & Cino del Duca for the Composer 2010 by the Academy of Beaux Arts, and Prix de la Meilleure Création Musicale 2010 by the Syndicat de la Critique for his second opera L’Amourcoupable. He has written more than 80 works, often commissions by institutions and performers such as the Kronos Quartet, pianist Alexandre Tharaud, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. His music has been performed at concert seasons and festivals, including the Radio-France Festival Présences, Gaudeamus MusicWeek in Amsterdam, Autumn in Moscow, New Music Concerts Toronto, Foro Internacional de Musica Nueva de Mexico, Festival d’Ambronay, Tampere Choir Festival (Finland), Auditorium de Nagasaki, Théâtre de la Ville and des Champs Elysées in Paris, and Octobre en Normandie. His Garden of the Sage, a composition involving Chinese traditional instruments, commissioned by GRAME, was premiered at the World Expo in Shanghai in 2010. Also this year, the world premiere of his acclaimed opera L’Amourcoupable, based on Beaumarchais’ La Mèrecoupable, on a libretto by Eugene Green, was presented at the Rouen Opera in France. About Les Rameursobscurs de la barque de Rê (The Dark Rowers of Ra’s Barque), Pécou writes: “For those who have yet to experience it, Egypt, so many thousands of years old, looms as a huge and fascinating monument on account of the richness and complexity of its history, which goes from the mists of time up to the present day. “David Harrington asked me to compose for Kronos Quartet a work about Egypt in which many different layers of time would be blurred. I have tried to make of this score for string quartet and prerecorded sounds an imaginary plunge through various facets of Egypt and Cairo. Mixing the present day and antiquity, I took my inspiration from a passage in the Egyptian Book of the Dead that tells of the mysterious night voyage of the sun god Ra, who travels on his boat between life and death towards a new cycle of life. “Water, the primordial element of the land of the Nile and the annual Nile River flood, is symbolized by musical motifs evoking fluidity, which tie together different episodes and punctuate the score as a whole. We hear the luxuriant noises of Cairo, the contemporary megalopolis; the Arabic rhythms and melodies of a frenzied dance; the timeless call to prayer; the silence of the desert; an ancient chant punctuated by the sounds of sistrums [ancient tambourines] as they emerge from the sand at an archaeological
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
21
Kronos Quartet
dig; and then a hypnotic progression leading to the final, dazzling experience of the sun.â€? Thierry PĂŠcou’s comments translated from the French by Marion Lignana Rosenberg. Electronic recordings were realized by Max Bruckert/GRAME, Centre National de CrĂŠation Musicale, Lyon. Thierry PĂŠcou’s Les Rameursobscurs de la barque de RĂŞ was commissioned for Kronos Quartet by the French-American Fund for Contemporary Music, a program of FACE with major support from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, SACEM, Cultures France, and the Florence Gould Foundation.  Crossfader (2007) Raz Mesinai (born in Jerusalem in1973) Raz Mesinai was born in Jerusalem in 1973. His first two decades were spent in frequent transit between Jerusalem and New York City, where he became immersed in both the worlds of traditional Middle Eastern music and the dub and hip-hop scenes of the eighties and early nineties in New York City. He became involved in the avant-garde, downtown music scene of New York City, performing, improvising, and leading his own ensembles on percussion, piano, and sampler. Mesinai’s electronic and electro-acoustic music exists at the crossroads of composition, sound design, and modern studio production. His acclaimed recordings under the moniker Badawi, and as one-half of the seminal duo Sub Dub (with John Ward), are difficult to classify, but have been called hybrid electronica/dub/ percussion/avant-garde compositions. Since 1999, Mesinai has been releasing music under his own name as well, including three releases on John Zorn’s Tzadik label. Mesinai has collaborated with many of New York’s top musicians, including Eyvind Kang, Mark Dresser, Marc Ribot, Mark Feldman, John Zorn, Shelley Hirsch, Elliott Sharp, and Zeena Parkins, among many others. His work has been commissioned by the Lincoln Center Festival, the Jerome Foundation, and the American Music Center. In 2001, Soldier of Midian (ROIR) received an award from the Ars Electronica festival. In 2002, Raz was a featured artist in the “Next, Next Waveâ€? festival of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and opened for Nubian master musician Hamza El Din at Lincoln Center. In 2004, following his developing interest in visual narrative and storytelling in music, Mesinai was a Fellow at the Sundance Composer’s Lab where he had the opportunity to participate in workshops with such artists as John Adams, Osvaldo Golijov, and Thomas Newman. He is currently scoring several films. About Crossfader, Mesinai writes: “Written for the Kronos Quartet, Crossfader incorporates the rhythms, pulses, and full-throttle energy of electronic dance music into the string quartet medium. Although it was initially written for string quartet and electronics, I realized that all of the sounds I wanted could be derived straight from the instruments alone. By using the many splendid extended techniques that a stringed instrument can deliver, the players simulate such effects as delays, phasers, and flanging used in modern electronic dance music.â€? Raz Mesinai’s Crossfader was commissioned for the Kronos Quartet by Deborah and Creig Hoyt. 22
| mondaviarts.org
Requiem for a Dream Suite (2000) Clint Mansell (born 1963) Arranged by David Lang (born 1957) Backing track performed by Clint Mansell Requiem for a Dream, a feature film directed and co-written by Darren Aronofsky, was adapted from the 1978 novel by Hubert Selby, Jr. Set on the streets of Coney Island, Brooklyn, the film is a harrowing journey into the psyches of four people addicted to their visions of a happier life. Clint Mansell, composer of the score to Requiem for a Dream, was the front man and a founding member of the pioneering English rock/hip-hop band Pop Will Eat Itself. Mansell played guitar and keyboards for the band, which released five albums for RCA/BMG Records and Trent Reznor’s Nothing Records between 1986 and 1996. Mansell first worked with Aronofsky when he composed the original score for PI in 1997. Since then, Mansell has worked on scores and soundtracks for such films as World Traveler (2002) and Abandon (2002) and produced remixes from PI and Requiem for a Dream. Their most recent collaboration, also featuring performances by Kronos, can be heard on the soundtrack to The Fountain (2006), which was nominated for a Best Original Score Golden Globe Award and won 2007 World Soundtrack Awards for Best Original Score of the Year and the Public Choice Award. Mansell’s music for Requiem for a Dream has become extremely popular, appearing in numerous film trailers and sampled by artists ranging from Paul Oakenfold to Lil Jon. Composer David Lang is co-founder and co-artistic director of Bang on a Can, an organization dedicated to adventurous new music. Lang’s recent projects include the amplified orchestra piece The Passing Measures (named one of the best CDs of 2001 by The New Yorker); Writing on Water for the London Sinfonietta, with visuals by English filmmaker Peter Greenaway; The Difficulty of Crossing a Field, an opera for the Kronos Quartet; Grind to a Halt for the San Francisco Symphony; and The Little Match Girl Passion, an opera with Paul Hiller and Theatre of Voices that premiered in Carnegie Hall in 2007. His most recent CD is Elevated (Cantaloupe), which includes a DVD of Lang’s collaborations with visual artists William Wegman, Bill Morrison, and Matt Mullican. The soundtrack to Requiem for a Dream, featuring the Kronos Quartet, was released on Nonesuch Records.
/2-!.#%
2& 'IVE THE ')&4 /& 0% -ONDAVI #ENTER
?
'IFT #ERTIFICATES
CKET TES ARE AVAILABLE FROM OUR 4I -ONDAVI #ENTER GIFT CERTIlCA G OR RTS VI! DA ON NLINE AT /FlCE !243 AND O
Recorded performance by Alejandro Flores, violin, requinto and Café Tacuba: Rubén Albarrán, electric guitar Emmanuel del Real, programming, keyboards, jarana Enrique Rangel, jarana, concha, programming Joselo Rangel, electric guitar December 12 is celebrated throughout Mexico as the Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the country’s patron saint. In 1531, just a decade after the Spanish Conquest, the Virgin Mary appeared to an indigenous Mexican named Juan Diego on the hill of Tepayac, outside of Mexico City. Associated with her appearance was a series of miracles, including the sudden curing of a dying man, unnaturally fragrant flowers that appeared to be painted but then became real, and finally the imprint on Juan Diego’s cloak of the Virgin Mary. This piece, written by Café Tacuba in collaboration with composer Osvaldo Golijov, was conceived as a collection of different moments and environments experienced during the course of the Day of the Our Lady of Guadalupe. This five-part sonic portrait of contemporary Mexico weaves together not only the sounds of a rock band and a string quartet, but also traditional Mexican instruments and street sounds. The scenes range from the mariachi bands of Plaza Garibaldi to the loud whistle from the cart of acamote (yam) vendor to the amazing Voladores de Papantla, a Veracruz ritual where four men, accompanied by a flutes and drums, leap from a pole while attached to ropes that slowly unwind. The piece ends with the fireworks and bells of Mexico City’s Zócalo on Independence Day. Café Tacuba was formed in 1989 outside of Mexico City by design students Rubén Albarrán and Joselo Rangel (guitar), his brother Enrique (bass), and friend Emmanuel del Real (keyboards). Signed by Warner Music, the band released its self-titled debut album in 1992, an upbeat, genre-skipping mélange of spirited Beatles-esque rock, traditional norteño and mariachi, hip-hop, ska, and epic Latin pop. Café Tacuba solidified its standing at the forefront of the rock en español scene with the follow-up album Re in 1994. The band’s release Reves/Yosoy received a 1999 Latin Grammy Award for Best Rock Album of the Year. After taking several years off, Café Tacuba regrouped to produce the electronically driven Cuatro Caminos (2003) and a live album, Un Viaje (2005). Osvaldo Golijov grew up in an Eastern European Jewish household in La Plata, Argentina. He was raised surrounded by Western classical music, Jewish liturgical and klezmer music, and the new tango of Astor Piazzolla. He moved to Israel in 1983, where he studied with Mark Kopytman at the Jerusalem Rubin Academy and immersed himself in the colliding musical traditions of that city. Upon moving to the United States in 1986, Golijov earned his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied with George Crumb, and was a fellow at Tanglewood, studying with Oliver Knussen in the early 1990s. Golijov became personally acquainted with the Kronos Quartet at Tanglewood, and has since collaborated with the group on about 30 works.
Kronos Quartet
12/12 (2000) Café Tacuba (formed in 1989) Arranged by Osvaldo Golijov (born 1960)
Golijov is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, among many other awards. The recording of Golijov’s La Pasión Según San Marcos received Grammy and Latin Grammy nominations in 2002. Also in 2002, EMI released Yiddishbbuk, a Grammy-nominated CD of Golijov’s chamber music, recorded by the St. Lawrence String Quartet. Kronos’s recording of Golijov’s The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind was released in 1997 on Nonesuch Records, with clarinetist David Krakauer. Café Tacuba’s 12/12 was commissioned for the Kronos Quartet and appears on Kronos’s Nonesuch recording Nuevo. Program note by Sidney Chen. For the Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association: Janet Cowperthwaite, Managing Director Laird Rodet, Associate Director Sidney Chen, Artistic Administrator Scott Fraser, Sound Designer Christina Johnson, Communications Manager Nikolás McConnie-Saad, Office Manager Hannah Neff, Production Associate Laurence Neff, Production Director Lucinda Toy, Business Operations Manager Contact: Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association P. O. Box 225340, San Francisco, CA 94122-5340 www.kronosquartet.org, www.facebook.com/kronosquartet www.myspace.com/kronosquartet Twitter: @kronosquartet #kronos The Kronos Quartet records for Nonesuch Records. instruments • accessories • sheet music • lessons • rentals • repairs
• Locally owned and operated since 1996 • • We stock over 20,000 print music titles • • We offer “guaranteed lowest price” on our huge and diverse inventory of instruments •
Watermelon Music
207 E Street • Davis • C A • 9 5616 • 53 0.7 5 8.4010 M-F • 10-7 • Sa • 10-6 • Su 12-6 • www.watermelonmusic.com Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
23
BALLET DIRECTOR
RON CUNNINGHAM ISSUE #6
PLAYWRIGHT
GREGG COFFIN ISSUE #7
TONY WINNER
FAITH PRINCE ISSUE #8 ACTOR
COLIN HANKS ISSUE #15
PERFORMANCE ARTIST
DAVID GARIBALDI ISSUE #16
BROADWAY STAR
MARA DAVI ISSUE #19
Available at Raley's, Nugget Markets, Borders and Barnes & Noble.
24
| mondaviarts.org
Robert and Margrit Mondavi
Center for the Performing Arts
| UC Davis
Presents
MC
Debut
Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum Author of Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? UC Davis Campus Community Book Project Friday, December 10, 2010 • 8PM Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center, UC Davis Sponsored by Office of Campus Community Relations
W
hen Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum became the ninth president of Spelman College in 2002, she set an expectation that Spelman College would be recognized as one of the finest liberal arts colleges in the country—a place where young women of African descent could say, “This place was built for me, and it is nothing less than the best!” With her creative energy focused on five strategic goals—Academic Excellence, Leadership Development, Improving our Environment, Visibility of our Achievements, and Exemplary Customer Service (collectively known as Spelman ALIVE) —Spelman College has experienced great growth. Spelman is now widely recognized as one of the leading liberal arts colleges
in the nation. Applications have increased more than 40% in the last six years, making Spelman one of the most selective women’s colleges in the United States. During her tenure, the Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement was created and its annual Women of Color Leadership Conference established as a national professional development resource. The curriculum has expanded to include Chinese language instruction, and in 2008, the Gordon-Zeto Fund for International Initiatives was established with a gift of $17,000,000, increasing opportunities for faculty and student
The artists and your fellow audience members appreciate silence during the performance. Please be sure that you have switched off all electronic devices. Videotaping, photographing, and audio recording are strictly forbidden. Violators are subject to removal.
