MOORES SCHOOL OF MUSIC
THE KATHERINE G. MCGOVERN COLLEGE OF THE ARTS presents MOORES SCHOOL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA THE “RITE”
Franz Anton Krager, director of orchestras and conductor Martin Garcia Leon, conductor featuring Han Sol Jeong, pianist 2022 Moores School Concerto Competition, Piano Division Winner THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2022, 7:30 p.m. Moores Opera House
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON
Franz Anton Krager, director of orchestras and conductor Martin Garcia Leon, conductor and Han Sol Jeong, pianist
PROGRAM
Moores School Symphony Orchestra
Franz Anton Krager, director of orchestras Martin Garcia Leon * , conductor Han Sol Jeong + , pianist
Piano Concerto No.1 In F Sharp Minor Op.1
I: Vivace
II: Andante
III: Allegro Vivace
Martin Garcia Leon * , conductor with Han Sol Jeong + , pianist
INTERMISSION
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 – 1943)
Le Sacre du printemps “The Rite of Spring”
Franz Anton Krager, conductor
* From the conducting studio of Franz Anton Krager; In partial fulfillment of the Master of Music Degree in Orchestral Conducting
Igor Stravinsky (1882 – 1971)
+ 2022 Moores School Concerto Competition, Piano Division Winner; From the piano studio of Tali Morgulis; In partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Music Degree in Piano Performance
PERFORMERS
Moores School Symphony Orchestra
Franz Anton Krager, director of orchestras Martin Garcia Leon, conductor
Piccolos
Donald Rabin, principal Hallie Goodman
Flutes
Wen-Hsiu Lai, co-principal Candi Rohn, co-principal Hallie Goodman Donald Rabin
Alto Flute
Katherine Garcia, principal
Oboes
Matthew Glattfelder, co-principal Matthew Harms, co-principal Caroline Berry Madeline Flake
Rebecca Johnson
Cor Anglais
Matthew Glattfelder, principal Rebecca Johnson
E Flat Clarinet
Aaron Price, principal
Clarinets
Elian Hernandez, co-principal Harold Gomez Montoya, co-principal Adam Boswell
Atom Jones Sarah Piercy
Bass Clarinets
Andrew Wang, principal Atom Jones
Bassoons
Dima Savitski, principal Alex Easley Graydon Harrison Haley Houk Anya Johnson Monica Kavazos
Contrabassoon Anya Johnson, principal Alex Easley
Horns
Katie Angielczyk, co-principal David Holtgrewe, co-principal Jordan Ellisor Adam Harrington Noel Manning Alex Mata Logan Pierce Patrick Sanford Nicholas Silva
Wagner Tubas
Noel Manning, principal Jordan Ellisor
Piccolo Trumpet
Michael Remish, principal
The “Rite”
Trumpets
Emmanuel Acevedo, co-principal Jhoan Garcia, co-principal Nick Engle Ryan McArthur Brian Mendez
Bass Trumpets
Ryan McArthur, principal Steven Luong
Tenor Trombones
Steven Luong, principal Jonathan Forbes
Bass Trombone
Agustin Martinez, principal
Tubas
Jose C. Martinez, co-principal John Paulson, co-principal
Timpani
Carissa Ledesma, co-principal Alex Staten, co-principal Tim Turnley, co-principal
Percussion
Carissa Ledesma, principal Ashton Carter
Michael Cheng Brandon Furman Mark Medina
Phillip Rivera Alex Staten Tim Turnley Xochitl Vasquez
Violins
Miranda Hollingsworth, concertmaster Hanna Hrybkova, associate concertmaster Bernini Chan, assistant concertmaster Isabella Bengochea, principal second Ricardo Jimenez Montoya, associate principal second Marcio Martinez, assistant principal second Jessika Albuquerque Hossein Aminzadeh
Jonathan Andino Samantha Arizpe Xiaodong Cao Javier Castro
Jason Chaviers Laura Cividino Raul Colmenero Dustin Cunningham Jordan Efird Alexander Garcia Lizbeth Garcia Emily Gladstone Nicole Gonzalez Gilyoung Kang Allen Li
Zuriel Longoria Madisyn Muñoz Shayla Nguyen Luis Osorio Vu Pham Luis Ramirez Konrad Rudowicz Anton Sack Julia Tondera Daniela Yepes Dimate
Franz Anton Krager, director of orchestras and conductor Martin Garcia Leon, conductor
Violas
Haoqin Cheng, principal Elisa Rendon Palaez, associate principal Melissa Escobar, assistant principal Miles Bi
Daniel Castorena Madeline Gonzales
Maggie Lytle
Benjamin Petree Audrey Weaver Yuxuan Zhang
Violoncelli
Ashley Wang, principal Samuel Linzan, associate principal Benjamin Serur, assistant principal Stephanie Aguilar William Danheim
Hannah Deplazes Brandon England Joshua Lopez
Gracie Martinez
Julian Montez Kayla Nguyen Amy Sanders Elizabeth Spencer Gideon Weaver
Emily Yeh Alexa Zamarripa
Contrabassi
Reid Ronsonette, principal Bruce Manning, associate principal Maggie Bishop, assistant principal Cesar Flores Mackenzie Gibbons Grace Lewis Steve Martin Sharon Monte
Orchestra Conducting Studio
Cutter González
General Manager & Assistant Conductor Martin Garcia Leon General Staff and Assistant Conductor, Moores Opera Center Ringel Sat
Orchestra General Staff and Assistant Conductor Carolina Rodriguez Russum Orchestra General Staff
The “Rite”
PROGRAM NOTES
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1 in F sharp Minor Op. 1
Much ink has been spilled about the circumstances surrounding Rachmaninoff’s first symphony: the com poser’s hard work on the score, its terrible premiere performance by an under-rehearsed orchestra and a possibly-drunk conductor, the unnecessarily cruel reviews published afterward. What followed was the composer’s psychological breakdown, one whose utterly debilitating nature has likely been overstated in its retellings, but which did handicap any major compositional impetus. Only after seeking hypnotherapy did Rachmaninoff roar back with his ever-popular Piano Concerto No. 2
