The Rite of Spring

Jahja Ling, Music Director

DECEMBER 2015

FROM THE

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

PHOTO CREDIT: LAUREN RADACK

DEAR FRIENDS, It’s hard to believe that the final month of 2015 has arrived, and what a year it has been!

From Keith Lockhart’s heroic “step-in” for our John Williams tribute concerts in January to electrifying springtime appearances by Conrad Tao and Ray Chen; from sensational fall performances by Yuja Wang and Sarah Chang to last month’s truly sublime Pathétique Symphony interpretation by Music Director Jahja Ling and our San Diego Symphony Orchestra musicians, this is a year of musical memories. Our organization has never been stronger, with record Summer Pops sales; over 450 new Jacobs Masterworks subscribers; a successfully launched (and highly subscribed!) new Jazz @ The Jacobs series; and the strong support of our philanthropic community. We hope that you will consider becoming part of that community by participating this year in our Maestro Challenge.

We at the San Diego Symphony Orchestra have so much to be grateful for, and this is certainly a time of year for gratitude. Our Holiday Pops continues to be San Diego’s favorite destination for music of the Season, and this year’s performances, featuring the stylish acrobatics of Cirque Musica, will be a treat for the eye and the ear.

Martha Gilmer, Chief Executive Officer

We are very pleased and honored that so many highly regarded conductors from around the world are coming to San Diego this season to lead our Orchestra. This month, Los Angeles Philharmonic Associate Conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla will conduct Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring – a demanding and rewarding piece guaranteed to demonstrate her immense talent and to show off our orchestra’s musicality and virtuosity.

Music Director Jahja Ling will conduct Hector Berlioz’s Te Deum in the first San Diego Symphony Orchestra performances. In addition to our orchestra, this choral masterpiece features the San Diego Master Chorale as well as the fully restored Fox Theatre Pipe Organ.

This will be a truly “rafter-shaking” experience not to be missed!

As we look forward to the New Year, we are thrilled to present our first month-long festival called the Upright & Grand Piano Festival. This city-wide celebration of the piano will include concerts at the Jacobs Music Center as well as presentations by our colleagues the La Jolla Music Society, the California Center for the Arts, Escondido and Poway OnStage. There will be “Pianos in Public Spaces” around the region as well as a “Hands On” day of piano-centric community activities and amateur performances on the Copley Symphony Hall stage. This festival features 12 world-famous pianists; six concertos; four venues; 16 concerts and five conductors. Nothing like this has been presented in San Diego before, and we know you will want to be part of every moment!

As 2015 comes to an end, we look forward to a New Year that celebrates the joy and beauty that music brings to us all.

Sincerely,

Martha Gilmer Chief Executive Officer

COVER PHOTO CREDIT: Jahja Ling – David Hartig SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WINTER SEASON DECEMBER 2015

PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE P1

ABOUT THE MUSIC DIRECTOR

JAHJA LING

CD of Lucas Richman’s Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant and Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals with soloists Jon Kimura Parker and Orli Shaham distributed by Naxos in 2013. Under his leadership, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra has been designated a Tier One major orchestra by the League of American Orchestras, based on a new level of unprecedented artistic excellence, its continuing increase in audience attendance as well as its solid financial stability.

JA HJA L I NG ‘s distinguished career as an internationally renowned conductor has earned him an exceptional reputation for musical integrity, intensity and expressivity. Born in Jakarta, Indonesia, and now a citizen of the United States, he is the first and only conductor of Chinese descent who holds a music director position with a major orchestra in the United States and has conducted all of the major symphony orchestras in North America including Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Francisco.

The 2015-16 season marks his 12th season as Music Director of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra. In October of 2013 Mr. Ling led the Orchestra for a sold out concert at Carnegie Hall with Lang Lang as soloist, followed by a tour to China where the Orchestra appeared in five concerts in Yantai (sister city of San Diego), Shanghai and Beijing (at the National Centre for the Performing Arts and at Tsinghua University) with soloists Joshua Bell and Augustin Hadelich. This two week tour was the first international tour and the first appearance of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall (received with great acclaim) in their 104 year history. The Orchestra’s performances conducted by Mr. Ling have also received the highest praise from public and critics alike, having been broadcast both locally and nationally. Mr. Ling and the Orchestra have recently released eight new live recordings (the Orchestra’s first in a decade). Together they have undertaken commissions as well as premieres of many new works and recorded new works of Bright Sheng for Telarc Records (released in summer of 2009) and a new P4 PERFORMANCES MAGA ZINE

In recent and upcoming seasons Mr. Ling returns as guest conductor with the Adelaide Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Hangzhou Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Jakarta Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Macao Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Philharmonia Taiwan (National Symphony of Taiwan), Royal Philharmonic of London, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, West Australia Symphony as well as Yale Philharmonia and Curtis Symphony Orchestra. In June of 2012 he conducted the Schleswig Holstein Festival Orchestra in Berlin’s O2 World on the occasion of Lang Lang’s 30th birthday concert with Lang Lang, Herbie Hancock and 50 young pianists from around the world. The concert, attended by more than 10,000 people, was also telecast live by German and Spanish TV. Mr. Ling holds one of the longest continuous relationships with one of the world’s greatest orchestras, The Cleveland Orchestra. In 2014 he celebrated his 30th anniversary with that esteemed ensemble with performances at Severance Hall, the Blossom Music Festival and Palm Beach, Florida.