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
25
26
| mondaviarts.org
(2007) and Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race (1997). She is also the author of Assimilation Blues: Black Families in a White Community (1987).
Through the Every Woman, Every Year Initiative launched in 2006, alumnae support of the annual fund has grown to 39% and continues to rise. Campus improvements include the award-winning renovation of three historic buildings and the 2008 completion of a new “green� residence hall, increasing on-campus housing capacity by more than 25% and establishing the campus commitment to environmental sustainability for the 21st century. These improvements serve as the foundation for the next phase of development, Strengthening the Core: The Strategic Plan for 2015, which focuses on global engagement, expanded opportunities for undergraduate research and internships, alumnae-student connections, leadership development, and service learning linked to an increasingly interdisciplinary curriculum.
Actively involved in the Atlanta community, Dr. Tatum is a member of several boards including the Executive Committee of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Woodruff Arts Center, Community Foundation of Atlanta, and recently co-chaired the Early Education Commission of the United Way. Dr. Tatum is also a member of several national non-profit boards, including the Institute for International Education, the Council of Independent Colleges, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and Teach for America. Appointed by President Obama, she is a member of the Advisory Board for the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Dr. Tatum earned a B.A. degree in psychology from Wesleyan University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from University of Michigan. She also holds a M.A. in religious studies from Hartford Seminary. She has served as a faculty member at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Westfield State College, and Mount Holyoke College, where she also served as dean and acting president.
In addition to being an accomplished administrator, Dr. Tatum is widely recognized as a scholar, teacher, race relations expert, and leader in higher education. The recipient of numerous honorary degrees, Dr. Tatum was awarded the prestigious Brock International Prize in Education in 2005 for her innovative leadership in the field. Her best-selling titles include Can We Talk About Race? And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
dr. beverly Daniel tatum
travel as well as providing additional financial aid for international students. Overall, scholarship support for Spelman students has doubled since 2002, and opportunities for faculty research and development have expanded significantly.
President Tatum is married to Dr. Travis Tatum, a retired college professor. They are the parents of two adult sons.
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
27
lara downes family concert
Robert and Margrit Mondavi
Center for the Performing Arts
| UC Davis
Presents
Lara Downes Family Concert Neverland to Wonderland A Children’s Stage Series Event Sunday, December 12, 2010 • 1PM & 3PM Vanderhoef Studio Theatre, Mondavi Center, UC Davis Sponsored by
The artists and your fellow audience members appreciate silence during the performance. Please be sure that you have switched off all electronic devices. Videotaping, photographing, and audio recording are strictly forbidden. Violators are subject to removal. 28
| mondaviarts.org
lara downes family concert
Neverland to Wonderland An Original Performance Piece Created and Directed by Mindy Cooper and Lara Downes
Evening, Op. 65 No. 11 Sergei Prokofiev Virtuoso Alice David del Tredici Dream a Little Dream of Me Andre/Schwandt Lara Downes, solo piano Never Never Land (from Peter Pan) I’m Flying (from Peter Pan) Mondavi Center Young Artists Theater Workshop Ensemble
Fain/Cahn Fain/Cahn
Neverland (from Peter Pan) T’was Brillig (from Alice in Wonderland) Acrostic Alice Elizabeth Tremaine, mezzo-soprano: Department of Theater & Dance
Leonard Bernstein Raye/DePaul/Carroll David del Tredici
Directed by Mindy Cooper Musical Direction by Lara Downes Video Installation by Julia Litman-Cleper Original texts by J.M. Barrie and Lewis Carroll
Please join the cast in the Vanderhoef Studio Theatre Lobby immediately following the performance for a cookies and milk reception to celebrate the release of Nocturnes for Night Owls, Lara Downes’ new CD of music for children.
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
29
lara downes family concert
Lara Downes Steinway Concert Artist Lara Downes has attracted attention as one of the most exciting and communicative young pianists of today’s generation, cited by critics for her “breathtaking virtuosity” and called “a most delightful artist, with a unique blend of musicianship and showmanship” by National Public Radio. Lara has performed throughout Europe and the United States, winning over audiences at some of the world’s most prestigious concert venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Queen Elizabeth Hall London, and the Vienna Konzerthaus. Recent appearances have included concerts at the Kennedy Center, San Francisco Performances, the University of Vermont Lane Series, the American Academy in Rome, the El Paso Pro Musica Festival, the Montreal Chamber Music Festival, and the President’s Piano Series at the University of Washington World Series. Lara has been heard on NPR’s Performance Today, WNYC’s New Sounds, and WBGO’s Jazz Set, and she will be featured in a documentary produced by WQXR, scheduled to air nationwide in January. Lara’s busy performance career is strongly impacted by her commitment to expanding and developing new audiences for the arts. She is the Curator of the Mondavi Center Young Artists Program, the Statewide Director of the UC ArtsBridge program, and the Founder and President of the 88 KEYS Foundation, a non-profit organization that fosters opportunities for music experiences and learning in America’s public schools by providing pianos and music education programming in K-12 classrooms. In addition to the excitement Lara brings to the concert stage, her commercial recordings have been met with tremendous critical and popular acclaim. Her debut CD, Invitation to the Dance, was called “a magical little recording” by NPR, and American Ballads was ranked by Amazon.com among the four best recordings of American music ever made. Hew newest release is Nocturnes for Night Owls, a collection of classical lullabies for children, which has been featured nationwide as a top pick in children’s music for 2010.
Mindy Cooper A Broadway veteran for more than 25 years, Mindy Cooper began her career as a performer dancing in the companies of Twyla Tharp Dance, Feld Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, and Thingseziseem Dance Theatre. She performed on Broadway in the original cast revival of Chicago, the original cast of Titanic, Beauty and the Beast, Song and Dance, and Tenderloin. Her extensive director/choreographer credits on Broadway include Dracula, the Musical and Wrong Mountain. Off-Broadway director/choreographer credits include Five Course Love. National Tour: Titanic. Other New York credits include The Gospel According to Tammy Faye at Manhattan Theater Club and Music in the Night: A Tribute to Jerome Kern at Town Hall. Regional theater: On the Town (Lesher Center), Cabaret (Center Rep) , Musical of Musicals, The Musical (Center Rep), Fiddler on the Roof (Nevada Conservatory Theater), Urinetown ( UC Davis Artistin-Residence), The New Bozena (Hudson Theater LA), Heart and Soul (St. Petersburg, Russia), and Jesus Christ Superstar (Pittsburg CLO). Cooper’s Bay Area theatrical work has won 10 Bay Area
30
| mondaviarts.org
Theater Critics Awards, including 2009 Best Director of a Musical and 2009 Best Musical. Cooper directed the UC Davis productions of Urinetown in 2007 and Oklahoma! in 2009. She will return in spring 2011 as Granada Artist-in-Residence as director of The Who’s Tommy.
Elizabeth Tremaine Elizabeth Tremaine is a 2010 Letters & Science Deans’ Honors List student majoring in psychology. She recently appeared as Olive Ostrosky in the UC Davis Department of Theater and Dance production of the musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Tremaine is a current ArtsBridge Theater Scholar, teaching theater arts to elementary school students in public schools in Davis and Sacramento.
Mondavi Center Young Artists Theater Workshop Ensemble The Mondavi Center Young Artists Theater Workshop program is a training and performance program for young actors in grades 3-6, led by director/choreographer Mindy Cooper. 2010 Ensemble Members Isabel Alvarez Jessica Block Emma Breitbard Jenny Chen Charlotte Downes Toney Patrick Foraker Renee Goodin Chloe Hamman James Hayakawa Jordan Hayakawa Benjamin Hoffner-Brodsky Elaje Lopez Sophie Lopez Natasha Mariner Zimmerman Joshua Meyers Jimin Moon Aily O’Hara Eleanor Richter Chloe Sears Hallie Tobia McKella van Boxtel Danielle van Winkle
Auditions for the 2011 Young Artists Theater Workshop program will be held in September 2011; workshop sessions will be held weekly from September-December. The 2011 Ensemble members will perform in the December 2011 performance of Robert Kapilow’s Green Eggs and Ham at the Mondavi Center. For information about the Young Artists Theater Workshop program, or to pre-register for the 2011 auditions, please email youngartistsinfo@ucdavis.edu.
Center for the Performing Arts
american bach soloists
Robert and Margrit Mondavi
| UC Davis
Presents
American Bach Soloists Messiah 1754 Foundling Hospital version George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) American Bach Soloists American Bach Choir Jeffrey Thomas, conductor Arianna Zukerman, soprano Jennifer Lane, alto Wesley Rogers, tenor James Maddalena, baritone A Mondavi Center Special Event Saturday, December 18, 2009 • 7:30PM Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center, UC Davis There will be one intermission.
further listening see p. 44
The artists and your fellow audience members appreciate silence during the performance. Please be sure that you have switched off all electronic devices. Videotaping, photographing, and audio recording are strictly forbidden. Violators are subject to removal.
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
31
32
| mondaviarts.org
american bach soloists
Messiah 1754 Foundling Hospital version George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) American Bach Soloists American Bach Choir Jeffrey Thomas, conductor
AMERICAN BACH SOLOISTS Violins Elizabeth Blumenstock (leader) Andrea Guarneri, Cermona, 1660.* Cynthia Albers George Craske, London, circa 1840; after Bartolomeo Giuseppe Antonio Guarneri del Gusù, Cremona, 1730s. Maria Caswell Antoni Rief, Vils, Austrian Tyrol, 1725. Tekla Cunningham Johannes Eberle, Prague, 1807. Andrew Davies Augustine Chauppy, Paris, 1749. Katherine Kyme Johann Gottlob Pfretzichner, Mittenwald, 1791. Tyler Lewis Anonymous, Brescia, circa 1580. Maxine Nemerovski Timothy Johnson, Bloomington, IN, 1999; after Stradivari, Cremona, 17th century. Sara Usher Desiderio Quercetani, Parma, Italy, 2001; after Stradivari, Cremona, 17th Century. Lisa Wiess Anonymous, 19th Century; after Paolo Antonio Testore, Contrada, Larga di Milano, 1730s. Alica Yang Richard Duke, London, 1762. *The 1660 Andrea Guarneri violin played by Ms. Blumenstock is made available to her though the generosity of the Philharmonia Baroque Period Instrument Trust.
Violas David Daniel Bowes Richard Duke, London, circa 1780. Daria D’Andrea School of Gioffredo Cappa, Turin, 1758. Jason Pyszkowski Jay Haide, El Cerrito, CA, 2008; after Giovanni Paolo Maggini, Brescia, circa 1580. Aaron Westman Dmitry Badiarov, Brussels, 2003; after Antonio Bagatella, Padua, circa 1750.
Organ Steven Bailey John Brombaugh & Associates, Oregon, 1980. Oboes Michael Dupree Harry A. vas Dias, Decatur, Georgia, 1992; after Thomas Stanesby Sr. circa 1720. Stephen Bard Levin & Robinson, New York, 1996; after Saxon Models. Bassoons Kate van Orden Peter de Konigh, The Netherlands, 1986; copy of Thierriot Prudent, Paris, circa 1770. Charles Koster Paul Hailperin, Zell, Germany, 1995; after M. Deper, Vienna, circa, 1725.
Violoncellos William Skeen (continuo) Anonymous, The Netherlands, circa 1680. Robert Howard Anonymous, Italy, circa 1750. Shirley Edith Hunt Anonymous, Milan, circa 1706. Contrabasses Steven Lehning (continuo) Anonymous, Austria, circa 1830. Christopher Deppe Johann Neuner II & Cantius Hornsteiner, Mittenwald, circa 1880. Kristen Zoernig Joseph Wrent, Rotterdam, 1648.
Trumpets Kathryn James Adduci (solo) Rainer Egger, Basel, 2005; after Leonhard Ehe III, Nuremburg, 1748. Stephen Escher Frank Tomes, London, 1993; after Johann Leonhard Ehe III, Nuremburg, 1746. Timpani Kent Reed Anonymous, England, circa 1840.
Harpsichord Corey Jamason Davis John Phillips, Berkeley, CA; after Ruckers-Taskin, 1780. San Francisco Willard Martin, Bethlehem, PA, 1990; after François Blanchet, Paris, circa 1730.
