05/03/2023, Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra

MUSIC AT EMORY

This concert is presented by the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts.

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Design and Photography Credits

Cover Design: Lisa Baron | Cover Photo: Mark Teague

Acknowledgment

This season, the Schwartz Center is celebrating 20 years of world-class performances and wishes to gratefully acknowledge the generous ongoing support of Donna and Marvin Schwartz.

MUSIC AT EMORY

Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra

Paul Bhasin, conductor

Wednesday, May 3, 2023, 8:00 p.m.

Emerson Concert Hall

Schwartz Center for Performing Arts

Program

Waltz No. 2 from Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2 Dmitri Shostakovich (Suite for Variety Orchestra) (1906–1975)

Flute Concerto No. 2 in D Major, K. 314 (285d) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

I. Allegro aperto (1756–1791)

Alexandra Tarassenko, flute Winner of the 2023 EYSO Concerto Competition

Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, op. 47 Shostakovich

I. Moderato

II. Allegretto

III. Largo

IV. Allegro non troppo

Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra

The Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra (EYSO) program was founded in 2005 at Emory University in Atlanta. As one of the finest pre-college programs in the region, EYSO provides comprehensive orchestral performance opportunities while supporting the pedagogy of school directors and private teachers. All students and parents are offered the opportunity for pre-college counseling, assistance with college and scholarship applications, diverse masterclass and seminar offerings, and financial aid advice. Apart from serving as dedicated members of their school orchestra and band programs, EYSO students go on to study a variety of disciplines at the college level, including top conservatories (the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, the New England Conservatory of Music, and the Colburn School, among others), as well as nationally ranked liberal arts colleges and universities. EYSO students are also regular participants in the country’s finest summer music festivals, including Interlochen, Tanglewood, National Youth Orchestra (NYO) and NYO2, Brevard, Eastern, Sewanee, and others.

EYSO students are coached by Emory faculty, including members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Opera Orchestra, and Atlanta Ballet Orchestra, as well as the Vega Quartet.

Learn more about the Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra online at emoryyouthsymphony.org or by emailing youthsymphony@emory.edu.

Program Notes

Waltz No. 2 from Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2 (Suite for Variety Orchestra) (1950s)

Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich wrote two Jazz Suites, the first in 1934. In 1938, Shostakovich composed his Jazz Suite No. 2 at the invitation of Victor Knushevitsky, conductor of the recently formed State Orchestra for Jazz. The score for the Jazz Suite No. 2 disappeared shortly after the work’s 1938 premiere. Following World War II, an entirely different composition by Shostakovich, his Suite for Variety Orchestra, was misidentified as being the composer’s Jazz Suite No. 2. In 1999, the actual Jazz Suite No. 2 was rediscovered among Shostakovich’s sketches contained in the family archives.

And so, the Waltz No. 2, long associated with the Jazz Suite No. 2, is actually part of the composer’s eight-movement Suite for Variety Orchestra. Regardless of its origin, this Waltz is a beguiling and colorful product of the composer’s lifelong affection for a beloved musical genre. After a brief introduction, a solo alto saxophone sings the work’s principal waltz melody, which receives a variety of instrumental settings. Other melodies enter as well, finally leading to a solo trombone’s reprise of the central waltz. A final grand statement by the entire ensemble leads to the Waltz’s emphatic final bars.

Flute Concerto No. 2 in D Major, K. 314 (285d) (1778)

In September 1777, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart left his home in Salzburg to begin an 18-month journey throughout Europe. Mozart, who felt his talents were not appreciated in his native city, hoped to find steady employment elsewhere. Mozart’s journey took him to Munich, Augsburg, Mannheim, and finally, Paris.

While in Mannheim, Mozart made the acquaintance of a Dutch visitor to the German city, a surgeon and amateur flutist by the name of Ferdinand Dejean. Dejean commissioned Mozart to compose “three short easy concertos and a pair of flute quartets.”

