prélude by West Michigan Symphony

prélude WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY SEASON MAGAZINE • VOLUME 8 • SEPTEMBER 2019 – JUNE 2020

Serving West Michigan with all your metal needs Holland • Muskegon • Manistee • Spring Lake

What's Inside Frequently Asked Questions

Message from the Board President

Sustaining the Symphony Endowment Fund

2 3

Message from the Music Director

2019/20 Board of Directors

West Michigan Symphony Musicians

6 10 12

All-Russian Season Opening

Beethoven & Blue Jeans

Sounds of the Season

Frank Vignola & Vinny Raniolo

24 26

Link Up The Orchestra Rocks

Mardi Gras in Muskegon

Introducing Sujari Britt

Four Seasons, Two Hemispheres

Voices of Resurrection

About: West Michigan Symphony

Scott Speck Music Director

49 50

Education

Advertisers

Concerts at The Block

Masterworks Pops

SEASON SPONSORS

SEASON TICKET SPONSOR

Frequently Asked Questions CLASSICAL MUSIC for EVERYONE

MUSIC DIRECTOR Scott Speck ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF Andrew Buelow Executive Director Rhonda Bogner, CPA Chief Financial Officer Amanda Dykhouse Orchestra Librarian Kate McClure Patron Services Manager Perry Newson Director of Operations/Guest Artists Keely Payne Art Director/Marketing Manager Gabe Slimko VP of Operations/Orchestra Personnel Manager Karen Vander Zanden Director of Education and Corporate Engagement WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY CHILDREN'S CHOIR Beth Slimko Director DEBUT STRINGS Angela Corbin Director

TICKET OFFICE / 231.726.3231 x223 360 W Western Avenue, Muskegon, MI 49440 Online at westmichigansymphony.org FIND US ONLINE West Michigan Symphony Website: westmichigansymphony.org Facebook: facebook.com/wmsymphony Twitter: twitter.com/westmisymphony Email: info@westmichigansymphony.org The Block Website: theblockwestmichigan.org Facebook: facebook.com/AtTheBlock Twitter: twitter.com/attheblock Email: info@theblockwestmichigan.org

The West Michigan Symphony is an Equal Opportunity Employer and provides programs and services without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex or disability. Programs are funded in part by a grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs with the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts. All sales are final. Dates, artists and programs are subject to change. Cover art by Keely Payne.

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PARKING Free street parking surrounds the theater with additional free parking lots located nearby at 3rd & Morris and at 5th & Western. Disability Parking is provided on Western Avenue adjacent to the theater. DISABILITY SEATING Wheelchair and other disability seating is available. Call 231.727.8001 to reserve. CONCERT LENGTH AND ARRIVAL TIME Most concerts vary between 90 minutes and 2 hours, with a 20-minute intermission. We recommend arriving at least 20 minutes before concert time in order to find your seat and peruse the program magazine. If you do arrive late, you will be asked to listen from the lobby until a suitable break. The timing for latecomer seating varies by concert and is determined by the Music Director. ATTIRE There is no dress code at the Symphony. Attire varies from casual to formal, but most people dress in business attire or business casual. We do recommend that you limit the use of perfume and cologne, as this can sometimes be bothersome to other patrons. PERSONAL MEDIA DEVICES We ask that ALL media devices, including mobile phones, be shut down or silenced inside the concert hall. We discourage texting and other use of phones. Taking of pictures and video is prohibited during concerts. CHILDREN We recommend checking with our Patron Services staff as to the appropriateness of the concert for children under the age of 6. As an alternative, we recommend our Click Clack Moosic storytime concert series at The Block. Please refer to the schedule on p. 10. SUBSCRIBER SERVICES Subscribers are encouraged to call 231.726.3231 or visit the WMS Office, 360 W Western Ave, Suite 200, for all of their service needs. Phone hours M to F, 9 am to 4:30 pm. Walk-in hours M to F, 11 am to 4:30 pm. TICKET EXCHANGES Subscribers only: if you are unable to attend a concert and would like to exchange into a different program, we are happy to assist you prior to 5 pm the night of the concert being exchanged from. No fee exchanges are a subscriber benefit (up-charges may apply) fulfilled only at the WMS Office. SINGLE TICKETS Single tickets are available at the Frauenthal Center Box Office, 425 W. Western Ave or by calling 231.727.8001. Box office hours are M to F, 11 am to 5:30 pm. Symphony concert tickets are also available at startickets.com, 800.585.3737

Message from the Music Director We are excited to have you with us for the 2019-20 season—the 80th Anniversary of your West Michigan Symphony! To celebrate this important milestone in the organization’s life we are pulling out all the stops. The opening concert in late September is an embarrassment of riches, an outpouring of Slavic melody and emotion. Two of our favorite works by Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky make up this generous program of Russian masterpieces. Closing the season in June will be a once-in-a-generation experience: a rare performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony no. 2 “Resurrection.” This massive work for choir, two vocal soloists and enormous orchestral forces (including offstage brass fanfares) spans the entire concert. In between these two, we treat you to a treasure trove from all periods of the repertoire! In November, we bring back Beethoven & Blue Jeans with beloved pianist Charlie Albright performing the Third Piano Concerto. And Beethoven’s most iconic work, the Fifth Symphony, will electrify our hall with its visceral depictions of fate, tenderness, and triumph. For December’s Sounds of the Season, we welcome our friend John Thomas Dodson as guest conductor. Beth Slimko’s spectacular WMS Children’s Choir and North Muskegon High School Choir will team up to warm your hearts with music both familiar and new. Due to popular demand, we have added a Saturday matinee performance. Guitarists Frank Vignola and Vinny Raniolo will lead off the second half of the season in late January. Whether playing Rimsky-Korsakov or Led Zeppelin they’re known for taking the audience on a jaw-dropping journey of guitar virtuosity. In March, we welcome the fabulous young cellist Sujari Britt for her West Michigan debut performing the Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto no. 1. William Grant Still’s rarely-heard Symphony no. 1 “Afro-American” will be paired with his orchestration of Florence Price’s Dances in the Canebrakes. Mardi Gras comes to Muskegon in April next year—along with the great trumpeter Byron Stripling. This will be a night of smoking jazz from New Orleans including Fats Domino, Mahalia Jackson and Louis Armstrong. In May, the spectacular violinist Chee-Yun returns for the combined Piazzolla and Vivaldi Four Seasons. The last movement of Spring is ravishing, fragrant, and full of delight. The finale of Summer, depicting a violent storm, feels practically terrified. The slow movement of Winter, a scene by the fireside, feels calm and content. And one movement of Autumn is literally drunk! We are so appreciative that you have chosen to be a part of the West Michigan Symphony community, and it is our joy and pleasure to share this spectacular music with you. Enjoy the concert! Sincerely, Please see Scott Speck's bio on page 49 Scott Speck VOLUME 8 • SEPTEMBER 2019 – JUNE 2020 3

Message from the Board President Welcome to the 80th Anniversary Season of your West Michigan Symphony. We are delighted to have you with us! Every season is built on the foundation of those that preceded it. For the past 79 years, WMS has been nurtured and supported by a generous and caring community of individuals, corporations and foundations who understand the critical role the orchestra plays in West Michigan. You are an important part of that community. There is good news to share: attendance is on the rise again, with more than a thousand subscribers signed up for this year’s exciting concert lineup. The organization posted a surplus for the season that ended on June 30, 2019. Under Scott Speck’s leadership, WMS is musically vibrant and performing at its highest level. Performances at our subsidiary, The Block (which is entering its seventh season) are near capacity. This marvelous listening room for the musically curious represents a significant expansion of WMS’s artistic footprint. And an increasing number of young people are impacted by the organization’s expanding menu of education programs. (For more information, go to pp. 52-54) There is much more to come. The Board and staff are developing a new strategic vision for the future. Muskegon is growing fast and it is important for us to change with it, so that WMS continues to meet the needs of a transforming community. What might this look like? We welcome your thoughts and suggestions—feel free to share your ideas by emailing info@westmichigansymphony.org. Watch us go!