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
AMERICAN BACH CHOIR Sopranos Jennifer Brody Michelle Clair Tonia D’Amelio Julia Earl Elisabeth Engan Susan Judy Allison Z. Lloyd Diana Pray Cheryl Sumsion Altos Dan Cromeenes Elisabeth Elliassen Kevin Fox Linda Liebschutz Katherine E. McKee Amelia Triest Delia Voitoff-Bauman Heidi Waterman Tenors Edward Betts Corey Head Andrew Morgan Mark Mueller Colby Roberts John Rouse Sam Smith Basses John Kendall Bailey Adam Cole Hugh Davies Jeffrey Fields Thomas Hart Raymond Martinez James Nicholas Monios Chad Runyon
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
33
american bach soloists
Program Notes Within the decade that followed Handel’s composition of Messiah in 1741, nearly a dozen different casts and configurations of vocal soloists were employed by the composer during those first 10 years of what would become a never-ending history of performances worldwide. In each case, and for the remaining years of Handel’s life, he made revisions to his score that made the best use of the particular talents of his solo singers. While it is certainly true that Handel’s arrangements and transcriptions of arias that were employed for the work’s premiere in Dublin (1742) were due to the inadequacy of some of the singers at his disposal there, all subsequent revisions sought to show both the artists and the work in their best light. Customizing a musical work for the sake of the performers was not uncommon. In fact, it was not unheard of for an operatic vocalist (of necessarily considerable reputation) to carry along his or her favorite arias from city to city, insisting that they be incorporated into otherwise intact and singularly composed musical works for the stage. This indulgence was not as unreasonable as one might first assume. The operatic style during Handel’s day has since become known as opera seria, a term that literally means “serious” opera and that was devised to mark the differences between those works and opera buffa, comic operas that were the outgrowth of commedia dell’arte. There were strict conventions within opera seria, including the utilization of the da capo, or A-B-A, format for arias. Secco recitatives, accompanied only by continuo (usually harpsichord and violoncello), were used to reveal plot details and to introduce the arias (or, rarely, duets) that would illuminate the emotions of whichever character would sing them. But there were also nonmusical conventions of equally practical importance. In most cases the singer would exit at the end of an aria; hence the term “exit aria.” Of course, the primary reason for this theatrical device was to solicit applause from the audience for the singer (although some of the approval might just as well have been intended for the composer). And each principal singer would fully expect to sing a number of arias in a variety of moods; lamentation, revenge, defiance, melancholy, anger, and heroic virtue were common sentiments. The texts of the arias were rarely longer than four or eight lines, and rather generic, so it was more or less reasonable that a singer could substitute a favorite aria from another work so long as the general emotion was appropriate. Other traditions further supported this kind of expected artistic license. In most cases, final arias within any opera of the period were always awarded to the most important singer, not necessarily the most important character. This sort of deference to the talent made a great deal of sense as, during Handel’s day, the singers themselves were as much of an attraction to the audience, if not more so, as the composers and their works might have been. So, in Handel’s implementations of various casts of Messiah soloists, he made redistributions of the workload to be fair or, in some cases, to be flattering to the members of any particular roster. When surveying all of the versions of Messiah, it is very interesting to look first at the assignment of the final aria, “If God be for us.” Although originally composed for soprano, even for the premiere he altered the key so that it could be sung by the contralto, Susanna Cibber, a singing actress whom Handel found to be tremendously compelling. Over the next few years he continued to assign that “status” aria to her until 1749, the year before the
34
| mondaviarts.org
first performance of Messiah in London’s Foundling Hospital. In this case it was awarded to a treble, or boy soprano, perhaps as a prescient indication of discussions that were underway to bring the oratorio into that venue, a home for abandoned or orphaned children. And the following year, in 1750, it was again transposed down a few keys so that it could be sung by the most recently arrived operatic star, the great Italian castrato Gaetano Guadagni (1728-1792). Only for the last performance of Messiah conducted by Handel in 1754 was the final aria heard as it was first composed, for soprano (and we shall hear that version tonight!). London’s Foundling Hospital, a home “for the maintenance and education of exposed and deserted young children,” was established in 1739 in the Bloomsbury area. Its founder, Thomas Coram (1668-1751), was a sea captain and had spent a number of his early years in the American colonies. Following a career as a successful London merchant, he turned his attention to philanthropy and, in particular, rescuing homeless, abandoned children. At that time, charity and philanthropy had become not only critically essential to the survival of Londoners as a whole, but it had also gained an oddly self-serving functionality as part of the fantastic expansion of London and the greater English empire. The rate of growth of London during the 18th century was exponential. About three-fourths of Londoners had been born elsewhere. Its culture was as diverse as the most modern 21st-century city. London offered opportunities and wealth to the industrious and ambitious, as well as a thriving underworld, anonymity, and meager subsistence to criminals and the unskilled. Its hierarchical systems of social status were ingrained, accepted, and treasured, despite the fact that the 18th century offered all Londoners the chance to upgrade their places and stations within that cosmopolis. Ironically, though, even those who were able to buy into higher levels of society through their successes as merchants were as eager as the blue-blooded aristocracy to maintain whatever distinctions of social status could be maintained. The wealthy typically lived in five-story townhouses while the lower classes (those not housed as servants in the top floors of the elite’s homes) often lived in terribly unhealthy and cramped hovels. During most of the 1700s, Londoners were subjected to dreadful pollution, reprehensibly unsanitary conditions, and mostly unbridled crime. Many of those poor conditions were the result of the preponderance of manufacturing industries within London’s commercial organism. About a third of London’s population was employed by manufacturing ventures, and the resulting pollution had turned the Thames River into, literally, a sewer. Still, this flourishing business culture helped increase overseas trade at least threefold during the century, and the spoils were global political power and domestic wealth. But the victims of all this were the children. Many lived only a few short years, and still others were abandoned to live on their own in the filth, smoke, and mire of London’s poorer quarters. In the face of such undeniable misery, the wealthy could hardly turn a blind eye. During an era of destitution, depravity, and victimization, the beliefs of the Latitudinarian branch of the Church of England were timely assertions that benevolent and charitable deeds, rather than (or at least in addition to) the formalities of church worship, were essential to the quality of the moral state of the individual. Only by engaging in acts of compassion and by
Thus, charity became fashionable. Merchants supported charities that in turn supported the working class. Businesses needed healthy workers in great numbers to keep their machines welloiled and their industries thriving. Consumers were needed on the other side of the coin, so to speak, so the maintenance of the lower classes was in the best interest of those entrepreneurs. The kingdom itself needed to be defended at sea and abroad, so healthy battalions had to be provided. By supporting the less fortunate and encouraging their strength and independence, to a degree, those who had newly acquired wealth could gain prestige and propriety while nurturing their economic self-interests. To have a “bleeding heart” was especially in vogue among London’s upper-class women. Their ever-increasing opportunities to fashion socially relevant activities led quite naturally to their involvement in charities, which in turn substantiated their refinement, respectability, and moral rank. William Hogarth (1697-1764), the great English painter, satirist, and cartoonist, called this transformative time “a golden age of English philanthropy” and one of the greatest results of it was the Foundling Hospital. In 18th-century London, the term “hospital” was applied to institutions for the physically ill as well as for the mentally ill, and to organizations that, through hospitality, supported particular factions of London’s population, including sailors, refugees, penitent prostitutes, and destitute children. To a great degree, the efforts of Coram, assisted by Hogarth and Handel, firmly established the Foundling Hospital as one of England’s most long-lived and admirable benevolent institutions. Even before the buildings were completed—a process that took 10 years from 1742 to 1752—children were first admitted to temporary housing in March 1741. No questions were asked, but overcrowding quickly led to the establishment of rules for acceptance. The requirement that children be aged no more than two months was relaxed by the House of Commons in 1756 so that children up to 12 months would be accepted. During the next few years, more than 15,000 infants were left at its doors. Even within the Hospital, though, more than two-thirds of them would not survive long enough to be apprenticed during their teenage years. Coincidentally, in the same year that the Foundling Hospital accepted its first charges, Handel composed Messiah. Charles Jennens, the librettist for Messiah, had probably made the suggestion to Handel that the premiere of the work might take place in Dublin as a charity event. In fact, on March 27, 1742, Faulkner’s Dublin Journal published an announcement that: “For Relief of the Prisoners in the several Gaols, and for the Support of Mercer’s Hospital in Stephen’s Street, and of the Charitable Infirmary on the Inns Quay, on Monday the 12th of April, will be performed at the Musick Hall in Fishamble Street, Mr. Handel’s new Grand Oratorio, call’d the Messiah...” The previous decade or so had been quite unpleasant for Handel. He had begun to suffer financial difficulties, and by the early 1730s, his professional life was simply unraveling. He was nearly
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
american bach soloists
the establishment of a supporting relationship with the less fortunate could their plights, their suffering, and the terrible waste of human life be acceptably mitigated and tolerated.
bankrupt and had fallen very much out of the critical favor of the aristocratic public for whom he had composed his Italian operas. They were expensive to produce and not accessible enough for his audience. But, in fact, Handel himself was the object of what must have felt like brutal betrayal by his patrons, his audience, and even his musicians. For the first half of his life, Handel had led a charmed existence. He seems to have waltzed into one happy situation after another, in which he enjoyed the patronage of royalty, the aristocracy, and the culture-seeking population at large. He was unexaggeratedly a national hero, despite his non-domestic origins. He had lived in extravagant estates, kept the most celebrated artists, writers, and musicians in his closest circles, and profited—although, not necessarily financially—from the tremendous favor that was bestowed upon him by an entire empire. His unprecedented success was so irreproachable that he was, without a doubt, completely unprepared for what amounted to a staggering fall from grace. But what emerged in 1741-42 was a work that would transcend the boundaries of musical forms, subject matter, social and cultural expectations, and, eventually, the bitterness of his rivals. And it would restore “the great Mr. Handel” to the revered status that he had enjoyed decades before. The first performance of Messiah took place on April 13, 1742, in Dublin’s new music hall on Fishamble Street, and was a tremendous success. The review that appeared in Faulkner’s Dublin Journal proclaimed: “Words are wanting to express the exquisite Delight it afforded to the admiring crowded Audience. The Sublime, the Grand, and the Tender, adapted to the most elevated, majestick and moving Words, conspired to transport and charm the ravished Heart and Ear.” Performances in subsequent years took place in London, but those were met with less enthusiastic receptions. Messiah had blurred the distinctions between opera, oratorio, passion, and cantata, and perhaps some Londoners found this to be a fundamental fault. So it is fascinating to note that when the function of Messiah was returned to that of a work presented for the benefit of charities, and when the venue became an ecclesiastical structure rather than a theater, the oratorio took hold of its permanent place in the hearts of audiences, then in London and now throughout the world. For at least one year before the first Foundling Hospital performance of Messiah in 1750, Handel was involved with the charity, probably drawn to it through his associations with Hogarth and the music publisher John Walsh (1709-66) who had been elected a governor in 1748. On May 4, 1749, Handel had made an offer, which was gratefully accepted, to present a benefit concert of vocal and instrumental music to help in the completion of the hospital’s chapel. The hospital reciprocated with an invitation to Handel, which he declined, to become one of its governors. On May 27, Handel directed a performance (in the unfinished chapel) of excerpts from his Fireworks Music, Solomon, and the newly composed Foundling Hospital Anthem, “Blessed are they that considereth the poor and needy.” (The Foundling Hospital Anthem was Handel’s last work of English church music.) The “Hallelujah” chorus from
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
35
american bach soloists
Messiah was the final work, a premonition of what was in store for the following year. Royalty were in attendance. Nearly one year later, on May 1, 1750, Handel performed Messiah in the (still not quite finished) chapel. That day marked what can be seen as the most significant day in Handel’s career. The benefit concert’s success was extraordinary. More than 1,000 people crowded into the space, and more were turned away. Massive public attention to the event, coupled with unequivocal approbation for the oratorio, served Handel well and generated new commitment on the part of the London audience to uphold Handel and his oratorios as the great beacons of English music that they are. He became a governor of the hospital; since more than £1,000 had been raised by his performances, the fee required of governors was waived. Due to the overcrowded conditions on May 1, a second performance was offered on May 15, especially to those who were turned away a fortnight before, that resulted in the first documentation of an entire audience standing for the “Hallelujah” chorus. For the 1750 performances, Handel employed London’s newest vocal superstar, Gaetano Guadagni, who had arrived two years before in 1748 at the age of 20, as part of an Italian opera company. The music historian Charles Burney (1726-1814) wrote about Guadagni: “His voice was then a full and well toned counter-tenor… the excellence of his voice attracted the notice of Handel, who assigned him the parts in his oratorios of the Messiah and Samson, which had been originally composed for Mrs. Cibber...”
In subsequent years, the Foundling Hospital continued to rely upon annual performances of Messiah for significant income. But Handel’s life was approaching its very real twilight. The great colleague whom Handel never met, Johann Sebastian Bach, had undergone two operations on his eyes, both unsuccessful, the second of which led within months to Bach’s death in 1750. By the next year, Handel’s own eyesight was deteriorating rapidly. By March 1751, he was blind in one eye but nevertheless directed two performances of Messiah (in the still unfinished chapel) and even played voluntaries on the organ. The following year brought more performances of Messiah, still under the composer’s direction, but his eyesight continued to deteriorate despite various treatments and an operation. On August 17 a London newspaper reported that Handel had been “seiz’d a few days ago with a Paralytick [sic] Disorder in his Head which has deprived him of Sight,” and in March 1753, Handel’s dear and longtime friend, Lady (Susan) Shaftesbury, reported that (at a performance) “it was such a melancholy pleasure, as drew tears of sorrow, to see the great though unhappy Handel, dejected, wan and dark, sitting by, not playing on the harpsichord, and to think how his light had been spent by being overplied in music’s cause.” Soon, though, the Foundling Hospital Chapel was due for its official opening. Messiah was performed in April 1753 in the Covent Garden theatre, and three days later the Chapel was dedicated at a performance of the Foundling Hospital Anthem. The last report of any public performance conducted by the blind Handel comes from the May 1 revival of Messiah for the benefit of the Hospital,
The magic of Offering Private INDOOR & OUTDOOR Dining Rooms
Perfect for your next: Holiday Party Cocktail Reception Company Mixer Family Reunion Retirement Party or Special Occasion
102 F Street, Davis | (530) 750-1801 www.seasonsdavis.com
36
| mondaviarts.org
Voted “Best Place to Eat Before a Mondavi Center Performance.” —Sacramento Magazine (2010)
© Jeffrey Thomas, 2010
Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus: To Stand or Not To Stand… Perhaps the best-known and widely accepted concert “tradition” is standing for the Hallelujah chorus. Legend has it that King George II leapt to his feet when he heard it during one of the work’s first performances in London. Because no person could remain seated while the king stood, the entire audience rose with him. Some credit this anecdote as the origin of the “standing ovation.” But a closer look at the facts reveals that there is no evidence that the king ever attended such a performance. The first written account of the story appeared in 1780, more than 35 years after the cited performance, and it was written by someone who admits to not having witnessed the king’s presence himself. However, the king was known to attend such events incognito. So he, in fact, at least might have been there. If he was in attendance, there is much speculation as to why he stood at all. Theories range from the reverent to the simply unflattering: he might have been stretching his legs, relieving his gout, leaving for the bathroom, or suddenly awakened by the chorus’ forte entrance. But the general opinion is that his own sense of obeisance compelled him to stand upon hearing the majestic and undeniably enthralling music of the Hallelujah chorus. The custom is common in English-speaking countries, but essentially unknown in all others. Many have objected, in more contemporary eras, to the distastefully imperialistic implications of following the king’s lead in this manner. After all, the general audience only stood because they had to do so. But others are quick and well justified to point out that Handel’s Messiah is certainly the most well known and universally enjoyed major work in the Baroque oratorio genre—if not among all “classical” music works—and that standing as a group, in the name of tradition, unites the audience with the performers for a few minutes in a most energizing way. No matter how convincingly some can argue that this “tradition” is rooted in untrustworthy hearsay, you have only to look at the performers when you stand at that wondrous, thrilling moment; you will see their smiles and their spirits lifted even higher, knowing that millions upon millions of people have stood at that very same moment in music, and in virtually every corner of the world. Even Haydn stood with the crowd at a performance in Westminster Abbey. It is said that he wept and proclaimed of George Frideric Handel, “He is the master of us all.”
american bach soloists
although Handel almost certainly led Messiah one final time in 1754. Ironically, for that performance Handel reassigned a substantial number of arias to the voice types that he had in mind when he composed the work 13 years before. Annual performances to benefit the charity continued until his death in 1759 and beyond, leading to more than 250 years of performances throughout the world, having reached millions upon millions of listeners.