But overlooked in many of these discussions is that Rachmaninoff had written an earlier piano concerto, finished soon after his eighteenth birthday. As was the custom in composition pedagogy of the era, students were encouraged to model works on the overall structure and dramatic architecture of a piece they admired, so Rachmaninoff chose the Grieg concerto as his jumping-off point. And indeed, from the first bars of his new concerto, we can hear the similarities, as a brief brass fanfare quickly gives way to descending double octaves in the piano. Otherwise, much of Rachmaninoff’s later style is present in a nascent form, with some of his later recognizable composition devices deployed, sometimes successfully.
The concerto was written at Ivanoka, the family’s country estate, a time in which the young composer fell in love with one Vera Scalon, a family neighbor. He played the solo part in the 1892 premiere, with the orchestra of the Moscow Conservatory conducted by Vasily Safonov. After the success of the following two concerti, Rachmaninoff revised the First, in doing so deploying a greater understanding of orchestration and a more mature approach to the busy piano part. Despite these changes, he struggled to arouse public interest in this concerto, and it remains the least-performed of his five forays into the form.
Igor Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps was the composer’s fourth collaboration with famed impresario Serge Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes. Following some orchestrations of Chopin works for piano came The Firebird, then Petrouchka – a sequence which in retrospect tracks Stravinsky’s development from pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov to cutting-edge quasi- modernist ready to deploy elements of Slavic folk culture into his music.
Stravinsky would later write that the initial concept of Rite came to him as early as 1910, when he was work ing on The Firebird. “I saw in my imagination a solemn pagan rite,” he wrote: “sage elders, seated in a circle, watching a young girl dance herself to death. They were sacrificing her to propitiate the god of Spring.” His first steps involved long discussions with Nicholas Roerich, a painter and anthropologist whose expertise in pre-Christian rituals of the Russian people made him the ideal partner for such a project. Having established the general scenario, Stravinsky in late 1911 decamped to his home in rural Ukraine, finishing a two-piano sketch in mid-1912. After orchestrating the piece (with input from Pierre Monteux, who initially hated the piece but would eventually come to be its earliest champion), a by-all-accounts fraught period of rehearsals took place, with both the music and Nijinsky’s unusual choreography creating significant hurdles.
While some have claimed that it was the raw brutality of the music that provoked the now-famous riot at the May 1913 premiere, contemporary sources instead point a finger at the choreography, which eschewed traditional grace and en-pointe dancing in favor of flat feet, hunched postures, and, according to Stravinsky, “knock knees.” The audience was divided between those who loved such bold creative decisions, and those who were horrified, and before long certain of them were coming to blows while the performance went on. The ensuing media frenzy did as much as anything else to ensure the Rite’s place in history.
The scenario of Rite involves the ritual abduction and sacrifice of a virgin in order to appease the powers driving the change of seasons. The central role was to have been played by Nijinsky’s sister, but when during the rehearsals she became pregnant, she was replaced by Maria Piltz.
The “Rite”
Franz Anton Krager
Since making his prize-winning European conducting debut in Copenha gen’s Tivoli Koncertsalen in 1978, Franz Anton Krager has led orchestras in Washington DC’s Kennedy Center, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Town Hall and Adrian Boult Hall in Birmingham, Moscow’s State Kremlin Palace, Manches ter’s Bridgewater Hall, Guangzhou China’s Xinghai Music Center, the Sydney Opera House, The Hague’s Congresgebouw, Zagreb’s Lisinski Concert Hall, Kazan’s State Philharmonic Hall in Russia, Guadalajara’s Degollado Theater, and Sarasota’s Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. His affiliations with leading music festivals include the Dubrovnik Summer Festival in Croatia, Lancaster International Concert Series, Lichfield and Aberystwyth International Arts Festivals in the U.K., the Festival Internacional de Santa Lucía in Mexico, and the Texas Music Festival and Interlochen National Music Camp in the U.S. Maestro Krager has led the Houston, Russian State, Slovak National, Dubrovnik, Traverse City Michigan and Florida West Coast symphonies, Romanian and Kazan State philharmonics, and orchestras in Washington, Berlin, London, Chicago, Paris, Singapore, Leipzig, Zagreb, Monterrey, Grosseto, Pordenone, Ingolstadt, Chichester, Neuss, and Honolulu. Krager is Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Texas Music Festival and Founding Co-Artistic Director for the Virtuosi of Houston. Krager is also the Hourani Endowed Professor of Music, Director of Orchestras, and Chair of the Conducting Department at the University of Hou ston Moores School of Music, where he has brought the orchestra and orchestral conducting program into international prominence. The Moores School Symphony Orchestra has recorded on the Divine Art (Métier), Albany, MSR Classics, ArsPublica, Newport, and “Surround-Sound Blu-Ray Audio” HDTT record labels.
