FROM THE
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Photo Credit: Lauren Radack
DEAR FRIENDS, In April we are continuing our work on connecting with our educational institutions and music students. It is the San Diego Symphony’s priority to ensure that we encourage our music educators, our school principals and superintendents, our University faculty and students, and our young musicians to continue their hard work and dedication to making sure music is present in our school curriculums, and is a form of expression afforded to all who wish to pursue music as a vocation or avocation. On April 15th we welcome the performing ensembles of San Diego State University in a first ever performance on the Copley Symphony Hall, Jacobs Music Center stage. The SDSU Wind Ensemble, Orchestra and Chorus will perform, and the ticket sales for this event will go toward scholarships and toward an internship for a student to work with us here at the San Diego Symphony. Last month, on March 13, we welcomed San Diego Unified’s Honor Band and Orchestra to our stage, highlighting the music education curriculum in our schools. And on April 23 we will host eight area bands on our stage for the very first time. They will play three works and will be evaluated and coached by Frank Ticheli, one of our country’s finest music educators and composers. We are focused on expanding our efforts in educational institutions in San Diego, and all of these initiatives are in addition to the 60,000 youth who attend our Young People’s Concerts every year. In the coming year look for new family programming and other community based efforts in our ongoing effort to “Make Music Matter.” We welcome Midori as a soloist with the orchestra in April. She is a shining example of an artist who exemplifies a life dedicated to making music available to all ages. At age 11 Midori began making headlines as a Juilliard Pre-College student when she appeared as soloist with the New York Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta, appearing with our orchestra in 1982 as an 11 year old. She has her own foundation, Midori & Friends, which is dedicated to musically underserved New York City schoolchildren, and she’s a distinguished Professor of Violin at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. She has even been designated a “Messenger of Peace” for her work with the United Nations. Leading Midori’s performances of Tchaikovsky’s beloved Violin Concerto will be our latest guest conductor, Rory Macdonald, a rising young musician from Scotland who has distinguished himself recently with the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Hallé and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestras as well as the BBC Symphony and a multitude of North American and European opera houses. We will close out our classical month with the return of Music Director Jahja Ling as he leads the musicians of the Orchestra in what are sure to be stunning performances of Gustav Mahler’s “Tragic” Symphony No. 6. This “fate-filled” Mahler symphony, out of the nearly complete cycle Maestro Ling has graced our audiences with over the years, has a particularly deep meaning for Mr. Ling, as Dr. Goldzband reveals in his program history note. By now you should have received information about our Bayside Summer Nights summer programs. Single tickets go on sale April 10, but to ensure the best seats and the best prices, please consider becoming a subscriber this year if you’re not already. Between the wonderful concerts with our Orchestra and special concerts featuring artists like Seth MacFarlane, Amy Grant, Trace Adkins and Bernadette Peters, along with Chris Botti and Diana Ross, you won’t want to miss out! Sincerely,
Martha Gilmer Chief Executive Officer S AN DI EG O SYMPHO NY O RCHEST RA WINT ER SEA SO N A PRIL 2016
COVER PHOTO CREDIT: David Hartig P E R FOR M AN C E S MAGAZ I NE 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 P 4 PE RFORMA NCES MAGAZ IN E
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 DI E GO SYM P H O N Y O R C H E ST R A W I N T E R S E AS ON APR I L 2016
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 TBD 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 Jing Yan 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 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
S AN DI EG O SYMPHO NY O RCHEST RA WINT ER SEA SO N A PRIL 2016
Financial support is provided by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture.
P E R FOR M AN C E S MAGAZ I NE P5
APRIL 29 & 30 JAHJA LING CONDUCTS MAHLER’S SYMPHONY NO. 6 JACOBS MASTERWORKS
FRIDAY April 29, 2016 – 8:00pm SATURDAY April 30, 2016 – 8:00pm conductor Jahja Ling
All performances at The Jacobs Music Center's Copley Symphony Hall
PROGRAM GUSTAV MAHLER
Symphony No. 6 in A minor: Tragic Allegro energico, ma non troppo Scherzo Andante moderato Finale The approximate running time of this program (performed without intermission) is one hour and twenty-five minutes.