A Simple Primer on Early Instruments… Several decades ago, a movement began in the classical music industry to perform music on the instruments that were used during the composer’s lifetime. Unquestionably advanced by the advent of CD recordings in the early 1980s, this marriage of scholarship and style became known as “historically informed performance practice.” But it encompasses more than just the proper choice of instruments for the performance of music from the Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical eras. Fine points of expression, articulation, and even the way instruments are tuned play a large role in what you are hearing tonight. Probably for most of us it is the use of these beautiful and, in most cases, truly antique and priceless instruments that brings the most unique quality to these performances. Rather than cataloging all the well-founded and essential reasons to use period instruments for this music, it is even more compelling to consider why the use of modern instruments would cheat us of the experience a composer like Handel meant to give to us. Instruments have evolved and grown over the centuries, mostly because composers would present new challenges to instrumentalists, and therefore to those who built their instruments. When a composer like Bach or Beethoven would write the most difficult passages that would tax the limits of an instrument’s responsiveness, within a decade or so instrument builders found a way to accommodate the challenges. In the Baroque period, musical phrases were made up of strong and weak notes, falling on strong and weak beats within a bar. When a violinist would move the bow in a downward stroke across a string, the sound was stronger than when the bow would be moved in an upward direction. But eventually the lengths of musical phrases grew, and more notes were meant to be played in a connected way, leading much further down the line to a phrase’s focal point. Accordingly, the bows for stringed instruments were then made to create the same amount of sound whether the bow was moving up or down. And of course concert halls grew in size, so instruments were made to play louder. In the 20th century, some composers required sounds that acoustic instruments simply could not produce; hence the genre of electronic music. One of the most exciting sounds we hear from these “early instruments,” however, is the inherent tension during the most climactic moments in a musical work. If you haven’t already done so, find a recording of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony played by an orchestra of period instruments, and listen to the most dissonant or loud moments. You’ll be glad to hear the instruments being pushed to their limits, and you just might find the ease and aplomb with which modern instruments and their players perform the same passages to be lackluster by comparison. Finally, a short note about antiques and reproductions…while it is not uncommon to find violins and ‘cellos that are more than 300 years old being played in orchestras like ours, very few surviving antique wind instruments are still playable. Consequently, period wind instruments are almost always copies of originals.
The following libretto is adapted from the printed word-book for the first London performances of Messiah in 1743, and incorporates Handel’s own designations of part headings, scenes, and movement headings.
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
37
american bach soloists
Messiah AN ORATORIO Set to Musick by George-Frideric Handel, Esq. PART THE FIRST SINFONY
SONG - Bass The People that walked in Darkness have seen a great Light; And they that dwell in the Land of the Shadow of Death, upon them hath the Light shined. (Isaiah 9:2) CHORUS For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the Government shall be upon his Shoulder; and His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6) SCENE IV
SCENE I RECITATIVE, accompanied - Tenor Comfort ye, comfort ye my People, saith your God; speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her Warfare is accomplish’d, that her Iniquity is pardon’d. The Voice of him that crieth in the Wilderness, prepare ye the Way of the Lord, make straight in the Desert a Highway for our God. (Isaiah 40:1-3)
RECITATIVE - Soprano There were Shepherds abiding in the Field, keeping Watch over their Flock by Night. (Luke 2:8)
SONG - Tenor Ev’ry Valley shall be exalted, and ev’ry Mountain and Hill made low, the Crooked straight, and the rough Places plain. (Isaiah 40:4)
ARIOSO - Soprano And lo, the Angel of the Lord came upon them, and the Glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. (Luke 2:9)
CHORUS And the Glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all Flesh shall see it together; for the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 40:5)
RECITATIVE - Soprano And the Angel said unto them, Fear not; for behold, I bring you good Tidings of great Joy, which shall be to all People. For unto you is born this Day, in the City of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:10-11)
SCENE II RECITATIVE, accompanied - Bass Thus saith the Lord of Hosts; Yet once a little while, and I will shake the Heav’ns and the Earth; the Sea and the dry Land: And I will shake all Nations; and the Desire of all Nations shall come. (Haggai 2:6-7) The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple, ev’n the Messenger of the Covenant, whom ye delight in: Behold He shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts. (Malachi 3:1) SONG – Soprano But who may abide the Day of his coming? And who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is like a Refiner’s Fire. (Malachi 3:2) CHORUS And he shall purify the Sons of Levi, that they may offer unto the Lord an Offering in Righteousness. (Malachi 3:3) SCENE III RECITATIVE - Alto Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call his Name Emmanuel, GOD WITH US. (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23) SONG - Alto & CHORUS O thou that tellest good Tidings to Zion, get thee up into the high Mountain: O thou that tellest good Tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy Voice with Strength; lift it up, be not afraid: Say unto the Cities of Judah, Behold your God. O thou that tellest good Tidings to Zion, Arise, shine, for thy Light is come, and the Glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. (Isaiah 40:9; Isaiah 60:1) RECITATIVE, accompanied - Bass For behold, Darkness shall cover the Earth, and gross Darkness the People: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his Glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy Light, and Kings to the Brightness of thy Rising. (Isaiah 60:2-3)
38
| mondaviarts.org
PIFA
RECITATIVE, accompanied - Soprano And suddenly there was with the Angel a Multitude of the heav’nly Host, praising God, and saying... (Luke 2:13) CHORUS Glory to God in the Highest, and Peace on Earth, Good Will towards Men. (Luke 2:14) SCENE V SONG - Soprano Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Sion, shout, O Daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is the righteous Saviour; and He shall speak Peace unto the Heathen. (Zechariah 9:9-10) RECITATIVE - Soprano Then shall the Eyes of the Blind be open’d, and the Ears of the Deaf unstopped; then shall the lame Man leap as an Hart, and the Tongue of the Dumb shall sing. (Zechariah 35:5-6) SONG – Soprano He shall feed his Flock like a shepherd: and He shall gather the Lambs
with his Arm, and carry them in his Bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. Come unto Him all ye that labour, come unto Him all ye that are heavy laden, and He will give you Rest. Take his Yoke upon you and learn of Him; for He is meek and lowly of Heart: and ye shall find Rest unto your souls. (Isaiah 40:11; Matthew 11:28-29) CHORUS His Yoke is easy, his Burthen is light. (Matthew 11:30) —INTERMISSION—
SCENE I CHORUS Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the Sin of the World. (John 1:29) SONG - Alto He was despised and rejected of Men, a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with Grief. He gave his Back to the Smiters, and his Cheeks to them that plucked off the Hair: He hid not his Face from Shame and Spitting. (Isaiah 53:3; Isaiah 50:6) CHORUS Surely he hath borne our Griefs and carried our Sorrows: He was wounded for our Transgressions, He was bruised for our Iniquities; the Chastisement of our Peace was upon Him. (Isaiah 53:4-5) CHORUS And with His Stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5) CHORUS All we, like Sheep, have gone astray, we have turned ev’ry one to his own Way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the Iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)
RECITATIVE - Tenor Unto which of the Angels said He at any time, Thou art my Son, this Day have I begotten thee? (Hebrews 1:5) CHORUS Let all the Angels of God worship Him. (Hebrews 1:6) SCENE V SONG - Alto Thou art gone up on High; Thou has led Captivity captive, and received Gifts for Men, yea, even for thine Enemies, that the Lord God might dwell among them. (Psalm 68:18) CHORUS The Lord gave the Word: Great was the Company of the Preachers. (Psalm 68:11) ARIA - Soprano How beautiful are the Feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things. (Romans 10:15) CHORUS Their Sound is gone out into all Lands, and their Words unto the Ends of the World. (Romans 10: 18)
RECITATIVE, accompanied - Tenor All they that see him laugh him to scorn; they shoot out their Lips, and shake their Heads, saying... (Psalm 22:7) CHORUS He trusted in God, that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, if he delight in him. (Psalm 22:8) RECITATIVE, accompanied - Tenor Thy Rebuke hath broken his Heart; He is full of Heaviness: He looked for some to have Pity on him, but there was no Man, neither found he any to comfort him. (Psalm 69:21) SONG - Tenor Behold, and see, if there be any Sorrow like unto his Sorrow! (Lamentations 1:12) SCENE II
SCENE VI SONG - Bass Why do the Nations so furiously rage together? and why do the People imagine a vain Thing? The Kings of the Earth rise up, and the Rulers take Counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed. (Psalm 2:1-2) CHORUS Let us break their Bonds asunder, and cast away their Yokes from us. (Psalm 2:3) SCENE VII RECITATIVE - Tenor He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh them to scorn; the Lord shall have them in Derision. (Psalm 2:4)
RECITATIVE, accompanied - Soprano He was cut off out of the Land of the Living: For the Transgression of thy People was He stricken. (Isaiah 53:8)
SONG - Tenor Thou shalt break them with a Rod of Iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a Potter’s Vessel. (Psalm 2:9)
SONG - Soprano But Thou didst not leave his Soul in Hell, nor didst Thou suffer thy Holy One to see Corruption. (Psalm 16:10)
CHORUS Hallelujah! for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. The Kingdom of this World is become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Hallelujah! (Revelation 19:6; 11:15; 19:16)
SCENE III
american bach soloists
SCENE IV
PART THE SECOND
SEMICHORUS Lift up your Heads, O ye Gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting Doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord Strong and Mighty; the Lord Mighty in Battle. Lift up your Heads, O ye Gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting Doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts: he is the King of Glory. (Psalm 24:7-10) Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
39
american bach soloists
PART THE THIRD SCENE I SONG - Soprano I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter Day upon the Earth: And tho’ Worms destroy this Body, yet in my Flesh shall I see God. For now is Christ risen from the Dead, the First-Fruits of them that sleep. (Job 19:25-26; 1 Corinthians 15:20) CHORUS Since by Man came Death, by Man came also the Resurrection of the Dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:21-22) SCENE II RECITATIVE, accompanied - Bass Behold, I tell you a Mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be chang’d, in a Moment, in the Twinkling of an Eye, at the last Trumpet. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52) SONG - Bass The trumpet shall sound, and the Dead shall be rais’d incorruptible, and We shall be chang’d. For this corruptible must put on Incorruption, and this Mortal must put on Immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:52-54) SCENE III RECITATIVE - Alto Then shall be brought to pass the Saying that is written; Death is swallow’d up in Victory. (1 Corinthians 15:54) DUET - Alto and Tenor O Death, where is thy Sting? O Grave, where is thy Victory? The Sting of Death is Sin, and the Strength of Sin is the Law. (1 Corinthians 15:55-56) CHORUS But Thanks be to God, who giveth Us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:57) SONG - Soprano If God is for us, who can be against us? Who shall lay anything to the Charge of God’s Elect? It is God that justifieth; Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again; who is at the Right Hand of God, who maketh intercession for us. (Romans 8:31 and 33-34) SCENE IV CHORUS Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by His Blood, to receive Power, and Riches, and Wisdom, and Strength, and Honour, and Glory, and Blessing. Blessing and Honour, Glory and Pow’r be unto Him that sitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever. (Revelation 5:12-14) CHORUS Amen.