2019/20 Board of Directors WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY Paul R Jackson President

Partner, Warner Norcross + Judd, LLP

Dr Peter Kurdziel Secretary Music Director Basilica of Saint Adalbert

Jan L Deur Treasurer

Peter W Brown Immediate Past President

Community Activist & Philanthropist

Ryan W Bryker

CPA/Principal, Rehmann

Susan Cloutier-Crain

Community Activist & Philanthropist

Pat Donahue

Retired, CEO & Chairman McDonald's Holdings Co. (Japan) Ltd

Dr Dale Nesbary

President Muskegon Community College

Michael Olthoff CEO, Nichols

Mary L Price

Community Activist & Philanthropist

Suzanne Richards

Faculty, Grand Valley State University

Thomas Schaub

Principal, Virtú Artists

Dr Alan Steinman

Kevin Even

Director Robert B Annis Water Resources Institute

THE BLOCK Emma Torresen Chair

LaShelle Mikesell

Shareholder Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge

Director of Philanthropy Mercy Health

Don Kalisz Secretary

Social Media, Visit Muskegon

Josh Silvis

Partner, Revel

Account Executive Shoreline Insurance Agency, Inc

Jason Olthoff Treasurer

Kerri Vanderhoff

Brian R Leibrandt General Counsel DMK Development

take your talent to the next level? MCC’S ALL NEW ART & MUSIC BUILDING OPENING FALL 2019

4 WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY SEASON MAGAZINE

Senior Resident Director Merrill Lynch

Community Activist & Philanthropist

Senior Vice President Managing Director MKTG Inc

Paul Jackson President, WMS Board of Directors

Kimberly L Hammond CFP, CIMA, C(k)P

Executive Director Coalition for Community Development

West Michigan Symphony Musicians MUSIC DIRECTOR

CELLO

TRUMPET

Scott Speck

Alicia Gregorian Sawyers principal

Pamela Smitter principal*

Igor Cetkovic assc. principal

Bill Baxtresser

Sponsored by Ardy Bulthouse Kroes

*Leave of absence

MUSICAL CHAIRS Sponsor a musician for the season. Chair sponsorships start at $1,000. For more information, contact Andy Buelow at 231.726.3231 or abuelow@westmichigansymphony.org. VOLUME 8 • SEPTEMBER 2019 – JUNE 2020 5

Sustaining the Symphony Your contributions to West Michigan Symphony help to sustain a vital community resource. Nearly 60% of contributions to WMS during the 2018-19 season came from individual patrons, with the remainder generated from corporate and foundation support. We extend our deepest appreciation to you for helping make WMS a cultural touchstone in our community. The listings below represent total pledges and gifts by each patron household from August 1, 2018 through July 31, 2019. This includes our Annual Fund, Education Fund, and other special initiatives. In particular, we wish to express our gratitude to Mike and Kay Olthoff for their support of our Year-End Matching Challenge. We have given careful attention to ensure a complete and accurate list. Please notify us of any inaccuracies by calling 231.726.3231.

$10,000 and up Jon & Jane Blyth Pete & Sherry Brown Jan Deur Deborah DeVoursney Pat & Julie Donahue Daniel & Sheryl Kuznar Mike & Kay Olthoff Jack & Becky Slimko $5,000-$9,999 Bergsma Charitable Remainder Trust Douglas & Janet Hoch Paul & Karen Jackson Bari Johnson Buzz & Wendy Kersman Scott & Donna Lachniet Monica Morse Steve & Deb Olsen Suzanne Richards & Lee Burlison Michael & Corina Soimar Peter Turner $2,000-$4,999 Susan & Frank Bednarek Fund of the Community Foundation for Muskegon County (CFFMC) Susan & William Bissell Dr Harold Bowman (deceased) Andy & Beth Buelow Michael Cerminaro DDS & Connie Verhagen DDS Dr Mark D & Kristina M Clark Orville Crain & Susan Cloutier-Crain Marcia D'Oyly Cathleen & Robert A Dubault Darcy Dye

William & Mary Lou Eyke David Gerdes & Carolyn Smith-Gerdes Martha Giacobassi Kimberly Hammond John & Jessie Martin Joanna & Fred Norris Mary L Price Fund of the CFFMC Tom Schaub & Mary Price Scott Speck Dr Alan Steinman Susan & Stephen Struck LJ Verplank Norna Verplank $1,000-$1,999 Charles & Gloria Alstrom Anonymous (2) Bruce & Paula Baker Allen & Sandy Beck Cathy & Bernie Berntson Fund of the CFFMC Herb & Anne Bevelhymer Ardy Bulthouse Kroes Bob & Charlotte Chessman Darlene Collet Allan & Anne Dake Mary Douville Robert & Jackie Engel John Essex Estate of Margaret A Wright Living Trust Eugene Fethke Carol Folkert Michael & Bonnie Gluhanich Don Goodman Larry & Lari Hines Bruce & Donna Hood Hugh & Barbara Hornstein Charles & Vivian Johnson

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Amy Klop Dr Ray & Betsy Komray Robert & JoAnn Landman Cindy Mazurek Mark & Bonnie Meengs Mary Payne Dr Richard W & Nancy Peters Joe & Paula Risselade Jill Sanders Sawyer Family Fund of the CFFMC Jack & Laura Schultz Mort & Gayle Speck Dr F Remington & Ginny Sprague Anbritt & Darlene Stengele Ted & Judy Stojak John & Sue Sytsema Louis & Marilyn Sytsma Roger & Rebecca Tuuk Michael & Patricia Wade JoLee Wennersten Hazel Whittaker $600-$999 Marilyn Andersen Gordon & Mary Buitendorp Maureen Campbell Don & Kathy Dahlstrom matched by The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Kevin & Annette Even Ron Fritz James & Susan Geisler Kenneth Hoopes & Maria Ladas Hoopes Stephen & Debra Jackson Kent & Charlotte Krive Clara Lang Gary & Beth Post Denis & Barbara Potuznik Tom Schaub Judy Wilcox Jane Wright $300-$599 Anonymous (2) Ted & Francine Anton Paul & Grace Benedict Gary & Rhonda Bogner Ron & Ann Marie Brown Curtis Chambers Rudy & Pat Chmelar Dr Donald & Nancy Crandall Bill & Carol Cross Mary & Gust Danigelis Janet Day Karen & Herb Driver Bruce & Esther Drukker Joel & Linda Engel Jerry Engle

Charles & Patti Fisher Charlotte Franczek Charles & Lynn Freeman Pat & Mike Glancy Mary Anne Gorman Wilda James Pat & Tom Johnson Barbara Kelso Pete & Mimi Kunz Paul & Patricia Ladas Joan Leder Michael Martin matched by Bank of America Charles Matthews & Kay Cater Matthews Paul & Winnie McNergney Don & Phyllis Monte-Holtrop Gary Nelund & Angie Wasserman-Nelund Dr C Michael & Mary O'Brien Garry & Charlotte Olson Jason & Jamye Olthoff Janet Payne William & Gay Petersen Nicolas & Barb Pietrangelo Roy & Britta Bujak Portenga Donna Little & Faye Redmond Sue Schuiteman Gil & Kindy Segovia Jocelyn Shaw & Doug Hannink Gabe & Beth Slimko George & Dottie Strabel Ann & Dan Tabor Peter & Judy Theune Carol Parker Thompson Don & Jane Tjarksen Richard & Marge Tourre Becky Veltman Marguerite & Kenneth Winter Larry & Wendy Young Robert & Joanne Zayko $100-$299 Chris Adams Ross & Sandra Aden Ron & Nancy Anderson Anonymous (7) Tim & Emilee Arter Margo Atwell Jerry & Barbara Bakker Luanne & Bill Baldridge Douglas Bard Paul & Joan Bergmann David Bowen Mary & Bob Boyer Jerry & Marcia Brichan Robert & Janice Brock Heather Brolick Jack & Marilyn Brown Michael & Joanna Buboltz Carol Burnet

Greta Bushnell Marie Bustin George & Deborah Chmelar Dr Paul & Nancy Christie Ruth Clark Paul Collins & Susan Newhof James & Diana Cornell Marjorie Cramer Dr David & Susan Deitrick Dean Denman Calvin & Patricia Deur Jean & Clarke Manning Fund of the CFFMC David A Dietrich & Mary Jo Thies Dietrich Michael & Nancy Dodge Dennis & Barbara Dryer Doris Ducey (deceased) Janice Dyer Amanda & Gregory Dykhouse Jean Enright Tim & Anne Erickson Bob & Ann Erler Michele Ferguson Fran Fisher Roberta Fleischmann Kurt & Cathy Forrest Tom & Janet Fortenbacher Dale & Bridget Fox Bruce Froelich & Margot Haynes Judi Glass Marjorie Gorajec Marcia Grasman Candy & Brent Grover Rev Gerald & Susan Hagans Helga Hamm Bill & Ellen Hanichen William Haug John & Barbara Hermanson Patricia Hesling Timothy Hicks Herbert & Elinor Hoeker John & Terry Hoekstra Gwendolyn Hoffman David & Mary Hogan Cornelia Holley Thom & Mary Anne Hornik Mary Ann Howe David Hoy Richard & Holly Hughes Pat Hunt Robert & Louise Jewell Don & Penny Johnson Robert & Julie Johnson David & Loretta Kasprzyk Jack & Joanne Kelley Robert & Norann Kelly Jim & Penny Kindraka Ed & Lynn Kinkema Justin & Kathy Kleaveland Bruce & Mary Krueger

