October 19, 2012
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PROGRAM October 19 program................................................................................9 October 19 program notes................................................................. 10 Manfred Honeck biography................................................................ 14 Adriana Kučerová biography.............................................................. 16 Gerhild Romberger biography........................................................... 17 Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh...................................................... 18
FEATURES
TABLE OF CONTENTS \ 2012-2013 SEASON
It is the mission of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra to provide musical experiences at the highest level of expression to enrich the community and satisfy the needs and preferences of our audiences. We will achieve this mission by working together to support an internationally recognized orchestra and by ensuring a viable long-term financial future; a fulfilling environment for our orchestra, staff, volunteers; and the unsurpassed satisfaction of our customers.
Music for the Spirit Festival....................................................................5 Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performances are brought to the community in part by generous support from the Allegheny Regional Asset District and corporations, foundations and individuals throughout our community. The PSO receives additional funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Art Works. Radio station WQED-FM 89.3 and WQEJ-FM 89.7 is the official voice of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Tune in Sundays at 8 p.m. for “Pittsburgh Symphony Radio” concert broadcasts hosted by Jim Cunningham.
2012 European Residency Tour.............................................................7
INDIVIDUALS & HEINZ HALL INFORMATION Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Musicians........................................4 Board of Trustees & Chairman’s Council...............................................6 Heinz Hall Information......................................................................... 24
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Contact: Elaine Nucci at 412.471.6087, or email: nucci@culturaldistrict.org ONLINE PROGRAM
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MUSIC DIRECTOR
Manfred Honeck ENDOWED BY THE VIRA I. HEINZ ENDOWMENT
PRINCIPAL GUEST CONDUCTOR
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ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR
Dennis O’Boyle X Laura Motchalov Eva Burmeister Carolyn Edwards Andrew Fuller Lorien Benet Hart Claudia Mahave Peter Snitkovsky Albert Tan Yuko Uchiyama B Rui-Tong Wang VIOLA
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Susanne Park Christopher Wu NANCY & JEFFERY LEININGER CHAIR
Shanshan Yao THE ESTATE OF OLGA T. GAZALIE
Kristina Yoder SECOND VIOLIN Jennifer Ross j G. CHRISTIAN LANTZSCH & DUQUESNE LIGHT COMPANY CHAIR
Louis Lev d THE MORRISON FAMILY CHAIR
Adam Liu X GEORGE & EILEEN DORMAN CHAIR
Mikhail Istomin Gail Czajkowski Irvin Kauffman u Michael Lipman JANE & RAE BURTON CHAIR
HARP
TRUMPET
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Gretchen Van Hoesen j FLUTE
JACKMAN PFOUTS FLUTE CHAIR
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HILDA M. WILLIS FOUNDATION CHAIR
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Rhian Kenny j FRANK & LOTI GAFFNEY CHAIR
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Thomas Thompson BASS CLARINET
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Nancy Goeres j MR. & MRS. WILLIAM GENGE AND MR. & MRS. JAMES E. LEE CHAIR
David Sogg h Philip A. Pandolfi
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Neal Berntsen Chad Winkler
Louis Lowenstein Hampton Mallory Lauren Scott Mallory BASS
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Peter Sullivan j TOM & JAMEE TODD CHAIR
Rebecca Cherian h James Nova BASS TROMBONE Murray Crewe j TUBA
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TIMPANI
Edward Stephan j BARBARA WELDON PRINCIPAL TIMPANI CHAIR
Christopher Allen d JAMES W. & ERIN M. RIMMEL CHAIR
PERCUSSION
Andrew Reamer j ALBERT H. ECKERT CHAIR
Jeremy Branson d Christopher Allen JAMES W. & ERIN M. RIMMEL CHAIR
FRETTED INSTRUMENTS Irvin Kauffman j LIBRARIANS
Joann Ferrell Vosburgh j JEAN & SIGO FALK CHAIR
Lisa Gedris STAGE TECHNICIANS
Ronald Esposito John Karapandi OPEN CHAIRS
WILLIAM & SARAH GALBRAITH FIRST VIOLIN CHAIR THE HENRY AND ELSIE HILLMAN PRINCIPAL POPS CONDUCTOR CHAIR MR. & MRS. BENJAMIN F. JONES III KEYBOARD CHAIR
j h d X u B
MICHAEL & CAROL BLEIER CHAIR
Joseph Rounds REED SMITH CHAIR HONORING TOM TODD
SPECIAL THANKS TO THE PERRY & BEE JEE MORRISON STRING INSTRUMENT LOAN FUND 4
PRINCIPAL CO-PRINCIPAL ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL LAUREATE ONE YEAR ABSENCE
On January 17, 2004, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra became the first American orchestra to perform at the Vatican for a Pope. The concert celebrated the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s papacy and honored the Pope’s lifelong commitment to interfaith understanding and reconciliation of the Christians, Jews and Muslims. That unprecedented opportunity remains one of the most significant events in the PSO’s history and demonstrated the power of music to promote dialogue across religious traditions. From that great beginning, a partnership has developed between the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the faith communities in Pittsburgh to continue to perform concerts that celebrate the spiritual and universal message of music. This project was named Music for the Spirit. PSO Music Director Manfred Honeck is deeply committed to Music for the Spirit. Each season, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra plans to perform several concerts of music with spiritual roots. This season, Music for the Spirit concerts will take place at Heinz Hall over two weekends as part of the PSO’s BNY Mellon Grand Classics subscription series (Mozart’s Requiem, October 12-14, 2012 and Beethoven Symphony No. 9, April 26-28, 2013). Each year, a Music for the Spirit concert will also take place in rotating venues in the community, bringing the PSO and Music for the Spirit to churches, synagogues, mosques and community centers throughout the region. The repertoire for the concerts will vary, but will feature spiritual works appealing to all music lovers regardless of their faith tradition.