He first served as Associate Conductor in the 1984-85 season, and then as Resident Conductor for 17 years from 1985-2002 and as Blossom Music Festival Director for six seasons (2000-05). During his tenure with the Orchestra, he conducted over 450 concerts and 600 works, including many world premieres. Among his distinguished services as Resident Conductor, Mr. Ling led the Orchestra’s annual concert in downtown Cleveland, heard by more than 1.5 million people. His telecast of A Concert in Tribute and Remembrance with the Orchestra for 9/11/2011 received an Emmy® Award. The United States House of Representatives presented a Congressional Record of his outstanding achievements in the United States Capitol in September 2006.

Prior to his Cleveland appointment, Mr. Ling served as Assistant and Associate Conductor

of the San Francisco Symphony. Deeply committed to education, Mr. Ling served as founding Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (1986-93) and the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (1981-84).

Mr. Ling made his European debut with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in 1988 to great acclaim. His other engagements abroad have taken him to the Chamber Orchestra of Lausanne, Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, China Philharmonic in Beijing, Guangzhou Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic, Macao Symphony, MDR Symphony Orchestra in Leipzig, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, NDR Radio Philharmonie in Hannover, NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg, Orchestre Nationale du Capitole de Toulouse, Royal Philharmonic of London, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Shanghai Symphony, Singapore Symphony, Stockholm Philharmonic and Tokyo’s Yomiuri Nippon Symphony.

Mr. Ling began to play the piano at age four and studied at the Jakarta School of Music. At age 17 he won the Jakarta Piano Competition and one year later was awarded a Rockefeller grant to attend The Juilliard School, where he studied piano with Mieczysław Munz and conducting with John Nelson. After completing a master’s degree at Juilliard, he studied orchestral conducting at the Yale School of Music under Otto-Werner Mueller and received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 1985. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate by Wooster College in 1993. In the summer of 1980 Mr. Ling was granted the Leonard Bernstein Conducting Fellowship at Tanglewood, and two years later he was selected by Mr. Bernstein to be a Conducting Fellow at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute.

As a pianist Mr. Ling won a bronze medal at the 1977 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Israel and was awarded a certificate of honor at the following year’s Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow. He made his Cleveland Orchestra debut as a pianist in 1987 and has appeared as both soloist and conductor with a number of orchestras in the United States and internationally.

Mr. Ling makes his home in San Diego with his wife, Jessie, and their young daughters Priscilla and Stephanie. n

SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WINTER SEASON DECEMBER 2015

SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

JAHJA LING, MUSIC DIRECTOR

MATTHEW GARBUTT

Principal Summer Pops Conductor

SAMEER PATEL Assistant Conductor

VIOLIN Jeff Thayer Concertmaster DEBORAH

PATE AND JOHN FORREST CHAIR

Wesley Precourt Associate Concertmaster Jisun Yang Assistant Concertmaster Alexander Palamidis Principal II Jing Yan Acting Associate Principal II Nick Grant Principal Associate Concertmaster Emeritus Randall Brinton Yumi Cho Hernan Constantino Alicia Engley Pat Francis Kathryn Hatmaker Angela Homnick Ai Nihira* Igor Pandurski Julia Pautz Susan Robboy Shigeko Sasaki Yeh Shen Anna Skálová Edmund Stein John Stubbs Pei-Chun Tsai Joan Zelickman VIOLA Chi-Yuan Chen Principal KAREN AND WARREN KESSLER CHAIR

Nancy Lochner Associate Principal Rebekah Campbell Wanda Law Qing Liang Caterina Longhi Thomas Morgan Adam Neeley* Ethan Pernela Dorothy Zeavin CELLO Yao Zhao Principal Chia-Ling Chien Associate Principal Marcia Bookstein Glen Campbell Andrew Hayhurst

Richard Levine Ronald Robboy Mary Oda Szanto Xian Zhuo

Douglas Hall

BASS

John MacFerran Wilds Ray Nowak

Jeremy Kurtz-Harris ˆ Principal OPHIE AND ARTHUR BRODY S FOUNDATION CHAIR

Susan Wulff Acting Principal Samuel Hager Acting Associate Principal W. Gregory Berton ˆ P. J. Cinque Jory Herman Margaret Johnston+ Daniel Smith* Michael Wais Sayuri Yamamoto* FLUTE Rose Lombardo Principal Sarah Tuck Erica Peel PICCOLO Erica Peel OBOE Sarah Skuster Principal