Peter Kurdziel Dr Karen & Mr James Lancendorfer Wayne & Irene LaPointe Cindy Larsen Bob & Pam Lascko Kenneth & Christine Lee Franklin & Gina Lister Linda Maher Sandy Majeski Michelle & Dan Martin-Mills Shirley McIntire David & Carol McLeod Howard & Carole Meade Susan Meston Paul & Diane Meyers Alice Michaud Roger & Jane Missimer Robert & Susan Mixer Rhonda Myers Ed & Ginevra Naill Chris McGuigan & Gary Neal Perry & Deb Newson Jim & Ruthann Olthoff Kay Ostrom Merilee & Kenneth Otto Richard A Pardini Thomas Pascoe & Jean Stein David & Beth Pickard Irene Pierson Albert & Elizabeth Posthuma Jim & Debbie Potter Sylvia Precious Margaret Price Rev William Randall Mike & Char Ratchford Susan Rehrer Dr & Mrs Gary Robertson David Roodvoets James M Rynberg matched by Gerber Foundation Bob & Bobbi Sabine Laird Schaefer Duane & Susan Schecter Jack & Jill Scheerhorn Stephen Schmidt Gwynne & Steve Schoff Pat & Ed Schroeder Michael & Debby Schubert Josh & Amy Silvis Colleen & Joe Skendzel Dar Smith Hayden Smith Jermone & Helen Smith Joan Hilles Smith Vivian Sorden Grace Stanton Bill Papo & Julie Stewart Leon & Zinnie Stille Tom & Nanci Stone VOLUME 8 â&#x20AC;˘ SEPTEMBER 2019 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; JUNE 2020 7

Clifford & Lucia Storr William Strain Robert & Lee Suits Janet Sutherland Howard & Marilyn Swanson Lin Tairi matched by Bank of America Bryce & Marti Tallant Marvin Thomas Warren Tibbitts Judith Tierney Dr Jane L Toot Emma Torresen Mary Towner Tom & Liz Trzaska Pastor Bill & Bev Uetricht John & Barbara Usmial Bruce & Nina Van Dop Kerri VanderHoff Alan & Paula VanDuinen John VanWalsum Ed DeJong & Diane VanWesep Jean & Craig Weirich Dan & Nancy Weller Sue Wierengo Brewster & Mary Ellen Willcox Paul & Sherry Wilson Jonathan & Melissa Wilson Dr Roy Winegar & Ms Barbara Klingenmaier Joe & Cindy Wolff Robert & Mary Wygant Douglas & Jennifer Zwemer

CORPORATE, ARTS COUNCIL & FOUNDATION DONORS $50,000 and up Nichols $20,000-$49,999 Community Foundation for Muskegon County (CFFMC) Michigan Council for Arts & Cultural Affairs Ronald McDonald House Charities of Outstate Michigan $10,000-$19,999 DTE Energy Foundation Grand Haven Area Community Foundation Greatest Needs Fund (GHACF) Harbor Steel & Supply Corporation Meijer, Inc Northern Trust Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge

$5,000-$9,999 Fifth Third Bank Fremont Area Community Foundation Frey Foundation The Gerber Foundation Greater Muskegon Service League's Women & Children's Fund and the Raymond C & Evelyn P Alstrom Memorial Fund of the CFFMC Hines Corporation Howmet Community Fund of the CFFMC JSJ Foundation Fund Leonel L & Mary Loder Fund of the CFFMC Mercy Health PNC Bank Samuel L Westerman Foundation Verplank Donor-Advised Fund of the GHACF Warner Norcross + Judd LLP Women's Division Chamber of Commerce $1,000-$4,999 Arconic Billie Klont Greinke Memorial Fund of the CFFMC Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Comerica Bank Consumers Energy Eagle Alloy, Inc Grand Valley State University Hung & Elsie Liang Fund for Music of the GHACF Huntington National Bank Ladas & Hoopes Law Offices Lake Michigan Credit Union Lorin Muskegon Community College Parmenter Law Pratt & Whitney Component Solutions, Inc Rehmann Sand Products / Mart Dock Fund of the CFFMC Shoreline Insurance Agency, Inc. Wasserman's Flowers & Gifts West Michigan Dock & Market Corporation Up to $999 Ann & Bud Eichmann Fund of the CFFMC Bank of America F Martin & Dorothy A Johnson Family Fund of the GHACF Gary Nelund Insurance Agency Gentry Real Estate LLC John L Wheeler Memorial Scholarship Fund of the CFFMC Newkirk Electric

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PAST PRESIDENTS CLUB The Past Presidents Club provides ongoing guidance, advocacy and support to the WMS long after its members' terms are completed. WMS thanks and honors these individuals for their generosity, collective wisdom, and continuing leadership. Timothy Arter Susan Bissell Pete Brown Marcia D'Oyly David Gerdes David Hogan Holly Hughes Pat Hunt Paul Jackson Wendy Kersman JoAnn Landman Clara Lang Deb Newson Fred Norris Kay Olthoff Mike Olthoff Sylvia Precious Chip Sawyer Ann Tabor Jane Toot Peter Turner Becky Veltman Jane Wright

COMPOSER CLUB Without the patroness Nadezhda von Meck, the music of Tchaikovsky might never have been heard. Archduke Rudolph was instrumental in advancing the music of Ludwig van Beethoven. In this great tradition, members of our Composer Club combine their resources to support the creation and performance of new music on the WMS Season. Susan & Bill Bissell Jon & Jane Blyth Gary & Rhonda Bogner Pete & Sherry Brown Jan Deur Bari Johnson Gary Nelund & Angie Wasserman-Nelund Mike & Kay Olthoff Tom Schaub & Mary Price Jack & Becky Slimko Peter Turner

EDUCATION FUND West Michigan Symphony is dedicated to providing programs that help children develop an appreciation for music that they will carry with them their entire lives. Your donations to the Education Fund help the WMS provide in-house music instruction programs as well as music enrichment opportunities that reach deeply into our local schools and community organizations. Anonymous Arconic Bank of America Allen & Sandy Beck Susan & Bill Bissell Jerry & Marcia Brichan Ardy Bulthouse Kroes Greta Bushnell Paul Collins & Susan Newhof Comerica Bank Community Foundation for Muskegon County (CFFMC) Jan Deur DTE Energy Foundation Rob & Cathleen Dubault Ann & Bud Eichmann Fund of the CFFMC Tim & Anne Erickson Kevin & Annette Even Fifth Third Bank Fremont Area Community Foundation Frey Foundation James & Susan Geisler Gerber Foundation Greater Muskegon Service League's Women & Children's Fund of the CFFMC Don Goodman Mary Ann Howe Hung & Elsie Liang Fund for Music of the GHACF Paul & Karen Jackson Robert & Julie Johnson Buzz & Wendy Kersman Billie Klont Greinke Memorial Fund Pete & Mimi Kunz Paul & Patricia Ladas Dr Karen & Mr James Lancendorfer Frank & Gina Lister Michelle & Dan Martin-Mills Samuel L Westerman Foundation Chris McGuigan & Gary Neal Paul & Winnie McNergney Mercy Health Nichols Garry & Charlotte Olson Jason & Jamye Olthoff

Mike & Kay Olthoff Kay Ostrom Merilee & Kenneth Otto Thomas Pascoe & Jean Stein Mary Payne Nicolas & Barbara Pietrangelo Denis & Barbara Potuznik Pratt & Whitney Component Solutions, Inc Margaret Price Mary Price Raymond C & Evelyn P Alstrom Memorial Fund of the CFFMC Suzanne Richards & Lee Burlison Ronald McDonald House Charities of Outstate Michigan James Rynberg Sand Products / Mart Dock Fund of the CFFMC Duane & Susan Schecter Jocelyn Shaw & Doug Hannink Jerome & Helen Smith William Strain Susan & Stephen Struck Lin Tairi Carol Parker Thompson Roger & Rebecca Tuuk Bruce & Nina Van Dop Becky Veltman Dan & Nancy Weller John L Wheeler Memorial Scholarship of the CFFMC Hazel Whittaker Jonathan & Melissa Wilson Dr Roy Winegar & Ms Barbara Klingenmaier Women's Division Chamber of Commerce Jane Wright Larry & Wendy Young

BLOCK UNDERWRITERS Pete & Sherry Brown Consumers Energy Jan Deur Eagle Alloy, Inc Huntington National Bank Lake MI Credit Union Lorin Industries Mercy Health Muskegon Community College Nichols Steve & Deb Olsen Tom Schaub & Mary Price Shoreline Insurance Agency, Inc. Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge Michael & Corina Soimar Warner Norcross + Judd LLP

FRIENDS OF NATASHA PAREMSKI Marilyn Andersen Bruce & Paula Baker Jon & Jane Blyth Pete & Sherry Brown Jan Deur Bill & Mary Lou Eyke Kim Hammond & Mike Martin Larry & Lari Hines Douglas & Janet Hoch Chuck & Vivian Johnson Dorothy Johnson Bari Johnson Robert & Wendy Kersman Scott & Donna Lachniet John & Jessie Martin Joanna & Fred Norris Mike & Kay Olthoff Barbara Potuznik Mary Price & Tom Schaub Jack & Becky Slimko Peter Turner Judy Wilcox

2019 GALA TABLE SPONSORS Title Sponsor Nichols Presenting Sponsor Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge Susan & Bill Bissell Pete & Sherry Brown Cofessco Fire Protection Community Foundation for Muskegon County Orville Crain & Susan Cloutier-Crain Jan Deur Pat & Julie Donahue Fifth Third Bank Dave Gerdes & Carolyn Smith-Gerdes Grand Valley State University Kimberly Hammond - Merrill Lynch Hines Corporation Paul & Karen Jackson Ladas & Hoopes Law Firm Muskegon Community College Steve & Deb Olsen Mike & Kay Olthoff Rehmann Suzanne Richards & Lee Burlison Al Steinman Warner Norcross + Judd LLP West Michigan Dock & Market Corporation

VOLUME 8 • SEPTEMBER 2019 – JUNE 2020 9

MUSICAL CHAIR SPONSORS Allen & Sandy Beck Jon & Jane Blyth Pete & Sherry Brown Andy & Beth Buelow Ardy Bulthouse Kroes Bob & Charlotte Chessman Dr Mark D & Kristine M Clark Darlene Collet in memory of Lee Collet Marcia D'Oyly Don & Kathy Dahlstrom matched by The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Allan & Anne Dake Jan Deur Pat & Julie Donahue Dana Gonzalez Douglas & Janet Hoch Bruce & Donna Hood Paul & Karen Jackson Bari Johnson Tom Knight Cindy Mazurek Mike & Kay Olthoff Suzanne Richards & Lee Burlison Jill Sanders Tom Schaub & Mary L Price Jack & Laura Schultz Dr F Remington & Ginny Sprague Dr Alan Steinman Ted & Judy Stojak Roger & Rebecca Tuuk Waddell & Reed Financial Advisors Jackie Engel, CFP® Elinore Verplank JoLee Wennersten

"Secure the Spirit" Endowment Fund "The Pathétique Symphony threads all the foul ditches and sewers of human despair; it is unclean as music well can be." 1898 critical review of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony no. 6, now regarded as his greatest masterpiece.