ABOUT THE MUSIC Symphony No. 6 in A minor: Tragic G U STAV MAH L ER Born May 7, 1860, Kalischt, Bohemia Died May 18, 1911, Vienna In the summer of 1903 Mahler took his wife and 18-month-old daughter to his summer home at Maiernigg – on the Wörthersee in central Austria – and set to work on a new symphony, which would be his Sixth. Here, in a cottage that looked out over the sunny lake, he sketched the first two movements of what would be a very dark symphony, then returned the following summer (with a new infant daughter) to sketch the final two. The orchestration was complete by the spring of 1905, and Mahler led the premiere of the Sixth Symphony at a festival of new music in Essen on May 27, 1906. Though the symphony was published immediately, Mahler continued to re-think and revise it
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over the remaining five years of his life. The Sixth is unique among Mahler’s ten symphonies. It is the only one that ends in unrelieved defeat, and its nickname “Tragic” points to the music-drama being played out over its 80-minute span. This drama is not pictorial. The Sixth Symphony does not offer the detailed scene-painting of Richard Strauss’ tone poems but instead tells the generalized tragedy of one central figure, who struggles and triumphs momentarily but who is eventually annihilated by fate. The music had an overpowering impact on its creator. Mahler’s widow Alma later recalled the day he first brought the score to her and played it through on the piano: “Not one of his works came as directly from his inmost heart as this. We both wept that day.” She further recounted the circumstances of the premiere in 1906: “None of his works
moved him so deeply at its first hearing as this. We came to the last rehearsals, the dress-rehearsal – to the last movement with its three blows of fate. When it was over, Mahler walked up and down in the artists’ room, sobbing, wringing his hands, unable to control himself.” For all its devastating impact, the Sixth is Mahler’s most classical symphony. It is in four movements, and they are all in traditional forms: outer movements in sonata form frame a scherzo and lyric slow movement. But – Mahler being Mahler – these classical structures are here re-thought and amplified in ingenious ways. Both outer movements are built on march rhythms whose steady tread propels Mahler’s hero toward his fate as implacably as the events of a Greek tragedy or a novel by Hardy or Dreiser. Yet within these movements,
SAN DI E GO SYM P H O N Y O R C H E ST R A W I N T E R S E AS ON APR I L 2016
ABOUT THE MUSIC
JAHJA LING CONDUCTS MAHLER’S SYMPHONY NO. 6 - APRIL 29 & 30 grim as they may be, come interludes of luminous calm, moments when we seem to step back from the unfolding tragedy and experience Mahler’s sense of the beauty of the world where it is taking place. And all this is energized by Mahler’s customary brilliant handling of the orchestra, which in this case is huge: he calls for quadruple woodwind, eight horns, six trumpets and a massive percussion battery that includes the mysterious hammerstroke. These many forces make for a potent mixture, and this dark music found its audience slowly: the Sixth Symphony was not performed in the United States until 1947 (and not in England until 1956, half a century after its premiere), yet today many scholars and enthusiasts consider it Mahler’s finest symphony. March rhythms propel the opening of the Allegro energico, which Mahler gives a strange marking: Heftig, aber markig. Heftig means “vehement,” but markig is more elusive, meaning literally “pithy” or “marrowy” – perhaps the vernacular “gritty” is closest to Mahler’s meaning. The movement drives forward relentlessly (along the way Mahler marks the oboe part grell – “glaring, shrill”) and then reaches a moment of poise before Mahler sounds his “fate” motif. Two timpanists pound out this clipped figure while above them trumpets and oboes play an A Major triad that suddenly resolves into A minor. All by themselves, these four measures encapsulate the dramatic direction of the Sixth Symphony: fate sounding as shining A Major sinks into dark A minor. Relief arrives immediately in the violins’ soaring second subject, which Mahler marks Schwungvoll (“energetic”). The composer told his wife that he had tried to capture her in this theme, and certainly its shining spirit draws us away from the dark furies of the beginning and the fate motif. The first of the pastoral interludes arrives to the sound of distant cowbells; Mahler noted that the cowbells “are the last earthly sounds heard from the valley far below by the departing spirit on the mountain top.” Plunging back into the struggle, the furious development makes its way on this sudden juxtaposition of horror and repose before the soaring “Alma” theme brings the movement to a surprisingly optimistic conclusion.