MUSIC FOR THE SPIRIT FESTIVAL \ 2012-2013 SEASON
MUSIC FOR THE SPIRIT FESTIVAL
April 20-28, 2013 will mark the inaugural Music for the Spirit Festival, a community-wide celebration of concerts, lectures, discussions and special events throughout the city. The Music for the Spirit Festival will officially open with “Singing City,” a large-scale concert event featuring Music Director Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in performance with a choir of more than 2,000 voices. The choir will include professional choirs, university choirs, members of religious-affiliated choirs, community choirs, high school choirs, and more from the Pittsburgh region and surrounding areas. Mark your calendars: this special event will take place on Saturday, April 20, 2013, at 7:30 pm, at the Petersen Events Center. Repertoire highlights include the Chorale Finale of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 as well as the world premiere of a newly commissioned work for a cappella choir. A major goal of “Singing City” is to reach a large and diverse audience, emphasizing the tremendous power that music has to bring people together and promote a spiritual and universal message. For further details about Music for the Spirit and the April 2013 Music for the Spirit Festival, please see www.pittsburghsymphony.org/spirit. EXTRAORDINARY PERFORMANCES DEMAND EXTRAORDINARY SUPPORT. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A GIFT TO MUSIC FOR THE SPIRIT, PLEASE CONTACT JODI WEISFIELD AT 412-392-3307. 5
//////// BOARD OF TRUSTEES OFFICERS
Richard P. Simmons
TRUSTEES
Joan Apt CHAIRMAN Benno A. Bernt Beverlynn Elliott Constance Bernt VICE CHAIR Theodore N. Bobby Richard J. Johnson VICE CHAIR Donald W. Borneman James A.Wilkinson Larry T. Brockway PRESIDENT & CEO Michael A. Bryson Jeffery L. Leininger Bernita Buncher SECRETARY & TREASURER Rae R. Burton EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Ronald E. Chutz Donald W. Borneman Charles C. Cohen INVESTMENT COMMITTEE Basil M. Cox Larry T. Brockway L. Van V. Dauler, Jr. CORPORATE LEADERSHIP TEAM Robert C. Denove Michael A. Bryson FINANCE COMMITTEE Ann C. Donahue Rae R. Burton Roy G. Dorrance, III AUDIT COMMITTEE Albert H. Eckert L. Van V. Dauler, Jr. Beverlynn Elliott Roy G. Dorrance, III Sigo Falk HEINZ HALL COMMITTEE Terri Fitzpatrick Beverlynn Elliott DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE** Elizabeth H. Genter Thomas B. Hotopp Ira H. Gordon DIVERSITY, EDUCATION & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT COMMITTEE** Peter S. Greer Barbara Jeremiah Caryl A. Halpern ARTISTIC COMMITTEE John H. Hill « Jeffery L. Leininger Thomas B. Hotopp DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE** Barbara Jeremiah David McCormish Richard J. Johnson Robert W. McCutcheon J. Craig Jordan MARKETING COMMITTEE Clifford E. Kress Alicia McGinnis Jeffery L. Leininger Mildred S. Myers PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE David McCormish Deborah L. Rice Robert W. McCutcheon MARKETING COMMITTEE Alicia McGinnis James W. Rimmel Devin B. McGranahan JACK HEINZ SOCIETY Steven T. Schlotterbeck BeeJee Morrison DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE Mildred S. Myers Thomas Todd Elliott Oshry GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE John R. Price Helge H. Wehmeier INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY TASK FORCE Richard E. Rauh Matthew V.T. Ray Rachel Wymard DIVERSITY, EDUCATION & COMMUNITY James W. Rimmel ENGAGEMENT COMMITTEE** Reid Ruttenberg 6
Steven T. Schlotterbeck David S. Shapira Max W. Starks, IV James E. Steen Craig A. Tillotson Jon D. Walton Helge H. Wehmeier Michael J. White, M.D. James A. Wilkinson Rachel Wymard Robert Zinn
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Annabelle Clippinger NEW LEADERSHIP BOARD CHAIR
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European Residency Tour october 25 - November 10
Music Director Manfred Honeck will once again lead the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) on a 12-concert tour of Europe, which includesMANFRED a week-long residency at the HONECK, MUSIC DIRECTOR prestigious Musikverein in Vienna. The tour, from October 25 to November 10, will take Honeck and the PSO to Barcelona, Madrid, Vienna, Paris, Luxembourg, and Cologne, Frankfurt and Stuttgart in Germany. The tour opens in Spain, with a performance October 25 at the Palau de la Musica Catalana in Barcelona, followed by concerts on October 26 and 27 at the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid.
“Touring with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is always a fantastic experience,” Honeck said. “It is very special that we are returning to cities where the PSO has performed before to great success. It is also wonderful to return to Vienna and my musical roots, to the city where I grew up and played professionally for so many years.” “On the previous tour to Europe, Manfred Honeck and the Orchestra played to sold-out houses and received great acclaim,” PSO President & CEO James A. Wilkinson said. “It is a tremendous honor for an orchestra to be invited for a residency at the Musikverein, and it speaks volumes about how highly our music director and musicians are thought of throughout the world.”
2012 EUROPEAN RESIDENCY TOUR \ 2012-2013 SEASON
Then, the PSO will perform at the Salle Pleyel in Paris (November 5), before heading to Germany for concerts at the Philharmonie in Cologne (November 7), Alte Oper in Frankfurt (November 8), and Liederhalle in Stuttgart (November 9). The final concert of the tour will be November 10 at the Philharmonie in Luxembourg.
BNY Mellon is a supporting sponsor of the 2012 European Residency Tour. PSO international touring is made possible, in part, by the Hillman Endowment for International Performance. The PSO also continues During the tour, the PSO will have the its partnership, now entering in its seventh rare honor of a four-concert residency at year, with the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance the Musikverein (October 29-November 3), (PRA) to promote the Pittsburgh region in which will feature Honeck’s stunning inter- Europe. pretation of Mozart’s Requiem. “Pittsburgh is internationally recog In addition to Mozart’s Requiem, the nized for collaboration. We work together tour repertoire features Steven Stucky’s like no place else,” PRA President Dewitt Dreamwaltzes, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Peart said. “Here, organizations, such as a Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 (“From the New symphony orchestra and an economic develWorld”), Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F, opment agency, partner to promote our reJean Sibelius Violin Concerto, Tchaikovsky’s gion, which National Geographic Traveler has Symphony No. 5, the world premiere of Her- called a ‘must-see, best-of-the-world destibert Willi’s Violin Concerto, commissioned nation’ in 2012. ... The ‘Power of Pittsburgh’ by the Musikverein for the PSO, and Willi’s is its people, and we’re delighted to personABBA-MA. ally showcase the region through its musi Viennese favorite, pianist Rudolph Bu- cians, business leaders and other partners chbinder, will perform with the PSO in Vi- who are passionate about Pittsburgh – when enna. Danish violinist Nikolaj Znaider will the PRA tours Europe alongside the PSO.” also join the PSO on this tour. Znaider was FOLLOW THE PSO MUSICIANS AS THEY TOUR, VIA THE the guest soloist at PSO concerts February PSO TOUR BLOG, AT PITTSBURGHSYMPHONY.ORG/ 17-19 at Heinz Hall, and returned to conduct TOURS. MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE TOUR IS the PSO March 2-4. AVAILABLE AT PITTSBURGHSYMPHONY.ORG/EUROTOUR.
