FWSO program guide
Garrick Ohlsson
Robert Spano, conductor
From left: Inderpal S. Sarkaria, M.D., M.B.A., thoracic surgeon; Ina Patel, D.O., breast medical oncologist; James Wilder, M.D., gynecologic oncologist
Discover the UTSW difference in Fort Worth.
When
it comes to cancer care, choose the experts.
UT Southwestern’s Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in North Texas. Also ranked among the top 25 for cancer care by U.S. News & World Report, we are proud to offer world-class medical treatment in Fort Worth for all kinds of cancer.
Located in the Medical District, our experts provide specialized, compassionate care that is evidence-based – the kind you can only find in an academic medical center environment.
We are not just treating cancer; we are driving discoveries, leading clinical trials, and utilizing the latest technology to bring our patients the best in modern medicine – close to home.
March 30–June 22
This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. Additional support provided by Arts Fort Worth and the Texas Commission on the Arts Promotional support provided by
This exhibition has been organized by the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, in cooperation with the Kimbell Art Museum.
Christian Schad, Sonja (detail), 1928, oil on canvas. Neue Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Acquired by the Freunde der Nationalgalerie with funds from the Ingeborg and Günter Milich Foundation, Berlin, FNG 80/97. ©️ 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / Christian-SchadStiftung Aschaffenburg; Photo by Jörg P. Anders
FWSO STAFF
EXECUTIVE OFFICE
Keith Cerny, Ph.D. President and CEO
Carrie Ellen Adamian Chief Operating Officer
Jacque Carpenter Vice President of Finance & HR
Mia Curb Executive Assistant
OPERATIONS
Branson White Senior Production Manager
Lacy McCoy Senior Operations Manager
Tim Vinson Stage Manager
Gillian Boley Artistic Services Coordinator
Christopher Hawn Orchestra Librarian
David Sterrett Assistant Orchestra Librarian
DEVELOPMENT
Stephanie Moreau Senior Director of Development
Camille McPherson Individual Giving Manager
Courtney Hughey Institutional Giving Manager
Veronika Perez Development Specialist, Operations
Alexia Wixom Development Associate
BOX OFFICE
Tess Todora Director of Ticketing Services
James Alexander Box Office Associate
Veronica Morris Box Office Associate
Mary Russell Box Office Associate
Paul Taylor Box Office Associate
Morgan Tingle Box Office Associate
FINANCE
Kenneth Rinehart Director of Accounting
Lucas Baldwin Senior Staff Accountant
ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL & HUMAN RESOURCES
Araminta Stephens HR Administrator
Savanna Cardenas Orchestra Personnel Manager
MARKETING
Monica Sheehan Director of Marketing
Emily Gavaghan Senior Marketing Manager
Melanie Boma Senior Tessitura Database Manager
Josselin Garibo Pendleton Senior Manager, Education and Community Programs
Joanna Calhoun Marketing Communications Specialist
Mercedes T. Bass Chairman of the Board of Directors
Dear Friends,
On behalf of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and myself, we are thrilled you have joined us for our annual Gala evening featuring the incomparable Garrick Ohlsson. This highly anticipated annual event, a favorite of mine, promises an unforgettable night of worldrenowned music under the direction of Music Director Robert Spano, accompanied by the glorious sounds of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to the exceptional musical performances, the Gala serves as a critical fundraiser for the FWSO. Proceeds from this evening benefit our Adventures in Music programming, a hands-on, innovative series of arts education initiatives that reach more than 20,000 students across North Texas. The importance of music education extends beyond teaching musical skills; it enhances leadership abilities and fosters personal growth. These experiences are transformative for all these local students, and we are grateful for your support, which makes this initiative possible.
As Board Chairman of the FWSO and Honorary Chairman of the Gala, it is a great privilege to welcome everyone to this special evening. It brings me and the Board of Directors great pleasure to have you all here supporting our musicians and staff with your patronage, advocacy, and generous donations.
Join us for a night of celebration, music, and community support as we continue to inspire the next generation through the power of music.
Mercedes T. Bass Chairman of the Board of Directors
Keith Cerny, Ph.D. President and CEO
Dear Gala Patron,
We are delighted to have you with us this evening! We are approaching the end of Robert Spano’s third season as Music Director, and he continues to elevate the already outstanding performances of our musicians. In January, we made the exciting announcement that Maestro Spano’s contract as Music Director has been extended until the end of the 2030-2031 season, ensuring artistic stability and excellence for many years to come.
