OKC PHIL program magazine 2019-2020 edition #1 by OKC Phil Program Magazine

OKLAHOMA STORIES Matilda Lloyd, trumpet

October 5, 2019

ITALIAN GEMS Benjamin Schmid, violin

November 8-9, 2019

September 14, 2019

PG 31

November 2, 2019

PG 55

PG 23

THE VOYAGE

PG 43

MEGAN HILTY

WELCOME

JEFF STARLING, President Oklahoma Philharmonic Society, Inc. On behalf of the entire OKC Philharmonic organization, thank you—our audience, patrons, donors and volunteers—for your support and attendance. This is the beginning of the Phil’s fourth decade of providing joy and inspiration to our community through orchestral music. With your continued support, we look forward to sharing many more years of orchestral masterpieces as well as innovative new programming. Over the past two seasons the Phil has seen both a literal and figurative passing of the baton. Music Director Maestro Alexander Mickelthwate, now beginning his second season, has brought added spirit and enthusiasm to our programming that continues to grow our audiences. His efforts are supported by the Phil’s marvelous staff, led by our new Executive Director, Agnieszka Rakhmatullaev, and by the continued generosity of the Orchestra League and Associate Board. Finally, where would we be without the Phil’s amazing and talented musicians? We are eternally grateful for their artistry, skill and passion. Now, I invite you to sit back, listen, and feel the experience only live orchestral music can provide. We sincerely hope you enjoy tonight’s performance and encourage you—our best advocates—to spread the joy and inspiration by inviting a friend or two next time. We are honored and grateful to have earned your support.

WENDI WILSON, President Oklahoma City Orchestra League On behalf of the OKC Orchestra League, welcome to the 31st season of the OKC PHIL! Since 1948, we have been a continual supporter of orchestral music in our community, through our educational programs, volunteerism and fundraising. We believe music can educate, enrich and inspire people of all generations. As Bono (lead singer of U2) once said – “Music can change the world because music can change people.” We support change in our community through people, like you, who support the music. As you enjoy this unique and diverse season, we too are looking forward to our coming year and hope you’ll join us. We’ll welcome Eddie Walker into our Maestro’s Circle and reflect on his thirty years of service at the Maestro’s Ball on Thursday, September, 19th and hold our 2nd Annual Orchestrating Excellence Luncheon on April 2nd, 2020—both at the OKC Golf and Country Club. The funds raised from events like these help reach 30,000 each year and keep music alive in the classrooms of 130 schools. Please consider becoming a member today. Visit www.okcorchestraleague.org. Now, enjoy the talents of tonight’s artist and our amazing musicians, and thank you for supporting music in our community. Que the Maestro!

PATRICK RANDALL, President Associate Board On behalf of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Associate Board, it is with great pleasure we welcome each of you to the 31st season of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic. We are excited about Maestro Alexander Mickelthwate’s second season with us and what he and our world-class orchestra have planned for your entertainment pleasure during the 2019–2020 season. Through its signature Young Professional program Overture, the Associate Board is dedicated to enriching the life of the Oklahoma City community with outstanding musical performances, affordable ticket prices, community outreach programs and pre/post-party social events. We hope you will consider making the OKC Philharmonic and Overture part of your entertainment schedule. We invite each of you to become a member of Overture and share the experience with a friend. It is truly an honor to serve as President for the Philharmonic Associated Board and I thank each of you for being part of the OKC Philharmonic experience. Enjoy!

MUSIC DIRECTOR

ALEXANDER MICKELTHWATE Beginning his second season as Music Director of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Conductor Alexander Mickelthwate’ s exciting musical programming has created a buzz across the city, drawing people from all walks of life to the concert hall. Originally from Germany Mickelthwate is also Music Director Emeritus of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in Canada.

concerti by Vincent Ho. He also worked with Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Yuja Wang, Dawn Upshaw, Plácido Domingo, Ben Heppner, Horatio Gutiérrez, Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos and Sarah Chang, among many others, and he worked very closely with a wide range of composers including Phil Glass, Steve Reich, Sofia Gubaidulina, Kaija Saariaho, John Adams, John Luther Adams and Mason Bates.

Starting his Winnipeg tenure in 2006 he played a pivotal role in the rejuvenation and turnaround of the Winnipeg Symphony which culminated in a highly successful and critically acclaimed performance at Carnegie Hall in May 2014. The New York Times noted the performance was “conducted expertly,” and the New York Classical review stated “under music director Alexander Mickelthwate, they play with excellent intonation and such a fine overall blend and balance of sound that, on their own terms, they may be the best orchestra to appear in the week’s worth of concerts.”

After guest conducting the Simon Bolivar Orchestra and experiencing the life-changing power of the El Sistema program in Venezuela for underprivileged children, Alexander played an instrumental part in creating Sistema Winnipeg.

Deeply rooted in his German heritage, Norman Lebrecht wrote about Mickelthwate’s interpretation of Mahler’s 10th Symphony with the Winnipeg Symphony: “Both Mahler 10 performances were intense and engaging. Every twist and turn in the score was fresh and surprising to my ears.” And his interpretation of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 prompted the pianist Anton Kuerti to write a letter to the newspaper saying, “I would like to call attention to the stunning performance heard after the intermission. To play Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 with the passion, profundity, emotional intensity, subtlety and degree of perfection achieved by conductor Alexander Mickelthwate and the Winnipeg Symphony can only be called miraculous.” In North America, Alexander has guest conducted the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Houston Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Saint Luke’s, Milwaukee Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic and Toronto Symphony, among others. His European debut was with the Hamburg Symphony. He also conducted the BBC London, Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, Royal Scottish, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and NDR Hannover. Other notable performances include the Sao Paulo Symphony and the Simon Bolivar Orchestra in Venezuela. He made his Australia debut with the Adelaide Symphony and the Tasmania Orchestra where he recorded the Mozart piano concerti Nos. 7 and 10 with the Silber Garburg Duo. Alexander Mickelthwate has worked several times with Dame Evelyn Glennie conducting the world premiere of two new percussion

For three years Alexander created a critically acclaimed Indigenous Festival in Winnipeg. Passionate to connect with all cultures, he created artistic collaborations between First Nations and western cultures that culminated in the performances of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Revueltas’ Les Noches de los Mayas with new choreographies of contemporary and First Nations dance. The Winnipeg New Music Festival is an international institution. Alexander broadened the repertoire and created many new collaborations connecting with different audiences. Because of the programming of the festival the WSO was chosen to perform at the Spring for Music Festival at Carnegie Hall in 2014. A few of the most creative projects of the festival for Alexander were the performance of movie director Guy Maddin’s Brand Upon a Brain with narration by actress Isabella Rossellini, the workshopping of a new opera Tesla by movie director Jim Jarmusch and composer Phil Klein, and a production of Gavin Bryar’s The Sinking of the Titanic at PanAm Pool. Alexander has conducted for President Jimmy Carter and the Queen of England, and he received the Queen Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Key to the City of Winnipeg. Born and raised in Frankfurt Germany to a musical family, Alexander received his degree from the Peabody Institute of Music. He studied conducting under Fredric Prausnitz and Gustav Meier as well as with Seiji Ozawa, Andre Previn, Daniel Barenboim and Robert Spano at Tanglewood. Following his tenure as Assistant Conductor with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, which he completed in 2004, Alexander was Associate Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for three years, under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen. He is married to fashion designer Abigail Mickelthwate and has two sons.

OKLAHOMA PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY, INC.

P R O V I D I N G

I N S P I R A T I O N

A N D

J O Y

T H R O U G H

O R C H E S T R A L

M U S I C .

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Officers Jeff Starling President Brent Hart President Elect Jane Jayroe Gamble Vice President Tony Welch Treasurer Kathy Kerr Secretary Terri Cooper Immediate Past President

Lifetime Directors Jane B. Harlow Patrick Alexander

Directors Steve Agee Lori Dickinson Black Louise Churchill Robert Clements Lawrence H. Davis Kevin Dunnington Veronica Pastel Egelston Kristen Ferate Joy Hammons Dean Jackson Michael E. Joseph Wesley Knight Kristian Kos

Bradley W. Krieger David McLaughlin Margaret Freede Owens Patrick Randall Donald Rowlett Kelly Sachs Melissa Scaramucci Jerrod Shouse Glenna Tanenbaum J. Mark Taylor Donita Thomas Cheryl Brashear White Renate Wiggin Wendi Wilson Nick Wu

Honorary Directors Josephine Freede Richard Sias

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF Tara Burnett Development Manager

Daryl Jones Box Office Manager

Chris Stinchcomb Concert Operations and P.R. Coordinator

Daniel Hardt Finance Director

Kris Markes General Manager

Susan Webb Marketing & P.R. Director

Whitney Redding Customer Service Representative

Taylor Olmsted Education Coordinator

Judy Hill Administrative Assistant

Agnieszka Rakhmatullaev Executive Director

Stephen Howard Database/Records Manager

Ulises Serrano Digital Strategies Coordinator

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Classical KUCO 90.1 Garman Productions George Ryan

Heritage Integrated Solutions Oklahoma City Police Association Production Essentials, Inc.

Stubble Creative, Inc. The Skirvin Hotel

Photographers: Brittany Smith, David Bricquet, Michael Anderson, Mutz Photography, Rick Buchanan, Shevaun Williams and Associates, Ulises Serrano

THE OKLAHOMA PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY, INC. 424 Colcord Drive, Ste. B • Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73102 Tickets: 405-842-5387 • Administration: 405-232-7575 • Fax: 405-232-4353 • www.okcphil.org

OKLAHOMA CITY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE, INC.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Wendi Wilson Martha Pendleton President Education VP Kristen Ferate Joan Bryant President-Elect Communications VP Julia Hunt Sandi Garrett & Cheryl Weintraub Secretary Competitions VP Newt Brown Treasurer

Carol McCoy Past President, Ex-Officio

Kristen Ferate Development VP

Lisa Reed Executive Director, OCOL, Ex-Officio

Rachael Geiger Membership VP

Agnieszka Rakhmatullaev Executive Director Oklahoma City Philharmonic (Ex-Officio, Advisory)

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Judy Austin Helen Chiou Jeanne Drake Yvette Fleckinger Jane Krizer

Patsy Lucas Rachel Morris Matt Thomas Heather Walter Dwayne Webb

STAFF Lisa Reed Executive Director

ORCHESTRA LEAGUE OFFICE 424 Colcord Dr., Ste. B l Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73102 Phone: 405.232.7575 l Fax: 405.232.4353 e-mail: orchleag@coxinet.net website: www.okcorchestraleague.org

THE ORCHESTRA

ALEXANDER MICKELTHWATE, Music Director and Conductor JOEL LEVINE, Founder and Music Director Emeritus AGNIESZKA RAKHMATULLAEV, Executive Director

FIRST VIOLIN

Gregory Lee, Concertmaster Gertrude Kennedy Chair Marat Gabdullin, Associate Concertmaster Densi Rushing, Assistant Concertmaster Sam Formicola Hong Zhu Beth Sievers James Thomson Benjamin Shute Deborah McDonald Janet Gorton Lu Deng Ai-Wei Chang

SECOND VIOLIN

Katrin Stamatis, Principal McCasland Foundation Chair Catherine Reaves Sophia Ro Brenda Wagner Sarah Brown Corbin Mace Angelica Pereira TBD Cindy Zhang Laura Young

VIOLA

Royce McLarry, Principal Mark Neumann Joseph Guevara Kelli Ingels Steve Waddell Donna Cain Brian Frew Shaohong Yuan Lacie Savage Julie Dodge

CELLO

Jonathan Ruck, Principal Orchestra League Chair Tomasz Zieba, Associate Principal* Meredith Blecha-Wells Valorie Tatge

Emily Stoops Jim Shelley Angelika Machnik-Jones Jean Statham Rob Bradshaw Ann Wilson Zack Reaves

BASS

Anthony Stoops, Principal* Larry Moore Parvin Smith Mark Osborn Jesus Villarreal Christine Craddock Kara Koehn

FLUTE

Valerie Watts, Principal Parthena Owens Nancy Stizza-Ortega

PICCOLO

Nancy Stizza-Ortega

OBOE

Lisa Harvey-Reed, Principal Dan Schwartz Katherine McLemore

ENGLISH HORN Dan Schwartz

CLARINET

Bradford Behn, Principal Tara Heitz James Meiller

BASS/E-FLAT CLARINET James Meiller

BASSOON

Rod Ackmann, Principal James Brewer Barre Griffith Larry Reed

CONTRABASSOON

Barre Griffith

HORN

Kate Pritchett, Principal G. Rainey Williams Chair James Rester Mirella Gable TBD

TRUMPET

Karl Sievers, Principal Jay Wilkinson Michael Anderson

TROMBONE

TBD, Principal Philip Martinson John Allen, Bass Trombone

TUBA

Ted Cox, Principal

PERCUSSION

David Steffens, Principal Patrick Womack Roger Owens

TIMPANI

TBD, Principal

HARP

Gaye LeBlanc Germain, Principal

PIANO

Peggy Payne, Principal

PERSONNEL MANAGER John P. Allen

ORCHESTRA LIBRARIAN Jose Batty

STAGE MANAGER Leroy Newman

Please Note: The seating positions of all string sections change on a regular basis. *On leave 2019-2020 season

PLANNED GIVING

O F T H E O K L A H O M A P H I L H A R M O N I C S O C I E T Y, I N C .

The Oklahoma Philharmonic Society, Inc. is honored to recognize its Encore Society members â&#x20AC;&#x201D; visionary thinkers who have provided for the future of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic through their estate plans.

Anonymous (3)

Joel Levine

Steven C. Agee, Ph.D.

John and Caroline Linehan

Mr. and Mrs. Patrick B. Alexander

Mr. and Mrs. Marvin C. Lunde, Jr.

Gary and Jan Allison

Mrs. Jackie Marron

Dr. Jay Jacquelyn Bass

Mr. and Mrs. John McCaleb

Louise C. Churchill

Jean and David McLaughlin

Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Clements

R.M. (Mickey) McVay

Thomas and Rita Dearmon

Robert B. Milsten

Dr. and Mrs. James D. Dixson

W. Cheryl Moore

Paul Fleming

Carl Andrew Rath

Hugh Gibson

Michael and Catherine Reaves

Pam and Gary Glyckherr

Mr. and Mrs. William J. Ross

Carey and Gayle Goad

Drs. Lois and John Salmeron

Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Gowman

Mr. and Mrs. William F. Shdeed

Carol M. Hall

Richard L. Sias

Ms. Olivia Hanson

Doug and Susie Stussi

Jane B. Harlow

Larry and Leah Westmoreland

Dr. and Mrs. James Hartsuck

Mr. John S. Williams

Mr. and Mrs. Michael E. Joseph

Mr. and Mrs. Don T. Zachritz

THANK YOU The Oklahoma Philharmonic Society, Inc. is grateful for the support of caring patrons who want to pass on a legacy of extraordinary music to future generations. You can join this special group of music enthusiasts by including a gift for the OKC Philharmonicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s future in your own will or estate plan. For more information on how to become an Encore Society member, contact Tara Burnett at (405) 232-7575 or tara@okcphil.org.

GIFTS TO THE PHILHARMONIC The Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra and Oklahoma City Orchestra League gratefully acknowledges the commitment and generosity of individuals, corporations, foundations, and government agencies that support our mission. To help us provide inspiration and joy to the community through performances and education programs, please contact the Philharmonic’s Development Office at (405) 232-7575. This Annual Fund recognition reflects contributions made in the 2018-2019 or 2019-2020 seasons. Contributions of $100 and above are listed through July 12, 2019. If your name has been misspelled or omitted, please accept our apologies and inform us of the error by calling the phone number listed above. Thank you for your generous support! * Denotes multi-year giving society

CORPORATIONS, FOUNDATIONS & GOVERNMENT Express their generous commitment to the community.

UNDERWRITER $40,000 & Above

W&W Steel, LLC * Wilshire Charitable Foundation

GOLD PARTNERS $1,250 - $1,749

Allied Arts Foundation The Chickasaw Nation Devon Energy Corporation E.L. and Thelma Gaylord Foundation * Inasmuch Foundation Kirkpatrick Foundation Inc. Oklahoma Arts Council Oklahoma City Orchestra League, Inc. The Oklahoman The Skirvin Hilton Hotel

GOLD SPONSORS $5,000 - $9,999

Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages The Kerr Foundation, Inc.

BancFirst Clements Foods Foundation The Crawley Family Foundation Garman Productions Mekusukey Oil Company, LLC * The Metro Restaurant

SILVER PARTNERS $750 - $1,249

PLATINUM SPONSORS $10,000 - $39,999 405 Magazine Ad Astra Foundation American Fidelity Foundation * Anschutz Family Foundation Bank of Oklahoma Express Employment International HSPG and Associates, PC I Heart Media Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores Mathis Brothers Furniture Co., Inc. * MidFirst Bank * OGE Energy Corp. Tyler Media Co./Magic 104.1FM and KOMA

SILVER SPONSORS $3,000 - $4,999 OK Gazette The Friday

BRONZE PARTNERS $300 - $749

BRONZE SPONSORS $1,750 - $2,999

Garvin County News-Star Gumerson Blake Design Build Kent S. Johnson Law Firm Lynda Savage Art Parrish DeVaughn Injury Lawyers * The Rudnicki Firm Tin Lizzie’s Tom Johnson Investment Management LLC

The Black Chronicle BNSF Railway Foundation Globe Life and Accident Insurance Company The HoganTaylor Foundation Oklahoma Allergy & Asthma Clinic Testers, Inc. The Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation

MATCHING GIFT COMPANIES AND FOUNDATIONS Double the impact of an individual’s gift. American Fidelity Foundation Bank of America Matching Gifts Program The Boeing Company Inasmuch Foundation

Charlesson Foundation Flips Restaurant, Inc. The Fred Jones Family Foundation M-D Building Products, Inc. The Meinders Foundation Trade Mechanical Contractors, Inc.