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WORKSHOPS s some of es feature ri se and s ic ss concerts, nd Cla ra se e G n th t llo a e s 3 BNY M ire. Join u ity Project 2012 - 201 ral reperto Singing C o y h b all c d in le s The PSO’s s rk p required rksho ing wo e o ir c w n l sp e in ri ra e o st h p o x le luding ert c the m prior chora ing on excerpts inc r pre-conc o fo N y . rl d a o e o ork stw inth in a arrive hristine He els are welcome! W om Beethoven’s N C r to a in lev ing and y” fr Coord nderstand xperience Ode to Jo u “ e r d d e ers. n n p a a e s e s” e in a d abiliti phony-go Choru a il m g v sy ill n A w w “ u s llo o u fe t, y mo aking with vironmen Verdi’s fa f music-m oming en o lc y e jo w , e d th e relax sharing tion while apprecia
SAVE THE DA
TES!
CTION”
MAHLER’S “RESURRE SYMPHONY
12, 7:00 pm
Friday, October 19, 20 Dorothy
gency Rooms Porter Simmons Re
VERDI & WAGNER:
GREATEST HITS
, 7:00 pm Friday, March 1, 2013 13, 7:00 pm Saturday, March 2, 20 13, 1:30 pm Sunday, March 3, 20 On Stage
, BEETHOVEN’S NINTH “ODE TO JOY”
13, 1:30 pm
Sunday, April 28, 20
s
mons Regency Room
Dorothy Porter Sim
e.
performanc e th to rs e ket hold ed. en to all tic p o d n a on is requir ti E E a tr FR is g re e Advanc
TO REGISTER: 412.392.4876 or explore@pittsburghsymphony.org. For more information about the workshops: www.pittsburghsymphony.org/explore
Manfred Honeck, conductor
Adriana Kučerová, soprano Gerhild Romberger, mezzo-soprano Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, betsy burleigh, director Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 2 in C minor, “Resurrection”
I. Allegro maestoso II. Andante moderato III. In ruhig fliessender Bewegung IV. Urlicht (Primeval Light) V. Scherzo Ms. Kučerová Ms. Romberger Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh
PROGRAM \ 2012-2013 SEASON
BNY MELLON GRAND CLASSICS | HEINZ HALL FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012 AT 8:00 PM
OFFICIAL OFFICIAL AIRLINE AIRLINE
Endowment funding for this performance is provided by the Howard & Nell E. Miller Foundation.
PHOTOGRAPHY, AUDIO & VIDEO RECORDING OF THIS PERFORMANCE ARE STRICTLY PROHIBITED.
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GUSTAV MAHLER
Symphony No. 2 in C minor, “Resurrection” PROGRAM NOTES BY STEPHEN F. HEFLING (2009)
Gustav Mahler was born on 7 July 1860 at Kališcht, near Iglau (now Kalistë near Jilhava) in Bohemia, a province of the Austrian Empire now part of the Czech Republic. Mahler began the first movement of the Second Symphony in Leipzig during February and March of 1888; he finished it on 10 September of that year and subsequently sought to have it performed as a symphonic poem entitled “Todtenfeier,” until such time as he could complete the entire symphony. This required an additional six years: Mahler managed to write the Andante and Scherzo movements during the summer of 1893, but ideas for the finale were not forthcoming. What Mahler called “the lightning bolt of inspiration” struck in March 1894 at the funeral of his older colleague, Hans von Bülow, and the finale was completely drafted by June 29. The autograph full score bears the date 18 December 1894. Mahler conducted the first three movements of the Second Symphony in Berlin on 4 March 1895, and the work was premiered in full, again in Berlin with Mahler conducting, on 13 December 1895. The Second was the first of Mahler’s works to appear in print, and his personal copies of the score suggest that he retouched the orchestration of this symphony more frequently than any other. Revised editions were published in 1906 and again in 1910, but the only version to include all of the changes he intended is that of the Neue Kritische Gesamtausgabe (New Complete Critical Edition). In its final casting, the symphony calls for the so-called Wagnerian quadruple-wind orchestra with expanded brass complement: four flutes (all of which also double on piccolo), four oboes (two doubling on English horn), four clarinets (two doubling on E-flat clarinet and one on bass clarinet), four bassoons (two doubling on contrabassoon), ten horns, six trumpets, four trombones, tuba, two harps, timpani (requiring two players with three drums each), bass drum, cymbals, triangle, high and low tam-tams, three deep bells, one or more snare drums, Rute (a bundle of switches used to strike the drumhead), organ, and the usual strings. In addition, four horns, four trumpets, and four percussion instruments provide offstage music at critical moments in the finale. Duration is approximately 77 minutes. I shall die in order to live! Arise, yes arise, you shall, my heart, in just a moment. What you have borne will bear you to God! Ecstatically intoned by the chorus, these optimistic lines of Mahler‘s own poetry conclude his “Resurrection“ Symphony, the second of his symphonic worlds. Its prolonged six-year genesis was perhaps the most crucial episode in his career: the Second would put Mahler the composer permanently on the musical map of Europe. Mahler was already establishing himself as a notable operatic conductor in Leipzig when he composed his First Symphony (you may need to recall it as one of this Season’s opening pieces). The circumstances were as follows: In January of 1888, Mahler premiered his own completed version of Carl Maria von Weber‘s unfinished opera Die drei Pintos, which drew widespread acclaim. Weber‘s sketches for the Pintos had been entrusted to him by the composer‘s grandson, with whose wife, Marion, Mahler became involved in a passionate affair. As Mahler later recounted, Marion’s “musical, luminous being of highest aspiration. . . gave my life a new and deepest meaning, albeit later disastrous for us both.” That, plus the heady success of Die drei Pintos inspired Mahler to compose at white-hot speed. The “Blumine“ Andante of First Symphony (later suppressed) was conceived as a birthday gift for Marion; however, two other movements of the First quote extensively from Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer, a cycle of four lieder on his own texts about unrequited love and suicide. Not surprisingly, the conductor 10
PROGRAM NOTES \ 2012-2013 SEASON
Bruno Walter, Mahler‘s friend and disciple of many years, would later dub the First Symphony “Mahler‘s Werther,“ alluding to Goethe‘s famous epistolary novel of a tragic love triangle. But even before he penned the triumphant conclusion of that work, Mahler launched its dark counterpart in the grim C minor funeral march that would at long last become the cornerstone of his Second Symphony. While working on it amidst the floral trophies he received at the Pintos premiere, he was suddenly seized by a vision of himself dead on a bier, bedecked with the flowers and wreaths. In the vision, Marion von Weber removed them. Mahler completed a draft of this movement and made a few sketches for the second, but he was unable to proceed further. A position in Prague took him away from Marion and Leipzig, and by September 1888 he was soliciting performances of the funeral march, now (or soon to be) entitled Todtenfeier (“Celebration of the Dead“), before he had any notion of how to finish the Second Symphony. Todtenfeier was a title recently used by Mahler‘s close friend and mentor, Siegfried Lipiner, for his 1887 German translation of the fragmentary dramatic epic Dziady by the nineteenthcentury Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz. One portion of the poem seems suspiciously close to Mahler‘s own circumstances in 1888: it is the tale of a love triangle, based on Werther, whose principal characters are named Gustav and Marie; the tragic denouement is Gustav‘s suicide, followed by