For tonight’s concert, our guest artist is the Grammy Award-winning pianist Garrick Ohlsson, who will perform the “Mount Everest” of piano concertos: Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Maestro Spano and Mr. Ohlsson are long-standing friends and colleagues, and I know you will enjoy their musical chemistry onstage. Also featured in this evening’s performance is another Russian masterpiece, Tchaikovsky’s lush and romantic Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture.
As I begin my seventh year with the FWSO, I am delighted with the exceptional artistic quality of the FWSO’s performances, and the orchestra’s deep and wide-ranging educational and community impact. We are grateful to all of our patrons and donors for their sustained support of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and we thank you for joining us for this special performance.
Yours sincerely,
Keith Cerny, Ph.D. President & CEO
Robert Spano Music Director
Robert Spano, conductor, pianist, composer, and teacher, is known worldwide for the intensity of his artistry and distinctive communicative abilities, creating a sense of inclusion and warmth among musicians and audiences that is unique among American orchestras. Spano has been Music Director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra since August 2022 and will continue there through the 2030-2031 season; this follows his tenure as Principal Guest Conductor with FWSO, which began in 2019. He is the tenth Music Director in the orchestra’s history, which was founded in 1912. In February 2024, Spano was appointed Music Director of the Washington National Opera, beginning in the 2025–2026 season, for a three-year term; he is currently the WNO’s Music Director Designate. An avid mentor to rising artists, he is responsible for nurturing the careers of numerous celebrated composers, conductors, and performers. As Music Director of the Aspen Music Festival and School since 2011, he oversees the programming of more than 300 events and educational programs for 630 students and young performers; he also directs the Aspen Conducting Academy, which offers participants unparalleled training and valuable podium experience. After twenty seasons as Music Director with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, he now serves as
4 | 2024/2025 SEASON
Music Director Laureate. He was appointed Principal Conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School in 2024, and will transition to Principal Guest Conductor in 2025-2026 following the appointment of their new Music Director.
During the 2024–2025 season — Spano’s third as Music Director of the Fort Worth Symphony — he leads six weeks of symphonic programming, conducting works including Mahler’s Symphony No. 9, Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman in concert, and a world premiere by Jake Heggie, in addition to shaping the artistic direction of the orchestra and driving its continued growth. In the Fall of 2024, Spano leads his first performances as WNO’s Music Director Designate, including a new production of Beethoven’s Fidelio. Additional highlights of the 2024–2025 season include a twoweek residency with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and his first appearances as Principal Conductor with the Rhode Island Philharmonic.
Spano made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2019, leading the US premiere of Marnie by American composer Nico Muhly. Recent concert highlights have included several world-premiere performances, including The Sacrifice of Isaac by Jonathan Leshnoff with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; Steven Mackey’s Aluminum Flowers and James Ra’s Te Deum with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra; Of Earth and Sky: Tales From the Motherland by Brian Raphael Nabors with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and Rhode Island Philharmonic; and Voy a Dormir by Bryce Dessner at Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor.
With a discography of critically acclaimed recordings, Robert Spano has garnered four Grammy™ Awards and eight nominations with the Atlanta Symphony. Maestro Spano is a recipient of the Georgia Governor’s Award for the Arts and Humanities and is one of two classical musicians inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.
Kevin John Edusei Principal Guest Conductor
German conductor Kevin John Edusei is sought-after the world over. He is praised repeatedly for the drama and tension in his music-making and the sense of architecture, warmth and insight that he brings to his performances. He is deeply committed to the creative elements of performance, presenting classical music in new formats, cultivating audiences and conducting an eclectic range of repertoire.
Highlights of Edusei’s 2024/25 season include debuts with the New York Philharmonic, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Taiwan Philharmonic Orchestra and at the Musikverein with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. His return engagements include the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra at the Concertgebouw and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in his final season as Principal Guest Conductor. A strong advocate of contemporary music, Edusei’s carefully
curated programmes across the 2024/25 season include premieres of works by Hannah Kendall, Thomas Larcher, Samy Moussa, Brian Nabors, Derrick Skye and Gabriella Smith.