BUSINESS MEMBERS $100 - $299 Amazon Smile Foundation The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital Kumon of OKC – South

GIFTS TO THE PHILHARMONIC MAESTRO SOCIETY Providing leadership support. Doug and Susie Stussi Renate and Chuck Wiggin

Benefactor $5,000 - $9,999 Guarantor $10,000 and above Mr. and Mrs. Patrick B. Alexander Mrs. Carlene Edwards * Mr. and Mrs. Andrew J. Evans, II Mrs. Josephine Freede Jane B. Harlow Mr. Albert Lang Joel Levine Jean and David McLaughlin Larry and Polly Nichols * Nancy and George Records Mr. Richard L. Sias

Mark and Julie Beffort * Mrs. Betty D. Bellis-Mankin Marilyn and Bill Boettger Molly and Jim Crawley Peggy Cummings Lawrence H. and Ronna C. Davis Mr. and Mrs. John A. Frost John and Claudia Holliman Ruth Mershon Fund Ms. Veronica Pastel Egelston Mr. H.E. Rainbolt Donald Rowlett Lance and Cindy Ruffel Michael J. Sweeney, Jr. Glenna and Dick Tanenbaum Mrs. June Tucker

INDIVIDUALS Providing essential support for the Annual Fund. Patron $3,000 - $4,999 Steven C. Agee, Ph.D. Gene and Cheryl Allen Sterling and Cheryl Baker Mr. and Mrs. John Biggs Mike and Dawn Borelli Dr. and Mrs. L. Joe Bradley Mrs. Phyllis Brawley Bruce Campbell Louise Churchill Teresa Cooper Mr. and Mrs. Sidney G. Dunagan Paul and Debbie Fleming Mrs. Bonnie B. Hefner Kim and Michael Joseph Debra and Kristian Kos * Mr. Robert B. Milsten Mrs. Ruby C. Petty Mr. Tom L. Ward Mrs. Anne Workman Caroline Payne Young

Sustainer $1,750 - $2,999 Dr. and Mrs. Dewayne Andrews Dr. and Mrs. John C. Andrus

J. M. Belanger and Sarah Sagran Dr. and Mrs. Philip C. Bird Larry and Sarah Blackledge Priscilla and Jordan Braun Dr. and Mrs. Robert C. Brown Mr. and Mrs. Robert F. Browne Mr. John Crain Rita and Thomas Dearmon Mr. and Mrs. David C. DeLana David and Druanne Durrett Bruce and Joanne Ewing Jazmine and Ronnye Farmer * Mr. and Mrs. George Faulk Yvette and Joe Fleckinger Mr. and Mrs. Gerald L. Gamble Jerry A. Gilbert Dr. and Mrs. James Hartsuck Tom and Cindy Janssen Mrs. Lois Joseph Terry and Kathy Kerr Mr. and Mrs. Harrison Levy, Jr. Linda and Duke R. Ligon William and Oxana Matthey Dr. and Mrs. Patrick McKee Bruce and Claire McLinn John and Anna McMillin Todd and Mary Margaret Miller * Annie Moreau, MD

Mrs. Jeaneen Naifeh Mr. and Mrs. Ronald J. Norick Mr. William G. Paul Dr. Joseph H. Phillips Mr. and Mrs. Jerry W. Plant Drs. Gary and Mary Porter Mr. and Mrs. Ray H. Potts Joshua Powell Kathryn and Robert Prescott Dr. Pal Randhawa Susan and Steve Raybourn Elizabeth Raymond Mrs. Melba Rhinehart Mrs. Carol Ricks Mr. and Mrs. William J. Ross Drs. Lois and John Salmeron Todd and Melissa Scaramucci Mr. and Mrs. Fred Schmitt Dr. and Mrs. Hal Scofield Ms. Jeanne Hoffman Smith Mr. and Mrs. John S. Spaid Sr. Mr. and Mrs. John E. Stonecipher John Stuemky and James Brand Mrs. Billie Thrash William P. Tunell, M.D. Robert and Sharon Varnum * Mrs. Janet Walker Ron and Janie Walker CONTINUED ON PAGE 60

OKLAHOMA STORIES

CONCERT PREVIEWS

September 15, 2018 8:00 P.M.

CLASSICS

The Oklahoma City Orchestra League presents CONCERT PREVIEWS at 7 PM, prior to each Classics Series concert in the Thelma Gaylord Theater at the Civic Center Music Hall.

MATILDA LLOYD, TRUMPET ALEXANDER MICKELTHWATE, CONDUCTOR

Spearheading lively conversation that will focus on inspiration and insight into the musical program of the evening, Maestro Alexander Mickelthwate will also invite various special artists and guests to stop in and share unique and interesting perspectives with you. On the evening of November 23, 2019, Gerard Schwarz will lead the Concert Preview talk.*

arr. Conlon and Giacona ...... Grand Entry Medley*

For more details go to www.okcphil.org

KILPATRICK ........................ American Indian Serenade*

OKLAHOMA STORIES September 14, 2019 THE VOYAGE October 5, 2019 ITALIAN GEMS November 2, 2019 A POWERFUL UTTERANCE* November 23, 2019 MINIMALISM IN A NEW WORLD January 11, 2020 FROM THE DRAMATIC TO THE SUBLIME February 1, 2020

Emerging Artist Series

ARUTIUNIAN ....................... Trumpet Concerto* Andante—Allegro energico Meno mosso Tempo I

(The movements are played without pause.)

Matilda Lloyd, trumpet

INTERMISSION

BEETHOVEN ........................ Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67

Allegro con brio Andante con moto Allegro Allegro—Presto

(There is no pause between the third and fourth movements.)

*First performance on this series

THIS CONCERT IS GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY:

COLLIDING CONTRASTS February 29, 2020 GRITTY, SWEET AND HYPNOTIC April 4, 2019

MOLLY AND JIM CRAWLEY

Text CLASSICS to 95577 to stay up to date on the latest Philharmonic info. Listen to a broadcast of this performance on KUCO 90.1 FM on Wednesday, October 9 at 8 pm and Saturday, October 12 at 8 am on “Performance Oklahoma”. Simultaneous internet streaming is also available during the broadcast.

GUEST ARTIST C

MATILDA LLOYD Hailed as “remarkable” by the Daily Telegraph, British trumpeter Matilda Lloyd is a fast-rising young artist with exceptional poise and musicality. At age 23, Matilda is captivating audiences with her artistry and communication, her flawless technique and the unique character she brings to each and every work. In 2014, Matilda was the winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Brass Final, and in 2016, gave her BBC Proms solo debut, performing at London’s Royal Albert Hall with the BBC Philharmonic and Alpesh Chauhan. The following year, Matilda won the Eric Aubier International Trumpet Competition in Rouen, France, an achievement which lead to her international debut in Spring 2019 with l’Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen. Recent highlights also include performances with the BBC Concert Orchestra (for BBC Radio 2’s Friday Night is Music Night) and the London Mozart Players. In March 2018, she was chosen to replace Tine Thing Helseth for a celebration of International Women’s Day with the Manchester Camerata under Jessica Cottis. The 19/20 season sees Matilda make her USA, South Africa and German debuts performing with the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic, Johannesburg Philharmonic and Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern. She also gives recitals with John Reid, Cameron Richardson-Eames and the Kirkman Quartet. During her studies, Matilda has been the recipient of many awards including a Hattori Foundation Senior Award and a Worshipful Company of Musicians’ Postgraduate Award. As a Park Lane Group Young Artist, she has performed at pres-

tigious London venues such as St. John’s Smith Square, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, St. James’ Piccadilly and Wigmore Hall. Alongside her success as a soloist, Matilda has gained much recognition as an orchestral player. She was Principal Trumpet of the European Union Youth Orchestra in 2016 and 2017, touring Europe under Bernard Haitink, Gianandrea Noseda and Vasily Petrenko. Prior to this, Matilda held the position of Principal Trumpet of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain for two years, working with Edward Gardner and receiving critical acclaim for her First Trumpet part in Mahler’s Fifth Symphony at London’s Barbican. A keen chamber musician, Matilda has led the EUYO Brass Quintet at prestigious engagements such as the opening of the EU Residency Building in Amsterdam and at the Austrian Embassy in London, and the EUYO Brass Dectet in various venues across Europe. Matilda graduated with a First Class degree in Music from Cambridge University in 2017 and received a Master’s Degree from the Royal Academy of Music in 2019. During her studies at the Academy with Mark David, Matilda participated in masterclasses with Håkan Hardenberger as a Britten Pears Young Artist, sponsored by the Royal Warrant Holders Association Alan Britten Bursary, and with Eric Aubier, Jeroen Berwaerts and Wim van Hasselt. Matilda will receive lessons during this season from Håkan Hardenberger at the Malmö Academy of Music. Matilda released her debut album Direct Message on the Orchid Classics Label in October 2018, featuring 20th and 21st century works for trumpet and piano with pianist John Reid.

Grand Entry Medley Arr. Patrick Conlon and Christina Giacono First performance on this series See insert for Program Notes

American Indian Serenade, op. 21 Jack Frederick Kilpatrick First performance on this series

PROGRAM NOTES I

Department of Music there; he was also the music critic for the Dallas Times Herald, and a program writer for the Dallas Symphony. In addition to his teaching and professional career he worked as the composer and arranger for the WPA Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra and had several premiers from the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the San Antonio Symphony, and Oklahoma City Symphony Orchestra (now the Oklahoma City Philharmonic). His works were performed by an illustrious list of incredible conductors, including Leopold Stokowski, Hans Kindler, Thor Johnson, José Iturbi, Efrem Kurtz, Vladimir Golschmann, Walter Hendl, Victor Kolar, and Fabien Sevitzky. He also worked closely with two former Oklahoma City music directors, Victor Alessandro (1938-1951) and Guy Fraser Harrison (1951-1973). “An American Indian Serenade, op. 21”, was completed by Jack Frederick Kilpatrick in February 1942 in Stilwell, Oklahoma. It is indicative of Kilpatrick’s early style, combining late romantic orchestration techniques with his own personal knowledge of American Indian folksongs, melodies, and musical histories. Written after the popular Indianist movement in American classical music, Kilpatrick’s unique musical voice comes from his combination of Native American and African American Hymns, Blues, Jazz, 1940s American classical scoring, and romantic orchestration techniques.

Cherokee Native Jack Frederick Kilpatrick was born and raised in Stilwell Oklahoma (1915 - 1967). He composed 188 major works, including symphonies, concertos, and choral music, and additionally composed extensively for the screen and stage. Anna Gritts Kilpatrick and her husband Jack Frederick Kilpatrick are well known for their academic writing and work on preserving Cherokee performance traditions, histories, religion, and medicine. However, unknown to most, J. Kilpatrick is also believed to be the first professional American Indian classical composer. In a recent discovery, J. Kilpatrick’s personal manuscript collection and hand-written notes were found at the University of Oklahoma. This discovery opened a window into the mediated intercultural and musical experiences of J. Kilpatrick and the Oklahoma Cherokee during the mid-twentieth century. Throughout his career J. Kilpatrick taught at Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma, the Navy School of Music in Washington D.C., and Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, eventually becoming the chairman of the

In the composer’s own words from the manuscript, ““An American Indian Serenade, op. 21”, is the last of a series of orchestral compositions depicting various phases of Oklahoma Indian life, written by the composer for the Oklahoma Symphony Society during the years 1938-1942. Less objective than the others of the group, it is not so much concerned with presenting the Indian point of view as it is with interpreting it; the derivation of its materials from actual folk tunes is more remote; the spirit of Indian life is celebrated, rather than a particular phase exposed. It is the record of an Indian composer’s awareness of the “strangeness of familiar things”.”

— Notes by Dr. Christina Giacono OU School of Music

Trumpet Concerto Alexander Grigoriyevich Arutiunian First performance on this series Born: September 23, 1900, in Yerevan, Armenia Died: March 28, 2012, in Yerevan Work composed: 1950 Instrumentation: Two flutes (second doubling piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, harp, and strings

Armenia’s 3 million people occupy 11,484 square miles, which is to say that the country is about one-sixth the size of Oklahoma with three-quarters of the population. It has nonetheless maintained its identity through centuries of invasions, partitions, and political upheavals. It was often CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

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

ruled by the Ottoman, Iranian, or Russian empires, and during World War I it underwent what its citizens (and most of the world beyond) refer to as the Armenian Genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. In 1918, Armenia became an autonomous republic, but its independence was short-lived; by 1920, it became part of the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, which two years later was a founding entity of the Soviet Union. In 1936 it gained a measure of separate identity as the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, and it finally achieved its independence again when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991.

Alexander Arutiunian was born in 1920, the year his country’s brief sovereignty slipped away, and he accordingly grew up within the Soviet system. He studied piano and composition at the Komitas Conservatory in his native Yerevan and then at the Moscow Conservatory, after which his career followed the path that was all but mandated in the USSR. He joined the Union of Composers in 1939 and “came of age” as a composer after World War II. He seems to have been still beneath the radar when, in 1948, Stalin’s henchman Andrei Zhdanov imposed the iron will of the state on composers, with figures such as Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and Khachaturian being traumatized by vicious reprimands. When Zhdanov died later that year, control of the country’s composers was shifted to Tikon Khrennikov, who proclaimed that his predecessor’s reforms had ushered Soviet music into a new age. Among the recent works he identified as models for Soviet music was Arutiunian’s Cantata on the Homeland (aka Fatherland Cantata or Motherland), which he had written as his graduation thesis and which was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1949. In her propagandadrenched book Soviet Music (1961), Lyudmila Polyakova

recalled the premiere of this cantata a dozen years earlier, describing it as “dedicated to the Soviet people’s free creative work” and “the best and the first composition of its kind.” “This simple, highly emotional and compositionally harmonious work is the expression of the composer’s bright outlook and his joy of living,” she stated. These characteristics, which made him a model composer for a nation that insisted on artistic optimism as a matter of policy, also infuse the Arutiunian piece that is most often heard today, his Trumpet Concerto of 1950. It steers clear of anything that could be decried as “formalist,” the kiss of death to many Soviet-era compositions. It employs an essentially conservative musical vocabulary and it borrows its structural plan from pre-20th-century models. It is, in short, a concerto in the Classical or Romantic mold, with its movements clearly plotted even if joined together into a single span. In a written response to questions submitted to him in 1998, Arutiunian nonetheless declared, “I tried to avoid the 3-movement structure of the piece and gather [it] in one part, with the middle section under the sourdine [i.e., played with a mute]. Later on, in 1977, a wonderful cadence [i.e. cadenza] was written for the Concerto by a well-known trumpetist, soloist of the Bolshoy theatre, Timofei Dokshizer.” Arutiunian had been inspired to write the work by his friend Tsolak Vartazarian, principal trumpeter of the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra. (Arutiunian later served as that orchestra’s music director, from 1954 to 1990.) But Vartazarian died during World War II, before the concerto was composed (or at least completed). Dokshizer became the first soloist to record the work. The trumpet is in the spotlight right from the opening section (Andante); this minute-long exordium introduces a theme whose melodic contour is infused with a folkish spirit—music of the people. This breaks into the “first movement” proper, an exuberant Allegro energico with an extended, more languorous second section that may call to mind Borodin or Rimsky-Korsakov. The music cuts off abruptly and solo clarinet and bassoon launch the slow movement (Meno mosso), where the now-muted trumpet unfurls long-spanning phrases, touching a bit on melancholy and often duetting with instruments in the orchestra. The finale (Tempo I ) begins with the sudden recollection of the opening theme from the introduction, its melody rising from low in the orchestra. The trumpet soon enters to preside over a high-spirited joyride, culminating in the virtuosic solo cadenza that leads to the orchestra’s concluding chords.

— James M. Keller

PROGRAM NOTES From the Composer Arutiunian included these comments in his 1998 interview about the Trumpet Concerto: The style is, they say, characteristic of my work in general, here no folk melodies have been used. All the intonations and thematic peculiarities serve to make the piece of universal human value, understandable to all people in the world. I think I succeeded in this, considering the popularity of the piece all over the world. … This is purely a concert piece … intended for all kinds of audiences, and does not tell a story of our people (or tells that only to the extent to which I am a representative of the Armenian people). Its aim is for all the listeners to perceive it on their own. It is written in colorful, bright tones, except for the middle section. — JMK

One is truly tempted to heed Schumann’s advice and say nothing about this work, which everyone knows and of which everything has already been said. Probably no work in the orchestral canon has been analyzed and discussed as exhaustively as the first movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. In this music we may imagine that we have caught a glimpse of Beethoven’s state of mind during the four-year period in which he wrote this piece, or at least one facet of the complicated prism of his being. He had tasted more than his fair share of disarray and anguish. As early as October 1802, when he penned his heartrending Heiligenstadt Testament, he was losing his hearing—a great adversity for anyone, but a catastrophe for a musician. In the six years since, his deafness had increased dramatically. What’s more, in March 1808 a raging infection threatened the loss of a finger, which would have spelled further disaster for a composer who was greatly attached to the keyboard. He was surrounded by a nervous political climate; Vienna had been occupied by Napoleon’s troops since November 1805, and the civic uneasiness would erupt into violence within months of the Fifth Symphony’s premiere. On the home front, his brother Caspar Carl had gotten married on May 25, 1806, leaving Beethoven a bit at sea in his affairs, since the brother had essentially served as his secretary until then.

Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 Ludwig van Beethoven First Performance: 10/25/1938 Conductor: Victor Alessandro Last Performance: 10/19/2013 Conductor: Joel Levine Born: Probably December 16, 1770 (since he was baptized on the 17th), in Bonn, Germany Died: March 26, 1827 in Vienna, Austria Work composed: Sketches begun in early 1804, score completed in early 1808 Work premiered: December 22, 1808, at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna Work dedicated: to Prince Franz Joseph Maximilian von Lobkowitz and Count Andreas Kirillovich Razumovsky Instrumentation: Two flutes and piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons and contrabassoon, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, and strings

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

— Robert Schumann

At the end of 1807, he found himself rejected in love, and not for the first time. Whatever confusion these circumstances engendered in Beethoven’s personal life could only have been exacerbated by his habit of constantly moving from one lodging to another. In the course of 1808 alone—the year when the Fifth Symphony was completed and premiered—he hung his hat at no fewer than four addresses. This biographical turmoil did not, however, represent the totality of Beethoven’s life at the time, any more than the CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

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

Fifth Symphony represents the totality of his music. He frequently escaped the hustle and bustle of Vienna to spend time in the suburban parks and countryside surrounding Vienna; that’s where we imagine the composer when we hear his Sixth Symphony, the Pastoral, which was roughly coeval to the Fifth. For that matter, Beethoven wrote his entire Fourth Symphony while he was engaged in his Fifth, and there is little in that score to suggest the troubled soul we spy in the Fifth. We are not necessarily wrong to imagine that biographical overtones reside in Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, but we shouldn’t get too carried away in seeking them, either. When all is said and done, this is a unique work, just as all of Beethoven’s masterpieces are, a vehicle in which the composer explores and works out esthetic challenges that he has set for himself. The all-Beethoven marathon concert at which Beethoven’s Fifth and Sixth Symphonies were premiered was a disaster. (Also on the program: his concert scena “Ah! perfido,” the Gloria and Sanctus from the C-major Mass, the Piano Concerto No. 4, a piano fantasy improvised by Beethoven, and the Choral Fantasy.) Vienna was experiencing a particularly unpleasant cold spell just then, and after expenses for the hall and the musicians, there was not enough money left to apply to such niceties as heat. Sitting through the fourhour concert in the theatre was more than most concertgoers could endure. The composer Johann Friedrich Reichardt, installed next to Beethoven’s patron Prince Lobkowitz in the aristocrat’s box, regretfully reported: “There we held out in the bitterest cold from half-past six until half-past ten, and experienced the fact that one can easily have too much of a good—and even more of a strong—thing.”

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

— James M. Keller

JAMES M. KELLER James M. Keller is the long-time Program Annotator of the New York Philharmonic (where he holds The Leni and Peter May Chair) and the San Francisco Symphony. The Beethoven note previously appeared in the programs of the New York Philharmonic and are used with permission. ©New York Philharmonic.

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OKLAHOMA PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY, INC. ASSOCIATE BOARD Patrick E. Randall, II, President Tim Bunson, Vice President Christa Bentley, Secretary Desiree Singer, Treasurer John Cannon, Membership Chair Peter Harlin, Marketing Chair Nina Barker, Concert Events Chair Kash Barker Lexi Belvis Parker Belvis J. Cruise Berry Chris Cummings Zachary Dumas Kelsey Karper Sam Rainbolt Jay Scrambler Kara Simpson Jennifer Stadler Michael Sweeney Collin Walke Jabee Jackie Zamarippa

THE VOYAGE October 5, 2019 8:00 P.M.

CLASSICS ALEXANDER MICKELTHWATE, CONDUCTOR

BRITTEN ..................... Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Op. 33a

Dawn Sunday Morning Moonlight Storm

DANNA, MYCHAEL ....... Life of Pi Suite*

Bombay Jayashri, vocals Raman Kalyan, flute Poovalur Sriji, kanjira

INTERMISSION

WIJERATNE, DINUK ...... Yatra* TIETZ, DACEY .............. Adventurous Voyage* DEBUSSY .................... La mer: Trois esquisses symphoniques (The Sea: Three Symphonic Sketches)

De l’aube à midi sur La Mer (From Dawn till Noon on the Sea) Jeux de vagues (The Play of the Waves) Dialogue du vent et de La Mer (Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea)

*First performance on this series

THIS CONCERT IS GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY:

Text CLASSICS to 95577 to stay up to date on the latest Philharmonic info. Listen to a broadcast of this performance on KUCO 90.1 FM on Wednesday, October 30 at 8 pm and Saturday, November 2 at 8 am on “Performance Oklahoma”. Simultaneous internet streaming is also available during the broadcast.

GUEST ARTIST C

BOMBAY JAYASHRI Bombay Jayashri Ramnath was born in Kolkata, West Bengal with music writ into her family tree. Granddaughter to R. Vishwanathan–known as Vicha Bhagavatar of Calicut–and daughter to Seethalakshmy and N.N. Subramaniam, both performers and teachers of Carnatic music, her passion and proclivity for the art form was inevitable. Her parents were her first teachers and upon moving to Mumbai, she continued her artistic studies. She learned Carnatic music from Smt. T.R. Balamani, Hindustani music from Pandit Mahavir Jaipurwale and Pandit Ajay Pohankar, and bharatnatyam dance from Guru Mahalingam Pillai and Guru Kalyanasundaram Pillai of Sri Rajarajeshwari Bharata Natya Kala Mandir. In 1989, she moved to Chennai to pursue advanced training in Carnatic music under the mentorship of violin maestro Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman. During this time, she also studied the veena under G.N. Dandapani Iyer. Today, Jayashri is among the finest and most well-known voices in the Carnatic realm with a career spanning over thirty years. Her performances cross the breadth of India and close to twenty other countries. Prominent venues include Rashtrapathi Bhavan, the National Centre for Performing Arts, the Sydney Opera House, and Carnegie Hall, where she historically became the second ever Carnatic musician to perform after M.S. Subbulakshmi. Jayashri is one of those rare musicians of today who exhibit the ability to honor the deep-rooted traditions of the Carnatic style and yet, innovate with it through peerless mastery. She lifts Carnatic music to soaring new heights through a vast and varied range of productions, frequently collaborating with other artists and breaking boundaries of style, language, artistic form, and even culture. She has performed alongside her Carnatic peers, done Jugalbandhis with Hindustani musicians, even collaborated with well-known dancers. She has brought traditional Indian music to an international audience through partnerships with world artists like Hisham Abbas and Eero Hämeenniemi. In 2008, she featured in the first ever Carnatic music film ‘Margazhi Ragam’, which received high acclaim. Jayashri is also a composer, having written for musicals, films, stage productions, and her own albums. The most well-known among them, perhaps, is ‘Pi’s Lullaby’, written and performed for Ang Lee’s movie ‘Life of Pi’. The song

proceeded to garner a nomination in the Best Original Song category at the 2012 Academy Awards. Jayashri is a modern day stalwart in the realm of traditional Indian music, but she is more than her performances and artistic creations. She is a teacher, having conducted classes and workshops in schools and universities across the nation, serving on the executive board of the Sangeet Natak Academy and as a Nana Shirgaokar Visiting Research Professor for traditional music at Goa University. She, alongside T.M. Krishna and YACM, conceptualized and founded ‘Svanubhava’, an annual week-long music festival in Chennai aimed at students of music with the view that classical music should reach a wider crosssection of individuals who seek to learn it. Many of her private students are going on to pursue careers in music, carrying on the traditions of Carnatic music into the next generation. She co-wrote two books, both tributes to eminent specialists and masters in the realm of Carnatic music: Professor Sambamoorthy: The Visionary Musicologist with Sanjay Subrahmanyam and T.M. Krishna, and Voices Within with T.M. Krishna and Mythili Chandrasekar. She founded the HITHAM Trust in 2014, with which she provides musical training to over 300 school children in Manjakudi’s Swami Dayananda Saraswati’s Educational Institutions in Thillaisthanam and Tiruvarur. She has worked closely with institutions in Bangalore and Chennai that deal in the realm of autism and associated learning and cognitive disabilities. Many of her concerts are fundraisers for a vast range of social causes, from cancer care to multiple sclerosis to the rehabilitation of homeless and poverty-stricken women. Bombay Jayashri Ramnath occupies a graceful middle ground between the traditions of the past and the protean realm of today, where styles advance at the blink of an eye and heritage runs the risk of being forgotten. Upon that ground she stands, she creates, and she sustains her ageold art form, bending and shaping it without ever losing its identity. Her legacy is a monumental thing, and upon it she continues to build.

GUEST ARTIST

RAMAN KALYAN

Breathing magical melodies on the Indian bamboo flute, Flute virtuoso Raman Kalyan is one of the leading flautists in the Carnatic style of music. Raman with his unique style has captivated audiences globally. Raman has released over 80 CDs and many DVDs. His CD, Music for Deep Meditation reached the # 1 spot on the apple I tunes world music charts & remained in the top 50 albums for more than 6 months. Raman has also been featured as guest artist in more than 350 commercial recordings & Kannada Movies. Raman is a top ranking artist for the All India Radio and Doordarshan. Apart from being a soloist, Raman has been a successful composer and has scored music for many audio /video albums, Dance Dramas and theatre productions. Raman won the “Best Flautist Award” from Madras Music Academy twice for his concert during December Music Festival 2009 & 2013. Raman is a featured artist in the “Miles from India” tour & performs with legends Glen Velez (Grammy Winner) Dave Liebman (Grammy Winner),

Mandolin Shrinivas, Selvaganesh (Remember Shakti), Darryl Jones (Rolling Stones), John Beasley (Finding Nemo), and has performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival, San Francisco Jazz Festival & Miles from India fest in Paris. Raman has performed with Indian music Legends like Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, Dr. N. Ramani, Pt Vishwamohan Bhatt (Grammy Winner), Ustad Shahid Pervez, Vikku Vinaykram (Grammy Winner) Pt Anindo Chatterjee, Nayan Ghosh, A.K Palanivel and has also been touring as a special guest with the legendary singer and Guinness record holder K.J Yesudas. Raman’s accompaniment for Martha Graham’s documentary “The Flute of Krishna” has been appreciated globally and his meditation music you tube videos have been very popular with more than 312,000 views. Raman is the Founder President of Indo American Academy of Classical Music, an organization dedicated to propagate the Classical music. Raman, with the mission to promote Carnatic music education founded www.carnaticlessons.com which is very popular globally with thousands of subscribers. Raman has also launched and app for Carnatic lessons which is available as a free download and the links are below. Pl search for Carnatic Lessons on the App Store Carnatic lessons app on iOS @ App Store. Raman is also the Founder President of the Na-mama foundation, a non-profit organization to do charity through arts, with a vision to provide excellence in art education. He also co-founded the Education for Excellence LLC, which provides enrichment and excellence in education.

POOVALUR SRIJI recorded with music from genre such as; western classical, jazz, big band, country music, and varied percussion ensembles. Poovalur has composed several pieces portraying the South Indian idioms. Poovalur has received several awards from leading institutions and the album Tabula Rasa, where he composed and performed with Bela Fleck, V.M. Bhatt and J.P. Chen was nominated for a Grammy. He is the founding member of the group ‘Brahmah’. Poovalur Sriji is a prolific composer, performer, educator, and an ‘A’ TOP grade artist recognized by All India Radio. He studied South Indian Classical music from his father P.A. Venkataraman. For over four decades Poovalur has performed with the leading artist from both South and North Indian Classical traditions, since his move to the United States Poovalur has performed and

Poovalur was invited to compose music for the Taipei Chinese Orchestra by the Taiwanese Government, commissioned a piece entitled “Maritime Silk Road”. He founded and directs the ‘SNEW’ and the ‘South Indian Cross Cultural Ensemble’. He is currently a faculty member at the University of North Texas. He has taught at CalArts and the San Diego State University.

PROGRAM NOTES

Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Op. 33a Benjamin Britten Sole performance: 10/6/2012 Conductor: Joel Levine Born: November 22, 1913, in Lowestoft, Suffolk, England Died: December 4, 1976, in Aldeburgh, Suffolk Work composed: January 1944 through February 1945 Work premiered: The opera Peter Grimes was first given on June 7, 1945, at Sadler’s Wells Opera Theatre, London, with Reginald Goodall conducting. The Four Sea Interludes were presented a week later, on June 13, 1945, by the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Cheltenham Festival, with the composer conducting. Instrumentation: Two flutes (doubling piccolos), two oboes, two clarinets (second doubling E-flat clarinet), two bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, side drum, bass drum, cymbals, tam-tam, xylophone, bells in E-flat and B-flat, tambourine, harp, and strings

of the people involved were left-wing pacifists and several were as close to being “openly gay” as was possible at the time. Britten promptly began developing in both directions. In March 1937, he met a young tenor named Peter Pears, and within a year they had moved in together, beginning a spousal relationship that lasted to the end of Britten’s life. (Following the death of Britten—by then Lord Britten of Aldeburgh—Queen Elizabeth II sent a formal letter of condolence to Pears, apparently the first such acknowledgment ever rendered by the British Royals.) In 1939 they left for America to wait out the war, but they returned to England in 1942 and were granted status as conscientious objectors, leaving them to pursue their musical projects. While in the United States, Britten composed his first opera, Paul Bunyan, a collaboration with the similarly expatriate Auden; it was produced at Columbia University in 1941. Though a far cry from Britten’s ensuing operas, it represented an important first step toward the lyric stage. Also during his American years he became engrossed in the works of the British poet George Crabbe (1754-1832), inspired in that direction by a critical article E.M. Forster had recently published. Britten and Pears grew fixated on Crabbe’s lengthy poem “The Borough,” and together they extracted from it the tale of Peter Grimes, a rough and eccentric East Anglian fisherman who abused his apprentices, lost his sanity, and died. They presented the scenario to Isherwood, who was certain it wouldn’t work as an opera and accordingly declined the offer to serve as librettist. They then approached Slater, another Film Unit colleague, and he accepted the challenge. Slater’s libretto was in place by the end of 1942 and Britten undertook the composition between January 1944 and February 1945. At the end of three years’ work, Peter Grimes emerged as a compelling tale bursting with what would become “Brittenesque” fingerprints: sympathetic portrayal of a social outcast, undertones of sexual ambiguity and abuse, a narrative exposing intolerant communities given to scapegoating, and a leading tenor part crafted specifically for Pears.

Although Benjamin Britten was an instrumentalist, having been trained as a string player and excelling especially as a pianist, he is most acclaimed in posterity for his vocal compositions. Numerous vocal works issued from his pen during his youthful private studies with Frank Bridge and his composition classes under John Ireland at London’s Royal College of Music. Having completed his conservatory curriculum and garnered some notable honors to serve as recommendations, Britten set about earning a living through his music. To this end, he found a job as a composer in the General Post Office Film Unit, writing film scores for such documentaries as The King’s Stamp and Night Mail. This proved to be not just gainful employment but also an esthetic experience far more decisive than one might have predicted. The GPO Film Unit, it turned out, was a hotbed of personal escapade and professional creativity that also included the poet W.H. Auden (the unit’s kingpin) and such other writers as Christopher Isherwood and Montagu Slater. Many

The Sadler’s Wells Opera Company in London mounted the premiere under trying circumstances, with opening night (June 7, 1945) following VE Day by less than a month. The chorus and orchestra approached open rebellion over what they considered the inordinate difficulties of the music, but the players were reportedly won over at their first rehearsal of the Sea Interludes. Six of these interludes occur in the opera, separating each of the piece’s seven scenes, and they serve as a recurrent reminder of the critical role that the sea plays in the lives of the characters who populate this wretched borough. The interludes depict the sea in various times or “moods”: sequentially, “Dawn,” “Storm,” “Sunday Morning,” “Passacaglia,” “Moonlight,” and untitled Interlude VI. Britten extracted four of them—now ordered “Dawn,” “Sunday Morning,” “Moonlight,” “Storm”—and published them separately as his Four Sea Interludes, a testimony to his penchant for expressive, often haunting orchestration.