Mozart did not have a great affection for the flute, at least as a solo instrument. In his memoirs, Viennese physician Joseph Frank recalled: “Once when we were speaking about instruments Mozart said that he loathed the flute and the harp.” That opinion is reflected in a letter of February 14, 1778 that Mozart wrote to his father, Leopold. In the letter, Mozart commented on his slow progress in completing Dejean’s commission:

It is not surprising that I have not been able to finish them, for I never have a single quiet hour here. I can only compose at night . . . besides, one is not always in the mood for working. I could, to be sure, scribble off things the whole day long, but a composition of this kind goes out into world . . . Moreover, you know that I become quite powerless whenever I am obliged to write for an instrument which I cannot bear. Hence as a diversion I compose something else, such as duets for clavier and violin, or I work at my mass.

In light of Mozart’s opinions expressed above, this quote from a letter he wrote to Leopold in December of the same year bears repeating: “Ah, if only we had clarinets too! You cannot imagine the glorious effect of a symphony with flutes, oboes, and clarinets.”

Mozart ultimately fulfilled Dejean’s commission, which included the composer’s two Flute Concertos—in G Major, K. 313, and in D Major, K. 314 (the latter, an adaptation of the composer’s 1777 Oboe Concerto in C Major, K. 271k). Despite Mozart’s protestations, the Flute Concertos are beautiful, eloquent works that remain favorites of instrumentalists and audiences alike.

The Concerto in D Major is in three movements. This concert features the opening movement ( Allegro aperto ), with its traditional double exposition of the principal themes; first by the ensemble, and then in more elaborate fashion, by the soloist. A solo cadenza leads to the spirited conclusion.

Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, op. 47 (1937)

In 1936, Joseph Stalin stormed out of a Bolshoi performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s “tragedy-satire” opera, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Shortly thereafter, an article appeared in the official Communist newspaper Pravda titled, “Muddle Instead of Music.” Although the author of the article was not identified, it appears certain it was either written by Stalin, or penned under his direction and approval. The author dismissed Lady Macbeth as a “stream of deliberately discordant sounds . . . Lady Macbeth enjoys great success with the bourgeois audience abroad.”

In spring 1937, Shostakovich turned his attention to the Fifth Symphony, which he composed between April 1 and July 30, 1937. The premiere of the Fifth Symphony took place in Leningrad on November 21, 1937, as part of a festival in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Soviet Republic. A seemingly penitent Shostakovich offered the following subtitle for the work: “A Soviet Artist’s Practical Creative Reply to Just Criticism.” Shostakovich also provided the following analysis of the Symphony in an

article titled “My Artist’s Reply,” which appeared just a few days before the Moscow premiere on January 29, 1938:

The theme of my symphony is the development of the individual. I saw man with all his sufferings as the central idea of the work, which is lyrical in mood from start to finish; the finale resolves the tragedy and tension of the earlier movements on a joyous, optimistic note.

The 1937 premiere, conducted by the composer’s longtime friend and advocate Evgeny Mravinsky, was a resounding success. The Fifth Symphony pleased the Soviet critics, and soon, the world at large. It appeared that Shostakovich had succeeded in creating a work that managed both to glorify the Soviet regime and appeal to international audiences.

In 1979, four years after the composer’s death, Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich, stunned the music world. The Shostakovich who emerged from this book was far different from the one who had seemed to follow the Communist party line. For the Shostakovich of Testimony, the Fifth Symphony was hardly a paean to Communism:

I think it is clear to everyone what happens in the Fifth. The rejoicing is forced, created under threat, as in (Modest Mussorgsky’s opera) Boris Godunov. It’s as if someone were beating you with a stick and saying, “Your business is rejoicing, your business is rejoicing,” and you rise, shaky and go marching off, muttering, “Our business is rejoicing, our business is rejoicing.”

What kind of apotheosis is that? You have to be a complete oaf not to hear that. People who came to the premiere of the Fifth in the best of moods wept.