TRUMPET Micah Wilkinson Principal

TROMBONE Kyle R. Covington Principal Logan Chopyk Richard Gordon+ Michael Priddy BASS TROMBONE Michael Priddy TUBA Matthew Garbutt Principal HARP Julie Smith Phillips Principal TIMPANI Ryan J. DiLisi Principal Andrew Watkins Assistant Principal PERCUSSION Gregory Cohen Principal

Harrison Linsey Andrea Overturf

Erin Douglas Dowrey Andrew Watkins

ENGLISH HORN Andrea Overturf

PIANO/CELESTE Mary Barranger

DR. WILLIAM AND EVELYN LAMDEN ENGLISH HORN CHAIR

CLARINET Sheryl Renk Principal

ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL MANAGER Magdalena O’Neill ASSISTANT PERSONNEL MANAGER TBA

Theresa Tunnicliff Frank Renk

PRINCIPAL LIBRARIAN Courtney Secoy Cohen

BASS CLARINET Frank Renk

LIBRARIAN Rachel Fields

BASSOON Valentin Martchev Principal Ryan Simmons Leyla Zamora

* Long Term Substitute Musician + Staff Opera Musician ˆ On leave

CONTRABASSOON Leyla Zamora

All musicians are members of the American Federation of Musicians Local 325.

HORN Benjamin Jaber Principal Darby Hinshaw Assistant Principal & Utility Danielle Kuhlmann Tricia Skye

SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WINTER SEASON DECEMBER 2015

Financial support is provided by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture.

PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE P5

DECEMBER 4, 5 & 6 THE RITE OF SPRING JACOBS MASTERWORKS SERIES

FRIDAY December 4, 2015 – 8:00pm SATURDAY December 5, 2015 – 8:00pm SUNDAY December 6, 2015 – 2:00pm guest conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla violin Karen Gomyo

All performances at The Jacobs Music Center’s Copley Symphony Hall

PROGRAM LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN JEAN SIBELIUS

Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72b Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 Allegro moderato Adagio di molto Allegro; ma non tanto Karen Gomyo, violin

INTERMISSION IGOR STRAVINSKY

Le sacre du printemps (The Rite Of Spring) Part I: Adoration of the Earth Introduction The Augurs of Spring – Dances of the Young Girls Ritual of Abduction Spring Rounds Ritual of the Rival Tribes Procession of the Sage The Sage Dance of the Earth Part II: The Sacrifice Introduction Mystic Circle of the Young Girls Glorification of the Chosen One Evocation of the Ancestors Ritual Action of the Ancestors Sacrificial Dance (The Chosen One) The appearance of Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla is generously sponsored by The Dow Divas.

T he approximate running time for this concert, including intermission, is one hour and fifty minutes.

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SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WINTER SEASON DECEMBER 2015

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

THE RITE OF SPRING – DECEMBER 4, 5 & 6

Highlights of the 2014-15 season included new productions of The Magic Flute and Tahrir (a world premiere) as Music Director designate in Salzburg as well as subscription debuts with the Seattle Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

MIRGA GRAŽINYTĖ-TYLA, GUEST CONDUCTOR

"M

eeting a Force: Mirga GražinytėTyla makes a great first impression, and before long she will simply be known as MIRGA” wrote the Los Angeles Times critic after her thrilling Hollywood Bowl debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in August 2014. Recently appointed Music Director of the Salzburg Landestheater with the start of the 2015-16 season and Assistant Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the next two consecutive seasons, Ms. Gražinytė-Tyla has electrified orchestras and audiences alike.

A Dudamel Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2012-13, Ms. Gražinytė-Tyla is the 2012 winner of the prestigious Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award.

Subsequently she made her debut with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra in a symphonic concert at the Salzburger Festspiele. Last season, she collaborated with Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica in an extensive tour, and made her debut with the Wiener Kammerorchester in Vienna. In 2013-14, as First Kapellmeister of the Opera House in Bern, she conducted new productions of Zero, La traviata and The Cunning Little Vixen.

Additionally, she led several productions at the Theater Heidelberg such as Aïda and Carmen as well as new productions of Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Las Cartas de Frida by the renowned Mexican composer Marcela Rodriguez.

Highlights of Ms. Gražinytė-Tyla’s career include concerts with the Danish Radio Orchestra Copenhagen, the MDR Orchestra Leipzig, the Philharmonie Südwestfalen, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Orchestre de

R

ecipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2008, violinist KARE N G O M YO has been hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “a first-rate artist of real musical command, vitality, brilliance and intensity” and by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as “captivating, honest and soulful, fueled by abundant talent but not a vain display of technique.”