In Autumn 2022, Edusei made his debut at the Royal Opera House conducting Puccini’s La bohème, which was streamed across cinemas world-wide, and in 2023/24 he returned for a production of Madama Butterfly. Previously he has enjoyed great success with productions at the Semperoper Dresden, English National Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Volksoper Wien and Komische Oper Berlin. During his tenure at the Bern Opera House, he led highly acclaimed new productions including Peter Grimes, Ariadne auf Naxos, Salome, Bluebeard’s Castle, Tannhäuser, Tristan und Isolde, Kátya Kábanová and a cycle of the MozartDa-Ponte operas.
Born in Bielefeld, Germany, Edusei studied sound engineering, classical percussion and orchestral conducting at the University of the Arts Berlin and the Royal Conservatory The Hague with Jac van Steen and Ed Spanjaard. In 2004 he was awarded a conducting fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival by David Zinman, in 2007 he was a prize-winner at the Lucerne Festival conducting competition under the artistic direction of Pierre Boulez and in 2008 he won the first prize of the Dimitri Mitropoulos Competition in Athens. Edusei is an alumnus of the Deutsche Bank Akademie Musiktheater heute and the Dirigentenforum of the German Music Council. He resides with his family in Munich.
Michelle Di Russo Associate Conductor
A graceful yet powerful force on the podium, Argentinian-Italian conductor Michelle Di Russo is known for her compelling interpretations, passionate musicality, and championing of contemporary music. Recently appointed Associate Conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, she will begin her tenure in the 24/25 season, working closely with Robert Spano. Di Russo is a recipient of the 2024 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award and a conducting fellow at the Verbier Festival. She is a former Dudamel Fellow with LA Philharmonic, a mentee of the Taki Alsop Fellowship, and a conducting fellow of Chicago Sinfonietta’s Project Inclusion program and The Dallas Opera Hart Institute.
This season’s highlights include guest conducting debuts with Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Calgary Philharmonic, Toledo Ballet, and Fort
Worth Symphony Orchestra. She will also be returning to conduct the Delaware Symphony and cover conduct for the New York Philharmonic. Di Russo has been selected to lead a premiere of one of the Roche Young Commissions at Lucerne Festival Academy as part of a two-year project.
Di Russo has guest conducted LA Phil, San Diego Symphony, Vermont Symphony, Portland Symphony, Knoxville Symphony, and worked as cover conductor for the National Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, LA Phil, and NY Phil.
During the pandemic, Di Russo co-created Girls Who Conduct, an organization dedicated to bridging the gap between women and men in the conducting field and encouraging younger generations of women and non-binary conductors to overcome any obstacles presented due to their gender.
Di Russo holds a Doctoral Degree in Orchestral Conducting from Arizona State University and a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Kentucky. She completed her degree in Orchestral Conducting and Music Production of Audiovisual Media from the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, where she was awarded an Ad-Hoc Diploma for the highest grade in Orchestral Conducting.
6 | 2024/2025 SEASON
FORT WORTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Robert Spano, Music Director, Nancy Lee & Perry R. Bass Chair
Kevin John Edusei, Principal Guest Conductor
Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Music Director Laureate
Michelle Di Russo, Associate Conductor, Rae and Ed Schollmaier Foundation Chair
John Giordano, Conductor Emeritus
VIOLIN I
Michael Shih, Concertmaster
Mrs. Mercedes T. Bass Chair
Mr. Sid R. Bass Chair
Swang Lin, Associate Concertmaster
Ann Koonsman Chair
Eugene Cherkasov, Assistant Concertmaster
Mollie & Garland Lasater Chair
Jennifer Y. Betz
Ordabek Duissen
Qiong Hulsey
Ivo Ivanov
Nikayla Kim
Izumi Lund
Ke Mai
Kimberly Torgul
Albert Yamamoto
VIOLIN II
Adriana Voirin DeCosta, Principal
Steven Li, Associate Principal
Janine Geisel, Assistant Principal
Symphony League of Fort Worth Chair
Molly Baer
Matt Milewski
Gabriela Peña-Kim
Kathryn Perry
Tatyana Smith
Rosalyn Story
Andrea Tullis
Camilla Wojciechowska
VIOLA
DJ Cheek, Principal
Anna Kolotylina, Associate Principal
HeeSun Yang, Assistant Principal
Joni Baczewski
Sorin Guttman
Aleksandra Holowka
Dmitry Kustanovich
Daniel Sigale
CELLO
Allan Steele, Principal
Mrs. Mercedes T. Bass Chair
Mr. Sid R. Bass Chair
Keira Fullerton, Associate Principal
Vacant Position, Assistant Principal
BNSF Railway Foundation Chair
John Belk
Deborah Brooks
Shelley Jessup
Jenny Kwak
BASS
William Clay, Principal
Mr. & Mrs. Edward P. Bass Chair
Paul Unger, Assistant Principal
Jeffery Hall
Sean P. O’Hara
Julie Vinsant
The seating positions of all string section musicians listed alphabetically change on a regular basis.