If the above quote is any indication, the future is hard to predict! But one thing we do know is that we will need resources to fuel our mission in the years to come. That’s why we’ve created the West Michigan Symphony's "Secure the Spirit" Endowment Fund at the Community Foundation for Muskegon County. Our fund is professionally invested for the long-term, and each year, 4% of the average fund balance is available to us to support our ongoing needs. The Foundation handles all administrative details and investment responsibilities for our fund, freeing us to concentrate on our mission. We hope you will consider playing a part in our future. Whether through an outright gift or a designation in your will, a Legacy Gift will help to ensure that the concerts and youth education programs WMS provides today are still positively impacting the community tomorrow. To learn more, please contact Andy Buelow at WMS, 231.726.3231 or abuelow@westmichigansymphony.org; or Heidi Sytsema at the Community Foundation at 231.332.4107 or heidi@muskegonfoundation.org.

CLICKITY CLACK HO HO HO

Saturday, December 7, 2019, 10:30 am Our annual children’s Christmas show.

CLICK CLACK MOOSIC

Saturday, February 1, 2020, 10:30 am Farmer Brown’s animals are cold!

GIGGLE GIGGLE QUACKLE

Saturday, February 29, 2020, 10:30 am Farmer Brown’s brother isn’t watching the animals close enough.

DOOBY DOOBY MOOSIC

Saturday, March 21, 2020, 10:30 am Farmer Brown’s animals head to the county fair.

SERIES AND SINGLE TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW! 231.726.3231 or theblockwestmichigan.org 10 WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY SEASON MAGAZINE

Join us this season as we continue the popular Lunch n’ Learn series.

The Block | 360 W Western Ave | 2nd floor

Wednesday, November 6, Noon Beethoven and Blue Jeans Wednesday, March 11, Noon Introducing Sujari Britt

GIACOMO PUCCINI May 1 & 2, 2020 DeVos Performance Hall

Wednesday, September 25, Noon All Russian Season Opening

GILBERT & SULLIVAN November 1 & 2, 2019 St. Cecilia Music Center

Coffee and water provided, bring your own lunch Doors open at 11:45 am

Wednesday, May 13, Noon Four Seasons, Two Hemispheres Wednesday, June 3, Noon Voices of Resurrection

OPERA GRAND RAPIDS 2019-20 SEASON operagr.org VOLUME 8 • SEPTEMBER 2019 – JUNE 2020 11

All Russian Season Opening Friday • September 27 • 7:30 pm Frauenthal Theater Scott Speck • conductor

Mussorgsky/Rimsky-Korsakov Night on Bald Mountain Last performed October 2009

Mussorgsky/Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition Last performed June 2012

Promenade I. Gnomus Promenade II. The Old Castle Promenade III. Tuileries IV. Bydlo Promenade V. Ballet of the Chicks in their Shells VI. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle VII. Limoges VIII. Catacombs Cum mortuis in lingua mortua IX. The Hut on Fowl's Legs X. The Great Gate of Kiev INTERMISSION Tchaikovsky Suite from Sleeping Beauty, op. 66a Last performed November 2012

I. Introduction: The Lilac Fairy II. Adagio: Scene III. Puss in Boots and the White Cat IV. Panorama V. Waltz Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture, op.49 (Ouverture solennelle) Last performed May 2007

CONCERT SPONSOR

WMS Past presidents 12 WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY SEASON MAGAZINE

MEDIA SPONSOR

SEASON SPONSOR

PROGRAM NOTES MODEST MUSSORGSKY (1839-1881) Night on Bald Mountain (Rimsky-Korsakov orchestration) If you are one of the millions of people who have been enchanted by Walt Disney’s Fantasia, then you have experienced the ghoulish beauty of Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain. The piece as we will hear it tonight had a difficult birth, beginning with an idea when Mussorgsky was still a teen in the late 1850s, and ending in 1886 with Rimsky-Korsakov serving as the final musical midwife. “At first I could make nothing of Night on Bald Mountain,” RimskyKorsakov wrote in his autobiography. “Mussorgsky had planned the piece originally in the 1860s (it was then called Midsummer’s Eve), under the influence of Liszt’s Totentanz, and then left it lying for a long time.” In reference to the other versions, RimskyKorsakov wrote that “none of these as a whole was suitable for publication and performance. Consequently I resolved to make a purely orchestral piece from Mussorgsky’s material and did my utmost to keep all the best and most connected parts without change, and to put in as little as possible of my own.” RimskyKorsakov’s re-orchestration was published in 1886.

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The work is by turns eerily beautiful, terrifying and hopeful. The story is not difficult to follow; the music easily conjures up the atmosphere of devilish fun at a Witches’ Sabbath on a Ukrainian mountain-top. Rimsky-Korsakov provided this description: “Subterranean sounds of unearthly voices. Appearance of the Spirits of Darkness, followed by that of the Chernobog [‘Black God’]. Glorification of Chernobog and celebration of the Black Mass. Witches’ Sabbath. At the height of the orgy, the bell of the little village church is heard from afar. The Spirits of Darkness are dispersed. Daybreak.” MUSSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition (Maurice Ravel orchestration) One of Mussorgsky’s closest companions was Victor Hartmann, an architect, designer and painter. When Hartmann died suddenly in 1873 at age 39, Mussorgsky was devastated. A memorial exhibition of Hartmann’s work was mounted in St. Petersburg the following year. Mussorgsky decided to take his stroll through the exhibit and use it as the basis of a piano suite in memory of his friend. The result, Pictures at an Exhibition, was not published until five years after his death. It remained relatively obscure until 1923, when French composer Maurice Ravel completed an orchestration of the suite for Serge Koussevitsky. Ravel’s scoring was not the first attempt to transform Pictures into an orchestral piece, nor was it the last—there have been at least a dozen arrangements, beginning with an orchestration by Mikhail Tushmalov in 1891, and orchestral versions by Sir Henry Wood, Ravel, Leonidas Leonardi, Leopold Stokowski, Lucien Caillet, Walter Goehr and Sergei Gorchakov. There have also been scorings for other instrumental ensembles, including Elgar Howarth’s brass ensemble version, a guitar version by Yamashita, Isao Tomita’s all-electronic rendering for Moog synthesizer, and VOLUME 8 • SEPTEMBER 2019 – JUNE 2020 13

a rock version by the progressive British band Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Ravel’s colorful orchestration, however, has stood the test of time as the best known—eclipsing the original piano suite. Mussorgsky’s collection of musical impressions has a little-known secret: of the ten pictures illustrated, only three actually appeared in the exhibition that he attended: The Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks (from a costume design), Baba Yaga’s Hut and The Great Gate of Kiev (from a design that was never built). Of the others, most were based on pencil drawings, some from Mussorgsky’s private collection and others that he had seen elsewhere. The Gnome was a design for a toy nutcracker; Tuileries was a scene of an empty garden (with no quarreling children); Bydlo (Polish for “cattle’’) was probably a drawing of an oxcart; Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle were separate drawings; and the Catacombs were a somewhat fanciful drawing that pictured the artist in the Paris tombs. Finally, two images (The Old Castle and The Market Place at Limoges) seem to have been completely imagined by the composer. The unifying Promenade, which begins the work and reappears numerous times, depicts Mussorgsky’s thoughtful stroll from painting to painting. NOTES BY BETH BUELOW

PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893) Suite from Sleeping Beauty Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was among the inaugural class when Russia’s first music conservatory opened in 1862. The St. Petersburg Conservatory’s curriculum, centered on the Western Classical tradition was contrary to the prevailing nationalist musical trend, embodied by the composers known as the “Russian Five,” which included Mussorgsky. This put Tchaikovsky in a difficult position: Russian critics lambasted him for not being Russian enough; and Western European critics praised him for transcending the exoticism and stereotypes of Russian music, further riling the Russians. After Tchaikovsky proved his worth internationally, the Russians came to embrace him. In 1889, the Director of Imperial Theaters in St. Petersburg approached Tchaikovsky with the idea of a ballet on the story of Sleeping Beauty. At the time, writing music for ballet was not a common pursuit for serious composers. Ballet directors demanded music that was simple and formulaic; it existed to serve the dancer. Understandably, talented composers refused to work under these conditions. Tchaikovsky, however, loved ballet and was happy to accept the commission when the Director proposed the creation of a ballet that would “live, and stay in the repertory to enchant our grandchildren as it enchanted us.”