KAREN GOMYO, VIOLIN

Ms. Gomyo has established herself in recent years as a much in demand soloist internationally, performing with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra. Outside of the United States, she has appeared with the Danish National

SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WINTER SEASON DECEMBER 2015

Chambre de Lausanne, Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the Kaunas Symphony Orchestra, as well as a collaboration with the Camerata Salzburg.

Praised as a dynamic, profound and extremely talented young conductor, Ms. Gražinytė-Tyla was discovered by the German Conducting Forum – Deutscher Dirigentenforum – in April 2009, and has since benefitted from their conducting program and support. She was one of the revelations of the 2009 Kurt Masur Conducting Seminar in Bonn, Germany, on “The Art of Conducting Beethoven.”

A native of Vilnius, Lithuania, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla was born into a musical family. Before pursuing her studies at the Music Conservatory in Zurich, she studied at the Music Conservatory Felix MendelssohnBartholdy in Leipzig and at the Music Conservatory in Bologna, Italy. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in choral and orchestral conducting from the University of Music and Fine Arts, Graz, Austria. She has participated in numerous master classes and conducting workshops and worked with many established conductors and professors such as Christian Ehwald, George Alexander Albrecht, Johannes Schlaefli, Herbert Blomstedt, Colin Metters and Kurt Masur. n

Symphony, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony and Sydney Symphony.

In February 2015 she performed the North American premiere of Matthias Pintscher’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with the National Symphony of Washington D.C. under the composer’s baton. Other 2014-15 highlights included returns to the Cleveland Orchestra, the Toronto, Detroit, Oregon, Vancouver Symphony orchestras as well as a return to Australia, making her debuts with the Melbourne Symphony, the Tasmanian Symphony and the New Zealand Symphony.

She also made her debuts with the

PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE P9

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

THE RITE OF SPRING – DECEMBER 4, 5 & 6 Staatsoper Hannover, Radiofonieorchester Stuttgart, Aalborg Symfoniorkester, Argovia Philharmonic (Switzerland) and the Taipei Symphony.

Future engagements include debuts with the Bamberger Symphoniker and Aarhus Symfoniorkerter, a return to the Hong Kong Philharmonic with its music director Jaap Van Zweden as well as returns to the St. Louis, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, Milwaukee and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras. She will also perform in a two-week residency in Brazil with the Orchestra Sinfonica do Estado de Sao Paulo and Marin Alsop, and then later the New Zealand Symphony with its new music director Edo de Waart. In July 2015 she tours Australia with mezzo-soprano Susan Graham and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

In recital and chamber music, Ms. Gomyo has performed in festivals throughout the United States and Europe. Her chamber music partners have included Leif Ove Andsnes, Olli Mustonen, Kathryn Stott, Juho Pohjonen, Heinrich Schiff, Christian Poltéra, Alisa Weilerstein, Lynn Harrell, Jörg Widmann, Isabelle Van Keulen and Benjamin Schmid. During the summer of 2015 she performs a recital with guitarist Ismo Eskelinen at the Mainzer Musiksommers Festival in Germany as well as recitals with pianist Christian Ihle Hadland in festivals in Denmark. She also returns to the Moritzburg Festival in Germany, Delft Festival in Holland, Musiktage Mondsee in Austria and Denmark’s Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. Ms. Gomyo has worked with such conductors as Sir Andrew Davis, Leonard Slatkin, Neeme Järvi, David Robertson, David Zinman, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Louis Langrée, Thomas Dausgaard, James Gaffigan, Pinchas Zukerman, Heinrich Schiff, Hannu Lintu, Vasily Petrenko, Pietari Inkinen, Joshua Weilerstein, Jakub Hrusa, Cristian Macelaru, Gilbert Varga and Mark Wigglesworth.

The recent NHK-produced documentary film The Mysteries of the Supreme Violin, about Stradivarius and in which Gomyo was violinist, guide and narrator, was broadcast worldwide on NHK WORLD.

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Ms. Gomyo is deeply interested in the Nuevo Tango music of Astor Piazzolla, and has an ongoing project with Piazzolla’s longtime pianist, tango legend Pablo Ziegler, and his partners Hector del Curto (bandoneon), Claudio Ragazzi (electric guitar) and Pedro Giraudo (double bass). She also performs regularly with the Finnish guitarist Ismo Eskelinen in a unique duo program. A recording with Mr. Eskelinen is planned for 2015.