FLUTE
Jake Fridkis, Principal
Shirley F. Garvey Chair
Gabriel Fridkis, Assistant Principal
Vaynu Kadiyali
PICCOLO
Vaynu Kadiyali
OBOE
Jennifer Corning Lucio, Principal
Nancy L. & William P. Hallman, Jr., Chair
Tamer Edlebi, Assistant Principal
Tim Daniels
ENGLISH HORN
Tim Daniels
CLARINET
Stanislav Chernyshev, Principal
Rosalyn G. Rosenthal Chair*
Ivan Petruzziello, Assistant Principal
Phillip Solomon°
E-FLAT CLARINET
Ivan Petruzziello
BASS CLARINET
Phillip Solomon°
BASSOON
Vacant Position, Principal
Mr. & Mrs. Lee M. Bass Chair
Nik Hooks°, Assistant Principal
Nicole Haywood Vera Tenorio°
Cara Owens, on leave
CONTRABASSOON
Nicole Haywood Vera Tenorio°
HORN
Gerald Wood, Principal
Elizabeth H. Ledyard Chair
Alton F. Adkins, Associate Principal
Drs. Jeff and Rosemary Detweiler Chair
Kelly Cornell, Associate Principal
Aaron Pino
TRUMPET
Kyle Sherman, Principal
Cody McClarty, Assistant Principal
Dorothy Rhea Chair
Oscar Garcia
TROMBONE
Joseph Dubas, Principal
Mr. & Mrs. John Kleinheinz Chair
John Michael Hayes, Assistant Principal
Dennis Bubert
BASS TROMBONE
Dennis Bubert
Mr. & Mrs. Lee M. Bass Chair
TUBA
Edward Jones, Principal
TIMPANI
Seth McConnell, Principal
Madilyn Bass Chair
Nicholas Sakakeeny, Assistant Principal
PERCUSSION
Keith Williams, Principal
Shirley F. Garvey Chair
Nicholas Sakakeeny, Assistant Principal
Adele Hart Chair
Deborah Mashburn
Brad Wagner
HARP
Vacant Position
Bayard H. Friedman Chair
KEYBOARD
Shields-Collins “Buddy” Bray, Principal Rildia Bee O'Bryan Cliburn & Van Cliburn Chair
STAGE MANAGER
Tim Vinson
ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL MANAGER
Savanna Cardenas
ORCHESTRA LIBRARIANS
Christopher Hawn
David Sterrett
*In Memory of Manny Rosenthal °2024/2025 Season Only
The Concertmaster performs on the 1710 Davis Stradivarius violin.
The Associate Concertmaster performs on the 1685 Eugenie Stradivarius violin.
Gala Concert Starring Garrick Ohlsson
Saturday, April 05, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Bass Performance Hall
Fort Worth, TX
Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra
Robert Spano, conductor
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
TCHAIKOVSKY
RACHMANINOFF
Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture
Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30
I. Allegro ma non tanto
II. Intermezzo: Adagio
III. Finale: Alla breve
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
Video or audio recording of this performance is strictly prohibited. Patrons arriving late will be seated during the first convenient pause. Program and artists are subject to change.
ARTIST PROFILE
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
Since his triumph as winner of the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, pianist Garrick Ohlsson has established himself worldwide as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess. Although long regarded as one of the world’s leading exponents of the music of Frédéric Chopin, Mr. Ohlsson commands an enormous repertoire, which ranges over the entire piano literature. A student of the late Claudio Arrau, Mr. Ohlsson has come to be noted for his masterly performances of the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, as well as the Romantic repertoire. To date he has at his command more than 80 concertos, ranging from Haydn and Mozart to works of the 21st century, the most recent being Oceans Apart by Justin Dello Joio commissioned for him by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and now available on Bridge Recordings. Also just released on Reference Recordings is the complete Beethoven concerti with Sir Donald Runnicles and the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra.
With Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Mr. Ohlsson returns to Carnegie Hall in the fall and throughout the 24/25 season can be heard with orchestras in Portland, Madison, Kalamazoo, Palm Beach and Ft. Worth. In recital programs including works from Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin to Barber and Scriabin he will appear in Santa Barbara, Orange County, Aspen, Warsaw and London.
An avid chamber musician, Mr. Ohlsson has collaborated with the Cleveland, Emerson, Tokyo and Takacs string quartets. His recording with latter of the Amy Beach and Elgar quintets released by Hyperion in June 2020 received great press attention. Passionate about singing and singers, Mr. Ohlsson has appeared in recital with such legendary artists as Magda Olivero, Jessye Norman, and Ewa Podleś.
Mr. Ohlsson can be heard on the Arabesque, RCA Victor Red Seal,
WHERE YOUR FINANCIAL SUCCESS TAKES CENTER
Angel, BMG, Delos, Hänssler, Nonesuch, Telarc, Hyperion and Virgin Classics labels. His ten-disc set of the complete Beethoven Sonatas, for Bridge Records, has garnered critical acclaim, including a GRAMMY® for Vol. 3. His recording of Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 3, with the Atlanta Symphony and Robert Spano, was released in 2011. In the fall of 2008 the English label Hyperion re-released his 16-disc set of the Complete Works of Chopin followed in 2010 by all the Brahms piano variations, Goyescas by Enrique Granados, and music of Charles Tomlinson Griffes. Most recently on that label are Scriabin's Complete Poèmes, Smetana Czech Dances, and ètudes by Debussy, Bartok and Prokofiev. The latest CDs in his ongoing association with Bridge Records are the Complete Scriabin Sonatas, Close Connections, a recital of 20th-Century pieces, and two CDs of works by Liszt. In recognition of the Chopin bicentenary in 2010, Mr. Ohlsson was featured in a documentary The Art of Chopin coproduced by Polish, French, British and Chinese television stations. Most recently, both Brahms concerti and Tchaikovsky's second piano concerto were released on live performance recordings with the Melbourne and Sydney Symphonies on their own recording labels, and Mr. Ohlsson was featured on Dvořák's piano concerto in the Czech Philharmonic's recordings of the composer's complete symphonies & concertos, released July of 2014 on the Decca label.
A native of White Plains, N.Y., Garrick Ohlsson began his piano studies at the age of 8, at the Westchester Conservatory of Music; at 13 he entered The Juilliard School, in New York City. His musical development has been influenced in completely different ways by a succession of distinguished teachers, most notably Claudio Arrau, Olga Barabini, Tom Lishman, Sascha Gorodnitzki, Rosina Lhévinne and Irma Wolpe. Although he won First Prizes at the 1966 Busoni Competition in Italy and the 1968 Montréal Piano Competition, it was his 1970 triumph at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, where he won the Gold Medal (and remains the single American to have done so), that brought him worldwide recognition as one of the finest pianists of his generation. Since then he has made nearly a dozen tours of Poland, where he retains immense personal popularity. Mr. Ohlsson was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize in 1994 and received the 1998 University Musical Society Distinguished Artist Award in Ann Arbor, MI. He is the 2014 recipient of the Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance from the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music, and in August 2018 the Polish Deputy Culture Minister awarded him with the Gloria Artis Gold Medal for cultural merit. He is a Steinway Artist and makes his home in San Francisco. 10 | 2024/2025 SEASON
PROGRAM NOTES by Jeremy Reynolds
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
ROMEO and JULIET FANTASY-OVERTURE
DURATION: About 20 minutes
PREMIERE: Saint Petersburg, 1870
SYMPHONIC POEM: Another term for “tone poem.” A piece of orchestral music, typically one movement, based on an idea or story.
“After the concert, we dined... No one said a single word to me about the overture the whole evening. And yet I yearned so for appreciation and kindness.”
—
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, (Born 1840, Russia; died 1893)
Historians and scholars tend to paint the Russian composer Tchaikovsky’s life as a bleak and largely internal struggle, the result of his severe self-criticism and his forbidden homosexuality. That narrative has inflected many conductors’ interpretations of Tchaikovsky’s compositions as well, with many leaning into the more “fateful” aspects of his symphonies and the idea that even the most ecstatic passages may be shadowed in some way.
Still, Tchaikovsky’s letters don’t really bear out that reality, and a new biography published in 2024 titled Tchaikovsky’s Empire: A New Life of Russia’s Greatest Composer illustrates the spark of joy behind many of the composer’s greatest creations.