That mood is short-lived. The scherzo returns to A minor, and its pounding off-the-beat rhythms recall the implacable pulse of the symphony’s opening. There is something grotesque about this music. Mahler marks it Wuchtig (‘weighty”), and its asymmetrical 3/8 meter feels awkward, intentionally clumsy. The trio section brings another sharp change of mood. Mahler marks this Altväterisch (“old-fashioned”), and the oboe sings innocently at first, but some of the unsettling rhythms of the scherzo’s opening intrude here; Mahler leaps between 4/8 and 3/8 by the measure, and the pulse never settles comfortably. The opening material returns, but now it has grown darker, and soon the music is full of spooky swirls and dark, slithering sounds. At the end, the orchestra gradually falls away until only a skeleton of the music is left, and the movement lapses into silence on the timpani’s three lonely taps. Everything changes with the Andante, the one movement in the symphony not in A minor: Mahler moves to the remote key of E-flat Major for his slow movement. Here the orchestra sings, its long phrases breathing calm after the smoky furies of the first two movements, and Mahler mutes the strings, making their sound even gentler. More varied material follows – a rocking woodwind figure and an extended melody introduced by the English horn – as do the pastoral interludes of the opening movement, complete with ringing cowbells. The music rises to several climaxes, but the principal impression here is of soaring, radiant beauty, and the Andante – one of Mahler’s greatest slow movements – falls away to a peaceful ending. Longest by far of the four movements, the Finale brings the tragic conclusion to the journey of Mahler’s hero. Its slow introduction opens with a sort of cosmic spasm, and from out of these depths the violins soar high, then collapse back into the fate motif from the first movement. A dark chorale for winds sets the tone, and inexorably the music eases ahead to the Allegro moderato, which rides along the same march rhythms that drove the first movement. This is a huge movement – dramatic, almost ferocious in its energy – yet it also brings a return of those moments of detachment and innocence that occurred
S AN DI EG O SYMPHO NY O RCHEST RA WINT ER SEA SO N A PRIL 2016
in the first. This movement is structured around three climaxes, each culminating in a mighty hammerstroke that deals the hero a withering blow. Mahler did not specify the instrument he had in mind for these hammerstrokes, saying only that they should be “dull-sounding” and non-metallic, “like an ax-stroke.” The last of these climaxes fells the hero. The music makes an effort to resist, with the violins soaring upward as they did at the movement’s very beginning, but this falls back into the fate motif. A dead march draws the drama to its numbed close; there is one final eruption of the fate motif, and the Sixth Symphony shudders into silence. As noted earlier, Mahler continued to rethink this symphony, even after its publication, and this has made for a number of critical problems (and he may well have made further changes, had he lived beyond the age of 50). Principal among these problems is the sequence of the two inner movements. At the premiere, they were in the order heard at these performances, but Mahler reversed their sequence when he published the symphony, placing the Andante second. He continued to have doubts about this sequence, and the 1963 critical edition of the International Gustav Mahler Society returns to his original order, in which the Andante comes just before the finale. This is the order used at these performances. The nickname “Tragic” is also open to question. That title did not appear at the time of the premiere, but Mahler added it to the published version, then apparently had doubts and wanted it removed. If ever there were a “tragic symphony,” however, this is it, and that nickname has become an inescapable part of how we think of this music. Finally, debate swirls around the hammerstrokes. After the first performance, the superstitious Mahler eliminated the third hammerstroke, feeling himself overpowered by it emotionally, but today some conductors restore it. The debate also continues about how that “dull-sounding” hammerstroke should be produced, and percussionists have experimented, dropping anvils onto padded platforms, striking a wooden frame with a club, and so on. n PROGRAM NOTES BY ERIC BROMBERGER