— James M. Keller

PROGRAM NOTES The Poetry of Dawn Although not explicitly cited in the libretto or score of Peter Grimes, scholars have suggested that this passage from George Crabbe’s “The Borough” corresponds to the moment depicted by the “Dawn” Interlude:

Instrumentation: Three flutes (third doubling piccolo and alto flute), three oboes (third doubling English horn), three clarinets (third doubling bass clarinet), three bassoons (third doubling contrabassoon), four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, vibraphone, shaker, metal shaker, crotales, woodblocks, marimba, glockenspiel, tabla (small hand drum), tam-tam, suspended cymbal, bass drum, small bass drum, mark tree, sizzle cymbal, surdo (Brazilian bass drum), accordion, harp, celesta, and strings; also a featured solo vocalist, tampura (a plucked instrument of the lute family), bansuri (side-blown flute), and kanjira (small frame drum)

… Various and vast, sublime in all its forms, When lull’d by zephyrs, or when roused by storms, Its colours changing, when from clouds and sun Shades after shades upon the surface run; Embrown’d and horrid now, and now serene, In limpid blue, and evanescent green; And oft the foggy banks on ocean lie, Lift the fair sail, and cheat th’experienced eye. —JMK

The Poetry of the Storm Here is a section of George Crabbe’s poetical description of the stormy sea in “The Borough”: All where the eye delights, yet dreads to roam, The breaking billows cast the flying foam Upon the billows rising—all the deep Is restless change; the waves so swell’d and steep, Breaking and sinking, and the sunken swells, Nor one, one moment, in its station dwells: But nearer land you may the billows trace, As if contending in their watery chase; May watch the mightiest till the shoal they reach, Then break and hurry to their utmost stretch; Curl’d as they come, they strike with furious force, And then re-flowing, take their grating course, Raking the rounded flints, which ages past Roll’d by their rage, and shall to ages last. —JMK

Life of Pi Suite Mychael Danna First performance on this series Born: September 20, 1958, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Work composed: The film score for Life of Pi in 2009; the Life of Pi Suite in 2017 on commission from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Peter Oundjian Music Director, with financial support from the Government of Canada for performances during the 150th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada (September 2017) Work premiered: The Suite was first performed September 19, 2017, at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, with Peter Oundjian conducting the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Mychael Danna, a leading composer of the film industry, was schooled at the University of Toronto, where he was particularly impassioned by his exposure to early music and non-Western musics. Both left a mark on his eventual film scores. In 1985, he was honored as the first recipient of his university’s Glenn Gould Composition Award. Two years later, he wrote his first soundtrack for a feature film, Family Viewing. It was directed by the Canadian film-maker Atom Egoyan, and it launched a partnership that has endured ever since. Danna provided scores for all ensuing Egoyan films, including such acclaimed releases as Speaking Parts (1989), The Sweet Hereafter (1997), Felicia’s Journey (1999), Ararat (2002), and The Captive (2014). He has now composed more than ninety scores for films or television series, including 13 written jointly with his younger brother, Jeff Danna. His music has provided the underpinning for movies by many noted directors, including Terry Gilliam (Tideland, 2005; The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, 2009, both in collaboration with brother Jeff), James Mangold (Girl, Interrupted, 1999), Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding, 2001; Vanity Fair, 2004), Bennett Miller (Capote, 2005; Moneyball, 2011), and Billy Ray (Shattered Glass, 2003; Breach, 2007). His background score for Deepa Mehta’s Water (2005) was awarded the Genie Award by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. Among other honors he has tallied are a Grammy nomination for Little Miss Sunshine (2006, a nomination shared with the band DeVotchKa) and an Emmy for OutstandCONTINUED ON PAGE 36

PROGRAM NOTES

ing Composition for an episode of the miniseries World Without End (2013). In 2016, he was named Composer of the Year in the Hollywood Film Awards, in recognition of his music for Storks, directed by Brad Lewis and Nicholas Stoller, and Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, directed by Ang Lee.

From Film to Concert Suite For the Life of Pi Suite, Mychael Danna worked together 13 musical episodes from the film score (played without separation), tracing the general contour of the film itself (only “God Storm” and “Tiger Training” are repositioned from their order in the film) and employing a fluent mixture of Indian and Western musical elements: 1. Pi’s Lullaby—A gentle evocation of the title character, co-composed with singer Bombay Jayashri Ramnath, to a Tamil text; 2. Piscine Molitor (much faster)—A lilting waltz yields to episodes of varying character featuring bansuri and vocalist, with everything halting on a grand pause; 3. Meeting Krishna (much slower)—A dreamy evocation for the singer and bansuri builds as orchestral instruments enter in a crescendo; 4. Christ in the Mountains (much faster)—A comforting, long-spanning melody; 5. Leaving India (much slower)—A departure marked by melancholy, thanks in part to the oboe and other woodwinds; 6. The Deepest Spot on Earth (faster)—Brasses lurk in the ocean depths; 7. “Tsimtsum” (slower)—The freighter’s name is a reference to the Jewish Kabbalah, and the music evokes stasis within the rolling waves; 8. Set Your House in Order (faster)—Vigorous melodies on the kanjira are prominent in this section; 9. Skinny Vegetarian Boy (faster)—It extends the spirit of the preceding; 10. God Storm (slower)—Solo trumpet heralds the onset of the powerful storm; 11. Tiger Training (faster)—A vocal section, sung gently; 12. Back to the World (slower)—A wondrous arrival on terra firma, filled with peaceful introspection and long-held, slow-moving chords; 13. Coda (faster)—The vocalist initiates this closing section with a recollection of the opening Lullaby, and the suite concludes in quietude. —JMK

“The most gratifying filmmaking experiences,” Danna said, “are ones that take effort to unpeel the layers surrounding the heart of the story, and to find the best musical expression of that heart.” Certainly the films of Ang Lee fall in the category. The first Lee pictures for which Danna provided the scores were the suburban drama The Ice Storm (1997) and the Civil War western Ride with the Devil (1999). By 2009, both Lee and Danna were stars of their respective fields of direction and film composition, and they collaborated again on the immensely successful Life of Pi, based on a novel by Yann Martel. The movie is a tale within a tale. A novelist interviews Piscine Molitor (“Pi”) Patel, of a zoo-keeping family in India, who tells the writer a story that strains credibility. Pi relates that the freighter Tsimtsum sank in the Pacific, over the Mariana Trench, while transporting his family and their menagerie from India to Canada. The lone human survivor, Pi found himself in a lifeboat along with four animals. Nature takes its course until only Pi and a tiger remain. They have various strange adventures and eventually wash ashore in Mexico. Insurance inspectors question him to determine details about the shipwreck. When they refuse to believe his story, he refashions it, substituting supposed human survivors for the animals. When the novelist presses Pi to say which version of the story is true, Pi shrugs that it makes no difference, since he has lost his family either way. The novelist says that he would go with the animal version. When the insurance report is produced, it turns out that the inspectors preferred that one, too. It is a tale that invites questions. Pi spends his journey confronting a number of them, wrestling with such issues as belief in God and the very meaning of life. “Life of Pi,” said novelist Martel, “is about one set of facts but with different stories mapping over those facts.” The film earned 11 Academy Award nominations and won four—for best director, cinematography, visual effects, and original score. Danna’s music was also recognized with a Golden Globe Award, BMI Film & TV Award, and World Soundtrack Award.

— James M. Keller

Yatra Dinuk Wijeratne First performance on this series Born: 1971, in Sri Lanka Currently residing: in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Work composed: 2016, on commission from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Nova Scotia Work premiered: February 1, 2017, in Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto, with Stéphane Denève conducting the Toronto Symphony Orchestra

Although he was born in Sri Lanka, Dinuk Wijeratne grew up in Dubai, where he studied at Dubai College before heading off for advanced musical work at the Royal Northern College

PROGRAM NOTES Onelight Theatre. In the symphonic realm, he has written for many orchestras of note, including those of Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Windsor, Victoria, Thunder Bay, Buffalo, Fresno, Asheville, and KwaZulu Natal (in South Africa). He has had an especially fruitful association with Symphony Nova Scotia, which in 2005 named him to a three-year term as resident conductor. In 2016, he became that orchestra’s composer-in-residence, making him the first person to ever serve as both a conductor-in-residence and a composer-inresidence for a single Canadian orchestra. In Halifax, he is also music director of the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra (a position he has held since 2006) and lectures at Dalhousie University and Nova Scotia Community College.

of Music in Manchester, England. There he received the Sir John Manduell Prize, the school’s highest student honor. He then enrolled at The Juilliard School in New York to study composition under John Corigliano and the Mannes College of Music (also in New York) to pursue advanced conducting experience; and he later undertook doctoral studies with composer Christos Hatzis at the University of Toronto. He first performed at Carnegie Hall in 2004 (as a conductor, composer, and pianist) with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, and returned in 2009 in concert with tabla virtuoso Zakir Husseim. That year he also released his debut album, Complex Stories, Simple Sounds, with clarinetist Kinan Azmeh. Performing engagements have taken him to such far-flung venues at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; Lincoln Center in New York; Opéra Bastille in Paris; and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, in addition to various sites in Sri Lanka, Japan, and the Middle East. He was featured in the 2016 film What Would Beethoven Do?, a documentary that considers how the world of concert music is employing creativity and innovation. Wijeratne’s music embraces influences from diverse sources, reflecting the sounds of jazz, various world musics, and modern pop in addition to traditional vocabularies of Western classical music. He shows an uncanny ability to absorb musical inspiration from any place and any style. Many of his pieces reside in a place where formal composition overlaps with improvisation. He often composes for specific musicians or ensembles with which he collaborates as a performer. These have included many solo performers as well as such groups as the Afiara Quartet, Cecilia String Quartet, Gryphon Trio, Sanctuary Trio, Apollo Saxophone Quartet, TorQ Percussion, 4-Mality Percussion Quartet, Kathak Ensemble & Friends, New Juilliard Ensemble, and

His work has been recognized through various honors. His Two Pop Songs on Antique Poems, commissioned by the Afiara Quartet, received 2016 Classical Composition of the Year awards from two organizations: the JUNO (the annual accolade of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, so effectively the Canadian equivalent of the Grammy awards) and the ECMA (East Coast Music Award). In 2016, he was also awarded the prestigious Jan V. Matejcek Award by SOCAN (The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, analogous to ASCAP in the United States). Wijeratne’s Yatra is an energetic curtain-raiser, officially two minutes long but in practice running perhaps 20 seconds longer than that; in any case, stay focused because it will be gone before you know it. The title is a Sanskrit word meaning “spiritual journey,” which suggests that the piece inhabits some of the same intellectual ground as Danna’s Life of Pi Suite. In the composer’s eclectic output, this falls very much at the “symphonic concert piece” end of the spectrum. Nonetheless, its melodies may suggest far-flung influences; its moto perpetuo theme twists about at breakneck speed, inviting comparison with certain musics of India. As a purely symphonic work, it might also be approached as a brilliant exercise in orchestration in which the ensemble’s various instruments and sections all contribute spotlighted moments before the piece surprisingly concludes in a fade-out ending.

— James M. Keller

Adventurous Voyage Dacey Tietz First performance on this series Dacey Tietz is a student musician from Oklahoma City. She began playing the double bass as a third grader at Putnam Heights Elementary when she enrolled in El Sistema Oklahoma. She debuted her first composition, Pioneer’s Story, at the inaugural El Sistema Oklahoma spring concert in 2014 at the conclusion of her third grade year. Since that time, Dacey has continued to be an active part of El Sistema Oklahoma and currently serves on the leadership council. CONTINUED ON PAGE 38

PROGRAM NOTES

Dacey is also an active part of the central Oklahoma student musician community where she has played in the Belle Isle Enterprise Middle School 7th and 8th grade orchestras, AllCity Student Orchestra (7th and 8th grade), and North Central Honor Orchestra (7th and 8th grade).

a lively spirit, first played by the violins and then switched to the high winds during its first rendition. The moving notes during each upbeat push the attention onto the start of the next measure, keeping the tune running swiftly. Once picked up by the low winds and strings, the theme takes on a heftier tone, but this variation is far from cumbersome; the slight syncopation in the rhythm keeps the melody just as fresh as before. The second theme, in contrast to the first, focuses on the assortment of challenges the travelers face on their journey. The sound of the orchestra drops to a murmur, once again creating a nervous, uncertain atmosphere. Moments later, the brass section blares with determination, expressing the toil and eventual triumph of the travelers. Similar to the previous motif, the lower instruments echo a variation of the original theme. However, the explorers didn’t find the same success as before, for the problem at hand was much bigger than they. Instead of coming to a neat conclusion, the variation builds into a familiar idea: the second theme from the very beginning.

In August 2019, Dacey entered 9th grade at Classen School of Advanced Studies where she is a strings major in the Visual and Performing Arts program. Some of her interests include musical theater, creative story writing, and hanging out with friends. She lives in Oklahoma City with her parents, younger sister, and three younger brothers.

Adventurous Voyage tells the tale of a crew of swashbuckling explorers during their first escapade at sea. At the beginning of the piece, the slow-going tempo and hushed dynamics create a sense of caution and uncertainty, similar to that felt by the travelers once they boarded their ship. The repetitive triplet pattern in the violins serves as an enchanting complement to the overarching flute solo. Easily the highlight of the two opening themes, the flute’s poetic sound conveys a longing for the mysteries of the journey ahead. As the introduction gradually comes to a close, the transition segment then leaps into action. Although it only lasts for a few measures, the transition sets the stage for the next two motifs. The tempo immediately livens, and the melody once carried by the flute, overlaps itself in the wind and percussion sections. The low strings rumble in the background, providing a subtle hint of dissonance. Finally, the violins return with a string of triplets, swinging straight into the first of the two new themes. The middle portion of the piece expresses strength and vigor, almost like that of a sea shanty. The first motif focuses on the rush of excitement in each of the explorers as they begin to undergo life at sea. The melody starts off with

In the next chapter of the journey, Adventurous Voyage spotlights key moments such as when the tune once carried by the flute is taken on by the horn with the accompaniment of the low winds creating a more somber tone. The tune is then passed over to the flute and oboe, and the pattern repeats itself just as it did in the first transition. This quiet melancholy moment is meant to be reflective of the quiet before the storm that is the bass credenza. As the storm brews on the horizon, the bass’s resonant sound signifies the terror felt by our travelers as they face the ominous dangers ahead. This section also gives a nod to the composer’s affection for her beloved bass. After another string of rising and falling triplets, the penetrating sound of the oboe creates a moment of clarity as the captain of the ship formulates his courageous plan to save his ship, his crew, and his own life. The orchestra swells as the crew wrestles the ship free from the storm’s wrath, the climactic moment for our travelers and for this piece. Inspired by the universal truth that part of the human experience includes the brave choice to leave behind the comfortable and set forth on that first treacherous journey into the unknown, Adventurous Voyage concludes with a grand crescendo as the high strings and winds return as a final reminder of the triplet theme from the beginning. Throughout this piece, the juxtaposition of whimsical, wind-blown measures against moments that swirl into darkened depths remind each of us that a life lived in the safety of the harbor pales in comparison to the richness offered to us by life if only we are willing to take the first step and board the ship headed for adventures ahead.

— Notes by the composer, Dacey Tietz

PROGRAM NOTES La mer: Trois esquisses symphoniques (The Sea: Three Symphonic Sketches) Claude Debussy Born: August 22, 1862, in St. Germain-en-Laye, just outside Paris, France Died: March 25, 1918, in Paris Work composed: Begun Summer 1903; rough draft completed March 5, 1905, at 6 o’clock in the evening; orchestration completed that summer. Debussy continued to tinker with details for years, completing most of his revisions in 1910. Work premiered: October 15, 1905, in Paris, with Camille Chevillard conducting the orchestra of the Concerts Lamoureux Dedicated to: Jacques Durand, Debussy’s publisher Instrumentation: Two flutes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets, three bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, two cornets à pistons, three trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tam-tam, glockenspiel (or celesta), two harps, and strings

A Bumpy Reception La mer was not successful at its premiere, due at least partly to what appears to have been a blockish interpretation at odds with the piece’s inherent lyricism. Even Pierre Lalo, the influential critic of Le temps and general supporter of Debussy’s music, was exasperated after the first hearing. “For the first time,” he wrote, “listening to a descriptive work by Debussy, I have the impression of standing, not in front of nature, but in front of a reproduction of nature; a wonderfully refined, ingenious, and carefully composed reproduction, but a reproduction none the less. … I do not hear, I do not see, I do not smell the sea.” The composer Paul Dukas leapt to Debussy’s defense, arguing that it didn’t matter a whit what Lalo heard, saw, or smelled so long as Debussy was true to his own impressions of the sea. Debussy responded to the critic with supreme grace in a letter beginning with the salutation “Mon cher ami”: “There’s no problem in your not liking La mer and I’ve no intention of complaining about it. I shall perhaps suffer regret that you haven’t understood me and astonishment at finding you (although one such occasion doesn’t establish a habit) in agreement with your fellow music critics. … I love the sea and I’ve listened to it with the passionate respect it deserves. If I’ve been inaccurate in taking down what it dictated to me, that is no concern of yours or mine.” — JMK

“You are perhaps unaware that I was intended for the noble career of a sailor and have only deviated from that path thanks to the quirk of fate.” So wrote Claude Debussy to his friend and fellow composer André Messager on September 12, 1903, by which time he had been at work for about a month on the piece that would grow into La mer. His father, an ex-Navy man who ran a china shop, had thought that the Navy, or perhaps merchant seamanship, would be a splendid goal for his first-born son. But then the china shop went out of business and Debussy père got into trouble fighting for the Paris Commune and was sentenced to four years in prison. The term was suspended after he served a year, but as part of the deal he relinquished his civil rights. Under the circumstances, it was generally agreed that young Claude should be moved to a less traumatized home; and so he was taken in by a friend of the family who happened to be the mother-in-law of the poet Paul Verlaine. She had no interest in sending her charge off to maritime pursuits and instead steered him toward the Paris Conservatoire.