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Luckily for Tchaikovsky, the composition process for Sleeping Beauty was not typical. The composer worked closely with the ballet master Marius Petipa, creating music and choreography simultaneously. Petipa’s daughter recalls that “Peter Ilyich arrived at our house customarily in the evenings and played through his work in parts, and father listened and planned his dance fantasies in harmony with the music.” Tchaikovsky considered the resulting

work—his so-called “dancing symphony”—one of his best. The press and the public received it warmly, though the composer was disappointed that the Tsar remarked only that it was “very nice.” The suite, which was compiled after the composer’s death by a close friend and advocate of Tchaikovsky’s, opens with music from the ballet’s Prologue. It pits good against evil, embodied by the characters and leitmotifs of the evil fairy Carabosse and the Lilac Fairy, Princess Aurora’s guardian. The second movement comes from the first act of the ballet. The so-called “Rose Adagio” is a sumptuous number in which a series of princes present themselves as suitors, each offering the princess a rose. From there, the sequence of numbers in the suite does not follow the plot line of the ballet. The third movement comes from Act III, where characters from other fairy tales attend the wedding of the now-awakened Princess Aurora to Prince Désiré. This Pas de caractère depicts the creeping and pouncing of two fairy tale cats: Puss in Boots and the White Cat from the German tale Puddocky. The fourth movement is a Panorama from Act II. The Lilac Fairy leads the Prince into the forest where Princess Aurora has been sleeping for 100 years. The suite ends with the waltz made famous by Walt Disney. In the ballet, this is not a dance between the Princess and her Prince but comes from the first act of the ballet, danced by the Princess’s courtiers at her twentieth birthday party before she is cursed into a deep sleep. TCHAIKOVSKY 1812 Overture Most Americans know Tchaikovsky’s bombastic 1812 Overture. Since 1974 when Arthur Fielder first chose it for a Fourth of July concert at the Boston Pops, it has resounded at fireworks shows across the country every summer. Yet this piece is a strange choice for the celebration of American Independence, since it commemorates the 1812 standoff 75 miles west of Moscow between the General Mikhail Kutuzov’s Russian Army and Napoleon’s French Army. The composition came about as a commission in 1880 from Tchaikovsky’s friend and mentor, Nikolai Rubinstein, who saw a number of upcoming celebrations for which such a piece could be used: the completion of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, itself a memorial to the events of 1812; the 25th anniversary of the coronation of Alexander II (who, it turns out, was assassinated before reaching this mark); and the planned 1882 All-Russia Arts and Industry Exhibition.

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Tchaikovsky generally disdained commissions, writing to his patron Nadezhda von Meck, “I trust you would never imagine that I would undertake any musical work purely for the sake of the 100 ruble note at the end of it.” But he accepted this commission, as it came from his friend and promised to be both high profile and high paying at a time when Tchaikovsky was still struggling to gain respect in his homeland. What he came up with in a single week in 1880 is a play-by-play account (albeit fictionalized) of the events of 1812. The battle that Tchaikovsky’s music describes goes something like this: An Eastern Orthodox hymn, the text of which includes the line “Grant victory to all Orthodox Christians over their enemies,” sounds at the start of the piece. In it we hear the Russian people pray for peace as Napoleon’s troops approach. With a decisive timpani blow, blaring brass instruments and a switch to the minor key, the invading French army arrives along with the tune of “La Marseillaise.”Though now known as the French national anthem, this tune was in fact banned by Napoleon in 1805 and only reinstated as the anthem in 1879. Another melody enters to compete with the French one: a Russian folk tune with tambourine accompaniment. The two armies commence the Battle of Borodino, which ends with five cannon shots followed by a long descending run signaling the French retreat. The hymn from the outset returns: the Russian people say a prayer of Thanksgiving while bells ring out from the church steeples of Moscow. The piece concludes with eleven cannon shots and the tune “God save the Tsar,” which was Russia’s national anthem during Tchaikovsky’s time, though it had not yet been written in 1812. In reality, the Battle of Borodino was not such a decisive victory for the Russians. The French actually won the battle and proceeded to Moscow. However, in their retreat, the Russians abandoned Moscow and burned much of the city to the ground. The Moscow that the French came to occupy was a place of famine, disease and bitter cold. Without the resources to sustain them through the winter, the French troops left Moscow, proceeding to Poland with only onetenth of the troops they started with. Seventy years later, the Russians celebrated a decisive victory against the French with a performance of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture in the shadow of the still unfinished Cathedral of Christ the Savior. ••

NOTES BY SARAH A RUDDY, PhD

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Beethoven & Blue Jeans Friday • November 8 • 7:30 pm Frauenthal Theater Scott Speck • conductor Charlie Albright • piano

Beethoven Coriolan Overture, op. 62 Beethoven Piano Concerto no. 3, op. 37, in C minor Charlie Albright, piano I. Allegro con brio II. Largo III. Rondo: Allegro INTERMISSION Beethoven Symphony no. 5, op. 67, in C minor Last performed November 2008

I. Allegro con brio II. Andante con moto III. Allegro IV. Allegro

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PROGRAM NOTES LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) Coriolan Overture, Op. 62 The most famous and revered of all Western composers, Ludwig van Beethoven single handedly ushered in the transformation between the classical and Romantic eras of music. The story of Coriolanus, familiar to him through Plutarch’s Lives and Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, appealed to him for its portrayal of the ideals of classical virtue. The direct inspiration came from the eponymous Viennese play written by his friend, Heinrich Josef von Collin. The story tells of a Roman general who struggles between choices that pit personal and public lives against each other. The overture reflects the dramatic tension in the play; in fact, a leading critic of the day suggested that the passionate nature of the music reflected more Beethoven’s personality, rather than the play’s protagonist. The opening theme represents the defiant, proud hero, while the secondary, more lyrical theme portrays his family begging him to spare his home and people. The psychological tug-of-war that ensues carries us to the end of the overture and our hero’s demise. After an initially successful run, the play vanished into obscurity; all that remains today is Beethoven’s musical depiction of a tragic figure. BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto no. 3 in c minor With the premiere of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no. 3, the sonic landscape of the concerto genre was forever transformed. Previous concertos were composed in the shadow of Mozart, with soloist and orchestra engaging in gracious dialogue. Beethoven wanted a clear break with such a practice; he grew to despise pianists who “only run up and down the keyboard with long-practiced passagework, putsch, putsch, putsch!” He made another obvious break from his previous piano concertos by composing the work in a minor key. It is with this Third Concerto that Beethoven’s distinctive, dramatic and dynamic style began to assert itself. The concerto was premiered on April 5, 1803, on an all-Beethoven program. Other works performed that day included the First and Second Symphonies and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives; all were premieres save the First Symphony. Such a complex program meant that rehearsal time was precious, and the oratorio received most of the performers’ and composer’s attention. As a result, the solo part for the concerto was still incomplete at the time of performance, leading the page turner for Beethoven (who used a score but had to rely heavily on his memory) to later recall: “I saw almost nothing but empty leaves, at most on one page or the other a few Egyptian hieroglyphs wholly unintelligible to me scribbled down to serve as clues for him... He gave me a secret glance whenever he was at the end of one of the invisible passages, and my scarcely concealed anxiety not to miss the decisive moment amused him greatly. He laughed heartily at the jovial supper we ate afterward.” Beethoven did not write out the entire solo part until a year later, when his pupil Ferdinand Ries was due to play the work.