P E R FOR M AN C E S M AGAZ I NE P23
WHY THIS PROGRAM? by Dr. Melvin G. Goldzband, SDSO Archivist
“The Mahler Sixth might be the closest of all Mahler symphonies to me!” Jahja Ling continued, “The man lost so much – his job, his daughter, and he commemorated his losses with two great hammer strokes in the music. I can relate to that. In Cleveland, I was scheduled to conduct it, and at the time my first wife was terribly ill with Stage 4 lung cancer. She passed away several months later, but that was the most memorable concert I ever led in Cleveland. Everyone in the orchestra and the audience felt that, especially when she made it to Severance Hall for the Saturday evening performance. The orchestra played with abandon, with their hearts out. We had been married for 22 years, and at that time our two sons were young and in high school.”
After pausing, Jahja Ling picked up the thread again and said that he wanted to bring that symphony back now because it has so much history for him, and the music echoes so much of it. “Mahler spoke to me in it. The first movement 'Alma theme' is so beautiful. It moved me so much then, reflecting my own feelings about my wife. It will now express my same love for the people of San Diego.” •••••••••••• Mahler's great – sometimes incredible – Tragic Symphony, was most recently played here under the direction of Jahja Ling during the 2008-09 season. The orchestra recorded the work at that time for a CD, released for sale in 2012. Walter Hendl guest conducted the orchestra when it played this work for its first performance here during the 1983-84 season. In 1999 it was given once more, that time under the direction of Jung-Ho Pak. n
young father of two small children, match his contentment playing in our orchestra.
MICAH WILKINSON, PRINCIPAL TRUMPET
OUR GABRIEL: Principal Trumpet Micah Wilkinson by Dr. Melvin Goldzband, Archivist, SDSO ur flesh and blood Gabriel does O not, thankfully, announce the Day of Judgment as his wonderful sound sails through and above the orchestral fabric like a laser beam. But, no less, Principal Trumpet Micah Wilkinson inspires us to straighten up more and listen even closer. In the relatively short time he has been with us, the trumpet section has become much tighter in both pitch and precision, and that difference has been apparent to all of our listeners. icah came to us from the Houston M Symphony, where he played second trumpet, a chair he had formerly occupied with the Oregon Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony (for one season) and then back again to the Oregon Symphony for a total of five years there; after that he successfully auditioned for Houston, and then for us. Matching our feelings about having him here, he said that he is VERY happy here. His feelings about the San Diego community, especially as a
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s Principal Trumpet, he related that he A has responsibility for the whole brass section – not just for the trumpets. With colleagues like Ben Jaber leading the horns and Kyle Covington as principal trombone, each seeing to the performances of their sections, Micah concerns himself mainly with the balances between the sections as defined by him as well as the conductor. That leadership was asked of him by Music Director Jahja Ling when he gave Micah his tenure here. But, as Micah says, “My leadership style is flexible, and what I want to be most is empowering. I coach my section, just like the other section leaders, but I certainly don't teach good professionals!” He will note what was not perfect in the section's playing during rehearsals, and then, during the break, or afterwards, he will repeat those portions with them until whatever he heard that was imperfect no longer exists. “Artistically, I feel most responsible for orchestral color.” He describes what he wants in terms of brass color in the music as “riding the surf,” sometimes above the rest of the orchestra and sometimes more inside of the whole. icah spoke at length about his long M earlier career as a second trumpet, which he enjoyed, and from which he benefitted a great deal. When I pointed out to him my own pleasure at the remarkable focus and laser-like clarity of his sound, he noted that second trumpets have to have a fuller, open sound than the principal, who, as he described, “Figuratively sits atop the sound pyramid of the section, sparkling – but there's never any hiding.” orn and reared in Atlanta, he described B his family as not particularly musical, although they all joined in to sing many