40
| mondaviarts.org
The American Bach Soloists (ABS) engage and inspire audiences through historically informed performances, recordings, and educational programs that emphasize the music of the Baroque, Classical, and Early Romantic eras. The ensemble, founded in 1989, has achieved its vision of assembling the world’s finest vocalists and period-instrument performers to bring this brilliant music to life under the leadership of co-founder Jeffrey Thomas who, for more than two decades, has brought thoughtful, meaningful, and informed perspectives to his performances as Artistic and Music Director of the American Bach Soloists. Recognized worldwide as one of the foremost interpreters of the music of Bach and the Baroque, he continues to inspire audiences and performers alike through his keen insights into the passions behind musical expression. Critical acclaim has been extensive: The Wall Street Journal named ABS “the best American specialists in early music…a flawless ensemble…a level of musical finesse one rarely encounters”; San Francisco Classical Voice declared that “there is nothing routine or settled about their work. Jeffrey Thomas is still pushing the musical Baroque envelope”; and the San Francisco Chronicle recently extolled the ensemble’s “divinely inspired singing.” The first public concerts were given in February 1990 at St. Stephen’s Church in Belvedere, where the ensemble serves as Artists-in-Residence. Summer 1993 brought the debut of ABS’s first annual summer festival in Tiburon/Belvedere. By the fifth season, regular performances had been inaugurated in San Francisco and Berkeley, and as a result of highly successful collaborations with the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, ABS’s full concert seasons expanded to the Davis/Sacramento region in 2005. As its audience increased, so the artistic direction of the ensemble expanded to include Bach’s purely instrumental and larger choral masterpieces, as well as music of his contemporaries and that of the early Classical era. The American Bach Soloists present an annual Subscription Series with performances in Belvedere, Berkeley, Davis, and San Francisco. Its annual holiday performances of Handel’s Messiah, presented each December before capacity audiences since 1992, have become a Bay Area tradition. In addition to their regular subscription season, the American Bach Soloists have been presented at some of the world’s leading early music and chamber music festivals, and have appeared worldwide from Santa Fe to Hong Kong and Singapore. In 1998, in conjunction with the Fifth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition, ABS established the American Bach Soloists & Henry I. Goldberg International Young Artists Competition as a way to foster emerging musicians who wish to pursue a career in early music. In conjunction with ABS’s 15th anniversary season in 2003-04, Thomas announced the “Bach Cycle,” an ambitious plan to resent all of Bach’s major oratorios, including two Passions, the oratorios for Christmas and Easter, and the Mass in B-minor; the violin and harpsichord concertos, Brandenburg Concertos, and orchestral suites; the major cantatas from Bach’s years in Mühlhausen, Weimar, and Leipzig; and the sonatas and suites for violin, flute, cello, and viola da gamba. ABS has been a leader throughout the Bay Area in its commitment to artistic collaborations. Some recent examples include a collabo-
american bach soloists
Indulge
Fine ITALIAN CUISINE
2657 Portage Bay East, Davis CA 95616 (530) 758-1324 • osteriafasulo.com FREE PARKING • FASTEST & EASIEST WAY TO THE MONDAVI CENTER
American Bach Soloists: Handel’s Messiah
further listening
by jeff hudson Jeffrey Thomas, music director of the American Bach Soloists, has a favorite recording of Messiah—and as you might imagine, it’s the recording that he did himself, so it reflects his own artistic choices more than any other. The ABS two-CD Messiah was recorded live here in Jackson Hall on two mid-December evenings in 2004, and released on the Delos label the following year. It’s widely regarded as a fine recording—remarkably clean (even though there was a large audience present both nights), balanced, and unified. Hey, but even the most accomplished chef likes to dine in someone else’s restaurant from time to time. So I invited Jeffrey Thomas to recommend three other Messiah recordings that he is fond of, and keep in mind, there are something like 200 complete recordings out there, and the list gets longer every year. (You can go all the way back to 1927, when the first complete recording came out on low-fi 78-RPM discs.) Some of Jeffrey’s picks might surprise you: Sir Thomas Beecham’s 1959 RCA recording. This is the one on which Eugene Goossens re-orchestrated sections of the piece, adding a dose of oversized Victorian-era pomp and circumstance. It’s an interpretation that drives some period instrument devotees up the wall—but not Thomas. “It’s one of my favorites,” he told me. “There are batteries of percussion, cymbals, harp, and brass…and Beecham had Wagnerian soloists, like Jon Vickers, one of the greatest heldentenors, and bass Giorgio Tozzi. But it’s just an amazing, completely convincing performance—and that comes from me, an early music specialist. It’s so over-the-top, and huge.”
Quincy Jones’s 1992 Warner recording, titled Handel’s Messiah: A Soulful Celebration. Thomas noted that “with each section, they used a different soloist, and a different arranger…a fantastic smorgasbord of arrangers,” imparting a distinctly African American sound. The soloists included Al Jarreau, Stevie Wonder, Patti Austin, as well as figures out of gospel music like the Clark Sisters and Tramaine Hawkins. “I love it. It’s amazing,” said Thomas. “I think the reason I love these dramatically different recordings is that I love the fact that this piece of music actually thrives because of these variations. It blossoms, no matter how you approach it.” Christopher Hogwood’s 1980 Decca recording, with the Academy of Ancient Music. “This one was such an ear-opening thing to hear, such cleanliness and lightness and clarity! I was 23 years old at the time, and I was so excited by the singers, including the wonderful alto Carolyn Watkinson, who had a very dark, almost not-gender-specific sound, a marvelous thing coming from a woman. And I remember soprano soloist Judith Nelson from Berkeley who would later sing on several recordings with the American Bach Soloists. I’ll never forget coming across this recording; it’s one you must have,” Thomas said. “It was the dawning of all those CD recordings of Messiah on period instruments” that came out during the next three decades.
Jeff Hudson contributes coverage of the performing arts to Capital Public Radio, the Davis Enterprise, and Sacramento News and Review.
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
41
american bach soloists
ration with two San Francisco dance organizations, Xeno and Ultra Gypsy, at The Crucible in Oakland in 2004 and collaborations with the well-known Mark Morris Dance Group in 2004 and 1999. To celebrate its 20th anniversary season, ABS joined forces with San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral and Lighting Systems Design Inc. in a spectacular laser show rendering of Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks. And in 2011, ABS will collaborate with San Francisco choreographer Todd Eckert in three new works using music by Bach, Telemann, and Purcell. The Chorus of the American Bach Soloists has shone in repertoire from the Baroque and early Classical eras. With the inception of the Choral Series in 2004, these fine singers have been featured on programs exploring more than five centuries of choral music. To acknowledge this splendid work, the American Bach Soloists announced in 2006 a new name for their choral ensemble: American Bach Choir. Critics have acclaimed their “sounds of remarkable transparency and body.” In July 2010, the American Bach Soloists inaugurated North America’s newest annual professional training program in historically informed performance practice. Drawing on their distinguished roster of performers, the American Bach Soloists Academy offers advanced conservatory-level students and emerging professionals unique opportunities to study and perform Baroque music in a multi-disciplinary learning environment. The Academy is held in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s exquisite new facilities in the heart of the city’s arts district. The American Bach Soloists have a discography of 18 CDs on the Koch International Classics, Delos International, and American Bach Soloists labels, including six volumes of Bach cantatas, many performed one on a part. The ensemble’s critically acclaimed disc of Bach’s Mass in B-minor has been called a benchmark recording and a “joyous new performance” (The Washington Post). One of their most popular offerings is an historically significant version of Handel’s Messiah, recorded live during performances in 2004 at the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at UC Davis, and released in 2005 on the Delos International label. In 2007, ABS’s entire catalogue of critically acclaimed recordings of Bach’s Mass in B-minor, cantatas, and transcriptions of Italian music, Haydn Masses, choral and vocal works by Schütz, and other works was re-released on iTunes, Magnatune.com, Amazon, CDBaby, and ABS’s own excellent and resourceful web site, which features free streaming audio of most titles. The same year brought two new and much-anticipated releases: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. The most recent release, 1685 & The Art of Ian Howell, features the remarkable young countertenor (and recent winner of the ABS Young Artist Competition) in works by Bach, Handel, and Domenico Scarlatti. Jeffrey Thomas has directed and conducted the American Bach Soloists in recordings of more than 25 cantatas, the Mass in B-minor, chamber music, and works by Handel, Corelli, Schütz, Pergolesi, Vivaldi, Haydn, and Beethoven. Fanfare magazine has praised his series of Bach recordings, stating that “Thomas’s direction seems just right, capturing the humanity of the music… there is no higher praise for Bach performance.” He has appeared with the Baltimore, Berkeley, Boston, Detroit, Houston, National, Rochester, Minnesota, and San Francisco symphony orchestras; with the Vienna Symphony and the New Japan Philharmonic;
42
| mondaviarts.org
with virtually every American baroque orchestra; and in Austria, England, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Mexico. He has performed at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Spoleto USA Festival, Ravinia Festival, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Berkeley Festival and Exhibition, Boston Early Music Festival, Bethlehem Bach Festival, Göttingen Festival, Tage Alte Musik Festival in Regensburg, E. Nakamichi Baroque Festival in Los Angeles, the Smithsonian Institution, and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s “Next Wave Festival,” and he has collaborated on several occasions as conductor with the Mark Morris Dance Group. Before devoting all of his time to conducting, he was one of the first recipients of the San Francisco Opera Company’s prestigious Adler Fellowships. Cited by The Wall Street Journal as “a superstar among oratorio tenors,” Thomas’s extensive discography of vocal music includes dozens of recordings of major works for Decca, EMI, Erato, Koch International Classics, Denon, Harmonia Mundi, Smithsonian, Newport Classics, and Arabesque. Thomas is an avid exponent of contemporary music, and has conducted the premieres of new operas, including David Conte’s Gift of the Magi and Firebird Motel, and premiered song cycles of several composers, including two cycles written especially for him. He has performed lieder recitals at the Smithsonian, song recitals at various universities, and appeared with his own vocal chamber music ensemble, L’Aria Viva. Educated at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and the Juilliard School of Music, with further studies in English literature at Cambridge University, he has taught at the Amherst Early Music Workshop, Oberlin College Conservatory Baroque Performance Institute, San Francisco Early Music Society, and Southern Utah Early Music Workshops, presented master classes at the New England Conservatory of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, SUNY Buffalo, Swarthmore College, and Washington University, been on the faculty of Lehigh University, and was artist-in-residence at the University of California, where he is now professor of music (Barbara K. Jackson Chair in Choral Conducting) and director of choral ensembles in the Department of Music at UC Davis. He was a UC Davis Chancellor’s Fellow from 2001-06; and the Rockefeller Foundation awarded him a prestigious Residency at the Bellagio Study and Conference Center at Villa Serbelloni in 2007, to work on his manuscript, “Handel’s Messiah: A Life of Its Own.” Arianna Zukerman (soprano) possesses a luminous voice with “the breadth of dramatic inflection to make for a powerfully effective performance” (Opera). The Washington Post observes that “Arianna Zukerman possesses a remarkable voice that combines the range, warmth, and facility of a Rossini mezzo with shimmering, round high notes and exquisite pianissimos that would make any soprano jealous.” Zukerman’s 2010-11 season includes several return engagements, including Verdi’s Requiem with the National Philharmonic, Messiah with American Bach Soloists, and Mozart’s Requiem with New Choral Society. She also continues her collaboration with Lorin Maazel as Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia at University of California, Berkeley; sings Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with both Toledo Symphony Orchestra and the National Arts Centre Orchestra; and appears in recital with the Miami
Jennifer Lane (mezzo-soprano) is internationally recognized for her striking interpretations of repertoire ranging from the early Baroque to today’s composers. She recently created the role of Charmian London—opposite baritone Rodney Gilfrey as Jack London—in Libby Larsen’s Everyman Jack for Sonoma City Opera. During 2008, she toured throughout Spain in the dual roles of Messaggiera/Speranza in Monteverdi’s Orfeo in celebration of the opera’s 400th anniversary. Lane’s opera credits also include l’Opéra de Monte Carlo, Aix-en-Provence, Les Arts Florissants, New York City Opera, Palm Beach Opera, San Francisco Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera, among many others.
american bach soloists
String Quartet at Rice University through Houston Friends of Music, and with pianist Navah Perlman at Bridgewater College. Zukerman appears frequently in solo recitals in the United States and Europe. An accomplished chamber musician, she continues to enjoy an ongoing collaboration with the Miami String Quartet. Zukerman maintains an active schedule as an adjunct professor at Catholic University of America and in master classes around the U.S. A recipient of the Sullivan Foundation Award, Zukerman was a member of the Bavarian State Opera Junges Ensemble. She studied theater at Brown University and received her bachelor of music from the Juilliard School.
James Maddalena (baritone) is known for his outstanding work in contemporary music. He created the notable characters of Richard Nixon and The Captain in two operas by John Adams, the award winning Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer, respectively. He is closely associated with other composers such as John Harbison, Gunther Schuller, Eliot Goldenthal, Robert Moran, Domenic Argento, Marc Blitzstein, and Michael Tippett, among others, via performances with such companies as New York City Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Washington Opera, San Francisco Opera, Atlanta Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Frankfurt Opera, Opera de la Monnaie in Brussels, Australia’s Adelaide Festival, Netherlands Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and the Opera de Lyon as well as with the Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Royal Scottish Orchestra, Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and the London Symphony. Other highlights of Maddalena’s career include Schubert’s demanding song cycle Die Winterreise sung at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with Robert Spano as accompanist and the complete cycle of Bach cantatas with Boston’s Emmanuel Music. He has recorded prolifically for Decca/London, BMG Classical Catalyst, Nonesuch, Teldec, Sony Classical, Harmonia Mundi, and EMI.