Upon its publication in 1804, Beethoven included a dedication to Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, an accomplished pianist and composer in his own right. The opening passages suggest that we are about to hear a symphony, not a concerto. Early 20th century English musicologist and pianist Donald Francis Tovey wrote that he felt it was “something that dangerously resembled a mistake,” because “it rouses no expectations of the entry of a solo instrument.” Beethoven, Tovey continued, recognized and saved a dangerous situation in the nick of time: after the statement of the second subject, suddenly the orchestra seems to realize that it has no right to take the drama into its own hands, that its function is not drama but chorus-like narrative; and with a modulation in itself dramatic, the melody calmly turns round to C major and is followed by a series of cadence-phrases in the tonic minor... which brings this, the longest of all Beethoven’s tuttis, to a massive formal close. While the soloist is always in complete command of the situation, the orchestra is an assertive partner. The second movement, in E major, is more serene and gently expressive. The work concludes with a lively rondo and cadenza, leading Tovey to observe that this concerto is “one of the works in which we most clearly see the style of [Beethoven’s] first period preparing to develop into that of his second.” BEETHOVEN Symphony no. 5 in c minor, Op. 67 In the early 1800s, Beethoven was working as a freelance composer, a novelty in those days because most composers were the paid servants of an employer. Therefore, as he worked on Symphony no. 5 under commission from Count Franz von Oppersdorf, he was also composing a number of other works. It took him four years to complete the symphony, a period that spanned the creation of his violin concerto, fourth symphony and fourth piano concerto. The premiere of Symphony no. 5, on December 22, 1808, was on a program that included the Symphony no. 6, the Piano Concerto no. 4, selections from the Mass in C Major, and the Fantasy for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra. Beethoven’s music was not immediately embraced by the music establishment of the early nineteenth century. A young Hector Berlioz had to drag his adamantly anti-Beethoven professor to a performance of the Fifth Symphony. The professor may have been partially converted, but still found the music so “amazing,” “wonderful” and “disturbing,” that as he tried to put on his hat, he exclaimed, “I couldn’t find my head!” The work is for expanded orchestra, including instruments rarely heard in his earlier symphonies: piccolo, contrabassoon and trombone. Beethoven also stretched musical boundaries when he utilized the opening motif in not just the first movement, but throughout the entire symphony. While the opening motif has been ascribed the meaning “This is how destiny knocks on the door,” others have chosen to vary its interpretation. For example, during

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World War II, because of its identification with the Morse Code “V,” it became the musical emblem of Allied victory. At the same time, the Nazis viewed it as one of the most purely “German” nationalistic works. The symphony was far ahead of its time. This may be one reason for its slow advance through the musical capitals of Europe. Although it premiered in Vienna in 1808, it was 20 years before it was first performed in Paris, and almost 70 years later when it had its first hearings in Rome and Madrid. The US premiere was in Philadelphia, in 1840. Few openings in music are as recognizable as the knocks of fate Beethoven wrote to open his fifth symphony. Beethoven wastes no time in setting a frantic, somewhat nervous pace. The horns bring things back to earth, and a more lyrical, relaxed theme follows. But that doesn’t last for long, as the urgency of the opening motif takes over. The theme propels forward, like an unstoppable train, again until the horns sound the fanfare that signals a short-lived lyrical section. The next time we hear the horns, it is in a more boisterous, darker rendition of the fanfare, which leads to an even more impatient and emphatic treatment of the motif. As the motif is developed, it is broken down to as brief as a one-note statement. One of the most poignant moments in the opening movement comes near the end, when the orchestra abruptly stops, leaving a single oboe to sing a short lament. The theme continues to be tossed about, eventually bringing the movement to a stormy conclusion. In a complete contrast, the second movement opens with a folksy melody in the low strings. The winds have beautiful lines to open, but just as in the first movement, Beethoven does not let the music relax too long before the strings interrupt with a more forceful statement. Listen throughout the movement for especially beautiful clarinet and

bassoon lines. A pointed ring of octaves and rising scales through the voices signal transitions between sections. The movement ends with the most ethereal treatment of the main theme, before it yields to the insistent brass and strings. The third movement begins with a mysterious murmuring in the low strings. Horns provide a march-like fanfare, which is further development of the symphony’s primary motif. Relief comes by way of a fugue-like section, starting in the low bass voices. The music becomes quite complex, with voices overlapping in a chatter of rapidfire notes and hiccupping syncopation. A long, mysterious thematic treatment continues, until it is released in the final measures of the movement in the bright key of C major. A triumphant opening to the final movement balances out the melancholy mood of the previous movements. It is ebullient, as if Beethoven has triumphed over the darkness and is celebrating. The mood remains upbeat, and the energy is relentless. There are even moments when a listener is reminded of the sweeping sounds of a modern day movie soundtrack, perhaps being performed in the background as our hero rides victorious into the sunset! There are a few darker moments when the intensity takes on a mysterious edge, but this is relatively short-lived and eventually relents to a sunnier disposition. The tension builds until the orchestra breaks off, leaving the winds to shine in a delicate melodic dance that is soon joined by a crescendo in the timpani, bringing the rousing opening themes back to the forefront. The movement ends in a decidedly optimistic tone, with great power and undeniable brilliance. ••

NOTES BY BETH BUELOW

CHARLIE ALBRIGHT Hailed as “among the most gifted musicians of his generation” with a “dazzling natural keyboard affinity” who “made quite an impression” by the Washington Post, American pianist/composer/ improviser Charlie Albright has been praised for his “jaw-dropping technique and virtuosity meshed with a distinctive musicality” by The New York Times, and his “extravagance that had showmanship but never felt cheap” with his “ease and smoothness that refuses to airbrush the music, but animates it from within” by the Philadelphia Inquirer. Recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and Gilmore Young Artist Award, Albright won the Ruhr Klavier Festival Young Artist Award presented by Marc-André Hamelin (Germany) and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. In addition to performing, Albright is sought after as a speaker, masterclass instructor, teacher, and competition judge. His debut commercial recording, Vivace, has sold thousands of copies worldwide and the first of a three-part Schubert Series of live, all-Schubert recordings was released in 2017. Charlie Albright breaks the “classical” rules of music by connecting with audiences like no other. Through his music, speaking, and unique improvisations that bring music to life, he crosses all genres... and makes it fun. 18 WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY SEASON MAGAZINE

Albright regularly appears at major concert halls, festivals, and with artists of all genres worldwide. In 2019, he was the guest artist at the Isaac Stern Auditorium main stage of Carnegie Hall with the American Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Leon Botstein, and made his return appearances at the 2019 Bergen International Festival in Norway, where he performed a sold-out solo recital and was given the honor of performing the festival’s traditional yearly concert of the Grieg Piano Concerto at Grieg Concert Hall with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. He is a frequently returning guest artist with such orchestras as the BBC Concert Orchestra (a 14-concert tour with Maestro Keith Lockhart, chosen as one of the “Best of the BBC 2015”); the Alabama, Baltimore, Boston Pops, Buffalo, California, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Edmonton (Canada), Des Moines, Fort Smith, Houston, Kymi Sinfonietta (Finland), Lansing, Mobile, National Center for the Performing Arts (Beijing, China), Omaha, Phoenix, Seattle, San Francisco, Victoria (Canada), and West Michigan symphony orchestras. He has performed worldwide, including at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington, D.C.); Symphony Hall (Boston); the Salle Cortot (Paris, France); the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts (Miami);the Kumho Art Hall (Seoul, South Korea); the NCPA (Beijing); and Alice Tully Hall (Mostly Mozart Festival, New York). Albright regularly collaborates with artists from all genres, including vocalist/conductor Bobby McFerrin and violinist Joshua Bell. He has collaborated five times with revered cellist Yo-Yo Ma: at the honorary degree ceremony at Harvard University for Senator Ted Kennedy; at a 10th anniversary remembrance of 9/11; at the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison; at the Aspen Institute’s Citizen Artistry conference in New York; and with the Silk Road Project. Albright’s compositions and improvisations have been likened to “the great Romantic-era composer-pianists” by Classical Source

and have been praised as “thrilling” by the DC Metro Theatre Arts. The Philadelphia Inquirer raved that he “brought the art of classicalmusic improvisation to a new level.” A firm believer in education, Albright founded the Charlie Albright Scholarship and Charlie Albright Piano in collaboration with the Centralia College Foundation in his hometown. The Scholarship provides financial aid to music students, and money was raised to purchase and maintain a new 9-foot Steinway Piano for the college’s Corbet Hall. Winner of the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts and named one of the “15 Most Interesting Seniors,” Albright was also named Artist-inResidence for Harvard University’s Leverett House, a position last filled by cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Albright’s numerous awards include First Prize in both Solo and Ensemble categories at the 2006 New York National Piano Competition; First Prize and all other awards offered at the 2006 Eastman International Piano Competition; Third Prize at the 2007 Hilton Head International Piano Competition; Semi-Finalist Award and Best Performance of a Work by Liszt in Stage I at the 2008 Sydney International Piano Competition; and the Vendome Virtuoso Prize and the Elizabeth Leonskaya Special Award at the 2009 Vendome Prize International Piano Competition. Born in Centralia, Washington, Albright began piano lessons at the age of three. He studied with Nancy Adsit and earned an Associate of Science degree at Centralia College while still in high school. He was the first classical pianist in the Harvard College/New England Conservatory 5-Year AB/MM Joint Program, completing a Bachelor’s Degree as an Economics major and Pre-Med student at Harvard, and a Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance at NEC, having studied with Wha-Kyung Byun. He graduated with the prestigious Artist Diploma (A.D.) from The Juilliard School, having studied with Yoheved Kaplinsky. Albright is an official Steinway Artist. For the latest information, please visit CharlieAlbright.com and Facebook. com/CharlieAlbrightPianist. ••

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Sounds of the Season Friday • December 13 • 7:30 pm Saturday • December 14 • 3 pm Frauenthal Theater John Thomas Dodson • conductor WMS Children's Choir Beth Slimko, director North Muskegon High School Choir Beth Slimko, director