Karen Gomyo plays on the “Aurora, ex-Foulis” Stradivarius violin of 1703 that was bought for her exclusive use by a private sponsor. n

Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72b LUDWIG VA N BE ETH OV E N Born December 16, 1770, Bonn Died March 26, 1827, Vienna (Approx. 14 minutes) No other work gave Beethoven more trouble than his only opera, Leonore, which he retitled Fidelio during its final revision. This tale of political idealism, resistance to tyranny and marital fidelity comes to a climax when the heroine Leonore prepares to sacrifice her life to protect her imprisoned husband Florestan from the evil Pizarro. The couple is saved at the last minute by the arrival of the good minister Don Fernando, who has Pizarro arrested. Beethoven’s problems with the opera, which occupied him over a span of 11 years and took him through three different versions, are reflected in his problems devising a suitable overture: Fidelio is doubtless the only opera in existence to have four different overtures.

Some chronology is necessary here, for the territory is confusing. Shortly after composing the Eroica Symphony in 1803, Beethoven set to work on this opera, which took two years to complete. Leonore (Beethoven’s preferred title) was premiered in Vienna in November 1805 and on that occasion was prefaced by what we now know as the Leonore Overture No. 2. This version of the opera was not a success, and Beethoven subsequently revised it, trimming

the number of acts from three to two. The overture had proven particularly difficult for the players, and for the premiere of the revised version in March 1806 Beethoven completely re-wrote it; this is the version known as Leonore Overture No. 3. And what about Leonore Overture No. 1? That one was apparently composed for a planned production in Prague in 1807 that never took place. The manuscript for this overture was discovered after the composer’s death and published in 1838 with the absurdly high opus number of 138. (It is in fact is Beethoven’s last opus number.)

In all three of the Leonore overtures he had written to that point, Beethoven faced what was essentially a dramatic rather than a musical problem: he composed an overture based on music that accompanies the multiple dramatic events of the opera’s final act (Leonore’s willingness to sacrifice herself, the last-minute arrival of Don Fernando and the arrest of Pizarro). This is powerful material, but it is far in the future when Act I opens with much more innocent activity – the frothy infatuation of the young Marzellina with the new jailer’s assistant.

Any of these violently dramatic overtures seem wrong as an introduction to so light a beginning to the opera, and when the powerful Leonore Overture No. 3 is used to open the opera, it “annihilates the first act,” in the wonderful phrase of English musicologist Donald Francis Tovey.

Beethoven was aware of this problem. When he made his final revisions of the opera in 1814 (re-naming it Fidelio at that time), he composed the Fidelio Overture as the fourth – and most successful – of his overtures to this opera. A conventional curtain raiser, full of thrust and noble sentiment, it makes no use of musical material from the opera itself, and perhaps for this reason it has become a successful opening to the first act. However, many subsequent opera conductors (Mahler and Toscanini among them) have felt that the Leonore Overture No. 3 was too good to lose and so performed it as an introduction to the opera’s final scene, where it comes just after the fortuitous arrival of Don Fernando and

SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WINTER SEASON DECEMBER 2015

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

THE RITE OF SPRING – DECEMBER 4, 5 & 6

just before the release of Florestan. In that position, the overture’s fiercely dramatic character makes good sense.

In the concert hall, of course, none of this matters, and the music can be taken on its own terms. The Leonore Overture No. 3 has become one of Beethoven’s most popular overtures, preserving some of the high drama of the opera and treating it in taut sonata form. The overture’s slow introduction opens with descending phrases (mirroring Florestan’s descent into the dark dungeon?), and woodwinds soon echo a phrase from his great aria at the beginning of Act II, In des Lebens Frühlinstagen, a sad account of how far he has fallen from his happy early life. Gradually the introduction grows more animated and settles into the Allegro, where the rising-and-falling melody in C Major becomes the main idea for the overture; Beethoven quickly syncopates this idea, and that rhythmic kick will animate much of the overture. There is gentler secondary material, but this too grows more turbulent. (This overture never relaxes for very long.) Matters reach a climax, and Beethoven breaks off the development with another quotation from the opera – the off-stage trumpet that heralds the dramatic arrival of Don Fernando in Act II. The coda brings one of the most famous (and difficult) passages in the orchestra repertory: all by themselves, a handful of violins (“due o tre violini,” says Beethoven in the score) race ahead over a sequence of rising scales. They are gradually joined by players from the other string sections and then from the full orchestra as Beethoven drives to a heroic close with music well-suited to this tale of the triumph of good over evil. n

Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 JEAN SIBELIUS Born December 8, 1865 Tavastehus, Finland Died September 20, 1957 Järvenpää, Finland (Approx. 31 minutes)

Sibelius composed his Violin Concerto – his only concerto – in 1903, between his Second and Third Symphonies. This was a time of transition for the 38-year-old composer, who was moving away from an early romantic style influenced by Tchaikovsky and toward a leaner, more concise language. Sibelius was dissatisfied when he heard the concerto premiered in Helsinki in 1904 by Viktor Novácek, and he revised it completely. The final version was first performed in Berlin on October 19, 1905, with Karl Halir as soloist and Richard Strauss conducting.