Shostakovich’s friend and student, Solomon Volkov, compiled Testimony from what he claimed were the composer’s own words. Many, including, not surprisingly, the Soviet government, questioned the authenticity of Testimony. The controversy continues to this day, although as time has progressed, many of Shostakovich’s friends and family members have acknowledged that Testimony reflects the composer’s true feelings. It should also be mentioned that recent scholarship indicates the composer’s subtitle for the Fifth Symphony—“A Soviet Artist’s Practical Creative Reply to Just Criticism”—was forced upon him by the government in exchange for permission to present the work.

The conflicting views attributed to Shostakovich regarding his Fifth Symphony place the interpreter and listener in a challenging position. Is the Fifth Symphony a work in praise of, or a diatribe against, Soviet Russia?

Are the Symphony’s closing pages “optimistic” or a “forced rejoicing?” Or, perhaps, are there other interpretations to be considered? A consensus on these issues is as unlikely as universal agreement upon whether Shakespeare’s Hamlet was mad. The greatness of a work of art like the Shostakovich Fifth rests largely in its ability to resonate profoundly with each of us in a personal and unique way.

The Symphony No. 5 is in four movements. The first (Moderato) is based upon two themes, introduced in quick succession at the outset of the movement. The ensuing Allegretto, cast in traditional scherzo and trio form, has a brevity and playful charm in sharp contrast to the storm and stress of the opening movement. The slow-tempo third movement (Largo) is constructed as a massive arch, inexorably building to a shattering climax before returning to the repose of the opening measures. The finale (Allegro non troppo) features a whirlwind of activity and arresting conflict, finally resolving to the blazing (and controversial) D-Major conclusion.

—Program notes by Ken Meltzer

Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra

Samantha Frischling, orchestra manager

All musicians listed alphabetically within instrument section.

Flute and Piccolo

Eunice Kim (North Gwinnett High School)

Chloe Park (Walton High School)

Alexandra Tarassenko (Paul Duke STEM High School)

Oboe and English Horn

Alysia Guo (Parkview High School)

Benjamin Lee (Johns Creek High School)

Ashley Na (Lambert High School)

Clarinet

Kevin Jin (Mill Creek High School)

Kyunghwan Lim (Chattahoochee High School)

Nicholas Wandrick (Cambridge High School)

Bassoon

Owen Quick (Whitewater High School)

Andrew Tang (Cherokee High School)

Ethan Thompson (North Forsyth High School)

Saxophone

Raymond Liu (Brookwood High School)

Horn

Cathleen Bolger (Lambert High School)

Eric Chastain (North Cobb High School)

Kylin Manly Liske (Chamblee High School)

Lyle Foley (Lakeside High School)

Trumpet

Nick Harrison (Chamblee High School)

Henry Kim (Lambert High School)

Justin Oh (North Gwinnett High School)

Zhong Zhang (The Westminster Schools)

Trombone and Bass Trombone

Joshua Antony (North Gwinnett High School)

William Brown (Walton High School)

Gabriel Silva (Buford High School)

Tuba

Kushal Maganti (Lambert High School)

Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra

Timpani and Percussion

Alonzo Marshall (Kennesaw Mountain High School)

Issac Jung (North Gwinnett High School)

Grayson Pruitt (Kell High School)

Piano and Celeste

Dahyun Yang (Innovation Academy)

Harp

Emma Burnsworth (Homeschool)

Violin

Ajay Balasubramaniam (Lambert High School)*

Isaac Bryan (Johnson Ferry Christian Academy)

Ashley Chang (Duluth High School)

James Chen (Alpharetta High School)

Maria Victoria Correa (North Gwinnett High School)

Samuel Crespino (Decatur High School)

Elizabeth Domashchenko (GSMST)

Xiaojun Ge (Northview High School)

Mary Gilbert (Pope High School)

Adelmo Gimenez (North Gwinnett High School)

Irene Ha (Johns Creek High School)

Samantha Hamilton (Homeschool)