of the songs they would hear over the radio. It was, however, a religious family, and when it came time for college, he was successful in applying to what he described as a fine, liberal arts college with a solid Christian base, St. Olaf's, in Minnesota. He never sang in their world famous choir, although he enjoyed being in the school's men's chorus. Musically, he had begun playing his instrument in middle school, where he was a band member. He did well enough to begin private lessons after a few years, and eventually his private teacher referred him to an Atlanta Symphony player. Eventually, he told Micah that he had the talent and capacity to become a first-rate trumpeter, and that he should consider choosing that as a career, with the goal of becoming a principal player. While at St. Olaf's, he would go into Minneapolis for his lessons, as well as to hear the great orchestra there. During a semester abroad, he studied at the Hochschule fur Musik in Freiburg, Germany, with a player who became an important mentor for him, Tony Plog. After graduating from St. Olaf's, he attended Arizona State, where he studied under David Hickman. “ All of my mentors helped me to enlarge my style over and above orchestral playing.” During college, he had played in the La Crosse, Wisconsin, Symphony, as second trumpet, but his first full-time job was with the Tucson Symphony. He stayed there for a year before beginning his longer attachment to the Oregon Symphony. Micah Wilkinson had enjoyed playing second trumpet everywhere but knew that he should develop himself as a section principal. He has, he is, and we should all be grateful. n
SAN DI E GO SYM P H O N Y O R C H E ST R A W I N T E R S E AS ON APR I L 2016
SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
UPCOMING IN MAY
GREGORY PORTER
SATURDAY May 7 – 8PM
JEAN-YVES THIBAUDET, PIANO
TUESDAY May 24 – 7:30PM
The Auditorium at TSRI
A Jazz @ The Jacobs Concert
A Chamber Music Series Concert
vocalist Gregory Porter trumpet Gilbert Castellanos
Special Guest: Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano Musicians of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra
Today’s top-selling Blue Note Records artist, jazz sensation Gregory Porter has gathered accolades from NPR (“The next great male jazz singer”), The New York Times (“strong and sometimes experimental yet serenely unacademic, and mightily good”) and Mojo (“Possessed of massive vocal power offset by a rich tone and delicate control”), among others.
The Chamber Music Series is generously underwritten by Sam B. Ersan. PROGRAM INCLUDES: DVOŘÁK: Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 81
FANTASTIC VARIATIONS: SCHUBERT’S UNFINISHED AND STRAUSS’ DON QUIXOTE
APPALACHIAN SPRING: AN AMERICAN FINALE
FRIDAY May 20 – 8PM SATURDAY May 21 – 8PM SATURDAY May 22 – 2PM
FRIDAY May 27 – 8PM SATURDAY May 28 – 8PM SATURDAY May 29 – 2PM
A Jacobs Masterworks Concert
A Jacobs Masterworks Concert
conductor Jahja Ling cello Johannes Moser viola Chi-Yuan Chen
conductor Jahja Ling piano Jean-Yves Thibaudet San Diego Master Chorale
WAGNER: Siegfried Idyll SCHUBERT: Symphony in B minor, D. 759: Unfinished R. STRAUSS: Don Quixote (Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character), Op. 35 S AN DI EG O SYMPHO NY O RCHEST RA WINT ER SEA SO N A PRIL 2016
BARBER: Overture to The School for Scandal GERSHWIN: Piano Concerto in F COPLAND: Suite from Appalachian Spring (full orchestra version) BERNSTEIN: Chichester Psalms P E R FOR M AN C E S M AGAZ I NE P25
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
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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 DI E GO SYM P H O N Y O R C H E ST R A W I N T E R S E AS ON APR I L 2016