Take Romeo and Juliet, based explicitly on Shakespeare’s play. It’s true that Tchaikovsky struggled with the work and took multiple attempts to reach the version still heard today. It’s also true that the premiere was a bit of a disaster — the conductor had a legal scandal that the audience found far more interesting than the premiere of a new overture. But the result remains a testament to the sort of pure, unconflicted love embodied by Shakespeare’s play, untouched by the sort of shadow that biographers often ascribe to the composer.
The piece begins with a mournful introduction, a chorale representing Friar Laurence and a foreshadowing of the tragedy to come. The first theme is much faster and more militant, a musical depiction of the conflict between Montagues and Capulets. All is agitation as the theme repeats and cycles through various instruments and breaks down into fragments, while cymbal crashes suggest the clash of steel swords.
The second theme is the most famous section of the work, the love theme between Romeo and Juliet. The music decelerates slowly and changes key into a distant tonal center to move as far from the conflict of the first theme as is musically possible. And then, a lush tune in the English horn and violas, full and luxurious and rich, for Romeo. Juliet answers in the flutes, with hazy accompaniment in the strings and harp.
After the full statement of each theme, Tchaikovsky moves from exposition to development of the overture’s sonata form, spinning the introduction’s melody and first theme through a cycle of musical keys and styles and blurring the lines between the two, mixing them and maintaining high tension throughout. The music builds to a ferocious statement of the Friar’s theme in the trumpets before relaxing again into the love theme, growing higher and higher and more fraught. The battle music returns, and the overture ends with a slowing timpani stroke as a heartbeat fades and stops. Still, in the end, the overture ends with an homage to the lovers and a bright major chord — they are reunited in death.
PROGRAM NOTES by Jeremy Reynolds
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF
PIANO CONCERTO No. 3 in D MINOR, Op. 30
I. Allegro ma non tonto
II. Intermezzo: Adagio
III. Finale: Alla breve
DURATION: About 43 minutes
PREMIERED: New York City, 1909
CONCERTO: A composition that features one or more “solo” instruments with orchestral accompaniment. The form of the concerto has developed and evolved over the course of music history.
CADENZA: A virtuoso passage in a concerto movement or aria, typically near the end and often played without strict adherence to meter or time.
“At that time Mahler was the only conductor whom I considered ... He devoted himself to the concerto until the accompaniment, which is rather complicated, had been practiced to perfection... The orchestra played the first movement with a keen or perhaps even closer appreciation than the previous time.”
— Sergei Rachmaninoff, (Born 1873, Russia; died 1943)
There are concertos in the classical repertoire that strike terror into the hearts of performers. Rachmaninoff’s third piano concerto is one such concerto.
Written in 1909, just before Rachmaninoff set off to America for a performance tour prior, the concerto’s technical demands so alarmed its initial dedicatee, the virtuoso pianist Josef Hofmann, that he refused to perform it. Rachmaninoff himself was forced to give the premiere in New York. Not until the advocacy of the doughty Vladimir Horowitz did this work begin to appear regularly in orchestra halls decades later. Now, it’s a crowd favorite.
Onerous technical requirements aside, it’s a masterpiece of melody and development. “If I had any plan in composing this theme, I was thinking only of sound,” Rachmaninoff wrote at the time to a friend. “I wanted to ‘sing’ the melody on the piano, as a singer would sing it.” To that end, the opening is a simple tune played on the piano that
12 | 2024/2025 SEASON
hovers just above a pale orchestral texture, at once plaintive and poignant. But almost immediately, the tune repeats, now in the cellos, with the piano weaving dexterous arpeggios and countermelodies above, as though the composer could barely repress his enthusiasm for those first few simple bars.
Still, the opening statement of the melody is instructive — its straightforwardness signals to listeners that this is a sort of “main” theme and makes it easier to recognize the melody when it transforms. Later, during the first movement’s cadenza, it returns in the piano alone, reworked as a massive, furious passage, a true test of a pianist’s mettle.
The second movement is lighter in character, a sonorous introduction in the orchestra rudely interrupted by cascading piano notes that lead into another simple, songlike melody. Later, a lilting waltz in the clarinet and bassoon appears, a new version of the first movement’s melody apparent once more with careful listening.