It is difficult to characterize this haunting music. The second movement may sing gracefully, and the finale is full of energy, but the prevailing impression the concerto makes is of an icy brilliance, a craggy strength.

Sibelius’ orchestral sonority emphasizes the darker lower voices – cellos, violas and bassoons – so that the violin, which often plays high in its range, sounds even more brilliant by contrast. Sibelius himself was a violinist who had hoped to make a career as a soloist before he (fortunately) gave up that dream and turned to composition, and he fills the solo part with complex technical hurdles.

Long passages played in octaves, great leaps, sustained writing in the violin’s highest register, and such knotty problems as trilling on one string while simultaneously playing a melodic line on another make this one of the most difficult of all violin concertos.

The Allegro moderato opens with a quiet mist of string sound, and over this the solo violin presents the long, rhapsodic main theme: singing, dark, surging. Certain features of this theme – a triplet tag and a pattern of three descending notes – will assume important thematic functions as the movement develops. The originality of this movement appears in many ways. There are three main theme-groups instead of the expected two, but before we get to the second, Sibelius defies all expectations by giving the soloist a brief cadenza. The sober and steady second subject arrives in the dark sound of bassoons and cellos, while the vigorous third is stamped out by the violin sections. And then, another surprise: Sibelius presents

SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WINTER SEASON DECEMBER 2015

the main cadenza – long and phenomenally difficult – before the development begins.

After this lengthy and unusual exposition, the development and recapitulation are truncated, and the ending is abrupt: Sibelius drives with unremitting energy to the close, where the solo violin catapults to the top of its range as the orchestra seals off the cadence with fierce attacks.

Woodwind duets introduce the second movement before the violin enters with the intense main theme, played entirely on the G-string. This movement, in ternary form, rises to a great climax and falls back to end quietly and gently. The tempo indication for the last movement – Allegro; ma non tanto (Fast, but not too fast) – is crucial: timpani and low strings set the steady tread that marches along firmly throughout much of this movement. The violin’s vigorous dotted melody dominates this rondo, but even here the mood remains somber. This movement has been described in quite different ways.

Donald Francis Tovey called it “a polonaise for polar bears,” while Sibelius is reported to have referred to it as a “danse macabre.”

The concerto concludes as the violin climbs into its highest register and – with the entire orchestra – stamps out the concluding D. n

Le sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) I G O R STR AV I N S KY Born June 17, 1882, Oranienbaum Died April 6, 1971, New York City (Approx. 33 minutes) In the spring of 1910, while completing the orchestration of The Firebird, Igor Stravinsky had the most famous dream in the history of music: “I saw in imagination a solemn pagan rite: wise elders, seated in a circle, watching a young girl dancing herself to death. They were sacrificing her to propitiate the god of spring.” This idea became Le sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring), which Stravinsky began composing in the summer of 1911, immediately after the premiere of Petrushka. For help in creating a scenario that would evoke the spirit of pagan Russia, Stravinsky turned to the

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ABOUT THE PROGRAM

THE RITE OF SPRING – DECEMBER 4, 5 & 6 painter-archaeologist-geologist Nicholas Roerich, who summarized the action: "The first set should transport us to the foot of a sacred hill, in a lush plain, where Slavonic tribes are gathered together to celebrate the spring rites.

In this scene there is an old witch, who predicts the future, a marriage by capture, round dances. Then comes the most solemn moment. The wise elder is brought from the village to imprint his sacred kiss on the new-flowering earth. During this rite the crowd is seized with a mystic terror. After this uprush of terrestrial joy, the second scene sets a celestial mystery before us. Young virgins dance on the sacred hill amid enchanted rocks; they choose the victim they intend to honor. In a moment she will dance her last dance before the ancients clad in bearskins to show that the bear was man’s ancestor.

Then the greybeards dedicate the victim to the god Yarilo."

This story of violence and nature-worship in pagan Russia – inspired in part by Stravinsky’s boyhood memories of the thunderous break-up of the ice on the Neva River in St. Petersburg each spring – became a ballet in two parts, Adoration of the Earth and The Sacrifice.

In the music, Stravinsky drew on the distant past and fused it with the modern. His themes (many adapted from ancient Lithuanian wedding tunes) are brief, of narrow compass, and based on the constantly-changing meters of Russian folk music. And yet his harmonic language can be fiercely dissonant and “modern,” particularly in the famous repeating chord in Dances of the Young Girls, where he superimposes an E-flat Major chord (with added seventh) on top of an F-flat Major chord. Even more striking is the rhythmic imagination that animates this score: Stravinsky himself confessed that parts were so complicated that while he could play them, he could not write them down. And beyond all these, The Rite of Spring is founded on an incredible orchestral sense: from the eerie sound of the high solo bassoon at the beginning through its use of a massive percussion section and such

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unusual instruments as alto flute and piccolo trumpet (not to mention the eight horns, two tubas and quadruple woodwind), this score rings with sounds never heard before.