Polonaise from Christmas Eve Suite Rimsky-Korsakov O Holy Night Adolphe Adam, arr. Calvin Custer Winter Dreams PINKZEBRA WMS Children’s Choir See Amid the Winter Snow Words by Edward Caswall, Music by HUMILITY, arr. Dan Forrest North Muskegon High School Choir Some Children See Him Words by Wihla Hutson, Music by Alfred Burt arr. Mack Wilberg North Muskegon High School Choir and WMS Children’s Choir On Christmas Day Traditional Carols, arr. John Thomas Dodson INTERMISSION Concert Suite from Polar Express Alan Silvestri, arr. Jerry Brubaker Come and See the Baby Ruth Morris Gray North Muskegon High School Choir Joyful, Joyful from "Sister Act" Beethoven, arr. Roger Emerson North Muskegon High School Choir When We’re Together from "Olaf’s Frozen Adventure" Samsel & Anderson, arr. Mac Huff North Muskegon High School Choir with WMS Children’s Choir Carols of the Season Traditional Carols, arr. John Thomas Dodson

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S I THE N C EARTS 1880 SINCE 1880 American conductor John Thomas Dodson is Music Director of the Lexington Bach Festival and Conciertos de la Villa de Santo Domingo, a music festival in the Colonial City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the capital of the Dominican Republic. He was recently appointed Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra. In November of 2019 Dodson will conduct Puccini’s Manon Lescaut with the Cleveland Opera, and he will return to Severance Hall to celebrate the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra’s 85th Anniversary season in 2020. Previously he served as Music Director for Adrian Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Bloomfield Symphony Orchestra, Bryan Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra New York, Coronado Music Festival and Philharmonia Orchestra of Tucson. Dodson has guest conducted extensively in North America and Europe, leading concerts with the Athens State Orchestra, Budapest Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic, Bialystok Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic, New Haven Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra UANL in Monterrey, Mexico. In Russia, Dodson has led the National Philharmonic of Russia, National Symphony Orchestra of Bashkortostan, Irkutzk Symphony Orchestra, and the Omsk State Academic Symphony Orchestra. Dodson has collaborated with many living composers, leading over 25 world-premieres in the United States, Russia and Europe. Notable projects include conducting the world premiere of Theodore Antoniou’s Cello Concerto in Athens, Greece, and recording the orchestral music of Robert Jager for the Naxos label. Other contemporary music projects include a two-year collaboration with Kenneth Fuchs as the Adrian Symphony Orchestra’s Composer-in-Residence and co-commissioning a new work by Christopher Theofinidis. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, Dodson holds a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he studied under renowned conducting pedagogue Frederik Prausnitz. He continued his conducting studies with Paul Vermel at the Aspen Music School, and studied composition with Robert Jager. A recipient of the Lenawee Arts Award from the Croswell Opera House, Dodson received a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa from Siena Heights University in 2016.

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In the past decade Dodson was selected to participate in a National Endowment for the Humanities summer program, studying Buddhism in the Himalayas at Holy Cross University with faculty from Holy Cross and Harvard University. After subsequent years working with Buddhist coaches, he attended numerous silent meditation retreats and embarked on an extensive study of Vipassana meditation. Years later he began giving mindfulness seminars and founded Blue Heron Mindfulness Living as a means of helping others to address contemporary life issues in a context of ancient mindfulness traditions. In addition to his work as a professional musician, Dodson now leads workshops internationally in schools, conservatories and wellness centers on subjects ranging from dealing with emotions and attachments to mindfulness-based approaches for the performing arts. ••

exceptional standards of citizenship and community. They consistently receive Superior and Excellent ratings in performance and sight-reading at Michigan State Vocal Music Association festivals. This is their third appearance with the West Michigan Symphony. Norse Choirs have also performed at such venues as Disney World, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Universal Studios in Los Angeles, Lumberjack Hockey games, and many local and regional events.

WMS CHILDREN'S CHOIR & NORTH MUSKEGON CHOIRS With an emphasis on the development of musical skills and understanding, WMSCC cultivates and encourages student achievement and provides quality music education with the goal of attaining the highest level of artistic excellence in choral music performance. The audition-based program was formed in 2013 to provide children in Muskegon and surrounding communities the opportunity to develop their voices, experience exciting singing opportunities and work with a professional arts organization. Each year members of the choir perform concerts at events and locations throughout West Michigan and are often invited to share the Frauenthal stage with West Michigan Symphony; this season joining them for Sounds of the Season. Open for children ages 8-13, WMSCC rehearses weekly at The Block and is under the direction of Music Director Beth Slimko. North Muskegon Choirs pride themselves not just on high artistic performance, but the ideal of being an organization that promotes

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Beth Slimko holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education with dual concentrations in vocal and instrumental pedagogy from Butler University. She also holds a Masters Degree in Elementary Education from Grand Valley State University. Additional studies include time with the Indianapolis Children’s Choir under the mentorship of Henry Leck, the Zoltan Kodaly Pedagogical Institute in Hungary and many years of advanced training in Education through Music with the Richards Institute. Ms. Slimko has also served as a clinician for Michigan Music Education Association events and Michigan State Vocal Music Association conferences as well as a Kindermusik instructor. ••

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Frank Vignola & Vinny Raniolo Friday • January 31 • 7:30 pm Frauenthal Theater Scott Speck • conductor Frank Vignola • guitar Vinny Raniolo • guitar

Capriccio Espagnol Alborada Scena e canto gitano Fandango asturiano Rimsky-Korsakov Tico Tico/Apache Abreau and Martin, arr. Vignola Stardust/Sentimental Carmichael and Washington, arr. Vignola Walking on the Moon Summer, arr. Vignola Gypsymania arr. Rosenburg INTERMISSION Suite no. 1 from Carmen Prélude & Aragonaise Intermezzo Les Toréadors Bizet Edvard Grieg Medley arr. Vignola Les Paul Tribute It’s Been a Long Long Time Styne and Cahn, arr. Vignola Vaya Con Dios Russell, arr. Vignola Just One More Chance Johnson and Cos, arr. Vignola Rimsky-Korsakov Medley arr. Vignola

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Often featured on National Public Radio, Vignola and Raniolo have also become familiar figures on Public Television, featured previously on three popular shows, including the heavily programmed Tommy Emmanuel and Friends. In addition, Vignola’s own PBS special, Four Generations of Guitar (produced by Peter Berkow), premiered in the 2015 season as part of the series Music Gone Public. Raniolo’s recording credits include soundtracks for HBO’s Boardwalk Empire and Woody Allen’s film Café Society. Vignola has recorded over 30 CDs, 7 DVDs, guested on hundreds of recordings, and written over 18 music books for Mel Bay Publications. He has also produced 15 full-length video teaching courses for TrueFire for all levels. His online One on One private lessons and workshop courses continue to thrive with hundreds of enrolled students. He conducts clinics, masterclasses and workshops at Music Universities across the globe, most recently coaching guitar ensembles at The Juilliard School of Music in New York City. ••

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Introducing Sujari Britt Friday • March 13 • 7:30 pm Frauenthal Theater Scott Speck • conductor Sujari Britt • cello

Florence Price/William Grant Still Dances in the Canebrakes WMS Premiere

I. Nimble Feet II. Tropical Noon III. Silk Hat and Walking Cane Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto no. 1, op. 33, in A minor Sujari Britt, cello Last performed May 1993

I. Allegro non troppo II. Allegretto con moto III. Allegro non troppo INTERMISSION William Grant Still Symphony no. 1 (“Afro-American”) WMS Premiere

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26 WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY SEASON MAGAZINE

I. Longing: Moderato assai II. Sorrow: Adagio III. Humor: Animato IV. Aspiration: Lento; con risoluzione

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PROGRAM NOTES FLORENCE PRICE (1887-1953) Dances in the Canebrakes (William Grant Still orchestration) In 1943, composer Florence Price began a letter to Serge Koussevitzky, conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, writing: “My dear Dr. Koussevitzky, To begin with I have two handicaps—those of sex and race. I am a woman; and I have some Negro blood in my veins.” At this point in her life, Price had already established herself as a successful composer. Conductor Frederick Stock had premiered her First Symphony with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1933: the first performance by a major orchestra of a composition by an African-American female composer. Stock returned to her work the following year to perform her Piano Concerto in D minor with Price as soloist. And in 1939, singer Marian Anderson closed her historic performance at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. with Price’s arrangement of the spiritual “My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord.” Yet despite her proven successes, Price continued to scrape by as her two so-called handicaps caused her to be ignored by publishers, performers, and conductors, including Maestro Koussevitzky. Florence Price was born in Little Rock, Arkansas to a middle class family. Her mother was her first music teacher, training her well in piano and composition so that, at age 14, she enrolled at the New England Conservatory of Music, one of the few conservatories at the time to admit African-American students. After graduating with two diplomas, Price returned to Arkansas to marry, have children and teach. But in 1927, after a series of racial incidents in Arkansas including a public lynching, Price and her family moved to Chicago. Once settled, she sought out and studied with leading music teachers. While she succeeded at having some pieces published and some works performed, she had to piece together an income by teaching, playing theater organ for silent films, and writing popular music and jingles for commercial purposes. Dances in the Canebrakes was composed as a piano work in the last year of Price’s life and was later orchestrated by William Grant Still. Like many of her works, these three dances allude to AfricanAmerican musical idioms while being firmly rooted in the Romantic style of European music. The first movement, “Nimble Feet,” sounds like a cakewalk: a syncopated, strutting dance of African-American origin that evolved from a social dance on antebellum plantations into a popular genre in blackface minstrel shows and vaudeville. “Tropical Noon” is a slower yet still syncopated dance. The use of pentatonic woodwind melodies, a bright harp accompaniment, and castanets suggest the tropical locale of the movement’s title. The final movement, “Silk Hat and Walking Cane,” is a slow rag with strong accents on upbeats and lots of rubato: a subtle temporary slackening and quickening of tempo for expressive purposes. Imagine a theatrical performer, attired as the title suggests, dancing to this music. After her death in 1953, much of Price’s music was forgotten or lost. The last decade has seen a renewed interest in her work, propelled by the discovery of over 200 lost compositions in an abandoned