The skill required for the finale is evident. It’s all perpetual, furious motion in both orchestra and solo, dramatic brass and whizzing piano figures conjuring enormous momentum and energy. A slower second theme blunts that momentum, the piano dancing nervously above a simple orchestral accompaniment, reminiscent of the concerto’s very beginning. (Indeed, the first movement’s melody appears yet again in the violas and cellos as the third develops.) At last, it builds in volume and speed to a dizzying, triumphant finale, a fitting end to a work of such grandiose proportions, a worthy vehicle for one of history’s greatest pianists.
Officers
Board of Directors
Mercedes T. Bass
Chairman of the Board
Marianne Auld
Chairman of the Executive Committee
Lee Hallman
Secretary
Bob Karl
Treasurer
Keith Cerny, Ph.D.
President and CEO
Board of Directors
Marianne Auld+
Amy Roach Bailey
Mercedes T. Bass+
Connie Beck+
John Belk
Michael Bennett
Anne Marie Bratton+
J. Brooks+
John Broude
Karen Burchfield+
Ervin Cash
Dr. Joseph Cecere
Brenda Cline
Craig Collins
Dr. Mary Costas
Barbara Cox
Dr. Benge Daniel
Mitzi Davis
Dr. Asad Dean+
Dr. Tom Deas
Dr. Jeffrey G. Detweiler
Althea Duersten
Willa Dunleavy
Brandon Elms
Dr. Jennifer Freeman+
Charlotte French
Aubrey Gideon
Pamela Gilchrist
Gail Aronoff Granek
Eric Haitz
Lee Hallman+
Aaron Howard+
Bonnie Janzen
Shauna Jenkins
Kim Johnson
Bob Karl+
Dee J. Kelly, Jr.+
Dr. Debra Koppelberger
Kelly Lancarte
Mollie Lasater+
Nico Leone
Mary Hart Lipscomb
Misty Locke
Quynh Lu
Louella Martin+
Priscilla Martin
Dr. Stuart D. McDonald
Ellen Messman
Samuel Navarro
Justin Newton
Kate Lummis Norris
Frasher H. Pergande
Don C. Plattsmier+
Dana Porter+
Don Reid
Jean Roach+
Anita Robidou
Henry Robinson+
Leonard Ryan
Alann B. Sampson+
Jeff Schmeltekopf
Dr. Russ Schultz
Dr. Darcy Sety
Allan Steele
Clare Stonesifer+
Rebecca Stupfel
Jonathan T. Suder+
Carla Thompson+
Dr. Amy Tully
Paul Wehba
John Wells+
Dr. James Williams
Kristine Williams
J.W. Wilson
Emeritus Council
Rebecca Beasley
Marvin E. Blum
Ashli Blumenfeld
Dr. Victor J. Boschini, Jr.
Anne Carvalho
Gail Cooke
Juana-Rose Daniell
Joseph DeWoody
Vance A. Duffy
Katie Farmer
Joan Friedman
Tera Garvey
John B. Giordano
Barry L. Green
Genie Guynn
Kathleen Hicks
Robert L. Jameson
Teresa King
Michelle Marlow
Colin McConnell
Dr. Till Meyn
Erin Moseley *
Jude Ryan*
Kal Silverberg
Thomas “Tommy” L. Smith
Dwayne Smith
Whit Smith
Kathleen B. Stevens
Ronda Jones Stucker
Lon Werner
Chairman Emeriti
Mildred Fender
William P. Hallman, Jr.*
Adele Hart*
Janice Kelly
Rose Ann Kornfeld
Ann Ryan
Ed Schollmaier*
Frank H. Sherwood
Anna Belle P. Thomas*
Life Trustee
Rosalyn G. Rosenthal*
Rae and Ed Schollmaier*
President Emerita
Ann Koonsman*
+ Executive Committee Member
* Denotes Deceased
ROBERT SPANO, MUSIC DIRECTOR DESIGNATE
KEITH CERNY, Ph.D., PRESIDENT AND CEO
GaLa
The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra expresses its deepest gratitude to the generous individual and institutional supporters of the 2025 FWSO Gala.
Concert Underwriter
Mrs. Mercedes T. Bass
Mr. and Mrs. John Kleinheinz
Gala Champion
Althea Duersten
Mr. and Mrs. Garland M. Lasater, Jr.
Louella Baker Martin
Qurumbli Foundation
John Wells & Shay McCulloch-Wells
Gala Ambassador
Marianne Auld | Kelly Hart & Hallman LLP
Ramona S. and Lee M. Bass
Beth and Craig Collins
Teresa and Luther King
Gala Angel
Connie Beck
Anne Marie and Doug Bratton
Collin and Steve Brauer, Jr.