the realization that he has been transformed into a wandering spirit condemned to hover in the vicinity of his beloved. As in the First Symphony, Mahler incorporates notable allusions to his Songs of a Wayfarer into Todtenfeier: both its main theme and the gnashingly dissonant fortissimo climax just before the recapitulation are derived from the explicitly suicidal third song of the Wayfarer cycle, “Ich hab‘ ein glühend Messer“ (“I Have a Burning Knife in My Breast“). And, he also quotes the “Dies irae“ (“Day of Wrath”) chant that was sung at every Requiem Mass until the mid-twentieth century. Since their student days, both Mahler and Lipiner embraced a view of tragic art and its redemptive power derived from the philosophical writings of Schopenhauer, Wagner and Nietzsche. According to this viewpoint, defiant heroism such as that of Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humankind, necessarily leads towards self-transcendence and redemption. That is the overriding issue of the “Resurrection“ Symphony as a whole, triumphantly celebrated in its conclusion. The musical rhetoric of “Todtenfeier“ inaugurating this vast musical epic conveys far greater anguish than do Mahler‘s veiled comments about it, such as his oft-cited program note of 1901: We are standing at the coffin of a beloved person. His life, struggles, sorrows, and will pass once again, for the last time, before the eye of our soul... What now?... Is all this only a desolate dream, or do this life and this death have some sense? And we must answer this question if we are to go on living. By 1901, determined not to become mired in the polemical debates between Brahmsians and Wagnerians, Mahler had largely forsworn programmatic commentary about his music. He believed his works would succeed without such verbal appendages, and history has certainly proven him right. Nevertheless, a full century later, scholars and critics have come to realize that if not taken too literally, Mahler‘s metaphorical remarks about his early symphonies can enhance our access to the contexts surrounding them and the musical imagery within them. The deaths of both his parents and one of his sisters, new conducting posts in Budapest and Hamburg, the failure of the First Symphony, and lack of inspiration brought Mahler‘s creative work to a halt for four years following Todtenfeier. Then in January 1892, he turned again to Des Knaben Wunderhorn (From the Youth‘s Magic Horn), the early nineteenth-century collection of folk poetry he first encountered at Marion von Weber‘s. The extraordinary result was “Das himmlische Leben“ (“Heavenly Life“), ultimately the finale of Mahler‘s Fourth Symphony, and the earliest of the childlike yet sophisticated orchestral songs that would find their way into
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his next three symphonies. He finally resumed work on the Second in the summer of 1893, completing the Andante moderato and scherzo. Mahler subsequently told his confidante Natalie Bauer-Lechner that both movements were “episodes from the life of the departed hero,“ and that “the Andante concerns love.“ The scherzo, however, is based largely on another Wunderhorn song composed almost simultaneously with it, “Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt“ (“Saint Anthony of Padua‘s Fish Sermon“). Mahler characterized the “Fish Sermon“ as “my satire on mankind“: the swirling underwater congregation listens and swims away “not an iota wiser, even though the holy one has performed for them!“ In transforming lied into scherzo, Mahler opens with a solo for timpani, intensifies the song‘s contrasts and orchestration, adds a rather idyllic trio section dominated by a solo trumpet, and near the end interpolates a “fearful scream“ foreshadowing the onset of the finale. He summed up the results with a visual comparison: ...when you look at a dance from afar through a window, but are unable to hear the music, the turning and commotion of the couple seem absurd and pointless... Likewise, to someone who has lost himself and his happiness, the world seems crazy and confused. (It is noteworthy that precisely such a scene occurs just prior to Gustav‘s suicide in Mickiewicz‘s Todtenfeier.) Yet the problem of the finale remained. The famous “lightning bolt“ of inspiration it struck Mahler at the funeral ceremony (“Todten-Feier,“ the bulletin reads) of the renowned conductor Hans von Bülow on March 29, 1894. Not coincidentally so, according to the psychoanalyst Theodor Reik: in 1891 Mahler played his “Todtenfeier“ movement on the piano for Bülow, hoping he would perform it. But Bülow covered his ears and declared that if this was music, he no longer knew what music was. Thus, at Bülow’s funeral Mahler‘s creative logjam may have been broken up by subconscious emotional triumph over the harsh authoritarian master. In any case, the sound of the boys‘ choir singing Klopstock‘s hymn “Auferstehen“ (“Resurrection“) in Hamburg‘s St. Michael‘s Church ignited Mahler‘s creativity, and he moved quickly. Adopting two stanzas of the Klopstock text, he wrote six more of his own, and determined that his earlier Wunderhorn song “Urlicht“ (“Primal Light“) would serve marvelously as a miniature prelude to his emerging vision of Doomsday. By June 29, 1894, three weeks into his summer holiday, he drafted the Second Symphony’s extraordinary conclusion scored for chorus, soloists, and a very large orchestra. The events of the finale that Mahler described to Bauer-Lechner, some of which are also marked in the autograph score, can be readily identified in the music: It begins with the terrifying scream of the scherzo. And now the solution of the frightening question of life... Terrifying quaking runs over the earth... The Great Roll Call sounds: the graves spring open and all creatures struggle forth from the earth moaning and chattering their teeth. Now they all come marching forth in a powerful procession: rich and poor, peasants and kings, the army of the church, the popes. Among all is the same anguish, screaming, and trembling, because none is justified before God. In the meanwhile once more—as though from the other world—the Roll Call sounds again. Finally, after the most awful confusion, they are silent, and only the sound of the bird of death, far away, from the last grave, is heard, and finally it dies away. And now, comes nothing of what all expected; no divine judgment, no blessed and no damned; no good, no evil ones, no judge! All of that has ceased to exist. And softly and simply swells forth: “Arise, yes, arise...,” to which the words themselves are sufficient commentary. This is, of course, not the traditional Christian vision of resurrection, but one based on Faustian striving, self-transcendence, and belief in universal salvation, all of which had tenets of Mahler’s and Lipiner’s worldview for nearly 20 years. 12
URLICHT
PRIMEVAL LIGHT
AUFERSTEH’N
RESURRECTION
O glaube, mein Herz O glaube, mein Herz, o glaube: Es geht dir nichts verloren! Dein ist, ja dein, was du gesehnt! Dein, was du geliebt, Was du gestritten! O glaube Du wardst nicht umsonst geboren! Hast nicht umsonst gelebt, gelitten! Was entstanden ist Das muß vergehen! Was vergangen, auferstehen! Hör’ auf zu beben! Bereite dich zu leben! O Schmerz! Du Alldurchdringer! Dir bin ich entrungen! O Tod! Du Allbezwinger! Nun bist du bezwungen! Mit Flügeln, die ich mir errungen, In heißem Liebesstreben, Werd’ich entschweben Zum Licht, zu dem kein Aug’gedrungen! Mit Flügeln, die ich mir errungen Werde ich entschweben. Sterben werd’ich, um zu leben! Aufersteh’n, ja aufersteh’n wirst du, mein Herz, in einem Nu! Was du geschlagen zu Gott wird es dich tragen!