Lane has more than 40 CD recordings, among them winners of Gramophone and other awards. Her films, Dido & Æneas with the Mark Morris Dance Group and The Opera Lover, have also won many awards. With Robert Craft on Naxos, Lane has recorded Sravinsky’s Oedipus Rex (Jocasta), Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder (Waldtaube), and Das Buch Der Hängenden Gärten. She has several solo CDs available, including The Pleasures & Follies of Love (Koch) and Airs de Cour (Magnatune.com). Her newest recording, Own the Pow’r of Harmony!, in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death, was released on Magnatune. com this year. Lane’s career also spans opera production and direction. While at Stanford University, she produced and directed several full, period productions, and created an early music collegium. In addition to master classes, workshops, and clinics in the U.S. and abroad, Lane serves as associate professor of voice at the University of North Texas. Wesley Rogers (tenor), hailed by San Francisco Classical Voice as possessing the “kind of tenor that pours forth powerfully, effortlessly, seemingly for any length of time,” is making his mark on both operatic and concert stages throughout the United States. While a member of Seattle Opera, Wesley performed the role of Peter Quint in Britten’s Turn of the Screw, Maintop in Billy Budd, and Trin in Fanciulladel West. This spring the young tenor performed the role of Alfredo in Skagit Opera’s La Traviata and the title role in Tacoma Opera’s Faust. Recent concert engagements have included Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the American Bach Soloists, Britten’s War Requiem with Orchestra Seattle, Mozart’s Coronation Mass with EOS Orchestra, and Louis Gruenberg’s The Daniel Jazz at the Bard Festival. Rogers has also performed with the Mark Morris Dance Group, Santa Fe Pro Musica, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, the Cabrillo Festival, Capella Romano, the Tudor Choir, Opera Memphis, and Sun Valley Center for the Arts. Upcoming engagements include Tony in Pacific Northwest Ballet’s West Side Story Suite and Rossini’s Stabat Mater at University of California, Davis.
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
43
Mondavi Center support
mondavi center
corporate support
DONORS
Platinum
Our generous donors allow us to bring world-class artists and speakers to the region’s doorstep, and energize and inspire tens of thousands of school children and teachers through our nationally recognized Arts Education programs. In thanks for their generous gifts, donors receive a host of benefits including:
gold
· Priority Seating · Access to Donor-Only Events · Advance ticket sales for Just Added shows · Meet the artists · Much, much more…
Office of Campus Community Relations
Remember: Ticket sales cover only 40% of our costs.
silver
Help support the art you love: Donate today! For more information, visit us at MondaviArts.org/supportus or contact our Development Staff at 530.754.5436
bronze
Mondavi Center Grantors and arts education sponsors
Friends of Mondavi Center
Event & Additional Support Partners Boeger Winery Ciocolat
44
| mondaviarts.org
Seasons Restaurant Watermelon Music
Individual Supporters -ONDAVI#ENTER )NNER#IRCLE Inner Circle donors are dedicated arts patrons whose leadership gifts to the Mondavi Center are a testament to the value of the performing arts in our lives. Mondavi Center is deeply grateful for the generous contributions of the dedicated patrons who give annual financial support to our organization. These donations are an important source of revenue for our program, as income from ticket sales covers less than half of the actual cost of our performance season. Their gifts to the Mondavi Center strengthen and sustain our efforts, enabling us not only to bring memorable performances by worldclass artists to audiences in the capital region each year, but also to introduce new generations to the experience of live performance through our Arts Education Program, which provides arts education and enrichment activities to more than 35,000 K-12 students annually. For more information on supporting the Mondavi Center, visit MondaviArts.org or call 530.754.5437.
† Mondavi Center Advisory Board Member * Friends of Mondavi Center
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
Mondavi Center support
mondavi center
Impresario Circle $25,000 and up
John and Lois Crowe †* Barbara K. Jackson †* Grant and Grace Noda* virtuoso Circle $15,000 - $24,999
Joyce and Ken Adamson Friends of Mondavi Center* Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation Anne Gray † Benjamin and Lynette Hart †* William and Nancy Roe †* Lawrence and Nancy Shepard † Joe and Betty Tupin † Shipley and Dick Walters* Maestro Circle $10,000 - $14,999
Oren and Eunice Adair-Christensen* Dolly and David Fiddyment † Samia and Scott Foster † Mary B. Horton* M. A. Morris* Tony and Joan Stone † Benefactors Circle $6,000 - $9,999 Michael Alexander Wayne and Jacque Bartholomew †* California Statewide Certified Development Corporation Camille Chan † Patti Donlon † First Northern Bank † Bonnie and Ed Green †* Dee and Joe Hartzog † The One and Only Watson Margaret Hoyt* Sarah and Dan Hrdy William and Jane Koenig Greiner Heat, Air, and Solar Garry Maisel † Stephen Meyer and Mary Lou Flint † Grace and John Rosenquist Raymond and Jeanette Seamans Ellen Sherman Della Aichwalder Thompson Larry and Rosalie Vanderhoef †* And one donor who prefers to remain anonymous
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
45
Mondavi Center support
Producers Circle $3,000 - $5,999
Neil and Carla Andrews Hans Apel and Pamela Burton Cordelia S. Birrell Neil and Joanne Bodine Barry and Valerie Boone Brian Tarkington and Katrina Boratynski Ralph and Clairelee Leiser Bulkley* Cantor & Company, A Law Corporation Michael and Betty Chapman Robert and Wendy Chason Chris and Sandy Chong* Michele Clark and Paul Simmons Tony and Ellie Cobarrubia* Claudia Coleman Eric and Michael Conn Nancy DuBois Catherine and Charles Farman Mr. and Mrs. Domenic Favero Donald and Sylvia Fillman Judith and Andrew Gabor Kay Gist Kathleen and Robert Grey Judith and William Hardardt* Lorena Herrig* Dr. Ronald and Lesley Hsu Debra Johnson, M.D. and Mario Gutierrez Gerald and Virginia Jostes Teresa and Jerry Kaneko* Dean and Karen Karnopp* Nancy Lawrence, Gordon Klein, and Linda Lawrence Drs. Richard Latchaw and Sheri Alders Ginger and Jeffrey Leacox Robert and Barbara Leidigh John T. Lescroart and Lisa Sawyer Nelson Lewallyn and Marion Pace-Lewallyn Betty J. Lewis Dr. and Mrs. Ashley T. Lipshutz Paul and Diane Makley* In memory of Jerry Marr Janet Mayhew* Robert and Helga Medearis Verne Mendel* Derry Ann Moritz Richard and Mary Ann Murray Charles and Joan Partain Suzanne and Brad Poling Lois and Dr. Barry Ramer Roger and Ann Romani Melodie Rufer Hal and Carol Sconyers* Tom and Meg Stallard* Tom and Judy Stevenson* Donine Hedrick and David Studer Jerome Suran and Helen Singer Suran* Nathan and Johanna Trueblood Ken Verosub and Irina Delusina In loving memory of John Max Vogel, M.D. 46
| mondaviarts.org
Claudette Von Rusten John Walker and Marie Lopez Elizabeth F. and Charles E. Wilts Bob and Joyce Wisner* Richard and Judy Wydick And four donors who prefer to remain anonymous Directors Circle $1,100 - $2,999 Beulah and Ezra Amsterdam Russell and Elizabeth Austin Murry and Laura Baria* Lydia Baskin* Virginia and Michael Biggs Kay and Joyce Blacker* Jo Anne Boorkman* Clyde and Ruth Bowman Edwin Bradley Linda Brandenburger Robert Burgerman and Linda Ramatowski Davis and Jan Campbell David J. Converse, ESQ. Gail and John Cooluris Jim and Kathy Coulter* John and Celeste Cron* Terry and Jay Davison Jim and Carolyn DeHayes Cecilia Delury and Vince Jacobs Mike and Cheryl Demas Bruce and Marilyn Dewey Martha Dickman* Dotty Dixon* Richard and Joy Dorf* Merrilee and Simon Engel Thomas and Phyllis Farver* Tom Forrester and Shelly Faura Nancy McRae Fisher Pam Gill-Fisher and Ron Fisher* Dr. Andy and Wendy Huang Frank Joseph George and Elaine LaMotta Karl Gerdes and Pamela Rohrich Henry and Dorothy Gietzen Fredic and Pamela Gorin John and Patty Goss* Florence and Jack Grosskettler* Diane Gunsul-Hicks Charles and Ann Halsted Paul and Kathleen Hart In memory of William F. McCoy Timothy and Karen Hefler Charles and Eva Hess Sharna and Mike Hoffman Suzanne and Chris Horsley* Claudia Hulbe Ruth W. Jackson Clarence and Barbara Kado Barbara Katz* Robert Kingsley and Melissa Thorme Cheryl and Matthew Kurowski Brian and Dorothy Landsberg Mary Jane Large and Marc Levinson Edward and Sally Larkin* Claudia and Allan Leavitt Hyunok Lee and Daniel Sumner Yvonne LeMaitre*
Linda and Peter Lindert Spencer Lockson and Thomas Lange Angelique Louie Natalie and Malcolm MacKenzie* Dennis H. Mangers and Michael Sestak Susan Mann Judith and Mark Mannis Marilyn Mansfield Michael and Maxine Mantell Yvonne L. Marsh Robert Ono and Betty Masuoka Shirley Maus* Kenneth McKinstry Steve and Sonja Memering Joy Mench and Clive Watson Fred and Linda Meyers* John Meyer and Karen Moore Eldridge and Judith Moores Patricia and Surl Nielsen Dr. James Nordin and Linda Orrante Philip and Miep Palmer Prewoznik Foundation Linda and Lawrence Raber* Larry and Celia Rabinowitz Kay Resler* Alessa Johns and Christopher Reynolds Thomas Roehr Don Roth and Jolán Friedhoff Liisa A. Russell Beverly “Babs” Sandeen and Marty Swingle Ed and Karen Schelegle The Schenker Family Neil and Carrie Schore Jeff and Bonnie Smith Wilson and Kathryn Smith Ronald and Rosie Soohoo* Richard L. Sprague and Stephen C. Ott Maril Revette Stratton and Patrick Stratton Karmen Streng Tony and Beth Tanke George and Rosemary Tchobanoglous Dr. Haluk and Ayse Tezcan Brandt Schraner and Jennifer Thornton Claude and Barbara Van Marter Louise and Larry Walker Janda J. Waraas Bruce and Patrice White Dale and Jane Wierman Paul Wyman Elizabeth and Yin Yeh And five donors who prefer to remain anonymous
Donors Encore Circle
$600 - $1,099 Gregg T. Atkins and Ardith Allread Michael and Tootie Beeman Drs. Noa and David Bell Donald and Dolores Chakerian Gale and Jack Chapman William and Susan Chen John and Cathie Duniway Nell Farr and Anna Melvin Doris and Earl Flint Murray and Audrey Fowler Carole Franti* Paul J. and Dolores L. Fry Charitable Fund Gatmon-Sandrock Family Craig Gladen Paul N. and E. F. “Pat” Goldstene David and Mae Gundlach Robin Hansen Roy and Miriam Hatamiya Katherine Hess Barbara and Robert Jones Kent and Judy Kjelstrom Paula Kubo Anesiades Leonard Stanley and Donna Levin Maria Manoliu Frances Mara Gary C. and Jane L. Matteson Barbara Moriel James Morris Hedlin Family Don and Sue Murchison Robert Murphy Richard and Kathleen Nelson Alice Oi John Pascoe Jerry L. Plummer Ann and Jerry Powell* J and K Redenbaugh John Reitan Heather and Jeep Roemer Jeannie and Bill Spangler Lenore and Henry Spoto Sherman and Hannah Stein Les and Mary Stephens Dewall Lynn Taylor and Mont Hubbard Roseanna Torretto* Henry and Lynda Trowbridge* Robert and Helen Twiss Steven and Andrea Weiss Denise and Alan Williams Kandi Williams and Dr. Frank Jahnke Karl and Lynn Zender And four donors who prefer to remain anonymous
Orchestra Circle
Glen And Nancy Michel Robert and Susan Munn* William and Nancy Myers Anna Rita and Bill Neuman Forrest Odle John and Carol Oster Sally Ozonoff and Tom Richey Frank Pajerski Jack and Sue Palmer Dr. John and Barbara Parker Bonnie A. Plummer* Deborah Nichols Poulos and Prof. John W. Poulos Harriet Prato Edward and Jane Rabin J. David Ramsey Rosemary Reynolds Guy and Eva Richards Ronald and Sara Ringen John and Marie Rundle Bob and Tamra Ruxin Tom and Joan Sallee Dwight E. and Donna L. Sanders Mark and Ita Sanders* Howard and Eileen Sarasohn Jerry and Kay Schimke Mervyn Schnaidt Mark E. Ellis and Lynn Shapiro Nancy Sheehan and Rich Simpson Kathie Shigaki Elizabeth Smithwick Al and Sandy Sokolow Edward and Sharon Speegle Curtis and Judy Spencer Elizabeth St Goar Tim and Julie Stephens Pieter and Jodie Stroeve, and Diane Barrett Kristia Suutala Nancy Teichert Cap and Helen Thomson Butch and Virginia Thresh Dennis and Judy Tsuboi Ann-Catrin Van Ph.D. Robert Vassar and Nanci Manceau George and Denise Gridley Donald Walk, M.D. Geoffrey and Gretel Wandesford-Smith Norma and Richard Watson Dr. Fred and Betsy Weiland Daniel Weiss and Elena Friedman-Weiss Chuck White Lisa Yamauchi and Michael O’Brien Iris Yang and G. Richard Brown Wesley Yates Ronald M. Yoshiyama Hanni and George Zweifel