“Even so,” Debussy continued to Messager, “I’ve retained a sincere devotion to the sea. To which you’ll reply that the Atlantic doesn’t exactly wash the foothills of Burgundy…! And that the result could be one of those hack landscapes done in the studio! But I have innumerable memories, and those, in my view, are worth more than a reality which, charming as it may be, tends to weigh too heavily on the imagination.” He was ensconced just then at his in-laws’ house in the town of Bichain on the western fringe of Burgundy. And the piece he was writing—a piece born of the memory rather than a work of plein-air tone-painting—comprised, as he described it in the same letter, “three symphonic sketches entitled: 1. ‘mer belle aux îles Sanguinaires’ [‘Beautiful Sea at the Sanguinaire Islands’]; 2. ‘jeux de vagues’ [‘The Play of the Waves’]; 3. ‘le vent fait danser La Mer’ [‘The Wind Makes the Sea Dance’]; the whole to be called La mer [The Sea]. Only the second of the movement titles would stick as Debussy worked on his symphonic sketches over the next two years. The Sanguinaire Islands (a granitic archipelago near the entrance to the Gulf of Ajaccio in Corsica—which, by the way, Debussy never visited) CONTINUED ON PAGE 40

PROGRAM NOTES

would give way to the more general description “From Dawn till Noon on the Sea,” and “The Wind Makes the Sea Dance” would also move away from the specific to become “Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea.” A famous sea image from the world of art also stimulated Debussy: the much-reproduced Hokusai woodblock print “The Hollow of the Wave off Kanagawa,” widely known as simply “The Wave.” Recalling the composer’s house on the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne in Paris, Jacques Durand (his publisher) wrote that in the study one found “a certain colored engraving by Hokusai, representing the curl of a giant wave. Debussy was particularly enamored of this wave. It inspired him while he was composing La mer, and he asked us to reproduce it on the cover of the printed score.” Which Durand did. When the composer titled the first movement “From Dawn till Noon on the Sea” he was leaving the door open to all manner of clever ripostes. The Boston critic Louis Elson, encountering the piece in 1907, jumped into the breach exclaiming that he “feared we were to have a movement seven hours long. It was not so long, but it was terrible while it lasted.” The wry but beneficent Erik Satie was kinder and wittier in his assessment; after the premiere, he exclaimed to Debussy, “Ah, my dear friend, there’s one particular moment that I found stunning, between half past ten and a quarter to eleven!”

JAMES M. KELLER James M. Keller is the longtime Program Annotator of the New York Philharmonic (where he holds The Leni and Peter May Chair) and the San Francisco Symphony. The Britten and Debussy notes previously appeared in the programs of the New York Philharmonic and are used with permission. ©New York Philharmonic.

— James M. Keller

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OKLAHOMA CITY PHILHARMONIC FOUNDATION PROVIDING LEADERSHIP AND ANNUAL SUPPORT The Oklahoma City Philharmonic Foundation was established to provide leadership and endowment expertise to help ensure a stable financial base for orchestral music and musical excellence in Oklahoma City for generations to come. Distributions from the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Foundation provide a meaningful and secure source of annual income for the Philharmonic’s operations, continually confirming the importance of endowment in an organization’s long-range planning and overall success. Current officers and directors of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Foundation are: OFFICERS Michael E. Joseph President Jean Ann Hartsuck Vice President Douglas J. Stussi Treasurer Penny M. McCaleb Secretary DIRECTORS Steven C. Agee Patrick B. Alexander J. Edward Barth L. Joe Bradley Teresa Cooper T.A. Dearmon Paul Dudman Thomas J. Enis Misha Gorkuscha Jane B. Harlow Brent Hart Harrison Levy, Jr. Duke R. Ligon Michael J. Milligan Richard L. Sias Richard Tannenbaum Charles E. Wiggin

ITALIANNovember GEMS 2, 2019 8:00 P.M.

CLASSICS BENJAMIN SCHMID, VIOLIN ALEXANDER MICKELTHWATE, CONDUCTOR

MAZZOLI ............. Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres)* PAGANINI ............ Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor, Op. 7 (La clochette; La campanella)

Allegro maestoso Adagio Rondo (La Campanella)

Benjamin Schmid, violin

INTERMISSION

RESPIGHI ............ Fontane di Roma (Fountains of Rome)

La Fontana di Valle Giulia all’alba (The Valle Giulia Fountain at Dawn) La Fontana di Tritone al mattino (The Triton Fountain in the Morning) La Fontana di Trevi al meriggio (The Trevi Fountain at Mid-day) La Fontana de Villa Medici al tramonto (The Villa Medici Fountain at Dusk)

MORRICONE ......... “Gabriel’s Oboe,” from The Mission* VERDI .................. Te Deum

Autumn West, soprano Canterbury Voices, Randi von Ellefson, Artistic Director Oklahoma City University Chamber Choir, Randi von Ellefson, Conductor Oklahoma City University’s University Singers, Tony Gonzalez, Conductor

See page 47 for Latin to English translations

*First performance on this series

THIS CONCERT IS GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY:

RENATE AND CHUCK WIGGIN

Text CLASSICS to 95577 to stay up to date on the latest Philharmonic info. Listen to a broadcast of this performance on KUCO 90.1 FM on Wednesday, November 27 at 8 pm and Saturday, November 30 at 8 am on “Performance Oklahoma”. Simultaneous internet streaming is also available during the broadcast.

GUEST ARTIST C

BENJAMIN SCHMID One of the most versatile of today’s violinists, Benjamin Schmid’s particular strength lies in his exceptionally wide repertoire and very personal style. Viennese-born violinist Benjamin Schmid has a wide-ranging repertoire, specializing in the works of Austrian composers including Berg, Goldmark, Korngold, Kreisler, Muthspiel, Schoenberg and Webern. With pianist Ariane Haering, he has also focused on Mozart, and they have edited several sonatas and previously unpublished fragments for G. Henle Verlag. He also has a successful career in jazz and regularly presents his Hommage à Grappelli program at jazz venues and classical concert halls alike. Highlights of the 2019-2020 season include appearances with the Indianapolis and Winnipeg Symphony orchestras, MDRSinfonie orchester Leipzig and Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès, and he returns to the Brucknerhaus Linz with his Benjamin Schmid Jazz Quartet. He has a close relationship with the Wiener Philharmoniker and notable collaborations include the opening concert of the Salzburger Festspiele as well as a performances at Vienna Musikverein and, in 2011, at Schloss Schönbrunn with the Paganini-Kreisler Concerto under the baton of Valery Gergiev, which was broadcast in over 60 countries and released on CD and DVD by Deutsche Grammophon. In Asia, he has appeared with the New Japan Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony and at the Hong Kong Festival among others. He is also a frequent guest at the major European chamber music festivals Benjamin Schmid has a discography of over 40 albums, which have won critical acclaim and awards including the ECHO

Klassik, Gramophone Editor’s Choice and Strad Selection. His recording of Ligeti’s Violin Concerto was named Record of the Month by Gramophone magazine, and his album of Wolf-Ferrari’s Violin Concerto was nominated for the Vierteljährespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. Benjamin Schmid won the Carl Flesch International Competition in 1992, where he also received the Mozart, Beethoven and Audience prizes. He holds a professorship at the Mozarteum Salzburg and teaches masterclasses at Hochschule der Künste Bern. He was a member of the jury at the 2017 ARD International Music Competition for violin, and Chairman of the Jury at the 2019 International Leopold Mozart Violin Competition. Benjamin Schmid plays the “ex-Viotti” Stradivarius of 1718, provided to him by the Österreichische National Bank. Regular collaborations include with conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Christoph von Dohnányi, Riccardo Chailly, Yuri Temirkanov, John Storgårds and Hannu Lintu, and with orchestras including the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Concerto Köln. US engagements have included the Baltimore and Houston Symphony orchestras, Washington National Symphony Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic and Naples Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra and The Curtis Institute of Music orchestra.

GUEST ARTIST

AUTUMN WEST Soprano Autumn West has been praised for her “golden shimmer” and noted as a musician with “extraordinary detail and elevation”. Her professional engagements have seen her perform with Cincinnati Opera, Painted Sky Opera, the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Canterbury Voices, Sugar Creek Opera, Grant Park Music Festival, Cincinnati Chamber Opera, Queen City Opera, Tactus Chamber Orchestra and Vocal Ensemble, the Kemp Concert Series, the Carnegie Theater of Covington, Kentucky, and the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin from Moscow, among others. Her 2018-2019 season included a return to Painted Sky Opera in Trouble in Tahiti and a staging of Bernstein’s Arias and Barcarolles, faculty recitals at Oklahoma City University, an appearance with the Tactus Vocal Ensemble, soprano soloist in Craig Hella Johnson’s

Considering Matthew Shepard with the Interlochen Festival Chorus and soprano soloist with the Interlochen World Youth Wind Symphony, as well as a return to the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and Canterbury Voices as soprano soloist in the Goossens arrangement of Handel’s Messiah. In addition to her performing, West is a committed music educator, serving on as Assistant Professor of Voice at the Wanda Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University. She also serves on the voice faculty of Interlochen Arts Camp during the summers. An active arts administrator, in 2013 West co-founded Cincinnati Chamber Opera, a company devoted to showcasing rarely-performed operatic gems in non-traditional venues. She currently serves as Executive and Artistic Director for this organization.

TONY GONZALEZ nationally on 271 radio stations on NPR’s From the Top. His Mostly Mozart Concerts have been hailed as a staple part of the Norman community.

Tony Gonzalez is recently retired from Norman North High School where he spent seventeen years producing a choral program that gained state, regional, and national acclaim. The combined choirs earned the coveted State Sweepstakes Award a record 17 consecutive years. They won prestigious national festivals in Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, New Orleans, Chicago, Washington, D.C., NYC, Orlando, and San Diego. His ensembles performed for state, regional and national conventions of OMEA (a record ten appearances), OCDA, SWACDA (Kansas City-2008, Little Rock-2014) and ACDA (NYC-2003, Miami-2007, and OKC-2009). His Chorale has been broadcast

He has served as adjudicator and guest conductor throughout the Southwest. He has been voted to Who’s Who Among American High School Teachers. He was honored in 2003 by the National Music Educators Association in its national magazine, Teaching Music, as one of the outstanding music educators in the country. He is the 2005 and 2006 recipient of the State and Regional Music Educator of the Year award for the National Federation of High Schools. In 2007 he was named the NFHS Music Educator of the Year. In 2008 OMEA honored him as Exemplary Teacher for his life-long work in music education. A native of Brownsville, Texas, Tony attended Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas, where he studied with Ron Shirey. He earned his B.M.E. degree at Texas A & I University in Kingsville. He received a M.M.E. degree from the University of Oklahoma and has completed course work toward his D.M.A. degree in Choral Conducting.

GUEST ARTISTS C

RANDI VON ELLEFSON Randi Von Ellefson is Director of Choral Activities and Professor of Music at Oklahoma City University (OKCU) and serves as Artistic Director of Canterbury Voices—the 120-voice adult chorus in the city. He began his work in Oklahoma City in 2004 after working at the University of Chicago, (IL), Whitworth University, (WA) and Bethany Lutheran College, (MN.) He holds degrees from Texas Lutheran University, the University of Minnesota and the D.M.A. from Arizona State University. He is a founding member of the National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO) and has served as its President as well as Treasurer. NCCO awarded him the prestigious lifetime achievement award at their most recent national conference in Baton Rouge, LA. He has also been President of the American Choral Directors Association’s Northwestern and Central Divisions. Dr. Ellefson has conducted a wide variety of university choruses as well as the Spokane Symphony Chorale and the Elgin Choral Union. He has worked at Lutheran and Presbyterian Churches and currently is the adult choir director at Chapel Hill United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City.

Canterbury Voices has toured in China in 2011 and in the summer of 2014, seventy singers from Canterbury joined other choirs for concerts in Paris and at Normandy commemorating the 70th Anniversary of D-Day. In the summer of 2017 a group of singers participated in “Limerick Sings” a choral festival in Ireland. Most recently, Dr. Ellefson conducted Canterbury Voices, the Tulsa Oratorio Chorus and the OKC Philharmonic in a performance of the Mozart “Great” Mass in C Minor as part of the 2018 Southwest Conference of the American Choral Directors Association.

CANTERBURY VOICES In 1968, Miles Criss, an organist at All Souls Episcopal Church, began working to create a community chorus in Oklahoma City. Miles and his friend, Pat Taliaferro, sent letters out to local church choir directors to announce the beginning of this new and wonderful community chorus. The response they received was incredible; the original chorus had 87 members! This was the beginning of Canterbury Choral Society, now known as Canterbury Voices. In the first few years, this community chorus had a humble existence. There were no paid staff and All Souls Church was the first sponsor of the newly formed organization. The first concert to be held outside of the church was performed at the Stage Center in downtown Oklahoma City. Not long afterwards, Canterbury began partnering with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and the performances were moved to the Civic Center Music Hall. Eventually Miles Criss moved on, but what began as his dream is now one of Oklahoma City’s most cherished performing arts groups, Canterbury Voices. Celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2019, Canterbury has grown and thrived and touched the lives of many people who have a love for singing and for artistic excellence in music. Canterbury now operates with a modest sized staff, still depending on the support of its volunteers for help and devoting the majority of its budget to programming. The 125-member Adult Chorus is the largest of its kind in the state of Oklahoma. All singers are auditioned volunteers, most

with extensive musical and stage experience, coming from all over the state of Oklahoma and representing a wide variety of professions. The Adult Chorus routinely collaborates with sister arts agencies like the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and Oklahoma City Ballet. Canterbury’s international tours have included England, China, Austria, Paris, and Normandy. Other choral highlights include the presentation of three world premieres in recent years, composed by Dominick Argento, Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, and Stephen Paulus, and collaborations with guest artists such as Tony Award winner Kelli O’Hara, Tony Award nominee Ron Raines, the Dave Brubeck Quartet, renowned soprano Sarah Coburn, renowned Russian bass Nikita Storojev, and guitarist Edgar Cruz. Canterbury has also developed educational programming for the young people of the metropolitan area. Programs include Canterbury Youth Voices (CYV), an extracurricular youth choir for students in grades 2 – 12 and Camp Canterbury, an annual summer choral camp for kids. CYV has choirs rehearsing in Oklahoma City and in Moore, and brings students from different schools and cities together to make beautiful music. CYV was recently invited to perform at the D-Day 75th Anniversary Commemoration Ceremonies in Normandy, France in June of 2020. CYV Moore Apprentice Choir, under the direction of Susan Pendergraft, was selected to perform as an honor choir at the Oklahoma Music Educators Association Conference in January 2019.

TRANSLATIONS C

VERDI, Te Deum LATIN

ENGLISH

Te Deum laudámus: te Dominum confitémur. Te ætérnum Patrem omnis terra venerátur. Tibi omnes Angeli; tibi cæli et univérsae potestátes. Tibi Chérubim et Séraphim incessábili voce proclámant: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dóminus Deus Sábaoth. Pleni sunt cæli et terra majestátis glóriæ tuæ. Te gloriósus Apostolórum chorus; Te Prophetárum laudábilis númerus; Te Mártyrum candidátus laudat exércitus. Te per orbem terrárum sancta confitétur Ecclésia: Patrem imménsæ majestátis; Venerándum tuum verum et únicum Fílium; Sanctum quoque Paráclitum Spíritum. Tu Rex glóriæ, Christe. Tu Patris sempitérnus es Fílius. Tu ad liberándum susceptúrus hóminem, non horruísti Vírginis úterum. Tu, devícto mortis acúleo, aperuísti credéntibus regna cælórum. Tu ad déxteram Dei sedes, in glória Patris. Judex créderis esse ventúrus. ’ Te ergo quæsumus, tuis fámulis súbveni, quos pretióso sánguine redemísti. Ætérna fac cum sanctis tuis in glória numerári.

We praise thee, O God: we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. All the earth doth worship thee: the Father everlasting. To thee all Angels cry aloud: the Heavens, and all the powers therein. To thee Cherubim and Seraphim: continually do cry, Holy, Holy, Holy: Lord God of Sabbath; Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty: of thy glory. The glorious company of the Apostles: praise thee. The goodly fellowship of the Prophets: praise thee. The noble army of Martyrs: praise thee. The holy Church throughout all the world: doth acknowledge thee; The Father: of an infinite Majesty; Thine honorable, true: and only Son; also the Holy Ghost: the Comforter. Thou art the King of Glory: O Christ. Thou art the everlasting Son: of the Father. When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man: thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s womb. When thou has overcome the sharpness of death: thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers. Thou sites at the right hand of God: in the glory of the Father. We believe that thou shalt come: to be our Judge. We therefore pray thee, help thy servants: whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood. Make them to be numbered with thy Saints: in glory everlasting.

[added later, mainly from Psalm verses:] Salvum fac pópulum tuum, Dómine, et bénedic hæreditáti tuæ. Et rege eos, et extólle illos usque in ætérnum. Per síngulos dies benedícimus te. Et laudámus nomen tuum in sǽculum, et in sǽculum ’ sæculi. Dignáre, Dómine, die isto sine peccáto nos custodíre. Miserére nostri, Dómine, miserére nostri. Fiat misericórdia tua, Dómine, super nos, quemádmodum sperávimus in te. In te, Dómine, sperávi: non confúndar in ætérnum.