Martín García León
Martín García León (Argentina 1990) is the first conductor born in the whole Patagonia region. Started his musical education at the age of 14 in piano. At the age of 20 started his training in orchestral conducting and it was rapidly recognized as one of the top conductors in his Home Country by collab orating with several local and international orchestras like Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Argentinian National Symphony orchestra, Rio Negro Philhar monic Orchestra, Colon Teather, Moravian Philharmonic, Saint Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, Vietnam National Opera and Ballet Orchestra.
The “Rite”
Korean born pianist Han Sol Jeong moved to Christchurch, New Zealand at age four, starting lessons at the age of ten. He received his Bachelor of Music with Honors at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore with Dr. Thomas Hecht on a full scholarship. He furthered his studies at Indiana University with Distinguished Professor André Watts and received his Master of Music and a Performer Diploma. At Indiana University, Han Sol was an Associate Instructor in Music Theory, teaching core theory courses to undergraduate students. Currently he is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Houston, studying with Dr. Tali Morgulis and is a Teaching Assistant in Piano, teaching group piano classes to undergraduate students. Han Sol has been part of the winning ensemble of the NZCT Chamber Music Contest Christchurch District 2012-2013 and has received the KBB Award at the National Finals at both the 2012 and 2013 contests. He has appeared as concerto soloist with the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Symphony Orchestra and the Risingholme Orchestra playing works by Gershwin and Schumann. In the 2017 National Piano and Violin Competition in Singapore, he was placed 3rd and performed Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with members of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Most recently Han Sol won the 1st prize and the Audience Choice Award at the Moores School of Music Concerto Competition playing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1.
Acknowledgments
The Moores School Symphony Orchestra would like to thank the following faculty and staff members for their invaluable assistance in helping to prepare this concert: Andrew Davis, Aralee Dorough, Blake Wilkins, David Bertman, Deforest Jones, Eric Dowding, Eric Larson, Eunghee Cho, Gavin Reed, Jason Burton, Jim Vassallo, Karina Duran, Katherine Turner, Kirsten Yon, Kristin Johnson, Mann-Wen Lo, Mark Barton, Mark Buller, Santee Orenla, Steven Block, Tali Morgulis, Tobin Wright, Wayne Brooks.
2022-2023 MOORES SOCIETY
As of 28/9/2022
The Moores Society is the philanthropic volunteer organization for the Moores School of Music. Moores Society members and donors promote community awareness and provide funding for scholarships and special projects. Moores Society members receive invitations to concerts and special events held throughout the year.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Darlene Clark, President
Jackie Malcolm Mazow, Immediate Past Presidents Donna Shen, Vice President Membership Nancy Willerson, Correspondig Secretary Meg Boulware, Opera Production Council Chair
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MOORES SCHOOL OF MUSIC
ABOUT THE MOORES SCHOOL
Moores School of Music
The University of Houston’s Moores School of Music (MSM) is one of the leading comprehensive music schools in the nation. Its remarkable faculty — of internationally recognized performers, composers, and scholars — outstanding student body, modern facilities, and broad range of programs make MSM the natural choice for nearly 600 students annually. The school’s commitment to academic excellence and the highest performance standards has ensured its role as a vital resource in the educational and cultural life of Houston and beyond.
Moores Society
The Moores Society is the philanthropic volunteer organization for the Moores School of Music. Moores Society members and donors promote community awareness and provide funding for scholarships and special projects. Moores Society members receive invitations to concerts and special events held throughout the year. Please visit uh.edu/kgmca/music/moores-society.
For more information, please contact Emily Wolfe, Patrons Relations and Communications Coordinator, at mooressociety@uh.edu or 713.743.8036.
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Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts
The Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts at the University of Houston is a dynamic home of creativity and collaboration in one of America’s most artistically vibrant and culturally diverse cities. Bringing together the performing and visual arts entities at the University of Houston, the college has the ability to harness the power of the arts to ultimately impact our world. Our award-winning, internationally distinguished faculty provides top-quality instruction to the talented, emerging student artists from more than 30 programs of study. The Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts seeks to positively impact the community and to empower our students to use their talents to change the world.
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