Program Notes: It's a Wonderful Life

Starring JAMES STEWART as GEORGE BAILEY DONNA REED as MARY BAILEY LIONEL BARRYMORE as MR. POTTER HENRY TRAVERS as CLARENCE THOMAS MITCHELL as UNCLE BILLY Music Score by DIMITRI TIOMKIN

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE

Sunday, December 3, 2017 | 2:00PM

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE IN CONCERT A Fox Theatre Film Series Presentation

Screenplay by FRANCES GOODRICH ALBERT HACKETT JO SWERLING FRANK CAPRA Based on The Greatest Gift by PHILIP VAN DOREN STERN Produced and Directed by FRANK CAPRA

Concert Produced by CineConcerts Justin Freer President/Founder/Producer Brady Beaubien Co-Founder/Producer

conductor Jeffrey Schindler

Director of Production Jeffery Sells Head of Publicity and Communications Andrew Alderete Brand/Marketing Director Ma’ayan Kaplan Brand/Marketing Manager Brittany Fonseca Brand/Marketing Manager Molly Kossoff Brand/Marketing Manager Si Peng Office Manager Gabe Cheng Worldwide Representation WME Entertainment

SACRA / PROFANA (chorus) artistic director Krishan Oberoi

Music Preparation JoAnn Kane Music Service Music Editing Ramiro Belgardt and Ed Kalnins Playback Operation and Synthesizer Production iMusicImage Sound Remixing Justin Moshkevich, Igloo Music Studios Merchandising by Firebrand

Performance at The Jacobs Music Center Copley Symphony Hall

12

P E RFORM A NCES MAGAZINE

A Very Special Thanks to: Warner Bros. Consumer Products, The Blair Partnership, Mark Graham, Amos Newman, Jamie Richardson, Alex Rabens and John Williams.

S AN DIEG O SYM P H O N Y O RC H ES T RA 2 0 1 7-1 8 S EA S ON D E C E M B E R 20 1 7

PROGRAM NOTES | IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE IN CONCERT – DECEMBER 3

ABOUT THE ARTISTS Conductor JEFFREY SCHINDLER enjoys a dynamic international career that takes him from concert podiums around the world to the scoring stages of Hollywood, to the recording studios of London. Whether leading symphonic works of the Masters, multi-million dollar film scores, or cutting edge contemporary and commercial music, Mr. Schindler’s energy and visionary musical storytelling are hallmarks of every performance. Mr. Schindler’s artistry melds imaginative and illuminating performances with expressive and powerful technique, impeccable scholarship, and vibrant energy.

Known as a versatile conductor, Mr. Schindler has conducted worldrenowned orchestras across the globe. He has appeared with the London Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House, Seattle Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Nashville Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony Silicon Valley, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago, Orquesta Filarmónica de Puerto Rico, Czech Philharmonic, London Session Orchestra, The Strauss Orchestra of Montreal, Orquesta Internacional de Las Artes in Mexico City and the AISOI Symphony Orchestra in Australia.

Mr. Schindler is one of the only conductors leading concerts of live orchestra to film who has conducted A-list Hollywood motion pictures in the original studio recordings, and he is in high demand among film composers. He has led the sessions for many international feature film and television projects including X-Men: Apocalypse, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Jack the Giant Slayer, The Wolfman, Astroboy, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Temple Grandin, Four Christmases, Bernard and Doris, Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Hollywood Homicide and the most successful documentary of all time: the Academy-Award winning March of the Penguins. n

San Diego’s only year-round professional chorus, SACRA/PROFANA was founded in 2009 by New York native Krishan Oberoi, and has risen to become “San Diego’s go-to choral ensemble” (U-T San Diego).

Recognizing the importance of engaging arts education for youth, SACRA/PROFANA began its Summer Choral Intensive (SCI) program for high school students in 2014 and has repeated the program annually. In response to requests from students and parents, SACRA/ PROFANA expanded the program to include middle school students in 2017. SACRA/PROFANA is committed to awakening and nurturing enthusiasm for the choral art, through vibrant performances and focused outreach.

S A N D I EG O SYMPHONY ORC HESTRA 2017-18 SE ASON D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7

Described by KPBS as “choral music for the iPod generation”, the dynamic choral group has collaborated with The Chieftains, producer Carlton Cuse (of ABC’s hit show Lost), Japanese composer Nobou Uematsu, and many other prominent creative minds. In addition to their popular crossover work, SACRA/PROFANA has championed challenging choral masterpieces by such composers as Arnold Schoenberg, György Ligeti and Ernst Krenek. The ensemble’s debut album, Elegies & Ecstasies, was released in 2012, and in 2014 SACRA/ PROFANA produced the world premiere recording of when we were children by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang, available on the Cantaloupe Music record label. SACRA/PROFANA was a 2016-17 finalist for the American Prize in Choral Performance Professional Division. n

DIMITRI ZINOVICH TIOMKIN was born in Kremenchuk on May 10, 1894.

His mother, Marie (née Tartakovsky), was a music teacher and his father, Zinovie, was a physician. A student at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, he excelled as a solo pianist under the tutelage of Felix Blumenfeld and Isabelle Vengerova, and also studied with composer Alexander Glazunov, the conservatory’s director.

Tiomkin’s professional debut in film music came in St. Petersburg’s cinemas, where he accompanied Russian and French silent films. He also provided piano accompaniment for the ballerina Thamar Karsavina on army post tours and improvised on the piano during performances by the comedian Max Linder. These experiences and the skills he gained helped lay the foundation of his American film music career.

Tiomkin was hired by Universal in 1931 to score the Russianthemed Resurrection, his first effort at a nonmusical film, and it was Paramount’s Alice in Wonderland that offered Tiomkin his first chance at composing and arranging the underscore and songs for a major motion picture. Film music assignments continued sporadically until he met director Frank Capra at a party and a personal friendship blossomed. The two first worked together on Lost Horizon (1937).

That score helped make Tiomkin’s reputation as a creator of music on a grand scale for large symphonic and choral forces – a fortunate development given his interest in rich orchestrations. Tiomkin’s music for Lost Horizon was nominated for an Academy Award, although the nomination itself went to the head of the music department.

The Capra-Tiomkin partnership continued with You Can’t Take It With You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Meet John Doe (1941) and It’s a Wonderful Life (1947). During World War II Capra recruited Tiomkin to score the “Why We Fight” series of training and indoctrination films produced by the Army Signal Corps. Music for a dozen documentaries, including The Negro Soldier (1944) and The Battle of San Pietro (1945), was the result.

A gift for melody is part of Tiomkin’s enduring legacy. As an artist, he followed his instincts, which perhaps contributed to his success.

Production manager Henry Henigson said, “He yesses everybody but does what he believes.” Tiomkin’s musical talent, endearing personality and broken English (he reflected on his inability to master the language without an accent in his 1959 autobiography, Please Don’t Hate Me) may have enabled him to get away with this in Hollywood. n

P ERFO RM AN C ES MAG A Z I N E

13