[added later, mainly from Psalm verses:] O Lord, save thy people: and bless thine heritage. Govern them: and lift them up for ever. Day by day: we magnify thee; and we worship thy Name: ever world without end. Vouchsafe, O Lord: to keep us this day without sin. O Lord, have mercy upon us: have mercy upon us. O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us: as our trust is in thee. O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never be confounded.

PROGRAM NOTES

Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) Missy Mazzoli First performance on this series Born: October 27, 1980, in Lansdale, Pennsylvania Work composed: 2013, in a version for chamber orchestra, on commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel, music director; revised into full orchestra version in 2016 for a Music Alive Composer Residency at the Boulder Philharmonic Work premiered: In its original form, on April 8, 2014, at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, with John Adams conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic; in its revised version for full orchestra, on February 12, 2016, at Macky Auditorium Concert Hall (University of Colorado Boulder), with Michael Butterman conducting the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra Instrumentation: Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets (one in A, one in B-flat), two bassoons (doubling harmonicas), two horns (doubling harmonicas), two trumpets (doubling harmonicas), two trombones (doubling harmonicas), tuba, vibraphone, marimba, suspended cymbal, opera gong, lion’s roar, glockenspiel, melodica, snare drum, spring coil, boombox, piano (doubling synthesizer), and strings

An esteemed and productive presence in New York City’s newmusic scene, Missy Mazzoli has written works in many genres, from chamber music to symphonic scores to operas. Her vocabulary is not predictable. “To some extent,” she told an interviewer when Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) was played at a 2017 Proms concert in London, “I try to reinvent myself with each piece; I always try to explore a new organizational technique, a different approach to orchestration or texture. There are also some techniques I return to again and again— I’m obsessed with harmony and will often start a piece by creating a chord progression.” She received her advanced musical training at Boston University, the Yale School of Music, and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in the Netherlands. Her principal composition teachers included Louis Andriessen, David Lang, Aaron Jay Kernis, Martin Bresnick, and John Harbison. Among other composers she has cited as essential influences are Meredith Monk, John Luther Adams, and the Icelandic composer Daniel

Bjarnason. Musicians and ensembles that have championed her works include leading lights of the American contemporary-music scene, such as violinist Jennifer Koh, cellist Maya Beiser, the Kronos Quartet, JACK Quartet, the string quartet ETHEL, eighth blackbird, Roomful of Teeth, and the NOW Ensemble. Among the notable orchestras that have programmed her compositions are the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, and Britten Sinfonia (in London). From 2007 to 2010 she served as executive director of the MATA Festival in New York, a forum for the music of emerging composers, and in 2011-12 she was composer/ educator-in-residence at the Albany Symphony. She currently teaches on the composition faculty of the Mannes School of Music/The New School in New York, and in 2018 she began a two-year appointment as the Chicago Symphony’s composerin-residence. In 2012 she was named composer-in-residence of the Opera Company of Philadelphia (now renamed Opera Philadelphia), and since then she has increasingly turned her energy toward opera, which, she said, “has really come to feel like an artistic home.” She has now had three produced: Song from the Uproar (premiered in 2012), Breaking the Waves (2016), and Proving Up (2018). It seemed a logical culmination for the broad-based creative tendencies that she has always enjoyed. “As a kid,” she said, “I played piano and fell in love with music, but was also interested in visual art, literature, poetry, and theater. Composing seemed to be a way to combine all of these obsessions. Composing has also always been the best way I have of organizing the world around me, my most effective method for processing data and making sense of things. There’s a logical side to music that I’ve always loved, a beautifully rigid math behind what seems like an endlessly curved manifestation of pure emotion.” “My music is usually composed of strange, dense harmonies and propulsive rhythms,” she explained, “often layered in unexpected ways. I’m interested in unusual instruments like harmonicas, junk percussion, and gently out-of-tune guitars, and I draw on inspirations as diverse as Baroque music, noise, and modern electronica.” Much of that description characterizes Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres). Clustered harmonies are apparent from the outset (marked “slow, stately”), with groups of instruments (sometimes the microtonal exhalations of harmonicas) hovering nebulously, typically entering and exiting gently against the prolonged ornamental lines of the violins, flutes, or oboes. Although the piece is notated mostly in 6/8 time, a listener would be hard pressed to identify its metric pulse except in a more persistently energized section in the middle. There, flashes of urgently repeated rhythms (often from brass and percussion) seem generated from the loins of minimalism. (In fact, the premiere of this work’s original version, for chamber orchestra, took place within a five-hour minimalist marathon concert in Los Angeles.) On the whole, though, a listener is likely to be left with an impression of waves gradually emerging and receding, an evocation of precisely the cosmic vastness the title implies.

PROGRAM NOTES From the Composer Missy Mazzoli offers this commentary about Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres): Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) is music in the shape of a solar system, a collection of rococo loops that twist around each other within a larger orbit. The word “sinfonia” refers to baroque works for chamber orchestra but also to the old Italian term for a hurdy-gurdy, a medieval stringed instrument with constant, wheezing drones that are cranked out under melodies played on an attached keyboard. It’s a piece that churns and roils, that inches close to the listener only to leap away at breakneck speed, in the process transforming the ensemble turns into a makeshift hurdy-gurdy, flung recklessly into space.

enthusiasm. He toured widely in Italy, and by the time he took his first trip beyond the borders of his native country—to Vienna, in 1828—his reputation preceded him. Paganini used his impressive technical skill to heighten emotional effect rather than to merely titillate the ear. Franz Schubert, who (in the last year of his life) managed to attend three of Paganini’s Vienna concerts, marveled, “In Paganini’s Adagio I heard an angel sing.” Berlioz, Chopin, and Liszt added their accolades to the chorus, and literary lions helped fuel the flames of Paganini mania throughout Europe.

—JMK

Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor, Op. 7 Niccolò Paganini Sole performance: 5/7/1978 Violin: Eugene Fodor Born: October 27, 1782, in Genoa, Italy Died: May 27, 1840, in Nice, France Work composed: 1826 Work premiered: January 30, 1827, at the San Carlo Opera House in Naples, Italy, with the composer as soloist Instrumentation: Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, one bassoon (optionally two), two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, serpentone (an obsolete instrument replaced in modern performances by tuba), timpani, bass drum, small bell, and strings, in addition to the solo violin

The 19th century gave rise to a small army of ultra-virtuosos, with the pianist Franz Liszt and the violinist Niccolò Paganini leading the charge. Although Paganini’s father, a shopkeeper, could afford few luxuries, he managed to secure music lessons to bolster his son’s obvious talent. By all accounts, Paganini took to the violin instantly. He composed a sonata for the instrument when he was eight, began performing in public at eleven, and at sixteen ran away from home to seek his fortune as a performer. Unfortunately, he also became acquainted with various species of dissipation and debauchery, and he had to surrender his instrument as part of a gambling debt. A French admirer came to the rescue by lending Paganini a splendid Guarneri violin, which had the effect of broadening the musician’s conception of what the instrument could be made to do. He reconciled with his father and returned to immerse himself in serious technical practice for a year. When he reemerged, Italian audiences greeted him with astonished

Rumors began to circulate that Paganini had achieved his unprecedented ability through a pact with the devil. Though Paganini scoffed at such claims, he appreciated the publicity that resulted from the debate, and he fueled the flames through what was considered a “demonic” appearance and sometimes eccentric behavior. The poet Heinrich Heine reported of a concert: “At length a dark form appeared on the stage, looking as if it had risen from the underworld. This was Paganini in his black gala clothes: his black coat and vest of a terrible cut, such as is probably dictated by the hellish etiquette of Proserpine’s court.” He was perhaps echoing Goethe, who in 1827 had observed: “The demonic is that which cannot be explained in a cerebral and a rational manner. Paganini is imbued with it to a remarkable degree and it is through this that he produces such a great effect.” By the time he left Italy, Paganini had already composed a great deal of music for his personal use, including the first two of his six violin concertos. The Violin Concerto No. 2 dates from 1826, and it was included in Paganini’s Vienna debut performance, along with his Concerto No. 1 and several smallerscale works. The Second Concerto offers the soloist abundant opportunities for technical display. Paganini’s requirements of double stops, harmonics, and quickly alternating articulation (including pizzicato, spiccato, and subtle forms of bowing) were unprecedented in his time. Though all of these techniques became essential skills for later violinists, they can still leave listeners amazed. CONTINUED ON PAGE 50

PROGRAM NOTES

Technical wizardry, however, is only part of the story here, and it should not obscure that Paganini’s B-minor Concerto is a finely knitted piece in the classical tradition. Its themes are not complex, but, as with the operatic melodies of his contemporaries Bellini and Donizetti, they can be insistently memorable; the Rossinian second theme of the first movement is only one of the tunes that lodges itself in the mind. The Adagio is an exercise in expressive Romanticism, with the sound of horns in its introduction recalling the style of Weber. But it is the rondo finale that most put this piece on the map. Paganini attached the name “Il Campanello” (The Little Bell) to its theme, and it proved irresistible as an inspiration for arrangements and variations by a small legion of admirers, including most famously Franz Liszt.

three trombones, tuba, timpani, chimes, cymbals, glockenspiel, suspended cymbal, triangle, two harps, celesta, piano, and strings

Paganini and Rossini It was perhaps inevitable that Paganini’s path would cross that of Gioachino Rossini, the most famous Italian composer of the era. Rossini’s opera Matilde di Shabran was scheduled to be premiered on February 24, 1821, at the Teatro Apollo in Rome, but the theatre’s music director died of apoplexy on the day of the dress rehearsal. Paganini, being in town, was brought in to replace him on the podium, which the reviews suggest he did with aplomb. The statesman and writer Massimo d’Azeglio reported in his memoirs that shortly after that premiere Paganini and Rossini made mischief by dressing up as blind women and taking to the streets of Rome during Carnival as itinerant musicians, singing a ditty Rossini wrote for the occasion. Notwithstanding this prank, the two did not go on to maintain a close friendship, although Rossini once observed that if Paganini had decided to become an opera composer “he would have knocked out all of us.” —JMK

Fontane di Roma (Fountains of Rome) Ottorino Respighi First performance: 5/7/1978 Conductor: Ainslee Cox Last performance: 5/19/2012 Conductor: Joel Levine Born: July 9, 1879, in Bologna, Italy Died: April 18, 1936, in Rome, Italy Work composed: 1915-16 Work premiered: March 11, 1917, at the Teatro Augusteo in Rome, with Antonio Guarnieri conducting Instrumentation: Two flutes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets,

Following music study in his native Bologna, Ottorino Respighi started his career in earnest as an orchestral viola player in Russia, where he had the opportunity to study with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, a renowned master of orchestral color. Further study ensued with Max Bruch in Berlin, after which Respighi returned to Italy, where he would make his mark. Though he was not a radical at heart, he became briefly associated in 1910 with the anti-establishmentarian “Lega dei Cinque” (League of Five), which advocated, according to a manifesto by one of its members, “the risorgimento of Italian music … which from the end of the golden 18th century until today has been, with very few exceptions, depressed and circumscribed by commercialism and philistinism.” Within a few years Respighi was appointed composition professor at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and when Alfredo Casella came on board as his colleague in 1915, bringing with him some of the radical ideas he had picked up during a recent residence in France, Respighi was swept up in a renewed burst of modernist fervor; but, again, he soon retreated to his essentially conservative stance. By 1932 we find him joining nine other conservative composers to sign a manifesto condemning the deleterious effect of music by such figures as Schoenberg and Stravinsky and encouraging a return to established Italian tradition. (Curiously, Mussolini came down in favor of the modernists, although he was personally a fan of Respighi’s music.) He was by then very famous and very rich. Success had come his way through his tone poem Fountains of Rome, composed in 1915-16, to which he appended as sequels the vaguely related tone poems Pines of Rome (1923-24) and Roman Festivals (1928, drawing on some earlier material). These three works, each of which comprises four depictive movements, are not infrequently presented as a “Roman Triptych.” Arturo Toscanini signed on to conduct the premiere of Fountains of Rome in a concert series he was scheduled to lead

PROGRAM NOTES In the Composer’s Words Respighi provided a prose commentary about Fountains of Rome: In this symphonic poem the composer has endeavored to give expression to the sentiments and visions suggested to him by four of Rome’s fountains, contemplated at the hour when their characters are most in harmony with the surrounding landscape, or at which their beauty is most impressive to the observer. The first part of the poem, inspired by the fountain of Valle Giulia, depicts a pastoral landscape: droves of cattle pass and disappear in the fresh, damp mists of the Roman dawn. A sudden loud and insistent blast of horns above the trills of the whole orchestra introduces the second part, “The Triton Fountain.” It is like a joyous call, summoning troops of naiads and tritons, who come running up, pursuing each other and mingling in a frenzied dance between the jets of water. Next there appears a solemn theme borne on the undulations of the orchestra. It is the fountain of Trevi at mid-day. The solemn theme, passing from the woodwind to the brass instruments, assumes a triumphal character. Trumpets peal: across the radiant surface of the water there passes Neptune’s chariot drawn by seahorses and followed by a train of sirens and tritons. The procession vanishes while faint trumpet blasts resound in the distance. The fourth part, the Fountain at the Villa Medici, is announced by a sad theme which rises above the subdued warbling. It is the nostalgic hour of sunset. The air is full of the sound of tolling bells, the twittering of birds, the rustling of leaves. Then all dies peacefully into the silence of the night. —JMK

beginning in November 1916 at the Teatro Augusteo in Rome. “The Maestro is very pleased with the work and is sure of its success,” Respighi reported. But plans went awry when Toscanini’s opening concert crashed in disharmony. World War I was in full swing, and a number of Italians, including women and children, had been killed recently in a German air-raid. In light of the ensuing anti-German sentiment, Toscanini was advised to replace some Wagner pieces on his first program, which he refused to do. After the opening timpani beats in “Siegfried’s Funeral March,” a voice from the gallery rang out: “This is for

the dead of Padua.” Toscanini hurled down his baton, stomped off the podium—and thus ended his concert series.

Fountains of Rome was instead premiered the ensuing March at the same theatre, with Antonio Guarnieri conducting. Like Toscanini, Guarnieri was a cellist-turned-conductor and an enthusiastic Wagnerite, but unlike Toscanini, he was not averse to putting Wagner on the back burner for the moment. “Rather cold reception with some hissing at the end of the work,” Respighi’s wife, Elsa, jotted in her diary. The composer wrote it off as a failure, but when Toscanini finally did conduct it, a year later in Milan, it made a tremendous effect and earned good reviews even from critics who had previously had nothing good to say of Respighi. In her memoirs, Elsa Respighi compared her husband’s Fountains of Rome to such symphonic poems as those of Richard Strauss, not to the benefit of the latter: The [Straussian] symphonic poem very freely followed a literary text, using recurrent themes but no regular development. Respighi restored the form to the four-part division of the classical symphony where, however, the four movements are thematically self-contained with poetic unity, no recurrent themes and no digressions. It took a Latin with his innate sense of harmony and proportion to cast the freest and most undisciplined of musical forms into a classical mould, creating a new type of symphonic poem which was something absolutely new and different under the same name.

“Gabriel’s Oboe,” from The Mission Ennio Morricone First performance on this series Born: November 10, 1928, in Rome, Italy Work composed: 1986 Work premiered: The film The Mission was released October 31, 1986.

The son of a professional trumpet player, Ennio Morricone excelled on that same instrument as a young musician and graduated from Rome’s National Conservatory of Santa Cecilia as a trumpet major in 1946. In 1954 the school also granted him a diploma in composition following extensive study with the noted composer Goffredo Petrassi. Already by 1946 he was engaged as a theatre composer. In 1953 he began making arrangements for radio, in 1954 he proceeded into the world of film as an uncredited ghost writer for more famous composers, and in 1961 he penned his first attributed film score. Within a few years he became attached to the director with whose films his music would become most identified: Sergio Leone, the premier director of what became known as “spaghetti westerns.” From 1964 to 1971, Morricone provided the music for five of these Leone films, including The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). His oeuvre today extends to more than 400 films, for CONTINUED ON PAGE 52

PROGRAM NOTES

which he has worked with a succession of the world’s most admired directors, including Pier Paolo Pasolini, Bernardo Bertolucci, Lina Wertmüller, Brian De Palma, Roman Polanski, Adrian Lyne, Piero Schivazappa, Giuseppe Tornatore, Henri Verneuil, and Pedro Almodóvar, in addition to Leone. Some of his most famous titles include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), Days of Heaven (1979), Once Upon a Time in America (a crime drama by Leone, 1984), Cinema Paradiso (1989, composed jointly with his son, Andrea Morricone), and The Hateful Eight (Quentin Tarantino’s 2015 Western thriller), for which Morricone won an Oscar. He had previously been awarded an honorary Lifetime Achievement Academy Award in 2007, one of only two composers who has ever been so recognized (the other being Alex North).

Oscar or no Oscar, the music for The Mission became a popular favorite—and it did at least win the Best Original Score awards from the Golden Globes (bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association), BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) and LAFCA (Los Angeles Film Critics Association). The movie tells the tale of Jesuit missionaries struggling to win souls among the Guaraní in 18th-century Paraguay, making their way in the beautiful but hazardous geography and buffeted by Spanish and Portuguese political conflict that makes their mission all the more perilous. At the center of the action is Father Gabriel, a Spanish Jesuit priest who plays the oboe. In an early scene in the film, he plays his oboe at the top of Iguazú Falls, hoping to entrance the Guaraní, who had previously shown their mistrust of the Jesuits by tying one to a cross and sending him headlong over the cataract. It doesn’t go entirely well. The tribal chieftain breaks the oboe in two, but at least it is the first step in a rapprochement that will eventually flourish. In the wake of the film’s popular success, “Gabriel’s Oboe” was championed through transcriptions by both classical and popular artists.