Michael Hou (Johns Creek High School)

Nyneishia Janarthanan (FCS Innovation Academy)

Revin Jun (Northview High School)

Abigail Kim (Johns Creek High School)

Lee Kim (Johns Creek High School)

Nathan Kim (North Gwinnett High School)

Sunyoung Kim (Northview High School)

Sarah Kwon (Seckinger High School)

Alicia Li (Northview High School)

Carol Li (Chamblee High School)

Isabella Lin (Johns Creek High School)**

Abigail Lee (Hebron Christian Academy)

Geonhee Lee (Johns Creek High School)

Violet Lorish (Capstone Academy)

Ella Grace Malcom (Milton High School)

Ellie Millette (Artios Academy)

Lucas Nyman (Starrs Mill High School)

Aeden O’Shields (Allatoona High School)

David Park (Lambert High School)

Ryan Shin (GSMST)

Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra

Violin (continued)

Eric Sun (Alpharetta High School)

Ranjani Vasudevan (Fulton Science Academy)

Luca Veni (North Gwinnett High School)

Aaron Wang (Alpharetta High School)

Ezekiel (Zeke) Werner (Decatur High School)

Hayden Yi (North Gwinnett High School)

Eric Yu (Fulton Science Academy)

Aniston Zhang (Chattahoochee High School)

Steven Zhou (GSMST)

Viola

Ethan Braswell (Greater Atlanta Christian School)

Lindsey Carpenter (Roswell High School)

Danielle Chun (Mill Creek High School)

Dylan Gutierrez (Collins Hill High School)

Jaehyun Im (Northview High School)

Bryan Kim (GSMST)

Erin Park (Peachtree Ridge High School)

Jiyu Kim (Peachtree Ridge High School)

Chaeyoung Park (Wesleyan School)

Jensi Perng (Northview High School)

Erika Tay (Lanier High School)

Raymond Xue (Johns Creek High School)

Athena Yang (GSMST)

George Young (Walton High School)*

Olivia Yu (Alpharetta High School)

Jordan Zheng (Northview High School)

Cello

Chase Choi (North Gwinnett High School)

Yeseo Han (North Gwinnett High School)

Elly Kim (Peachtree Ridge High School)

Joshua Kim (North Gwinnett High School)

Alex Ko (Lambert High School)*

Katherine Lamback (Holy Innocents Episcopal School)

Andrew Laughlin (McIntosh High School)

Kevin Lee (Chattahoochee High School)

Jiayi Lu (Northview High School)

Kathy Park (Northview High School)

Kelsey Queen (DeKalb School of the Arts)

Dylan Song (The Westminster Schools)

Mia Song (Alpharetta High School)

Alex Woloschinow (Hillgrove High School)

Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra

Bass

Madeline Bower (Marietta High School)

Cecilia Clarke (Decatur High School)

Ethan Huang (Chamblee High School)

Alex Na (The Westminster Schools)

Audrey Nguyen (Alpharetta High School)

Connor Oneacre (Milton High School)

Hazel Patty (Decatur High School)

Richard Zhou (North Gwinnett High School)*

** Indicates concertmaster

* Indicates principal

Alexandra Tarassenko, flute

Alexandra (Sasha) Tarassenko is a flutist in the Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, and Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony. In addition to winning the 2023 Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, she has also won Atlanta Youth Symphony Orchestra’s 2023 Concerto Competition and will be performing with them next season. In 2022, Tarassenko received first place in the Atlanta Flute Club Competition High School Division.

This past summer, Tarassenko attended the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI) Young Artist Orchestra Program and the Flute Workshop. At BUTI in Lenox, Massachusetts, she performed as principal flute in the Young Artist Orchestra in Sergei Prokofiev’s 5th Symphony and Paul Hindemith’s Metamorphosis. Tarassenko also attended the Eastern Music Festival (EMF) in summer 2021. At EMF in Greensboro, North Carolina, she performed Charles Tomlinson Griffes’s Poem for Flute and Piano, was principal flute in the Orchestra for Antonín Dvořák’s 7th Symphony, and piccolo in the Orchestra for Hindemith’s Metamorphosis and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony.