J. BrendaBrooksand Chad Cline | Gail Granek
Mitzi and Bill Davis
Paul Dorman
First Horizon Bank
Frost
Mr. and Mrs. Mark L. Hart III
Mr. Aaron Howard and Mrs. Corrie Hood-Howard
Mr. Robert Karl
Melissa and Don Reid
Gala Advocate
Elaine and Neils Agather
Michael Bennett and Melissa Mitchell
Debbie Brooks | DFW Musicians Services
John Broude & Judy Rosenblum
Mr. and Mrs. Ervin and Fran Cash
Dr. Joseph Cecere
Dr. & Mrs. Lincoln Chin
Dr. Mary and Admiral John Costas
Mr. and Mrs. Ralph F. Cox
Dr. and Mrs. Benge R. Daniel
Kim and Glenn Darden
Asad Dean M.D. | Texas Oncology
Rosemary and Jeff Detweiler
Brandon Elms
Jennifer Freeman, M.D.
Aubrey Gideon
Eric T. Haitz
Bonnie Janzen & Dr. Stuart Thomas
Shauna and William Jenkins
Kim and Matt Johnson
Dr. Debra and Aaron Koppelberger
Dr. Henry and Mrs. Quynh Lu
Dr. and Mrs. Stuart D. McDonald
Samuel & Alexandra Navarro
Justin Newton
Katherine Lummis Norris
Frasher H. and John F. Pergande
Mr. and Mrs. David Porter
Mrs. John V. Roach II | Mr. and Mrs. Tull
Bailey
Robert and Anita Robidou
Leonard Ryan
Alann Bedford Sampson
Dr. and Mrs. Russ A. Schultz
Dr. Darcy Sety
Tim and Clare Stonesifer
Mark and Becca Stupfel
Jonathan and Medea Suder
TCU
Carla and Kelly Thompson
Visit Fort Worth
Dr. James C. Williams
Kristian and Kristine Williams
Mr. and Mrs. Phillip C. Williamson
Gala Enthusiast
Mrs. Jeanne Cochran
Victoria Prescott and Richard Henderson
Al Kroemer
Pinnacle Bank
For the full Gala donor listing, please visit fwsymphony.org/gala2025
As of 3/25/2025
ROBERT SPANO, MUSIC DIRECTOR DESIGNATE
KEITH CERNY, Ph.D., PRESIDENT AND CEO
GaLa
The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra expresses its deepest gratitude to the institutions supporting the 2025 FWSO Gala.
16 | 2024/2025 SEASON
GaLa
The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra expresses our sincere gratitude to the Gala Chairs for their tremendous leadership and support of the 2025 FWSO Gala
Mercedes T. Bass Honorary Gala Chairman
Connie Beck, J. Brooks, Lee Hallman, Quynh Lu Gala Co-Chairs
Benefiting & Celebrating
Fort Worth Symphony Gala
AUSTIN | FORT WORTH | MIDLAND | BATON ROUGE | NEW ORLEANS
A City Club Social Membership provides access to dining in our restaurants and member event privileges including Wine Tastings, Holiday Brunches and many other Club events. You will have the ability to reserve private rooms for business and social functions.
Social Memberships for $102 per month
FWSO Subscribers receive a discounted enrollment fee
For more information, contact Matt Burrell, City Club Membership Director at 817.878.4000 or mburrell@cityclubfw.com.
Omni Ad
The elegance continues at Omni Fort Worth Hotel. Take in the sweeping downtown views from our inviting, western-inspired accommodations, and enjoy clever cocktails, prime aged steaks, and live music at our on-site restaurants.
You have the lead role in tomorrow’s biggest hit: YOUR FUTURE. Make it your best role yet with a move to The Stayton at Museum Way by Buckner, Fort Worth’s only senior living community that offers Life Care. Scan the QR code and complete the online form for more information.
Bringing more care to the people we care for.
We aim to give the communities we’re proud to serve a head start on a lifetime of health. That’s why we’re stepping outside of the hospital and doctor’s office and into the community, doing our best to make a healthy lifestyle easier and more accessible — for everyone.
The wide range of programs and services under Texas Health Community Hope do the work of supporting healthy communities beyond our walls.
Learn more about how Community Hope helps North Texas communities thrive! TexasHealth.org/CommunityHope