O believe, my heart O believe, my heart, O believe: Nothing to you is lost! Yours is, yes yours, is what you desired Yours, what you have loved What you have fought for! O believe, You were not born for nothing! Have not for nothing, lived, suffered! What was created Must perish, What perished, rise again! Cease from trembling! Prepare yourself to live! O Pain, You piercer of all things, From you, I have been wrested! O Death, You masterer of all things, Now, are you conquered! With wings which I have won for myself, In love’s fierce striving, I shall soar upwards To the light which no eye has penetrated! Its wing that I won is expanded, and I fly up. Die shall I in order to live. Rise again, yes, rise again, Will you, my heart, in an instant! That for which you suffered, To God will it lead you!
O Röschen roth! Der Mensch liegt in größter Noth! Der Mensch liegt in größter Pein! Je lieber möcht ich im Himmel sein. Da kam ich auf einen breiten Weg: Da kam ein Engelein und wollt’ mich abweisen. Ach nein! Ich ließ mich nicht abweisen! Ich bin von Gott und will wieder zu Gott! Der liebe Gott wird mir ein Lichtchen geben, Wird leuchten mir bis in das ewig selig Leben! Aufersteh’n, ja aufersteh’n Wirst du, Mein Staub, Nach kurzer Ruh’! Unsterblich Leben! Unsterblich Leben wird der dich rief dir geben! Wieder aufzublüh’n wirst du gesät! Der Herr der Ernte geht und sammelt Garben uns ein, die starben!
O red rosebud! Man lies in deepest need! Man lies in deepest pain! Oh how I would rather be in heaven. There, I came upon a broad path; There, came a little angel and wanted to send me away. Ah no! I would not let myself be sent away! I am from God and will return to God! The loving God will give me a little light, Which will light me into that eternal blissful life!
PROGRAM NOTES \ 2012-2013 SEASON
Suffering from a severe migraine, the composer himself stoically conducted the premiere of the work on December 13, 1895, having hired the Berlin Philharmonic at his own expense. He had, as Bruno Walter puts it, “staked his future fate as a composer upon a single card“— and he won. The critics would prove almost unanimous in their scorn, but the audience’s enthusiasm grew steadily throughout the performance; there were tears and gasps at the hushed moment of the choral entrance, and heartfelt ovations following the jubilant conclusion. As Walter also notes, Mahler’s ascendancy as a composer can justly be dated from that evening; henceforth only he and Richard Strauss would be regarded by connoisseurs as the foremost modern German composers.
Rise again, yes, rise again, Will you My dust, After a brief rest! Immortal life! Immortal life Will He who called you, give you. To bloom again were you sown! The Lord of the harvest goes And gathers in, like sheaves, Us together, who died.
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/// MANFRED HONECK Manfred Honeck was born in Austria and studied music at the Academy of Music in Vienna. An accomplished violinist and violist, he spent more than ten years as a member of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra. It is this experience that has heavily influenced his conducting and has helped give it a distinctive stamp. Honeck was appointed the ninth Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in January 2007, and began his tenure at the start of the 2008-2009 season. After a first extension in 2009, his contract was extended for the second time in February 2012, now through the 2019-2020 season. Following their successful European Tour in 2010 and the European Festival Tour 2011 with appearances at the major music festivals, such as BBC Proms, Lucerne, Grafenegg, Rheingau, Schleswig-Holstein or Musikfest Berlin, Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will return to Europe in October-November 2012. This year’s tour will take them to Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Luxembourg, and Cologne, Frankfurt and Stuttgart in Germany. During a week-long residency at the Musikverein in Vienna, the orchestra will perform four concerts. Honeck’s successful work in Pittsburgh is captured on CD by the Japanese label Exton. So far, Mahler’s Symphonies Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 5, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 and Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben have been released to critical acclaim. Their recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 has won a 2012 International Classical Music Award (ICMA). From 2007 to 2011, Honeck was Music Director of the Staatsoper Stuttgart, where he conducted premieres including Berlioz’s Les Troyens, Mozart’s Idomeneo, Verdi’s Aida, Richard Strauss’s Rosenkavalier, Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites and Wagner’s Lohengrin and Parsifal, as well as numerous symphonic concerts. His operatic guest appearances include Semperoper Dresden, Komische Oper Berlin, Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Royal Opera of Copenhagen, the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg and the Salzburg Festival. He commenced his career as conductor of Vienna’s Jeunesse Orchestra, which he cofounded, and as assistant to Claudio Abbado 14
at the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra in Vienna. Subsequently, he was engaged by the Zurich Opera House, where he was bestowed the prestigious European Conductor’s Award in 1993. In 1996, Honeck began a threeyear stint as one of three main conductors of the MDR Symphony Orchestra Leipzig and in 1997, he served as Music Director at the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo for a year. A highly successful tour of Europe with the Oslo Philharmonic marked the beginning of a close collaboration with this orchestra which consequently appointed him Principal Guest Conductor, a post he held for several years. From 2000 to 2006 he was Music Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra Stockholm and served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra from 2008 to 2011, a position he will resume from 2013 to 2016. As a guest conductor, Honeck has worked with major orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Staatskapelle Dresden, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic and in the US with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra Washington and Boston Symphony Orchestra. He is also a regular guest at the Verbier Festival. Guest engagements of the 2012-2013 season include concerts at his earlier places of activity in Stockholm and Prague, as well as appearances with other prestigious orchestras including Bamberg Symphony, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Accademia di Santa Cecilia Rome, the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra and his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2010, Honeck was awarded an honorary doctorate from St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Apart from his numerous tasks as conductor, he has been Artistic Director of the “International Concerts Wolfegg” in Germany for more than 15 years. Manfred Honeck conducted the PSO last weekend.
