The University of Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra 95th Season Brochure

THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI

SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 95th SEASON 2014 -15

The 95th season of The University of Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra is upon us. It is always exciting to plan a new season, especially one that contains concerts that feature an outstanding orchestra and world-class soloists from beginning to end.

This coming season is going to be just that.

We open the season with From the New World, featuring two masterful works by Antonin Dvorak, as well as a magnificently beautiful arrangement of “The Star Spangled Banner,” written by Southern Miss’ own Luigi Zaninelli. We continue with The Merry Widow, a beautiful and hilarious musical comedy that will feature some of the best young singers to be on the stage anywhere. Our November concert opens with American composer Joan Tower’s title piece Made in America followed by a special appearance of former U.S. Poet Laureate, Natasha Trethewey, as she narrates her Pulitzer Prize-winning poem “Native Guard,” with music

by Southern Miss Alumnus Joseph Britain. Violinist Alexandre Brussilovsky concludes the concert with the spectacularly beautiful Korngold Violin Concerto. The semester closes with all of the Southern Miss choirs in our traditional Holiday Choral Spectacular.

The spring continues with the excitement of The Prodigal, a concert of two world premieres, one a major choral work and the other a new trombone concerto being played by our own trombone professor, Dr. Ben McIlwain. Then, Mary Poppins takes flight in late February to delight audiences both young and old. March brings one of our favorite annual concerts, Future Stars. The season concludes with the major musical star power and magnificent voice of Deborah Voigt, the world’s leading dramatic soprano. Ms. Voigt is one of the world’s most sought-after vocal soloist. She appears in major opera houses all over the world, and we are very fortunate to have her help us end our 95th season.

This is a “Don’t Miss Season!”

Come join us at the symphony, opera and musical theatre ALL YEAR LONG! Sincerely, Jay Dean Music Director

ORDER NOW ONLINE

www.southernmisstickets.com Click on BUY SOUTHERN MISS TICKETS, then ARTS & LETTERS EVENTS, then SYMPHONY SEASON.

PHONE

800.844.8425 or 601.266.5418

IN PERSON

Southern Miss Ticket Office Pat Ferlise Center West Fourth Street and Golden Eagle Avenue

SEASON TICKETS V.I.P. $ 240

Platinum-level seating PLUS private post-concert reception with Deborah Voigt

PLATINUM $ 190 ($29 savings!)

GOLD $ 160 ($23 savings!)

SILVER $ 130 ($17 savings!)

YOUTH $ 50 ($20 savings!)

Service Fee $ 5 Please have your credit card ready and be ready to choose Mary Poppins performance Feb. 26 - 28, 7:30 p.m. or March 1, 2 p.m.

Individual tickets go on sale September 8.

Mary Poppins is available only as part of the season ticket package.

Individual tickets go on sale in November 2014.

Partners for the Arts (PFTA) continues to provide essential funding for a variety of School of Music performances.

Your membership dollars have a great impact on the performances we produce.

Please visit www.usm.edu/pfta and become a “Friend of Music” to help support all our performances.

2014-15 BROCHURE CREATIVE TEAM: ART DIRECTION Mike Lopinto; PHOTOGRAPHY Danny Rawls; MODELS Jason Daniel, Grace Claire Cordes, Jason Waterfalls, Haley Bryant, Molly Hatch, Lauren Rainey; MAKEUP Tammy Mansfield; PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Aaron Strum

FROM THE

NEW W RLD OPENING NIGHT

2 October 7:30 p.m.

Bennett Auditorium featuring Amit Peled, cello Key/Zaninelli “The Star Spangled Banner”

Dvorak Symphony No.9, Op.95

Dvorak

Cello Concerto, Op.104 Amit Peled, cello

Both the Symphony No. 9 in E minor (From the New World) and the Cello Concerto in B minor were composed by Antonín Dvorák while he was living in the United States.

These masterpieces are his most popular orchestral works.