$300 - $599 Michelle Adams Mitzi S. Aguirre Susan Ahlquist Paul and Nancy Aikin Steven Albrecht and Jessica Friedman Drs. Ralph and Teresa Aldredge Thomas and Patricia Allen Al and Pat Arthur Michael and Shirley Auman* Robert and Joan P. Ball Robert Hollingsworth and Carol Beckham Don and Kathy Bers* Elizabeth Bradford Paul Braun Rosa Marquez and Richard Breedon Joan Brenchley and Kevin Jackson Irving and Karen Broido* In Memory of Rose Marie Wheeler John and Christine Bruhn Manuel Calderon De La Barca Sanchez Jackie Caplan Michael and Louise Caplan Michael and Susan Carl Richard Carlsen Doreen T. Chan Amy Chen and Raj Amirtharajah Dorothy Chikasawa* Charles and Mary Anne Cooper James and Patricia Cothern Catherine Coupal* Larry Dashiell and Peggy Siddons Thomas B. and Eina C. Dutton Micki Eagle Sheila and Steve Epler Janet Feil David and Kerstin Feldman Susan Flynn Tom and Barbara Frankel Sevgi and Edwin Friedrich* Dr. Deborah and Brook Gale Marnelle Gleason and Louis J. Fox* Marvin and Joyce Goldman Donald Green William Green and Martin Palomar Stephen and Deirdre Greenholz Marilyn and Alexander Groth Judy Guiraud Gwen and Darrow Haagensen Sharon and Don Hallberg David and Donna Harris Stephen and Joanne Hatchett Cynthia Hearden Len and Marilyn Herrmann Fred Taugher and Paula Higashi Frederick and Tieu-Bich Hodges Frederick and B.J. Hoyt Pat and Jim Hutchinson* Don and Diane Johnston Weldon and Colleen Jordan Mary Ann and Victor Jung David Kalb and Nancy Gelbard Edith Kanoff Charles Kelso and Mary Reed Ruth Ann Kinsella* Richard and Rosie Kirkland Joseph Kiskis Peter Klavins and Susan Kauzlarich Norma Klein Charlene R. Kunitz Allan and Norma Lammers Darnell Lawrence Katie Thomas and Richard Lawrence Ruth Lawrence Frances and Arthur Lawyer* Carol and Robert Ledbetter Michael and Sheila Lewis* David and Ruth Lindgren Bill and Harriet Lovitt Helen Ma Bunkie Mangum Pat Martin* Robert Mazalewski and Yvonne Clinton Sean and Sabine McCarthy Del and Doug McColm Julie and Craig McNamara Don and Lou McNary
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
And ten donors who prefer to remain anonymous
Mainstage Circle $100 - $299
Leal Abbott Thomas and Betty Adams Mary Aften Jill Aguiar Suzanne and David Allen David and Penny Anderson Valeriejeanne Anderson Elinor Anklin and George Harsch Janice and Alex Ardans Clemens Ford Arrasmith Debbie Arrington Fred Arth and Pat Schneider Jerry and Barbara August George and Irma Baldwin Charlotte Ballard Beverly and Clay Ballard Charlie and Diane Bamforth* Elizabeth Banks Michele Barefoot and Luis Perez-Grau Lupie and Richard Barton Paul and Linda Baumann Lynn Baysinger* Delee and Jerry Beavers Claire and Marion Becker* Mark and Betty Belafsky Lorna Belden Merry Benard Carol L. Benedetti
William and Marie Benisek Robert C. and Jane D. Bennett Márta Battha Béres Bevowitz Family Boyd and Lucille Bevington Ernst and Hannah Biberstein John and Katy Bill Andrea Bjorklund and Sean Duggan Lewis J. and Caroline S. Bledsoe Fred and Mary Bliss Marchia Bond Brooke Bourland* Mary and Jill Bowers Adney and Steve Bowker Alf and Kristin Brandt Robert Braude and Maxine Moser Dan and Millie Braunstein* Margaret Brockhouse Don and Liz Brodeur David and Valerie Brown Linda Clevenger and Seth Brunner Martha Bryant* Mike and Marian Burnham Margaret Burns and Roy W. Bellhorn Victor and Meredith Burns William and Karolee Bush Robert and Lynn Campbell Robert Canary John and Nancy Capitanio James and Patty Carey Anne and Gary Carlson Jan Carmikle, ‘90 John Carroll Bruce and Mary Alice Carswell* Jan B. and Barbara J. Carter* Caroline Chantry and James Malot Frank Chisholm Michael and Paula Chulada Arthur Chung and Karen Roberts Betty M. Clark Gail Clark L. Edward and Jacqueline Clemens Bill and Linda Cline Barbara Cody Stephan Cohen Sheri and Ron Cole Harold and Marj Collins Steve and Janet Collins Patricia Conrad and Ann Brice Jan and Gayle Conroy Judith Cook Pauline Cook Mr. and Mrs. Terry Cook Victor Cozzalio and Lisa Heilman-Cozzalio Bill and Myra Cusick Elizabeth Dahlstrom-Bushnell* John W. and Joanne M. Daniels Dena Davidson Johanna Davies Mary Hanf Dawson Jody Deaderick Ed and Debby Dillon Joel and Linda Dobris Richard Epstein and Gwendolyn Doebbert Val Dolcini and Solveig Monson Val and Marge Dolcini* Gordon Douglas Sue Drake* Ray Dudonis Anne Duffey Leslie Dunsworth Marjean Dupree Victoria Dye and Douglas Kelt J. Terry and Susan Eager Harold and Anne Eisenberg Eliane Eisner Brian Ely and Robert Hoffman Allen Enders Adrian and Tamara Engel Sid England Carol Erickson and David Phillips M. Richard and Gloria M. Eriksson Jeff Ersig Christine Facciotti Adrian Farley and Greg Smith Andrew D. and Eleanor E. Farrand* Elizabeth Fassler Elizabeth and Timothy Fenton Steven and Susan Ferronato Margery Findlay Kieran and Martha Fitzpatrick Judy Fleenor* Manfred Fleischer David and Donna Fletcher Glenn Fortini Marion Franck and Bob Lew
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
47
Mondavi Center support
mondavi center
Mondavi Center support
Frank Brown Barbara and Edwin Frankel Anthony and Jorgina Freese Joel Friedman Kerim and Josina Friedrich Joan M. Futscher Myra A. Gable Lillian Gabriel Charles and Joanne Gamble Claude and Nadja Garrod Xiaojia Ge and Ronghua Li* Ivan Gennis Peggy Gerick Gerald Gibbons and Sibilla Hershey Mary Lou and Robert Gillis Eleanor Glassburner Roberta R. Gleeson Burton Goldfine Robert and Pat Gonzalez* Robert and Velma Goodlin Michael Goodman Susan Goodrich Alouise Hillier Victor Graf Tom Graham Jacqueline Gray* Kathleen and Thomas Green Paul and Carol Grench Cindy and Henry Guerrero June and Paul Gulyassy Wesley and Ida Hackett* Jim and Jane Hagedorn Frank and Rosalind Hamilton William and Sherry Hamre Jim and Laurie Hanschu Marylee and John Hardie Richard and Vera Harris Cathy Brorby and Jim Harritt Marjorie Heineke Donald and Lesley Heller Paul and Nancy Helman Martin Helmke and Joan Frye Williams Rand and Mary Herbert Eric Herrgesell, DVM Roger and Rosanne Heym Elizabeth and Larry Hill Calvin Hirsch and Deborah Francis Michael and Peggy Hoffman Jan and Herb Hoover Steve and Nancy Hopkins Allie Huberty David and Gail Hulse Deborah Hunter Eva Peters Hunting Lorraine J. Hwang William Jackson Kathryn Jaramillo Dr. and Mrs. Ronald C. Jensen Pamela R. Jessup Carole and Phil Johnson John and Jane Johnson Steve and Naomi Johnson Michelle Johnston Warren and Donna Johnston Martin and JoAnn Joye* John and Nancy Jungerman Fred and Selma Kapatkin Shari and Timothy Karpin Jean and Stephen Karr Anthony and Beth Katsaris Yasuo Kawamura Phyllis and Scott Keilholtz* Gary Kieser Dave and Gay Kent Michael Kent and Karl Jandrey Cathryn Kerr Pat and John Kessler Larry Kimble and Louise Bettner Ken and Susan Kirby Dorothy Klishevich Muriel Knudsen Winston and Katy Ko Paul and Pamela Kramer Dave and Nina Krebs Marcia and Kurt Kreith Sandra Kristensen Elizabeth and C.R. Kuehner Nate Kupperman Leslie Kurtz Cecilia Kwan Donald and Yoshie Kyhos Ray and Marianne Kyono Terri Labriola Bonnie and Kit Lam* Marsha M. Lang
48
| mondaviarts.org
Lawrence and Ingrid Lapin Bruce and Susan Larock Kathleen Larson Leon E. Laymon C and J Learned Marceline Lee and Philip Smith Nancy P. Lee The Hartwig-Lee Family Nancy and Steve Lege The Lenk-Sloane Family Edward N. Lester Evelyn A. Lewis Melvyn and Rita Libman Guille Levin Libresco Jim and Jami Long Kim Longworth Mary Lowry Henry Luckie Paul and Linnae Luehrs Diana Lynch Maryanne Lynch Ed and Sue MacDonald Leslie Macdonald and Gary Francis Julin Maloof and Stacey Harmer Sandra Mansfield Joseph and Mary Alice Marino Pam Marrone and Mick Rogers Donald and Mary Martin Garth and Linda Martin J. A. Martin Mr. and Mrs. William R. Mason Bob and Vel Matthews Leslie Maulhardt Katherine F. Mawdsley* Karen McCluskey* John McCoy Nora McGuinness* Donna and Dick McIlvaine Tim and Linda McKenna Blanche McNaughton* Richard and Virginia McRostie Martin A. Medina and Laurie Perry Wener Paul Harder III DeAna Melilli Barry Melton and Barbara Langer Sharon Menke The Merchant Family Roland Meyer Leslie Michaels and Susan Katt Lisa Miller Phyllis Miller Sue and Rex Miller Douglas Minnis Steve and Kathy Miura* Kei and Barbara Miyano Sydney Moberg Vicki and Paul Moering Joanne K. Moldenhauer Amy Moore Debra Moore Hallie Morrow Marcie Mortensson Tony and Linda Mras Robert and Janet Mukai The Muller Family Terry and Judith Murphy Steve Abramowitz and Dr. Alberta Nassi Joni Neibert M.A. Nelson Margaret Neu* Cathy Neuhauser and Jack Holmes Robert and Donna Curley Nevraumont* Keri Mistler and Dana Newell Kan Ching Ng Nancy Nolte and James Little John Chendo and Esther Novak Patricia O’Brien* Kay Ogasawara Dana Olson James Oltjen Marvin O’Rear David and Debra Oshige Bob and Beth Owens Carlene and Mike Ozonoff* Michael Pach Joan S. Packard Thomas Pavlakovich and Kathryn Demakopoulos Bob and Marlene Perkins Lee/Michael Perrone Ann Peterson and Marc Hoeschele Pat Piper Vicki and Bob Plutchok Ralph and Jane Pomeroy* Bea and Jerry Pressler
Ann Preston John Provost Evelyn and Otto Raabe Jan and Anne-Louise Radimsky Kathryn Radtkey-Gaither Lawrence and Norma Rappaport Evelyn and Dewey Raski Olga Raveling Sandi Redenbach* Mrs. John Reese, Jr. Martha Rehrman* Michael A. Reinhart and Dorothy Yerxa Eugene and Elizabeth Renkin Judy, David, and Hannah Reuben Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Rice Bill Rich John Richards Fred and Bernadeen Richardson Joyce Rietz Ralph and Judy Riggs* Caroline and Stephen Roberts Warren G. Roberts David and Kathy Robertson Tracy Rodgers Richard and Evelyne Rominger Mary F. Rosa Sharon and Elliott Rose Jean and George Rosenfeld Barbara and Alan Roth David and Catherine Rowen Paul and Ida Ruffin Hugh Safford Terry Sandbek and Sharon Billings* Kathleen and David Sanders Fred and Polly Schack John and Joyce Schaeuble Tyler Schilling Leon Schimmel and Annette Cody Fred and Colene Schlaepfer Janis J. Schroeder and Carrie L. Markel Jean Schwarzkopf Robert and Jenifer Segar Brian Sehnert and Janet McDonald Dan Shadoan and Ann Lincoln Jay and Jill Shepherd Ruth and Robert Shumway Sandra and Clay Sigg Andrew Sih and Caitlin McGaw Mark Berman and Lynn Simon Michael and Elizabeth Singer Joy Skalbeck Barbara Slemmons Judith Smith Jean Snyder Roger and Freda Sornsen Greg and Pam Sparks Joseph and Dolores Spencer Marguerite Spencer Miriam Steinberg Harriet Steiner and Miles Stern John and Johanna Stek Judith Stern Raymond Stewart Deb and Jeff Stromberg Patricia Sturdevant Becky and James Sullivan Thomas Swift Joyce Takahashi Stewart and Ann Teal Pouneh Tehrani Francie Teitelbaum Jeanne Shealor and George Thelen Julie Theriault, PA-C Virginia Thigpen Janet Thome Robert Thorpe Brian Toole Robert and Victoria Tousignant Katharine Traci Michael and Heidi Trauner Gary and Jan Truesdail Barbara and Jim Tutt Chris Van Kessel Bart and Barbara Vaughn* Marian and Paul Ver Wey Richard and Maria Vielbig Merna and Don Villarejo Charles and Terry Vines Evelyn Matteucci and Richard Vorpe Carolyn Waggoner* M. Therese Wagnon Maxine Wakefield and William Reichert Marny and Rick Wasserman Caroline and Royce Waters Marya Welch*
Dan and Ellie Wendin Martha West Robert and Leslie Westergaard* Susan Wheeler Regina White Linda K. Whitney Kristin Wiese Phillip and JoAnne Wile Ward Willats Mrs. Jane L. Williams Suzanne and Keith Williams Janet Winterer The Wolf Family Jennifer Woo Linda Yassinger Timothy and Vicki Yearnshaw Norman and Manda Yeung Phillip and Iva Yoshimura Heather M. Young and Peter B. Quinby Larry Young and Nancy Lee Phyllis Young Melanie and Medardo Zavala Phyllis and Darrel Zerger* Timothy Zindel Karen Ziskind Mark and Wendy Zlotlow And 54 donors who prefer to remain anonymous
CORPORATE MATCHING GIFTS American Express Foundation Gift Matching Program Bank of America Matching Gifts Program Chevron/Texaco Matching Gift Fund ExxonMobil Foundation McGraw-Hill Company Merrill Lynch & Co. Foundation Monsanto Company The Sacramento Bee Wachovia Foundation Matching Gifts Program Wells Fargo Foundation We appreciate the many Members who participate in their employers’ matching gift program. Please contact your Human Resources department to find out about your company’s matching gift program. Note: We are pleased to recognize the Members of Mondavi Center for their generous support of our program. We apologize if we inadvertently listed your name incorrectly; please contact the Development Office at 530.754.5436 to inform us of corrections.