Te Deum Giuseppe Verdi Sole performance: 11/9/1978 Condutor: Ainslee Cox Alpha Brawne, soprano and The University of Oklahoma Chorus

Morricone’s fame as a film composer has overshadowed his parallel achievements in concert music, which by now exceeds 100 titles. Many of these pieces employ the avant-garde procedures of contemporary music, and some reflect his interest in experimental jazz, which he actively performed for many years as a member of the free-improvisation ensemble Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza. Morricone collaborated four times with the British director Roland Joffé—on The Mission (1986), Fat Man and Little Boy (1989), City of Joy (1992), and Vatel (2000). His score for The Mission became far the most popular. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Score, but the award was given instead to Herbie Hancock for Round Midnight. It was a highly controversial decision, especially since much of Hancock’s music was arranged from pre-existing jazz pieces. “I definitely felt that I should have won for The Mission,” stated Morricone in a 2001 interview published in The Guardian. “Especially when you consider that the Oscar-winner that year was Round Midnight, which was not an original score. It had a very good arrangement by Herbie Hancock, but it used existing pieces. So there could be no comparison with The Mission. There was a theft!”

Born: October 9 or 10, 1813 (he was baptized on the 11th), in Roncole, near Busseto, Italy Died: January 27, 1901, in Milan, Italy Work composed: About January to June 1896 Work premiered: April 7, 1898, at the Paris Opéra, with Paul Taffanel conducting the Société des Concerts Instrumentation: Three flutes, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets and bass clarinet, four bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, four trombones, timpani, bass drum, and strings, plus a double chorus (each half consisting of sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses) and a solo soprano

When the 82-year-old Giuseppe Verdi penned his Te Deum, he had completed 27 or so operas (he re-wrote a few so extensively that you may choose to count them either once or twice). Many proved popular, and they made him wealthy. Even while complaining (with no real justification) that his finances were precarious, he set about undertaking what qualified as “good works.” In 1888, he built and endowed a hospital in Villanova sull’Arda, near his country estate in estate in Sant’Agata, a few miles from where he was born; and the following year he acquired property in Milan for the construction of the Casa di Riposo per Musicisti (Rest Home for Musicians), which finally opened in 1902, the year after he died, and still operates today. He also found the energy to compose a handful of sacred works, the last compositions of his final years: Ave Maria (in 1889), Laudi alla Vergine Maria (ca. 1890, to a text from Dante), and Stabat Mater (1896-97), in addition to the Te Deum, which at nearly 15 minutes is the longest of the four. The four pieces

PROGRAM NOTES From the Composer Verdi did not feel well enough to travel to Paris for the premiere of the Te Deum, so he sent his colleague Arrigo Boito to oversee the preparations. A happy consequence was that Verdi conveyed his thoughts about performance details in letters to Boito. On March 29, 1898, for example, he wrote: In the Te Deum, the main points are: The beginning of the hymn as far as the “Sanctus” of the sopranos, who die away in a morendo, ending with the harmonics in the violins. Another thing is to broaden the movement a little on the phrase of the trumpets [he quotes their fanfarelike passage between the words “quoque Paraclitum Spiritum” and “Tu, Rex gloriae”] but in such a way that no change of tempo is perceptible. …

The beginning is right for that, for Heaven and Earth exult … “Sanctus sanctus Deus Sabaoth” but halfway thorough it changes in color and expression. [At] “Tu ad liberandum” it is Christ who is born of the Virgin and opens the regnum coelorum [kingdom of heaven] to Humanity. Humanity believes in the “Judex venturus,” it invokes him “Salvum fac” and ends with a prayer “Dignare Domine die isto,” which is moving, sad to the point of terror! All this has nothing to do with victories and invocations: and so I wanted to know whether Vallotti, who lived in a time when he could make use of an orchestra and of a rather rich harmony, had found expressions, colors, and meanings that were different from those of many of his predecessors. Tebaldini supplied Vallotti’s score and also referred Verdi

Even more important is the unison on “Dignare Domine,” which must be very expressive, pathetic, and without accents, and must end pianissimo. … I urge you to pay attention also to the placing of the choruses and the orchestra. … The choruses must be clearly set off from the orchestra, and the choruses must be clearly divided. It would be an error and a horror if the choruses were to remain seated while singing. —JMK

were published together as his Quattro pezzi sacri (Four Sacred Pieces). Historically, the Te Deum is a liturgical hymn whose words and underlying chant reach deep into the Middle Ages, the music at least to the 12th century, the text even further back. During the Baroque era, composers took to treating the Te Deum grandiosely, a tradition carried on in 19th-century settings by Berlioz (1855), Bruckner (1885), and Dvořák (1896, the same year as Verdi’s). Verdi began studying the text of the Te Deum in the winter of 1896, while he and his wife were in Milan tending to plans concerning the Casa di Riposo. He was fully aware of the tradition of employing the Te Deum for festive occasions, but he found that only part of the text was well suited to that use. On March 1, 1896, he wrote to his musicologist friend Giovanni Tebaldini requesting help in locating a Te Deum setting by the Paduan composer Francesco Antonio Vallotti (1697-1780). In that letter he shared his thoughts about the nature of the text: This is usually sung at great, solemn, noisy celebrations, for a victory or for a coronation, etc.

to Te Deum settings by Purcell and Victoria. By then Verdi’s piece was essentially finished, and he replied that that even if he analyzed how those further composers approached the words, it was too late to influence his composition. At about that time, a visitor reported that Verdi said he “wanted to do a Te Deum!! Giving thanks not for myself, but for the public for being freed, after so many years, of hearing more works by me.” He set the Te Deum text as a succession of distinctly delineated episodes characterized by a broad dynamic range. The exultation of “Sanctus” is thrilling, in a league with surprise musical outbursts in, say, Haydn’s Creation or Saint-Saëns’ Third Symphony. “Sanctum quoque Paraclitum Spiritum” calls to mind extended phrases in Verdi’s Requiem or Aida, and “Et laudamus nomen tuum” takes forwardlooking chromatic turns. JAMES M. KELLER James M. Keller is the long-time Program Annotator of the New York Philharmonic (where he holds The Leni and Peter May Chair) and the San Francisco Symphony. Earlier versions of several of these notes previously appeared in the programs of the Verbier Festival (Paganini), New York Philharmonic (Respighi), and San Francisco Symphony (Verdi), and are referenced with permission.

MEGAN HILTY NOVEMBER 8-9, 2019 8:00 P.M.

POPS JESSICA MOREL, CONDUCTOR

photo credit — Elle Logan

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GUEST CONDUCTOR P

JESSICA MOREL Jessica Morel recently served as the Assistant Conductor of the Winston-Salem Symphony for three seasons. In this role, she conducted all Family and Educational concerts, Symphony Unbound concerts, selected Pops concerts, and served as a cover conductor for all Classics concerts. During the 2018-2019 season, Morel made her debut on a Classics subscription program and led a majority of the orchestra’s performances. She has been invited as a guest conductor for the Charlotte Symphony, the Amarillo Symphony, and the Abilene Philharmonic. Additionally, she has served as a cover conductor for the Memphis, Charlotte, and Portland Symphony Orchestras. A passionate music educator, Jessica Morel currently serves as the Conductor of the Charlotte Symphony Youth Philharmonic, and was the Music Director of the Winston-Salem Symphony Youth Orchestras Program from 2016-2019, which saw significant growth under her leadership. She believes that one of her most important roles is to teach and inspire the next generation of young musicians, and is always inspired by her students’ dedication and enthusiasm. In demand as a clinician and music educator, Morel has conducted multiple All-County Honors Orchestras in North Carolina, as well as opera and musical theater productions for High Point University and Texas Women’s University.

Prior to Winston-Salem, Jessica Morel served as the Visiting Assistant Professor and Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of Evansville (IN) and was an Assistant Conductor for the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra from 2015-2016. She was selected as the Assistant Conductor for the 2015 Hot Springs Music Festival, and was named one of the competition winners of the 2014 International Conductors’ Workshop and Competition held in Atlanta. Morel has participated in many summer programs, including the Eastern Music Festival, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, the Pacific Region International Summer Music Academy, and the Atlantic Music Festival. Internationally, she has conducted orchestras in Ukraine, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Originally from Los Angeles, Jessica Morel studied orchestral conducting at the University of North Texas (DMA) with David Itkin and Clay Couturiaux, and at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (MM) with Taras Krysa. She received her bachelors in flute and music education from Indiana University (BME) with Kathryn Lukas. Additional conducting mentors have included Gerard Schwarz, Marin Alsop, Peter Bay, Robert Franz, Grant Cooper, Markand Thakar, Gábor Hollerung, Arthur Arnold, David Amado, and Jorge Mester.

GUEST ARTIST S

MEGAN HILTY “She’s a star. She has always been a star.” Megan Hilty was born in Bellevue, Washington on March 29, 1981. Drawn to music at a young age, she explored a career in opera before deciding to pursue musical theatre. Megan attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, graduating in 2004 with a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre. Following her graduation, Megan joined the Broadway Company of Wicked as the “Glinda” standby. She made her Broadway debut in the fall of 2004 opposite Tony Award winner Idina Menzel, and assumed the role full-time in May 2005. After a year on Broadway, she continued with Wicked on tour and in the 2007-2009 Los Angeles production. While in Los Angeles, Megan made guest appearances on many television shows, including Bones, The Closer, Desperate House Wives, and Ugly Betty, while also providing the singing voice for “Snow White” in Shrek the Third. In 2009, Megan starred on Broadway as “Doralee” in 9 to 5: The Musical, Dolly Parton’s adaptation of the popular film. She was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, an Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Actress in a Musical, a Drama League Award, and an Ovation Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Megan next joined the cast of NBC’s Smash as “Ivy Lynn,” an actress who is desperate to land the lead in a musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe. Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker said of her work: “Hilty has built a character who feels like a real Broadway diva: sexy, funny, ambitious, insecure, at once selfish and giving.” The show aired from 2012-2013 and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Musical or Comedy Series. During her hiatus between Smash‘s first and second seasons, Megan played “Lorelei Lee” in the New York City Center pro-

— Louis Peitzman, Buzzfeed

duction of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Megan received rave reviews for both the production and its cast recording. Ben Brantley of The New York Times called the opening performance “…one of those single, golden nights, so cherished by theatergoers, that thrust its leading lady into the firmament of musical stardom.” 2013 brought the release of Megan’s first solo album, It Happens All the Time, as well as her Carnegie Hall debut. Later that year, she joined the cast of NBC’s Sean Saves the World, starring Sean Hayes. She also provided the voice of the “China Doll Princess” in the animated feature Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return and the voice of “Rosetta” in the Disney Fairies series. In 2015, Megan starred in a one night only performance of Bombshell and a two night presentation of Annie Get Your Gun at New York City Center. She also returned to the Broadway stage as “Brooke Ashton” in Noises Off. For her performance, she received a 2016 Tony Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, as well as Drama Desk and Drama League Award nominations. Since Noises Off ended its run in March 2016, Megan has guest-starred on Project Runway, Difficult People, Brain Dead, and The Good Wife and has released two albums: Megan Hilty Live at the Café Carlyle and A Merry Little Christmas. She also co-starred in the feature film Rules Don’t Apply from director Warren Beatty. She maintains an active concert schedule, both with symphony orchestras throughout the United States and in solo concert at smaller venues. Megan and her husband, Brian Gallagher, have two children. They live in Los Angeles.

GIFTS TO THE PHILHARMONIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

INDIVIDUALS Providing essential support for the Annual Fund. John and Lou Waller Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth K. Wert Dr. James and Elizabeth Wise Mrs. Carol Wright Jeanise Wynn

Associate $1,250 - $1,749 Anonymous (2) Hugh G. and Sharon Adams Mrs. Mary Louise Adams Virginia and Albert Aguilar Mr. and Mrs. Louis Almaraz Mr. Barry Anderson Zonia Armstrong Mr. J. Edward Barth Dr. and Mrs. William L. Beasley Mr. and Mrs. William Beck Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Benham Nick and Betsy Berry Dr. and Mrs. Charles F. Bethea Lori Dickinson Black and Robert Black Ms. Pamela Bloustine MAJ. GEN. William P. Bowden, Rt. Mr. and Mrs. Gary W. Bowker Mr. and Mrs. Del Boyles Carole S. Broughton Mr. Fred Brown Phil G. and Cathy Busey J. Christopher and Ruth Carey Ms. Janice B. Carmack Terre Chaffin Mr. and Mrs. Elliot Chambers Drs. Fong Chen and Helen Chiou Anita Clark-Ashley and Charles Ashley Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Clements Rodney Coate and Juan Camarena Mr. and Mrs. Jack H. Coleman Dr. Thomas Coniglione Ms. Barbara Cooper Mr. Chuck Darr Mr. and Mrs. Mike Darrah Mr. David Daugherty Mr. and Mrs. Charles T. Davis Scott Davis Gary and Fran Derrick Mr. Joel Dixon Mary Ann Doolen Mr. and Mrs. Joe Edwards Nancy Payne Ellis Janice Estes Dr. and Mrs. Royice B. Everett

Ann Felton Gilliland Kristen and Anthony Ferate John and Sue Francis Mrs. Linda Gardner Mr. and Mrs. Kelly George Drs. Stephen and Pamela Hamilton Kirk Hammons Brent Hart and Matt Thomas Walt and Jean Hendrickson Mr. and Mrs. John D. Higginbotham Mr. and Mrs. Joe R. Homsey, Jr. Thomas and Elizabeth Hrubik Mr. and Mrs. J. Clifford Hudson David and Vicki Hunt Dick and Julia Hunt Kelsey and Andrew Jennings Mr. and Mrs. Carlos Johnson Dan and Diana Kennedy Mrs. Lou Kerr Ms. Claren Kidd Mr. and Mrs. Brad Krieger Dr. and Mrs. H. T. Kurkjian Sharon and Ken Lease Dr. and Mrs. Jay E. Leemaster Drs. Jason and Julie Lees Barbara Masters, M.D. Mr. and Mrs. John A. McCaleb Cindy and Johnny McCharen Mr. and Mrs. Tom J. McDaniel Mr. Jeffrey McDougall Ms. Debbie McKinney John and Celestine McKnight Mr. and Mrs. K. T. Meade, Jr. Mrs. Deann Merritt Parham Mrs. Sandra Meyers Tom and Katherine Milam Tom and Peggy Miller Chip and Michelle Mullens Dr. and Mrs. Gene L. Muse Dr. Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Tar and Elissa Norwood Mr. J. Edward Oliver Mr. Chip Oppenheim Mrs. Barbara Pirrong Mary and Bill Price Mr. and Mrs. Lynn Pringle Mr. Larry Reed Kathryn Ryan Ernesto and Lin Sanchez Janet and Frank Seay Mr. and Mrs. John M. Seward Mr. and Mrs. William F. Shdeed Sharon and John Shelton Robert and Susan Shoemaker

Mr. and Mrs. Jerrod Shouse Drs. Paul and Amalia Silverstein Amy and David Sine Dr. Richard V. Smith and Jan J. Smith Rick and Amanda Smith Donald Smock Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Starling Bill Stewart Rob Teel Joseph and Theresa Thai Mr. and Mrs. Frederick K. Thompson Ms. Betsy Timken Tony Vaughn Geetika Verma Mrs. Donna Vogel Robert and Tammy Weiss Larry L. and Leah A. Westmoreland Millar B. White, Jr. Mrs. Carol F. Williams Mr. John S. Williams Rainey Williams Paula Willis Robert and Lorraine Wilson John and Linda Withner M. Blake and Nancy Yaffe Mr. and Mrs. Ron Youtsey

Friend $750 - $1,249 Anonymous Tom and Fran Ayres Mr. and Mrs. Van A. Barber Arden Barrett Dr. Jack and Ruth Beller Jackie and Jerry Bendorf Bart Binning Glenn and Debra Blumstein Carole and Deal Bowman Mr. and Mrs. Bob G. Bunce Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Calvert Mr. and Mrs. Earl J. Cheek Nancy Coats-Ashley Joseph and Valerie Couch Patricia Czerwinski Tony and Pam Dela Vega Richard and Cindy Dugger Dr. Thurma J. Fiegel Scott Fischer Brenda Freeman Dr. and Mrs. Ralph G. Ganick Susan and Rodney Gertson * Melvin and Bobbie Gragg