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photo credit: Felix Broede
BIOGRAPHY \ 2012-2013 SEASON
/// ADRIANA KUČEROVÁ The young Slovakian soprano Adriana Kučerová studied at the school of music in Bratislava, the Conservatoire Supérieur de musique et de danse de Lyon and the University for Music and Drama in Bratislava. She was an award winner at the European Music Prize for Youth in Hamburg 2001 and at the International Summer Academy PragueVienna-Budapest in 2002. At the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition in Vienna in 2005, she was awarded 1st prize as well as the special prizes of the audience, of the Gulbenkian Foundation and of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. After her graduation, she joined the ensemble of the Slovakian National Theatre in Bratislava. At the Ravenna Festival 2006, she sang Mozart’s Vesperae solemnes de confessore and Exsultate jubilate conducted by Riccardo Muti. The same year she went to the Salzburg Mozart Wochen and at the Salzburg Festival and performed “Serpetta” in La Finta Giardiniera conducted by Ivor Bolton. She then made her debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Dido and Aeneas and has since returned in Carmen under the baton of Daniel Barenboim. At the Munich State Opera, she sang a new production of Werther (Sophie) conducted by Ivor Bolton, “Ninetta” in a new production of La finta semplice in Vienna as well as “Adina” with the Glyndebourne Touring and Festival Opera and “Nanetta” in Falstaff and she also has made her “Gretel” debut (Hänsel und Gretel) at Glyndebourne, conducted by Kazushi Ono (Sunday Times wrote: “it’s Adriana Kučerová’s irrepressibly hyperactive Gretel who steals every scene. …”). Adriana sang “Anne Trulove” in a new production of The Rake’s Progress conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt at the Theater an der Wien, “Sophie” in Werther at the Munich State Opera, Paris Opera (Kent Nagano Conducting) and Teatro Carlo Felice Genova, “Nanetta” in Falstaff at the Salzburg Festival with Daniel Barenboim as well as at the BBC Proms. Highlights of recent seasons include the title role of The Cunning Little Vixen at the Paris Opera, Gianni Schicchi with the Santa Cecilia in Rome (with conductor Vladimir Jurowski), Carmen at La Scala Milan, Le nozzi di Figaro at Houston Grand Opera; L’elisir d’amore at 16
Rome Opera and Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin. Kucerova also performed the title role in Menotti’s opera Amelia al ballo at the Spoleto Festival in Italy. Looking ahead, Kučerová will make her debut at Vienna Staatsoper in L’elisir d’amore, and will sing “Serse” at Theater an der Wien, Falstaff at the Theatre du Capitole Toulouse, L’elisir d’amore & Le nozze di Figaro at Bayerische Staatsoper Munich and Rigoletto at Tel Aviv Opera. She will also debut in concert at the Røros Festival in Norway, the Launen Festival in Gstaad, and on a major U.S. and European tour with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Two recent CD releases featuring Kucerova include the acclaimed Mahler Second Symphony recording with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Vladimir Juroswki) and Dvořák Love songs with the Thymos quartet and Christoph Eschenbach on the piano. Kučerová performed with the PSO last weekend.
Gerhild Romberger was born and grew up in Emsland in Germany. After having graduated her studies of music teaching at the University of Music in Detmold, she completed her vocal training with a concert exam with Heiner Eckels. Further, she added courses for lied interpretation with professor Misuko Shirai and professor Hartmut Höll. Romberger lives with her family in Detmold, where the highly popular teacher has held a professorship for singing at the University of Music for many years. The mezzo-soprano has always focused on concert singing. Key aspects of her work are recitals with a wide variety of topics and her engagement with contem-
porary music. Her astonishing extensive repertoire covers all major alto and mezzosoprano parts of oratios and concerts from the Baroque era, the Classical and Romantic periods, as well as 20th century literature. Recent highlights of Romberger`s career have been concerts with Manfred Honeck, who invited her for, among others, Mahler´s symphonies, Beethoven´s Missa Solemnis and the Große Messe by Walter Braunfels. Further concerts at the NDR Hamburg with Wolfgang Rihm´s Drei späte Gedichte von Heiner Müller, with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Prague, numerous performances with Enoch zu Guttenberg (among others Bach´s Passions, Verdi´s Messa da Requiem, Beethoven´s Missa solemnis and Wagner´s Wesendoncklieder). After a performance of Bach´s St. Matthew`s Passion in the Philharmonie in Munich, she received rave reviews: “The beautiful voice of the alto, which, despite its clarity, exudes an unearthly warmth, loving mother at first, tender lover at other times – Gerhild Romberger sings, and time stands still. (Süddeutsche Zeitung).” Her artistic work leads her to the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester under Riccardo Chailly, repeatedly to the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (with Schmidt´s Buch mit den sieben Siegeln and with Mendelsson´s Elias with Thomas Hengelbrock), to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Herbert Blomstedt, to the Symphony Orchestras of WDR and MDR and to the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. A regular cooperation closely connects Romberger to Ralf Otto of the Bachchor Mainz, as well as to Philippe Herreweghe and the Orchestre des Champs Elysées in Paris. In the near future, Romberger will perform with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Prague, the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, on tour with Beethoven`s Missa solemnis with the Orchestre des Champs Elysées Paris under Philippe Herreweghe, with the Bavarian Radio Chorus and with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck in the U.S. and on tour in Europe (Mahler´s Second Symphony and Mozart’s Requiem). Romberger performed with the PSO last weekend.