Mondavi Center Arts Education 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 1
TARGET school matinee Series Mondavi Center Arts Education encourages all K-12 teachers to bring their students to Mondavi Center, UC Davis this season for at least one school matinee performance. Especially designed for students, the School Matinee program is curriculum based and focuses on the cultural authenticity and international exchange possible only through live performance.
“Getting our students over to UCD for a show (and also a walking tour) really brings the possibility of college to life.” —Lisa Krebs, teacher, Dixon Unified School District
Mariachi Los Camperos de nati cano Monday, December 6, 2010 MOMIX, Botanica Monday, January 31, 2011 Curtis On Tour Thursday, March 17, 2011 Dan Zanes and Friends Monday, March 21, 2011 Alvin Ailey american dance theater Tuesday, April 5, 2011
All shows at 11AM
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
49
Mondavi Center staff
Mondavi Center staff DON ROTH, Ph.D. Executive Director Jeremy Ganter Associate Executive Director PROGRAMMING Jeremy Ganter Director of Programming Erin Palmer Programming Manager Ruth Rosenberg Artist Engagement Coordinator Lara Downes Curator: Young Artists Program
AUDIENCE SERVICES Emily Taggart Audience Services Manager/ Artist Liaison Coordinator
DEVELOPMENT Debbie Armstrong Senior Director of Development
MARKETING Rob Tocalino Director of Marketing
production Christopher Oca Stage Manager
Yuri Rodriguez Events Manager
Robert Avalos Director of Major and Campaign Gifts
Will Crockett Marketing Manager
Christi-Anne Sokolewicz Stage Manager
Natalia Deardorff Assistant Events Manager
Christine Vargas Donor Relations Manager
Erin Kelley Senior Graphic Artist
Jenna Bell Production Coordinator
Nancy Temple Assistant Public Events Manager
Elisha Findley Development Coordinator
Morissa Rubin Senior Graphic Artist
Zak Stelly-Riggs Master Carpenter
BUSINESS SERVICES Debbie Armstrong Senior Director of Support Services
ARTS EDUCATION Joyce Donaldson Associate to the Executive Director for Arts Educaton and Strategic Projects
Carolyn Warfield Human Resources Analyst
Jennifer Mast Arts Education Coordinator
Russ Postlethwaite Billing System Administrator
Mandy Jarvis Financial Analyst
Dena Gilday Payroll and Travel Assistant
TICKET OFFICE Sarah Herrera Ticket Office Manager
FACILITIES Steve McFerron Director of Facilities Greg Bailey Lead Building Maintenance Worker
Steve David Ticket Office Supervisor Russell St. Clair Ticket Agent
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Darren Marks Programmer/Designer
Daniel Goldin Master Electrician Michael Hayes Head Sound Technician Adrian Galindo Scene Technician Kathy Glaubach Scene Technician Head Ushers Huguette Albrecht George Edwards Linda Gregory Donna Horgan Mike Tracy Susie Valentin Janellyn Whittier Terry Whittier
Mark J. Johnston Lead Application Developer Tim Kendall Programmer
Mondavi Center advisory Board
The Mondavi Center Advisory Board is a university support group whose primary purpose is to provide assistance to the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, UC Davis, and its resident users, the academic departments of Music and Theatre and Dance, and the presenting program of the Mondavi Center, through fundraising, public outreach, and other support for the mission of UC Davis and the Mondavi Center. 10-11 Season Board Officers John Crowe, Chair Lynette Hart, Vice-Chair Joe Tupin, Vice-Chair Dee Hartzog, Patrons Relations Co-Chair Lor Shepard, Patrons Relations Co-Chair Garry P. Maisel, Corporate Relations Co-Chair Camille Chan, Corporate Relations Co-Chair
Members Wayne Bartholomew Camille Chan John Crowe Lois Crowe Patti Donlon David Fiddyment Dolly Fiddyment Mary Lou Flint Samia Foster
Scott Foster Anne Gray Bonnie Green Ed Green Benjamin Hart Lynette Hart Dee Hartzog Joe Hartzog Barbara K. Jackson Garry P. Maisel
Stephen Meyer Nancy Roe William Roe Lawrence Shepard Nancy Shepard Joan Stone Tony Stone Joe Tupin Larry Vanderhoef Rosalie Vanderhoef
Ex Officio
Linda Katehi, Chancellor, UC Davis Enrique Lavernia, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, UC Davis Jessie Ann Owens, Dean, Division of Humanities, Arts & Cultural Studies, College of Letters & Sciences, UC Davis Margaret Neu, President, Friends of Mondavi Center Sally Ryen, Chair, Arts & Lectures Administrative Advisory Committee Don Roth, Executive Director, Mondavi Center
Arts & Lectures Administrative Advisory Committee
friends of mondavi center
The Arts & Lectures Administrative Advisory Committee is made up of interested students, faculty, and staff who attend performances, review programming opportunities, and meet monthly with the director of the Mondavi Center. They provide advice and feedback for the Mondavi Center staff throughout the performance season.
10-11 Executive Board Margaret Neu, President Laura Baria, Vice President/Membership Francie Lawyer, Secretary Jo Anne Boorkman, Adult Education Sandra Chong, K-12 Education John Cron, Mondavi Center Tours Phyllis Zerger, Outreach Martha Rehrman, School Matinee Ticket Program Fundraising Eunice Adair Christensen, Gift Shop Manager, Ex Officio Joyce Donaldson, Director of Arts Education, Ex Officio
10-11 Committee Members Sally Ryen, Chair Prabhakara Choudary Adrian Crabtree Susan Franck Kelley Gove Holly Keefer
50
Sandra Lopez Danielle McManus Bella Merlin Lee Miller Bettina Ng’weno Rei Okamoto
| mondaviarts.org
Hearne Pardee Isabel Raab Kayla Rouse Erin Schlemmer Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie
Ticket Exchange Policy • Once a season ticket request is processed, there are no refunds. • If you exchange for a higher priced ticket, you will be charged the difference. The difference between a higher and lower priced exchanged ticket is not refundable. • Tickets must be exchanged at least one business day prior to the performance. • Tickets may not be exchanged after your performance date. • Gift certificates will not be issued for returned tickets. Parking You may purchase parking passes for individual Mondavi Center events for $6 for each event at the parking lot or with your ticket order. Rates are subject to change. Parking passes that have been lost or stolen will not be replaced. Group Discounts Entertain friends, family, classmates, or business associates and save money. Groups of 20 or more qualify for a 10% discount. Payment must be made in a single check or credit card transaction. Please call 530.754.2787 or 866.754.2787. Student Tickets (50% off the full single ticket price*) Eligibility: Full-time students age 12 & over enrolled for the current academic year at an accredited institution and matriculating towards a diploma or a degree. (Continuing education enrollees are not eligible). Proof Requirements: School ID for the current academic year OR photocopy of your transcript/report card/tuition bill receipt for the current academic year. Children For events other than the family series it is recommended that children under the age of 5 not be brought to the performance for the enjoyment of all patrons. A ticket is required of all children regardless of age; any child attending a performance should be able to sit quietly throughout the performance. Privacy Policy Mondavi Center collects information from patrons solely for the purpose of gaining necessary information to conduct business and serve our patrons more efficiently. We also sometimes share names and addresses with other not-for-profit arts organizations. If you do not wish to be included in our e-mail communications or postal mailings, or if you do not want us to share your name, please notify us via e-mail, U.S. mail, or telephone. Full Privacy Policy at www.MondaviArts.org.
POlicies
POlicies and information
Accommodations for Patrons with Disabilities Mondavi Center is proud to be a state-of-the-art public facility that meets or exceeds all state and federal ADA requirements and is fully accessible to patrons with disabilities. Parking for patrons with DMV placards is available on the street level (mid-level) of the nearby parking structure, and on the surface lots near the covered walkway. There is also a short-term drop-off area directly in front of the entrance. Patrons with disabilities or special seating needs should notify the Mondavi Center Ticket Office of those needs at the time of ticket purchase. Requests for sign language interpreting, real-time captioning, Braille programs, and other reasonable accommodations should be made with at least two weeks notice. Mondavi Center may not be able to accommodate special needs brought to our attention at the performance. Seating spaces for wheelchair users and their companions are located at all levels and prices for all performances. Ushers are available at the doors to Jackson Hall and the Vanderhoef Studio Theatre. Please explain to the usher how best to assist you, if needed. Special Seating Mondavi Center offers special seating arrangements for our patrons with disabilities. Please call the Ticket Office at 530.754.2787 [TDD 530.754.5402]. Listening Enhancement Devices Listening Infrared Systems are installed in both Jackson Hall and the Vanderhoef Studio Theatre. Receivers that can be used with or without hearing aids are available for patrons who have difficulty understanding dialogue or song lyrics. They may be checked out at no charge from the Patron Services Desk near the lobby elevators. Elevators Mondavi Center has two passenger elevators serving all levels. They are located at the north end of the Rumsey Rancheria Grand Lobby, near the restrooms and Patron Services Desk.
Service Animals Mondavi Center welcomes working service animals that are necessary to assist patrons with disabilities. Service animals must remain on a leash or harness at all times. Please contact the Mondavi Center Ticket Office if you intend to bring a service animal to an event so that appropriate seating can be reserved for you.
Restrooms All public restrooms are equipped with accessible sinks, stalls, baby-changing stations, and amenities. There are six public restrooms in the building: two on the Orchestra level; two on the Orchestra Terrace level; and two on the Grand Tier level. *Only one discount per ticket.
Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this playbill for reuse.
MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 4: Dec 2010 |
51
September 2010
Imago, ZooZoo sun, nov 7
march 2011
Madeleine Albright
Delfeayo Marsalis Group
mon, mar 7
Wed, Sep 29
San Francisco Symphony
Center
Thur, Sep 30
Christopher O’Riley, piano sat-sun, nov 13-14
october 2010
Paul Taylor Dance Company
Bayanihan, National Folk Dance Company of the Philippines
Tous les Matins du Monde
sat, nov 13
fri, Oct 1
thu, nov 18
Dianne Reeves
Ornette Coleman
sat, Oct 2
sat, nov 20
Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers
Jeanine De Bique, soprano
sun, Oct 3
Rising Stars of Opera
Mondavi 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 1
wed-fri, nov 10-12
sat-sun, nov 20-21
december 2010
Los Lobos
Tord Gustavsen and Solveig Slettahjell
Dresden Staatskapelle
Alexander String Quartet
Gamelan Çudamani
Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano
Stew and The Negro Problem
Kronos Quartet
Jonah Lehrer
Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum
Music and Madness Festival
Lara Downes Family Concert
sat, Oct 9
wed, Oct 13 sat, Oct 23
sun, Oct 24
tue-wed, Oct 26-27 wed, Oct 27
thu-sun, Oct 28-31
wed-sat, dec 1-4 sun, dec 5 sun, dec 5 thu, dec 9
fri, dec 10
sun, dec 12
American Bach Soloists, Messiah
Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Tango Fire: Tango Inferno thu, mar 10
Yefim Bronfman, piano sat, mar 12
Alexander String Quartet sun, mar 13
San Francisco Symphony and Chorus thu, mar 17
Curtis On Tour
sat-sun, mar 19-20
Dan Zanes and Friends sun, mar 20
St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra sat, mar 26
Young Artists Competition Winners sun, mar 27
april 2011 Branford Marsalis & Terence Blanchard fri, apr 1
Takács Quartet, with Nobuyuki Tsujii, piano sat, apr 2
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater tue-wed, apr 5-6
The Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma fri, apr 8
sat, dec 18
Lara Downes with David Sanford
Venice Baroque Orchestra with Robert McDuffie, violin
january 2011
China Philharmonic Orchestra
Delfeayo Marsalis Octet
sat-sun, jan 15-16
Buika
thu, jan 20
Alexander String Quartet
sat, jan 22
november 2010 wed, nov 3
wed-sat, nov 3-6 sat, nov 6 sun, nov 7
Kenric Tam
Mark O’Connor and Julian Lage Itzhak Perlman, violin Daniel Handler wed, jan 26
25th Hour
thu, jan 27
MOMIX, Botanica
sat-sun, jan 29-30
Simone Dinnerstein and Tift Merritt sat-sun, jan 29-30
february 2011 Mark Morris Dance Group wed, feb 2
Vijay Iyer
wed-sat, feb 2-5
Joshua Bell, violin wed, feb 9
Bill Frisell Trio and John Scofield Trio
sat-sun, apr 9-10 tue, apr 12
Max Raabe and Palast Orchester wed, apr 13
Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain, & Edgar Meyer thu, apr 14
Der Untergang (Downfall) thu, apr 21
Buddy Guy
fri, apr 22
David Sedaris thu, apr 28
Pablo Ziegler, Beyond Tango fri, apr 29
may 2011 Lucinda Childs, DANCE tue, may 3
Roby Lakatos Ensemble thu, may 5
june 2011 Alexander String Quartet sun, june 5
fri, feb 11
New Century Chamber Orchestra with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg sat, feb 12
La Rondine 52
| mondaviarts.org
thu, feb 17
MondaviArts.org 530.754.2787
866.754.2787 (toll-free)