Amit Peled is an Israeli cellist of profound artistry. He is acclaimed as one of the most exciting instrumentalists on the concert stage today.

Having performed as soloist with many orchestras and in the world’s major concert halls, he is a frequent guest artist at prestigious music festivals, as well as television and radio stations throughout the world.

Mr. Peled is a professor at the Peabody Conservatory of Music.

Born in New Jersey, Luigi Zaninelli began his career as a jazz pianist at the age of 12. Both a student and an instructor at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, he was appointed composer-in-residence at Southern Miss from 1973 until 2009. He has won numerous awards for his music, including three Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters awards. One of his 300 published works is his very touching arrangement of the “Star Spangled Banner,” which is dedicated to soldiers who fell at the Battle of Anzio in1944.

This year (2014) marks the bicentennial of the Star Spangled Banner as well as the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Anzio.

T I C K E T S

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The ry

Mer

w o d i W 23 October 7:30 p.m.

Mannoni Performing Arts Center Auditorium

A Southern Opera and Musical Theatre Company Production

The Merry Widow is a beautiful and hilarious operetta

by Franz Lehár that takes place in Paris and tells the story of Hannah Glawari, a very wealthy widow, Count Danilo Danilovitsch, and many other comical aristocrats from the imaginary country of Pontevedro. Their goal is to keep her money in their country by finding her just the right husband.

This very funny operetta has enjoyed extraordinary international success since its 1905 premiere in Vienna and continues to be a favorite all over the world. Well-known musical numbers from the score include the “Vilja Song,” “You’ll Find Me at Maxim’s” and the “Merry Widow Waltz.”

Join the Southern Opera and Musical Theatre Company for their wonderful fall production.

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6 November 7:30 p.m.

Bennett Auditorium Featuring Natasha Trethewey, U.S. Poet Laureate and Alexandre Brussilovksy, violin Tower

Made in America

WORLD PREMIERE

Trethewey/Britain Native Guard Natasha Trethewey, narrator Korngold Violin Concerto, Op.35 Alexandre Brussilovsky, violin One of the most successful female composers of all time, Joan Tower is a Grammy Award-winning contemporary American composer, concert pianist and conductor. Her compositions have been performed around the world. Made in America is a fantasy on “America the Beautiful,� and its orchestration depicts the color and landscape of the country. It has been performed in all 50 states.

Governor Phil Bryant declared 2014 as the Year of the Creative Economy. To join in this celebration, we invited Mississippi artists Natasha Trethewey and Joseph Britain to collaborate on a work for narrator and orchestra called Native Guard, based on her poem by the same name that received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2007. Trethewey was born in 1966, in Gulfport, Mississippi. In 2012, she was named as both the State Poet Laureate of Mississippi and the 19th U.S. Poet Laureate by the Library of Congress.

In 2013, she was appointed U.S. Poet Laureate for a second term.

Mississippi composer and arranger Joseph Britain continues to have strong ties to our state through his musical compositions, arrangements and performances.

Erich Korngold was born in what is now Czech Republic, but in 1943, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Being of Jewish descent, the year 1945 was an important turning point in his life. During World War II, he had vowed to give up composing anything other than film music until Adolf Hitler had been defeated. With the end of the war, he retired from films to concentrate on concert music.

His Violin Concerto was the first work that Korngold wrote after the war.

It was premiered in 1947 by Jascha Heifetz and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Born in the Ukraine, Alexandre Brussilovsky completed his musical education at the Moscow Conservatoire. He has won top prizes at international competitions, including the Grand Prix at the International Prague Competition and the Grand Prix and Albert Roussel Special Prize at the Jacques Thibaud Competition.

He is a well-known international soloist, chamber music performer and teacher, and participates in numerous festivals both in the U.S. and Europe.

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2 and 4 December 7:30 p.m.

Main St. Baptist Church The perfect holiday gift for friends and families!