BIOGRAPHY \ 2012-2013 SEASON
//////////////////////// GERHILD ROMBERGER
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/// MENDELSSOHN CHOIR OF PITTSBURGH Because of its many performances with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, many people assume that the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh is a part of the PSO, but it is not. The Mendelssohn Choir is a separate arts organization that at 104 years young is Pittsburgh’s oldest continuously performing arts organization. The Mendelssohn Choir is passionate about choral music. By singing choral music at the highest level, the Choir combines the clarity of words with the mystical power of music so that the deepest and most universal of human expressions are magnified through a community of voices. As the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s “chorus of choice,” the Mendelssohn Choir has performed under the baton of some of the world’s foremost conductors including Lorin Maazel, Mariss Jansons, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Michael Tilson Thomas, Claudio Abbado, Mstislav Rostropovich, Leonard Slatkin, Charles Dutoit, André Previn, Sir Neville Marriner, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Helmuth Rilling, Ingo Metzmacher, Richard Hickox, Zdenek Mácal and Manfred Honeck. Performances of the Choir with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra are heard locally over WQED-FM (89.3) and distributed nationally by PRI. Under the direction of Betsy Burleigh, the Choir has become known for its mastery of the great choral classics. Most recently under her direction, the Mendelssohn Choir has performed Aaron Copland’s In the Beginning and Mozart’s Great Mass to sold-out audiences at East Liberty Presbyterian Church and Dr. Burleigh has led the chorus in a critically acclaimed performance of Rachmaninoff’s a cappella masterwork, the Vespers, at St. Paul’s Cathedral. The Choir has numerous commissions and premieres to its credit, including works by Ned Rorem, Nancy Galbraith and Derek Bermel. A leader and collaborator in the regional arts community, the Mendelssohn’s artistic partners have included the Pittsburgh Opera, the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, the River City Brass Band, the Children’s Festival Chorus, and the Duquesne University Tamburitzans. The Mendelssohn Choir continues to garner critical accolades as it shares the joy of choral music with the more than 50,000 individuals who 18
hear the Mendelssohn in performance each year. The more than 120 singers who comprise the Mendelssohn share a remarkable commitment to the art of making great choral music and collectively contribute more than 35,000 volunteer hours each year. Through its recordings and commissions of new choral works, the Mendelssohn Choir seeks to advance the choral art. The Choir’s most recent recording released in fall 2011 is Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Children’s Festival Chorus of Pittsburgh with Manfred Honeck conducting. As part of its commitment to educating the next generation of choral musicians, approximately 50 high school singers participate annually in the Junior Mendelssohn Program. Junior Mendelssohn alumni are to be found in concert halls and on opera stages throughout the world. The Junior Mendelssohn achieved national acclaim last year when it was honored nationally with a 2011 American Prize for best vocal performance by a high school chorus. The Mendelssohn Choir is a Steinway Artist. The Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh performed with the PSO last weekend. Betsy Burleigh, Music Director of the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh since 2006, was named Artistic Director of the Providence Singers (Rhode Island) in 2011 and has served as Music Director of Chorus pro Musica (Boston, MA) since 2009. She has led the Mendelssohn in their own concert productions, including Brahms’ Requiem, Bach’s B Minor Mass, and Rachmaninoff’s Vespers, in addition to preparing the choir to sing with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. In 2009, she took the Mendelssohn Chamber Singers, a select sub-chorus of 32, to sing an invited performance at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. As guest conductor, Burleigh has led the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Akron Symphony, the Canton Symphony, and the Rhode Island Philharmonic. Theater engagements have included music direction at Opera Cleveland and the Cleveland Public Theater. Also active as a clinician and festival conduc-
BIOGRAPHY \ 2012-2013 SEASON
sor. Her career began in Boston, where she was music director of The Master Singers, the Longy Chamber Singers, the Cambridge Madrigal Singers, and held teaching positions at Tufts University, Clark University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Burleigh earned a doctor of music degree at Indiana University, a master’s degree at the New England Conservatory of Music, and a bachelor of music education degree from Indiana University. She is an enthusiastic grower (and consumer) of heirloom tomatoes. Betsy Burleigh last prepared the Mendelssohn Choir for a performance with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra last weekend.
photo credit: Alisa Garin Photography
tor, she most recently led Cincinnati’s October Festival Choir in Haydn’s Theresienmesse. Burleigh’s conducting has been critically acclaimed; her 2012 Chorus pro Musica performance of Haydn’s Creation was praised in the Boston Globe as an “expansive, poetic reading,” and in the Boston Phoenix as “a stirring and elegant, lilting and expansive performance.” Her 2010 Chorus pro Musica rendition of Orff’s Carmina burana was praised as being both “nuanced” and “hair-raising.” She won the 2000 Northern Ohio Live Achievement Award for best classical/opera performance and conducted the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus on an Emmy award-winning concert for the 9/11 Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. She has prepared choruses for Manfred Honeck, Rafael Frübeck de Burgos, Jan Pascal Tortelier, Leonard Slatkin, Sir Andrew Davis, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Anton Coppola, Jane Glover, Jahja Ling, Nicholas McGegan, John Nelson, Yuri Temirkanov and Franz WelserMöst, among others. Burleigh served as assistant director of choruses for The Cleveland Orchestra from 1998 until 2009, and as chorus master for Cleveland Opera from 2002-2006. From 1994-2010 she was Coordinator of Choral and Vocal Music at Cleveland State University, where she achieved the rank of full profes-
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MENDELSSOHN CHOIR OF PITTSBURGH OFFICERS
Cynthia L. Roth
Ronia Holmes GRAPHIC ARTIST
PRESIDENT
Marian Block, M.D. VICE PRESIDENT
Mary G. Bachorski TREASURER
Terri S. Blanchette SECRETARY
ARTISTIC STAFF
Betsy Burleigh MUSIC DIRECTOR
Robert Page MUSIC DIRECTOR EMERITUS
Maria Sensi Sellner ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR
DIRECTORS
Carey Andrew-Jaja, M.D. Sarah Eldridge Nancy Grover Mike Henry Nancy Klimcheck Steven Kohler Susan Kukic Victoria Bechtold Kush, J.D. Robert B. Moir J. Mark Munson, J.D. MaryBeth Salama, M.D. Christine Thompson Vance W. Torbert III Larry Wright DIRECTORS EMERITUS
Jeanne C. Ashe Constance J. Bernt § Bette Evans Cordelia Jacobs Mary Jane Jacques Arthur J. Kerr, Jr. Paul R. Malmberg Perry Morrison * Joseph Schewe George Seeley ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF
Mary Ann Lapinski EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
MaryColleen Seip CHORUS MANAGER
Emily Stewart COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
Elizabeth Thogerson MARKETING ASSOCIATE
Esther Berreth BOOKKEEPER
Kim Graham GRAPHIC ARTIST & SOCIAL MEDIA
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Susan Medley JUNIOR MENDELSSOHN DIRECTOR
Bryan Sable JUNIOR MENDELSSOHN ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR & FACULTY MEMBER
Bruce Klimcheck JUNIOR MENDELSSOHN FACULTY MEMBER
Nancy Klimcheck JUNIOR MENDELSSOHN FACULTY MEMBER
Katy Shackleton Williams JUNIOR MENDELSSOHN FACULTY MEMBER
Walter Morales ACCOMPANIST
Karen Roethlisberger ACCOMPANIST
Jim Burns JUNIOR MENDELSSOHN ACCOMPANIST
CHORUS MEMBERS
Salvatore A. Amelio Brian Anderson Regina Anesin Earle L. Ashbridge Chuck Beard Justin Blanding David C. Bodette Lauren Boyle Claudia Brown Elizabeth Atwood Burnette Ashley Cesaratto Michael Conway Karen B. Crenshaw Barbara Crigler Amelia D’Arcy † D. Kenneth Davies Michael DePasquale Karen W. DeVries Bethann DiLione †
Carrie Doak Jolanta Doherty † Mark Doncic †† Mary B. Doohan Stephen Patrick Dragan Lynn Streator Dunbar Ashley Episcopo Linda Evans Ellen Fast Benjamin Filippone †† Brian J. Filtz Marietta FischesserMetze † Victoria Anne Fisher Zanna Fredland † Chris Girardi Deanna Golden †† David G.Gordon Mary Kay Gottermeyer Kim Graham Marcus Graham Margaret L. Groninger Theresa Vosko Haas Joseph Kyungjin Han Samuel P. Harbison III John Hastings† Beth Rackley Hesselson Thomas Hill Deena L. Hower Matthew Hunt Mary Jane Jacques Ed Jaicks Jane Jeffries Allison Johnston Nathan Katus† Marsha L. Keefer † Ryan Keeling † Nancy M. Klimcheck † Andrew S. Knox Ryan Kok † Joseph G. Kraus Nathan Leard Kwan Il Lee Terry Lee M. Denice Leonard Kathy Linger † Liana D. Alksnitis Lloyd Jennifer Loh Adam Loucks† Donald Lyle
Jonathan MacDonald † Kate Manukyan John Milnthorp Eileen Murray Andrey Nemzer † Susan Oerkvitz Scott M. O’Neal † Timothy M. Ore†† Edward F. Peduzzi Jr. Michael S. Pettersen John Phillips Cynthia Gail Pratt† Holly Reed Frank Rogel Cynthia L. Roth Gail Elizabeth Roup MaryBeth Salama Janet L. Sarbaugh Stephen Schall† Marcia M. Seeley MaryColleen Seip Maria Sensi Sellner Matthew Soroka Emily Stewart D. Cody Sweet Elizabeth Thogerson Chris Thompson Rex Tien Marissa Ulmer Bill Vandivier Sarah Webster Vodrey Mitch Warmbein† Katy Shackleton Williams† Natasha Witherspoon David L. Wright Larry W. Wright Paul Yeater Laura Connor Zajdel Alexander Zaretsky Joan Zolko § CHAIRMAN EMERITA † PROFESSIONAL CORE †† PROFESSIONAL CORE ALTERNATE * DECEASED THE MENDELSSOHN CHOIR OF PITTSBURGH IS A STEINWAY ARTIST
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Pictured: William Steinberg & Family
Laughter. Family. Music. Keep the legacy alive. Remember the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in your estate plans. CONTACT THE STEINBERG SOCIETY: 412.392.3320
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The Mendelssohn Choir’s
Victorian Holiday Concert A celebration of Dickens’ 200th anniversary and all things Christmas.
December 2 at 3 p.m. East Liberty Presbyterian Church
Even Ebenezer Scrooge won’t be able to utter a “Bah humbug” after this concert!
Tickets at Showclix.com or call 1-888-71-TICKETS (84253)
Visit the Mendelssohn Choir’s table in the lobby for $5 off all tickets or use code “PSO” when ordering on-line! Image from Charles Dickens, Darlington Collection, Special Collections Department, University of Pittsburgh.
//////// HEINZ HALL INFORMATION
GROUPS can receive discounted BOX OFFICE HOURS are tickets, priority seats, personalMonday through Friday, from ized service and free reception 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday from Noon to 4 p.m. Weekend hours vary space. For more information, call 412.392.4819 or visit our website based on performance times. at pittsburghsymphony.org/ Tickets may be purchased by groups for information. calling 412.392.4900 and are also available at Theater Square Box RESTROOMS are located on the Office. Lower, Grand Tier and Gallery levels and off the Garden and Overlook CHILDREN are encouraged to attend our youth concerts and Fid- rooms; a wheelchair-accessible dlesticks Family Concerts. Children restroom is on the Main Floor. at age six and over, are welcome at LATECOMER’S GALLERY is all performances with a purchased located behind the Main Floor to ticket. The Latecomer’s Gallery and enjoy the performance until you lobby video monitors are always can be seated. Latecomers will be options for restless children. seated at suitable intervals during COAT CHECK is available in the Grand Lobby, or in the Dorothy Porter Simmons Family Regency Room on the lower level. CONCIERGE SERVICE is available in the Entrance Lobby to assist with your questions, and to help with dining, hotel, entertainment and transportation concerns. [Penny Vennare, Event Supervisor; Ron Ogrodowski, Concierge.] DRESS CODE for all concerts is at your personal discretion and ranges from dress and business attire to casual wear. ELEVATOR is located next to the Grand Staircase. EMERGENCY CALLS can be referred to the concierge desk at 412.392.2880.
the program, at the discretion of the conductor. Also available for parents with restless children.
Reservations at 412.392.4879, pittsburghsymphony.org/mozartroom. REFRESHMENT BARS are located in the Garden and Overlook rooms and in the Grand Tier Lounge. Intermission beverages may be ordered prior to performances. Water cups are available in the restrooms. PHOTOGRAPHY and video or audio recording of the performance is strictly prohibited at all times. PRE-PAID PARKING is available to all ticketholders in the Sixth & Penn garage across from Heinz Hall. Ask about prepaid parking when you order your tickets.
SMOKING is not permitted in Heinz Hall. The garden is accessible during performances for this LOCKERS are located on the Lower, Grand Tier and Gallery levels. purpose. LOST AND FOUND items can be retrieved by calling 412.392.4844 on weekdays from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. MOBILE DEVICES should be turned off and put away upon entering the theater. THE MOZART ROOM is available for a grand dining experience from The Common Plea, just seconds away from your seats.
SUPPORTING THE PSO is a critical portion of the financial future of the PSO as ticket sales only cover a portion of our operating costs. To make a tax-deductible gift, contact our Donor Relations department at 412.392.4880 or visit us online at pittsburghsymphony.org
THE FOLLOWING ACCOMMODATIONS ARE AVAILABLE FOR PATRONS WITH DISABILITIES: • Level entrance and route to main floor of auditorium FIRE EXITS are to be used ONLY • Wheelchair seat locations with companion seats* in case of an emergency. If the fire • Portable assistive listening devices. See ushers for assistance. alarm is activated, follow the direc- • Braille programs are available at the concierge desk for most tion of Heinz Hall ushers and staff BNY Mellon Grand Classics performances. to safely evacuate the theater. *Please contact the box office for the location of these seats. 24
Performance is all about hitting the right notes.
Constructing and managing diversified portfolios to help you reach your financial goals. Don Linzer dlinzer@schneiderdowns.com 412.697.5222
www.sdwealthmanagement.com
Nancy Skeans nskeans@schneiderdowns.com 412.697.5376
schneider downs
www.sdwealthmanagement.com
wealth management advisors
Š d. yurman 2012
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