The premiere may have famously provoked a noisy riot, but at a more civilized level it had an even greater impact: no composer writing after May 29, 1913, would ever be the same.

Stravinsky came to prefer The Rite of Spring as a concert piece rather than a ballet, but some reference to the events of the ballet may be useful in following this music. The Introduction is scored almost exclusively for woodwinds: from the famous opening bassoon solo through its intricately twisting woodwind figures, the music is Stravinsky’s effort to suggest the wriggling of insects as they unfold and come to life in the spring thaw. This is suddenly interrupted by Dances of the Young Girls, driven along by stamping, dissonant chords and off-the-beat accents.

The Ritual of Abduction, full of horn calls and furious rhythmic energy, rides a quiet trill into Spring Rounds, where together the E-flat and bass clarinets outline the haunting principal melody, another of the themes Stravinsky derived from ancient folk music.

Deep string chords (which in the ballet accompany the male dancers lifting the girls onto their backs) soon build to a cataclysmic climax full of the sound of tam-tam and trombone glissandos. The return of the wistful opening melody rounds this section off quietly, but that calm is annihilated by the timpani salvos and snarling low brass of Ritual of the Rival Tribes. The eight horns ring out splendidly here, and the music rushes ahead to the brief Procession of the Sage and then to one of the eeriest moments in the score, Dance of the Earth. Only four measures long, this concludes with an unsettling chord for 11 solo strings, all playing harmonics, as the Sage bends to kiss the earth. At that kiss, the music explodes – without the faintest relaxation of tension or tempo, Dance of the Earth races to the conclusion of the ballet’s first half.

The second part, The Sacrifice, might be thought of as a gradual crescendo of excitement as it moves from a misty beginning (which has been an inspiration to generations of film composers) to the

exultant fury of the concluding Sacrificial Dance. Along the way come such distinctive moments as the solo for alto flute in Mystic Circle of the Young Girls, where the sacrificial maiden will be chosen; the violently pounding 11/4 measure that thrusts the music into Glorification of the Chosen One; the nodding, bobbing bassoons that herald Evocation of the Ancestors (another folkderived theme of constricted range yet of great metric variety); and the shrieking horns of Ritual Action of the Ancestors. A solitary bass clarinet plunges us into the Sacrificial Dance, whose rhythmic complexity has become legendary: this was the section that Stravinsky could play but at first not write down, and in 1943 (30 years after composing this music) he went back and rebarred it in the effort to make it easier for performers.

This music is dauntingly “black” on the page, with its furious energy, its quite short (and constantly changing) bar lengths and its gathering excitement. It dances its way to a delicate violin trill, and The Rite of Spring concludes with an upward sweep of sound and the brutal chord that marks the climactic moment of sacrifice.

A N OT E O N T H E T ITLE: Stravinsky gave this music the Russian title Vesna svyashchennaya, which the painter Leon Bakst (who had designed some of the costumes for The Firebird) rendered in French as Le sacre du printemps. This in turn has been translated literally into English as The Rite of Spring, a title that did not wholly please the composer. Stravinsky felt that The Consecration of Spring or The Coronation of Spring would be more accurate. Stravinsky’s biographer Eric Walter White suggests either Sacred Spring or Holy Spring. n PROGRAM NOTES BY ERIC BROMBERGER

“WHAT’S THE SCORE?”

Join us 45 minutes before every Jacobs Masterworks concert for “What’s The Score?”, a fascinating 25-minute concert talk from the stage by San Diego Symphony Concert Commentator "Nuvi Mehta"!

SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WINTER SEASON DECEMBER 2015

SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

PATRON INFORMATION TICKET OFFICE HOURS Jacobs Music Center Ticket Office (750 B Street) Monday through Friday, 10 am to 6 pm Concert Tuesdays through Fridays: 10 am through intermission Concert Weekends: 12 noon through intermission

be allowed into the concert hall.

They must be held by an adult and may not occupy a seat, unless they have a ticket.

SUBSCRIPTIONS San Diego Symphony Orchestra offers an attractive array of subscription options.

Subscribers receive the best available seats and (for Traditional subscribers) free ticket exchanges (up to 48 hours in advance for another performance within your series). Other subscriber-only benefits include priority notice of special events and (for certain packages) free parking.

For more information, call the Ticket Office at 619.235.0804.

UNUSED TICKETS Please turn in unused subscription tickets for resale to the Ticket Office or by mailing them to 1245 7th Ave., San Diego, CA 92101 (Attn: Ticket Office). Tickets must be turned in anytime up to 24 hours in advance of your concert. A receipt will be mailed acknowledging your tax-deductible contribution.