Mr. and Mrs. Nick S. Gutierrez, Jr. ,M.D. George M. and Jo Hall J. Mark and Ruth E. Harder Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence K. Hellman Frank and Bette Jo Hill Terry and Betty Hollrah Colonel (ret.) Dean and Mrs. Jeanne Jackson Mr. and Mrs. David R. Johnson Mr. and Mrs. L.J. Johnson Scott and Carol Johnson * Mr. and Mrs. Drake Keith Mr. and Mrs. Wes Knight Dr. Ana Kumar Kevin and Jennifer Lafferty * Jacquelyn LaMar and Tim Berney * Ms. Mary Jane Lawson Mildred Lindsey Dave and Stacy Lopez Fund Donald and Peggy Manning Brad and Janet Marion Mr. and Mrs. James and Jamie Matlock * Anita R. May Ronald T. and Linda Rosser McDaniel Ms. Vickie McIlvoy Courtney Briggs Melton and Timothy Melton Ronald L. and D. Yvonne Mercer Richard and Gayle Parry Dr. and Mrs. William L. Parry Donita and Curtis Phillips Gary and Tommie Rankin Mr. and Mrs. Richard L. Reynolds Carl and Deborah Rubenstein Mr. and Mrs. John Santore Dr. and Mrs. Olaseinde Sawyerr Frank and Amy Sewell Mary Sherman Jeff and Kim Short Mr. Frank J. Sonleitner Judith Clouse Steelman Jim and Debbie Stelter Dr. and Mrs. James B. Stewart, Jr. Paula and Carl Stover Mrs. Marilyn Summers Donita and Larry Thomas Dale Toetz and Charlotte Gibbens Mr. Phillip S. Tomlinson Steven and Sue Welch Denver and Yvonne Woolsey Jim and June Young Mr. and Mrs. Don T. Zachritz Linda and Mike Zeeck

Partner $300 - $749 Dr. Gillian Air Ms. Mary Allred John and Nancy Alsup Robert Anderson Koray Bakir * Sherry K. Barton D. Benham and Cheryl Kirk * MarEllen Benson Mr. and Mrs. David G. Bryant Harold and Jennifer Burkhart * Mr. and Mrs. F. M. Buxton Mrs. Jo Carol Cameron Cheryl Clements Carol Combs Ms. Betty Crow Dr. Madeleine W. Cunningham Shannon Forth Davies * Dr. Shirley E. Dearborn Carole Doerner Brandon Downey Ms. Melinda Finley Kimberly and Larry Fisher Mrs. Betty Foster Mr. George R. Francis, Jr. Dr. Athena Friese, M.D. Joe and Tjuana Gilliland Mr. and Mrs. Keith G. Golden John and Judy Gorton Mr. Herbert M. Graves LTC and Mrs. Walter A. Greenwood Dr. and Mrs. John E. Grunow Elizabeth Harris * Susan and Nick Harroz III * Ryan and Melanie Hayhurst * David and Marilyn Henderson Judy Hill Joanne Hoch Lois and Roger Hornbrook Mrs. Lily R. Hummel K. Robert and Juanita Johansen Kent and Brenda Johnson Lauren and Rich Johnson * Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Johnson Rick and Kerri Johnson * Mr. and Mrs. Alfred H. Karchmer Don and Carol Kaspereit Cinda Lafferty Susan E. Laurence * Angie and Robert Lynn Ms. Allison Matoi

Mr. Joe A. McKenzie Monireh Mohamadi Michael and Lea Morgan * Dorman and Sheryl Morsman Lisa and Greg Mullen Gary and Deborah Myers Rudi Nollert and Mary Brodnax Kevin and Heidi Offel The O.K. Detrick Foundation Fund Mike and Cathy Perri Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Pickrell Lisa Reed David and Jennifer Reid Dr. and Mrs. Laurance Reid Mr. and Mrs. Arthur J. Rus Gary and Carol Sander Patrick Servello * Ben Shanker Mr. Lee Allan Smith Mr. and Mrs. Paul A. Specht Ms. Susan Sutter Mrs. Evelyn Margaret Tidholm Sammy and Janet Todd Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Towell Mr. Curtis VanWyngarden Larry and Olivia Wagner Albert and Elaine Weise Jesse White * John and Cheryl White Wendi and Curtis Wilson Jim and Polly Worthington

Member $100 - $299 Anonymous Mrs. Joan Allmaras Ms. Beth M. Alonso Mr. David Andres Judy Austin Patricia Austin Mr. Paul D. Austin and Jane Ford Austin Judy Barnett Karen Beckman Brent Bell, D.O. Sherry Bennett Sally Bentley Sam Blackstock and Jeff Erwin Morris and Linda Blumenthal Rachel Bolen Gene Bootenhoff Ann Borden Dr. and Mrs. Harry Boyd CONTINUED ON PAGE 62

GIFTS TO THE PHILHARMONIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 61

INDIVIDUALS Providing essential support for the Annual Fund. Rev. Thomas Boyer John D. Bradley Candice Brown Kelly Brown Mr. and Mrs. Michael Brown Robert Y. Brown, IV Newt Brown Joan Bryant James Burns Elizabeth and Richard Buschelman Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Cagigal Vikki Ann Canfield, M.D. Ms. Kathryn Carey Terry and Linda Carr Kristin Carson Dr. and Mrs. Don R. Carter Mr. Michael P. Cassidy Laura Chong Ms. Henrie Close Ms. Susan Coatney William and Mary Ann Corum Sandy and Art Cotton Ms. Rosemarie Coulter Alan Davis Carol A. Davito Lauren Decker Diane and Ken Dragg Sarah DuConge Travis and Kelly Dunn Mr. W. Samuel Dykeman J. Kenneth Early David Eaton Richard and Marilyn Ehlers Elizabeth K. Eickman Dr. and Mrs. Robert Epstein and Scott Epstein Mrs. Barbara L. Eskridge Arnold and Mari Fagin Oscar and Caroline Falcon Tuesday Fay Doug and Rebecca Fellrath Mr. and Mrs. John Fischer Mr. and Mrs. John E. Frank Jason Franze and Katherine Mazaheri-Franze Stephen P. and Nancy R. Friot Mr. and Mrs. Robert Garbrecht Rachel Geiger Chris and Lynette Gianos Judy Gigstad Gay and Barry Golsen Lindy and David Goss Mr. Steven Graham and Ms. Vicky Leloie Kelly Dorothy Nan Gray Bob Gregory

Mr. and Mrs. Barre Griffith Mr. and Mrs. John Gunter Pat Hackler Thomas and Ernestine Hallren LeAnn Harmon Andrew and Cyone Harris Suzanne Harris Mrs. Diane Haser-Bennett and Mr. Ray Bennett Zoe Haskins Dr. Nancy and Capt. George Hector V. Hefner Morgan Henry Jamie J. Herrera Mr. and Mrs. J.C. Herriage Charles and Joyce Hladik Carol and George Hoebing Saba Holloway Mr. Jerome A. Holmes Kenneth Hopkins Dr. Sonja Hughes Cathy Hunt Mrs. Earl Ingram, III Nasrin Jalilvand Ms. Mary Lu Jarvis Jann Jeffrey Mrs. Janice C. Jenkins Barbara Jett Judy and Jerry Johnson Edwina Johnston Arnella Karges Donald L. Kerr and Zhander D. P’ing Daniel Kim Ms. Young Y. Kim Jane Krizer Edith and Michael Laird Shawn and Jennifer Lepard Mr. Robert Leveridge David and Lynne Levy Jenny Lewellyn Bob and Kay Lewis Diane Lewis Ms. Hilda Lewis Rosemary and Paul Lewis Susan Lewis Charles Lodge Roy and Sharon Love Patsy A. Lucas Patricia Ann Matthews Shaye and Travis Matthews Kyle Maxwell and Debi Powell-Maxwell Mrs. M. Geraldine Mayes Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth R. McAlister

Dr. Carol McCoy, Ph.D. Traci McDaniel Mr. Robert S. McKown Ingrid McNutt Ms. Ann McVey Diane and Daniel Medley Margaret Mills Irina Miskovsky Terry L. Mock Connie Monnot Judy and Paul Moore * Cole Morgan Judy and Wes Morrison Donna R. Murray Jim Murtaugh Dr. Terry Neese Natasha Neumann Stacey Ninness Joseph and Sandra Nissiotis Sylvia Ochs Renee O’Donnell Jennifer and David Oliver Cynda Ottaway Sebastian Oukassou Thomas Outlaw Mr. and Mrs. Merritt William Papham Vicki and Michael Paque Carpenter Parham David and Joanna Pasnau Larry and Deanna Pendleton Michael and Ginger Penn Robert and Karen Petry Dr. and Mrs. Marvin D. Peyton Kent and Susan Pinson Ashley and Matthew Pollock Mr. William Powell Ms. Jan Prestwood Genevieve and Brendon Quick Roger and Joy Quinn Mr. and Mrs. Ray Reaves Ms. Valerie Reimers Drs. Robert and Suzanne Reynolds Kristin Reynolds Wanda Reynolds Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon M. Reznik Pamela Richman Lindsey and Grayson Ridgway Diane Riggert Ashley Ritenour Tom and Fran Roach Dr. and Mrs. Michael Fred Robinson Karma and Brett Robinson James and Sherry Rowan

SPECIAL GIFTS TO THE PHILHARMONIC Honor loved ones, celebrate occasions, recognize achievements and support the Philharmonic’s mission. Meg Salyer Dr. Jason and Mrs. Tammy Sanders Carolyn Sandusky-Williams Hank and Anne Schank Gayle Scheirman Georgia and Michael Scherlag Ms. Geraldine Schoelen Lynne Seto and Shengtao Yi Cindi Shelby Dr. and Mrs. Richard Shough Sylvia and Robert Slater Mr. and Mrs. R. Emery Smiser Randy and Donna Smith Tom and Venita Springfield Scott and Lesley St. John Ms. Kathleen Starrett Mrs. Joyce Statton Jonathan and Andrea Stone Reta and Richard Strubhar Ms. Xiao-Hong Sun and Mr. Xiaocong Peng Greg Taber David and Peggy Tanner Carrol Thomas Paul Thomason Ann Thompson Jan and Paul Tisdal LTC Ret. and Mrs. George B. Wallace Charis Ward-Gallas Ms. Cheryl Weintraub Chris and Meredith Wells Mr. and Mrs. Ted Wernick Mr. Phillip Whaley Marlene Ryals White David Williams Ms. Ghita Williams James C. Witcher Scott and Annette Woodall Ruth and Stanley Youngheim Rachel and Leon Zelby Helene Zemel

In Memory of Charles “Charlie” Ashley Nancy Coats-Ashley

In Memory of Katherine A. Kirk D. Benham and Cheryl Kirk

In Honor of Candy Barnard Kim and Michael Joseph

In Honor of Debra Kos Kelly Brown

In Honor of Grace and Don Boulton Gene and Cheryl Allen

In Memory of Owen Lafferty Margaret and Drake Keith

In Memory of Robert H. Brady Judy and Jerry Johnson

In Memory of Caley Adam Lawson Newt Brown

In Memory of Jackson Cash Pam and Gary Glyckherr Joe Howell and Jennifer Owens

In Honor of Joel Levine Judy Austin Nancy Payne Ellis Kim and Michael Joseph

In Memory of William B. and Helen P. Cleary Steven C. Agee, Ph.D. Marilyn and Bill Boettger Louise Churchill Mr. and Mrs. Andrew J. Evans, II In Honor of Louise Cleary Churchill Kim and Michael Joseph In Memory of Douglas Cummings Mr. and Mrs. Patrick B. Alexander

In Memory of Paul Lindsey Bob and Nancy Anthony Nancy and George Records In Honor of Philharmonic Musicians and Staff Matthew Troy In Memory of Kenneth A. Nash Elizabeth Roewe

In Honor of Rita Dearmon Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Pickrell

In Memory of William and Jessie Bruce Pequignot Kim and Michael Joseph

In Memory of Sam Decker Colonel (ret.) Dean and Mrs. Jeanne Jackson

In Memory of Bill and Betty Raulston Virginia Hefner

In Memory of James O. Edwards, Jr. Mrs. Carlene Edwards

In Memory of Grace Ryan Marilyn and Bill Boettger

In Memory of Jack Gunter Colonel (ret.) Dean and Mrs. Jeanne Jackson

In Honor of Jeff Starling Larry and Polly Nichols

In Memory of Rubye M. Hall Suzette Hardeman

In Memory of Dr. Kenneth Tucker Mrs. June Tucker

In Honor of Jane Harlow Mr. and Mrs. Royce M. Hammons

In Honor of Eddie Walker Ann Thompson In Memory of Carlotta Welles Briggs Courtney Briggs Melton and Timothy Melton

THANK YOU

Endowment Campaign Donors In celebration and in honor of Maestro Joel Levine and the founders of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic: Patrick Alexander, Priscilla Braun, William B. Cleary, Charles Ellis Jane B. Harlow, Berta Faye Rex, William Ross, John Williams

Louise C. Churchill In Memory of Bill Cleary Lawrence H. and Ronna C. Davis The Estate of Lois Marie Fees The Kirkpatrick Family Fund Joel Levine Michael and Catherine Reaves Susan Robinson Glenna and Dick Tanenbaum Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Clements Ms. Barbara Crabtree The Payne Family Mrs. Josephine Freede Pam and Gary Glyckherr In Memory of Jackson Cash Lamb Jane B. Harlow Kim and Michael Joseph Doug and Susie Stussi Dr. and Mrs. Dewayne Andrews Anonymous In Honor of June H. Parry Mr. J. Edward Barth Valerie and Joe Couch Molly and Jim Crawley David and Jan DeLana Annie Moreau, M.D. Mr. William G. Paul Presbyterian Health Foundation Leah and Larry Westmoreland Anne W. Workman Mr. and Mrs. Don T. Zachritz Karen Beckman Linda and Morris Blumenthal Jo Carol Cameron Ms. Janice B. Carmack Shirley E. Dearborn, M.D.

Gwen Decassios Charles and Dorothy Ellis John and Sue Francis Stephen P. and Nancy R. Friot Ms. Joan Gilmore Jerry H. and Judy Johnson L. M. Johnston, Ph.D. The Kerr Foundation, Inc. Gerry Mayes Ronald T. and Linda Rosser McDaniel Mr. and Mrs. Michael R. Perri Dr. and Mrs. Marvin D. Peyton Gary and Carol Sander John W. and Rose Steele Mrs. Dorothy J. Turk Dr. Don and Eleanor Whitsett Anonymous Dr. and Mrs. John C. Andrus Norwood Beveridge Carla Borgersen In Honor of Maestro Joel Levine Mr. and Mrs. Bob G. Bunce Dr. and Mrs. Don R. Carter Ms. Martha A. Custer Mr. and Mrs. Sam Decker Sarah Jane Gillett In Honor of Ken McKinney Julie and Dick Hunt Colonel (ret.) Dean and Mrs. Jeanne Jackson Patricia Matthews Ms. Carol McCoy Cheryl Moore Judy and Wes Morrison Michael and Ginger Penn Ms. Margaret L. Price Tommie and Gary Rankin Dean Rinehart Janice and Lee Segell Cindy Solomon Tom and Venita Springfield K. Kay Stewart Paula and Carl Stover Dorothy and Udho Thadani

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

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

HOUSE NOTES

RESTROOMS are conveniently located on all levels of the theater. Please ask your usher for guidance. LATECOMERS and those who exit the theater during the performance will be seated at intermission or during the first convenient pause as determined by the management. ELECTRONIC DEVICES must be turned off and put away during the performance (no calling, texting, photo or video use please). FOOD AND BEVERAGES: Beverages are permitted in the theater, however, bringing coffee into the theater is discouraged due to the aroma. Snacks, drinks and desserts are available at the Civic Center Café on the main floor and snack areas located on floors 1-4. SMOKING in the Civic Center Music Hall is prohibited. The Oklahoma City Philharmonic promotes a fragrance-free environment for the convenience of our patrons. FIRE EXITS are located on all levels and marked accordingly. Please note the nearest exit for use in case of an emergency. ELEVATORS are located at the south end of the atrium of the Civic Center Music Hall. CHILDREN of all ages are welcome at the Philharmonic Discovery Family Series and Holiday Pops performances; however, in consideration of the patrons, musicians and artists, those under five years of age will not be admitted to evening Classics and Pops concerts unless otherwise noted. BOOSTER SEATS for children are available in the Civic Center lobby. Please inquire at the Box Office. STUDENT RUSH TICKETS are $9 each and available with a high school or university I.D. and email address at the Box Office 1 hour prior to the start of each Philharmonic performance. Tickets are offered based on availability only and seats may be located throughout the theater. VIDEO MONITORS are located in the lobby for your convenience. WHEELCHAIR AVAILABLE SEATING – Persons using wheelchairs or with walking and climbing difficulties will be accommodated when possible. Those wishing to use the designated wheelchair sections may purchase the wheelchair space and a companion seat. Please inform the Philharmonic or Civic Center Box Office staff of your need when ordering tickets so that you may be served promptly and appropriately. Please request the assistance of hall ushers to access wheelchair seating. HEARING LOOPS have been installed. Ask your audiologist to activate the telecoil in your hearing aid or cochlear implant. Due to the mechanics of the stage, the hearing loops do not reach the pit section but are available at concession stands, the Box Office and the Thelma Gaylord Performing Arts Theatre. The copper wire in the floor and telecoil work together to connect the hearing device to the theater’s sound system using a magnetic field which dramatically improves sound clarity for patrons using hearing devices. LOST & FOUND is located in the Civic Center office (405-594-8300) weekdays 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. PHILHARMONIC TICKET OFFICE may be contacted by calling 405-TIC-KETS (405-842-5387) or you can visit the Philharmonic Ticket Office located on the first floor of the Arts District Garage at 424 Colcord Drive in Suite B. The Philharmonic Ticket Office is open Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and by phone on concert Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. CIVIC CENTER BOX OFFICE hours are Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and two hours prior to each performance. (405-594-8300) Artists and Programming Subject to Change.