Two performances will herald the holiday season in grand style as the combined choirs of Southern Miss and the community join the Symphony Orchestra for a wonderful evening of yuletide favorites.

This event sells out quickly, so order your tickets now!

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THE

prodigal 12 February 7:30 p.m.

Main St. Baptist Church

Nazaykinskaya

Wilberg

The Prodigal (World Premiere) Gregory Fuller, conductor

Concerto for Trombone (World Premiere) Polina Nazaykinskaya, guest conductor Ben McIlwain, trombone

This exciting and rare program features two world premieres!

Composer, arranger and conductor Mack Wilberg is the current music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He has emerged as one of the pre-eminent composers and arrangers of choral music in the United States today, and his sublime arrangements and compositions are performed around the world.

Russian-born composer Polina Nazaykinskaya holds degrees from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory and the Yale School of Music. She has had her works performed by the Russian National Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, and many others. Her music has garnered numerous national and international awards and received rave reviews in the press, including The New York Times. In 2010, Sony-Music Russia released a CD that featured her symphonic poem Winter Bells.

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THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI SCHOOL OF MUSIC PRESENTS

26 - 28 February 7:30 p.m. and 1 March 2 p.m.

Mannoni Performing Arts Center Auditorium The Southern Miss School of Music in partnership with Forrest General Hospital is pleased to present the smash hit Broadway musical Mary Poppins, co-created by Disney and Cameron Mackintosh.

The cherished Disney film has been reimagined into a spectacular new musical, with a book by Downton Abbey’s Julian Fellowes.

Featuring all of the unforgettable songs of the beloved movie, plus brand-new breathtaking musical numbers and spectacular effects, Mary Poppins takes both children and adults alike on a magical musical adventure where “anything can happen if you let it.”

Enjoy the grand reopening of the Mannoni Performing Arts Center with the hit Broadway show that is perfect for all ages and has amassed more than 40 theatre awards from around the globe.

It’s supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Mary Poppins is available only as part of the season ticket package.

Individual tickets go on sale in November 2014.

PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

T I C K E T S

AVA I L A B L E N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4

future st rs 5 March 7:30 p.m.

Bennett Auditorium Students in the Southern Miss School of Music annually compete in the William T. Gower Competition. The winners appear as soloists with the orchestra in one of our most popular evenings of music.

This year, winners will be selected from the piano, string and voice divisions.

Join us for a magical evening of outstanding students soloists, wonderful music and the incomparable Symphony Orchestra.

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D eborah V oigt A N

EV E N I N G

W I T H

A M E R I C A’ S FAVO R I T E D R A M AT I C S O P R A N O SYMPHONY SEASON FINALE 25 April 7:30 p.m.

Bennett Auditorium

Wagner

Prelude to Die Meistersinger

Strauss

Dance of the Seven Veils from Salome

Ms. Voigt’s program will include works by Strauss, Wagner and popular Broadway selections.

Moore

World premiere of orchestral version Three American Songs

Deborah Voigt is America’s favorite dramatic sopranos. Through her performances and television appearances, she is known for the singular power and beauty of her voice, her versatility, and her captivating stage presence. Internationally revered for her performances, Voigt has given definitive performances of iconic roles in the operas of Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner.

She is also noted for Italian operatic roles such as Tosca and Aïda.

With an extensive discography, and multiple Billboard bestsellers, Voigt is known for her extraordinary ability to soar effortlessly and luminously above an orchestra with a rich, lustrous voice.

Her recording of Strauss’s Egyptian Helen was named one of the best CDs of the year by Opera News. Ms. Voigt is a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and was Musical America’s Vocalist of the Year 2003. In 2007, she won an Opera News Award for distinguished achievement.

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Nonprofit Organization US Postage Paid Hattiesburg, MS 39402 Permit No. 148

SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 118 College Drive #5081 Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001

95th SEASON SPONSOR

BRINGING THE WORLD TO MISSISSIPPI www.usm.edu/symphony AA/EOE/ADAI