TICKET EXCHANGE POLICY • Aficionado subscribers may exchange into most Winter series concerts for free! All exchanges are based on ticket availability.

• Traditional subscribers receive the best available seats and may exchange to another performance within their series for free. Build Your Own subscribers and Non-subscribers can do the same, with a $5 exchange fee per ticket.

• Exchanged tickets must be returned to the Ticket Office 24 hours prior to the concert by one of the following ways: In person, by mail (1245 Seventh Ave., San Diego, CA 92101, Attn: Ticket Office) or by fax (619.231.3848).

LOST TICKETS San Diego Symphony concert tickets can be reprinted at the Ticket Office with proper ID. GROUP SALES Discount tickets for groups are available for both subscription and non-subscription concerts (excluding outside events). For further information, please call 619.615.3941.

YOUNGER AUDIENCES POLICY Jacobs Masterworks, Classical Specials, and Chamber Music: No children under five years of age will be allowed into the concert hall.

Children five and older must have a ticket and be able to sit in an unaccompanied seat.

City Lights, Jazz @ The Jacobs, International Passport, Fox Theatre Film Series: No children under the age of two years will be allowed into the concert hall. Children two and older must have a ticket and be able to sit in a seat.

Family Festival Concerts: Children three years and older must have a ticket and be able to sit in a seat. Babies and children two years old and younger who are accompanied by a parent will

P32 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

GIFT CERTIFICATES Gift certificates may be purchased in any amount at the Jacobs Music Center Ticket Office in person, online, by phone, or by mail.

They never expire!

Large-Print Programs: Large-print program notes are available for patrons at all Jacobs Masterworks concerts. Copies may be obtained from an usher.

PUBLIC RESTROOMS AND TELEPHONES Restrooms are located on the north and south ends of the upper lobby, and the north end of the lower lobby. An ADA compliant restroom is located on each floor. Please ask an usher for assistance at any time. Patrons may contact the nearest usher to facilitate any emergency telephone calls.

COUGH DROPS Complimentary cough suppressants are available to symphony patrons. Please ask our house staff for assistance.

QUIET ZONE Please turn all cellular and paging devices to the vibrate or off position upon entry into Symphony Hall. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated by fellow concertgoers and performers.

LOST & FOUND Report all lost and/or found items to your nearest usher. If you have discovered that you misplaced something after your departure from Jacobs Music Center, call the Facilities Department at 619.615.3909.

RECORDING DEVICES No unauthorized cameras or recording devices of any other kind are allowed inside the concert hall. Cell phone photography is not permitted.

PRE-CONCERT TALKS Patrons holding tickets to our Jacobs Masterworks Series concerts are invited to come early for “What’s The Score?” preperformance conversations beginning 45 minutes prior to all Jacobs Masterworks programs (Fridays and Saturdays, 7:15 pm; Sundays, 1:15 pm).

SMOKING POLICY Smoking is not permitted in Jacobs Music Center, its lobbies or the adjoining Symphony Towers lobby. Ashtrays can be found outside the building on both 7th Avenue and B Street.

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES AND REFRESHMENTS Alcoholic beverages are available for sale in Jacobs Music Center lobbies before the concert and during intermission. Please have valid identification available and please drink responsibly. Refreshment bars offering snacks and beverages are located on both upper and lower lobbies for most events. Food and beverages are not allowed in performance chamber for concerts.

LATE SEATING Latecomers will be seated at an appropriate interval in the concert as determined by the house manager. We ask that you remain in your ticketed seat until the concert has concluded.

Should special circumstances exist or arise, please contact the nearest usher for assistance.

SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS Seating: ADA seating for both transfer and non-transfer wheelchairs, as well as restrooms, are available at each performance. Please notify the Ticket Office in advance at 619.235.0804, so that an usher may assist you.

Assistive Listening Devices: A limited number of hearing enhancement devices are available at no cost. Please ask an usher for assistance.

HALL TOURS Free tours of the Jacobs Music Center are given each month of the winter season. Check the “Jacobs Music Center” section of the website, or call 619.615.3955 for more details.

No reservations are necessary.

JACOBS MUSIC CENTER TICKET OFFICE 750 B Street (NE Corner of 7th and B, Downtown San Diego) San Diego, CA 92101 Phone: 619.235.0804 Fax: 619.231.3848 SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ADMINISTRATION OFFICE 1245 7th Avenue San Diego, CA 92101 Phone: 619.235.0800 Fax: 619.235.0005

Our Website: SanDiegoSymphony.com

Contact us to receive mailed or e-mailed updates about Orchestra events.

All artists, programs and dates are subject to change.

SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WINTER SEASON DECEMBER 2015