Tarassenko has had the opportunity to play in masterclasses for Cynthia Meyers, Linda Toote, Keith Underwood, Carol Wincenc, and Mimi Stillman. She is also a learning and media lab fellow for National Public Radio’s From The Top and will be interviewed on the show in a future episode. As a Russian American, Tarassenko participates in the Atlanta

Balalaika Society Orchestra, an Eastern European, community folk ensemble that regularly performs in local venues.

Tarassenko is currently a senior at Paul Duke STEM High School, where she founded her Tri-M Music Honors Society, and studies with Christina Smith, the principal flute of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. In her spare time, Tarassenko researches inequality in classical music ensembles, attends Atlanta Symphony Orchestra concerts with her mother, tutors children on the flute, and solves crosswords with her family.

Paul Bhasin, conductor

Paul Bhasin serves as director of orchestral studies at Emory University where he holds the Donna and Marvin Schwartz Professorship in Music. In this capacity, he conducts the Emory University Symphony Orchestra and the Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra, oversees music research programs, and teaches conducting. Praised for his “crisp, clear” conducting and “highly expressive” interpretations, Bhasin’s career began when he won the Yamaha Young Performing Artist Competition in 1998. Bhasin serves as music director and conductor of both the DeKalb Symphony Orchestra and the Atlanta Chamber Music Festival and has recently led the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, “President’s Own” United States Marine Band, American Youth Philharmonic, Williamsburg Symphony, performances at Interlochen, the Kennedy Center, and throughout the People’s Republic of China. He has also led performances as a guest conductor with members of the Richmond Symphony, National Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, and Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra, and with honor orchestras and bands (including at the all-state level). He has presented at national conferences including the Midwest Orchestra Clinic and the National Music Teachers Association Conference. As a trumpeter, he performed and recorded with the Virginia Symphony and Opera; Columbus (Ohio) Symphony; New World Symphony; the Civic Orchestra of Chicago; and at the music festivals of Aspen, Tanglewood, and Ravinia; and as a soloist on National Public Radio, Detroit PBS-TV, the International Computer Music Conference, and at the International Dvořák Festival (Prague, Czech Republic), and his trumpet students have won first prize at major competitions including the National Trumpet Competition. Bhasin has recorded as trumpeter and conductor for both the Centaur

and Interscope record labels. Bhasin’s compositions, transcriptions, and arrangements are published by Carl Fischer Music and have been praised by the New York Times and Chicago Tribune with recent performances by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Opera Theater, and the Grand Tetons Festival Orchestra. He received his musical training from Northwestern University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Wisconsin.

Schwartz Center Staff

Rachael Brightwell, Managing Director

Terry Adams, Box Office Coordinator

Lisa Baron, Communications Specialist

Kathryn Colegrove, Associate Director for Programming and Outreach

Lewis Fuller, Associate Director for Production and Operations

Jennifer Kimball, Assistant Stage Manager

Jeff Lenhard, Operations Assistant

Alan Strange, Box Office Manager

Nicholas Surbey, Senior Graphic Designer

Alexandria Sweatt, Marketing Assistant

Mark Teague, Stage Manager

Nina Vestal, House Manager

Matt Williamson, Multimedia Specialist

The Schwartz Center gratefully acknowledges the generous ongoing support of Donna and Marvin Schwartz. To support this program, visit schwartz.emory.edu/give.

Music at Emory

Music at Emory brings together students, faculty, and world-class artists to create an exciting and innovative season of performances, lectures, workshops, and master classes. With more than 150 events each year across multiple Emory venues, audiences experience a wide variety of musical offerings.

We hope you enjoy sampling an assortment of work from our student ensembles, community youth ensembles, artists in residence, professional faculty, up-and-coming prodigies, and virtuosos from around the world.

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