house in St. Anne, Illinois, south of Chicago. All could easily have been lost if the couple who had decided to fix up the dilapidated house had thrown away the 30 boxes of papers instead of seeking out a library to which to donate them. Alex Ross, music critic for the New Yorker, wrote about this discovery in 2018: “Not only did Florence Price fail to enter the canon; a large quantity of her music came perilously close to obliteration. That run-down house in St. Anne is a potent symbol of how a country can forget its cultural history.” Thanks to performances like tonight’s, Price’s music is now being remembered. CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921) Cello Concerto no. 1 French composer and pianist Camille Saint-Saëns has often been compared to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Like Mozart, Saint-Saëns was a child prodigy. He began piano lessons before the age of three and was performing by the age of seven. When he was 10 years old, he gave his official public debut, playing concertos by Beethoven and Mozart—including a cadenza composed by the young pianist himself—and works of Bach and Handel, all from memory. At the age of 13 he entered the Paris Conservatoire and soon set himself on the conventional career path of church organist. Also like Mozart, Saint-Saëns was an excellent musical craftsman and a prolific composer, writing in every genre of French music. Yet Saint-Saëns has been frequently faulted, both during his life and posthumously, for being proficient rather than inspired, technical rather than creative. Hector Berlioz once wryly quipped that Saint-Saëns “knows everything, but lacks inexperience.” And music critic Henry Colles, writing after the composer’s death, observed that “Saint-Saëns rarely, if ever, takes any risks; he never, to use the slang of the moment, ‘goes off the deep end.’ All his greatest contemporaries did. Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and even Franck were ready to sacrifice everything for the end each wanted to reach, to drown in the attempt to get there if necessary.” This perceived lack of inspiration and risk-taking did not mar his popular reception. Saint-Saëns’ primary goal was to elevate French music in a society that favored old German masters like Beethoven and Mendelssohn and braced for the encroaching modernism of the German composer Richard Wagner. Saint-Saëns helped to establish the Société Nationale de Musique in 1871 to give performance opportunities to French composers, including himself. To this end, his rather conservative style succeeded. And the composer did not seem bothered by the criticism, writing, “Art is intended to create beauty and character. Feeling only comes afterwards and art can very well do without it.” Yet “feeling” can definitely be detected in his first cello concerto, which was composed in 1872, by which time he was highly regarded within the Parisian musical scene but had not yet composed the works for which he would be remembered: Danse Macabre, Samson and Delilah, the Organ Symphony and Carnival of the Animals. SaintSaëns’ biographer Stephen Studd has suggested that the impetus for composing for cello in 1872—with both this work and a cello sonata—was the death of a beloved aunt. Studd writes, “His feeling VOLUME 8 • SEPTEMBER 2019 – JUNE 2020 27

for the cello, with its deep, dark tone and capacity for both dignified and impassioned utterance, was now re-kindled by the melancholy that set in after his bereavement.” The concerto consists of a single movement encompassing three distinct sections with interrelated musical themes and motives. The first section, Allegro non troppo, eschews the typical orchestral introduction and allows the ensemble just a single short chord before the soloist presents a fast triplet motive. Much back-and-forth between orchestra and soloist follows this fiery introduction; the orchestra never steps back to be mere accompaniment. The second section, Allegretto con moto, is a short minuet in which the cellist plays mostly in its high register and the orchestral strings are muted. The third section, Tempo primo, returns to the opening material of the piece, introduced this time by oboe and strings. Though much of the melodic material in this third section is a repetition of that heard at the start of the concerto, it is hardly a boring reiteration. The cellist recapitulates this material with elaborations that are much more virtuosic than at the outset. Saint-Saëns saves some new musical material for the end, where he surprisingly brings the concerto to a close with a triumphant move from minor to major. WILLIAM GRANT STILL (1895-1978) Symphony no. 1, “Afro-American” William Grant Still was born in Woodville, Mississippi, the son of school teachers. He grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, where his stepfather encouraged his interest and love of music. As Still neared adulthood, his mother discouraged his ambition to pursue composition, seeing no model of success for an African-American composer. On her advice, Still left for Wilberforce College—a historically black college in Ohio— with the intention of a pre-medical degree. However, his love of music lured him away from that practical career trajectory and he transferred to Oberlin Conservatory to begin composition studies.

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In 1919, W.C. Handy, the so-called “Father of the Blues,” hired Still as an arranger. From that point on, Still balanced a life of lucrative musical work in the popular sphere—arranging for jazz musicians including Handy, Artie Shaw and Paul Whiteman—with classical composition. He studied with the composer George Whitefield Chadwick of the Second New England School and the French modernist and pioneer of electronic music, Edgard Varèse. His 150 compositions reflect this careful balancing: he incorporates jazz, blues and spirituals into traditional classical forms. His singular style propelled him through many barriers. William Grant Still was the first African-American composer to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra (the Afro-American Symphony premiered by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in 1931), the first to conduct a major American Orchestra (the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1936), and the first to have an opera produced by a major American company (Troubled Island at the City Opera, New York in 1937). All these firsts earned him the nickname the “Dean of African-American composers.” Still’s “Afro-American” reveals his diverse musical influences, from the spirituals sung to him by his grandmother, to the blues of his employer W.C. Handy, and the classical training he received from Chadwick and Varèse. Each movement is titled with both a traditional classical tempo marking and a single English word that hints at the movement’s mood. And each includes an epigraph: excerpts from four dialect poems by the African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. The first movement, which Still named “Longing,” opens with a plaintive, bluesy solo English horn. The main melody follows, played first by trumpet with jazzy Harmon mute. Still borrowed this melody from W.C. Handy: it is his Saint Louis Blues. Blues harmonic progressions and swung melodies dominate as the composer expands and develops this melodic idea, in turn treating it sentimentally and march-like.

For the second movement, “Sorrow,” Still adopts the musical idiom of the spiritual and introduces a more chromatic harmonic language. The Dunbar poem Still provides at the top of this movement has an ethos similar to that of a spiritual: expressing Christian faith while communicating the hardship of slavery.

An’ oftentimes I thinks, thinks I, ‘T would be a sweet t’ing des to die, An go ‘long home

The third movement “Humor” is a bright contrast to the second. It offers the unique opportunity to hear a banjo sitting among a symphony orchestra. In this movement, the main melodic theme neatly fits the rhythm of the line of poetry Still assigned to it: “An’ we’ll shout ouah halleluyahs, On dat mighty reck’nin’ day.” Listen for the countermelody that echoes George Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm. There is considerable debate on whether Still borrowed this melody from Gershwin, or the other way around. (For a time, Gershwin studied orchestration under Still.) The final movement, “Aspiration,” begins with a slow hymn-like section before launching into a lively finale. However, the avoidance of harmonic resolutions throughout and the move from major to minor for the completion of the piece makes this finale sound unresolved though resolute. Its epigraph is from Dunbar’s “Ode to Ethiopia,” a poem about racial pride and hope for a brighter future. Be proud my Race, in mind and soul, Thy name is writ on Glory’s scroll In characters of fire. High ‘mid the clouds of Fame’s bright sky, Thy banner’s blazoned folds now fly, And truth shall lift them higher. •• NOTES BY SARAH A RUDDY, PhD

SUJARI BRITT Sujari Britt began formal cello studies at age four, following previous studies of violin and piano. She earned her Bachelor’s of Music in Classical Cello Performance at the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Marion Feldman. Currently, Ms. Britt studies with Martti Rousi at the Sibelius Academy in pursuit of her Master’s degree in Classical Cello. Recent appearances include her performance at the opening gala of the 2019 CelloFest in Helsinki. She was also featured at CUNY/ Queens College, where she presented the Elgar Cello Concerto. Past orchestral engagements include the Adrian Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Las Cruces Symphony and Chicago Sinfonietta. Ms. Britt has participated in international and local summer music festivals including Manhattan in the Mountains, JVL International Music Festival, New York University String Camp, Greenwood Music Festival, Gateway Music Festival, Kaufman String Camp and World Cultural programs (Prague, Budapest, Italy). Other distinguished appearances include the annual Beijing Super Cello Festival, the United Nations annual World Humanitarian Day, Marietta College’s Esbenshade Series at People’s Bank Theatre, and Canada’s Neopolitan Connection Concert Series. She performed at Madison Square Garden during quarter time for the New York Knicks and was a featured artist for the Shakespeare Company’s annual gala honoring Elizabeth McGovern at the Harman Arts Center in Washington, DC. Ms. Britt performed at Carnegie Hall as a winner of the National Young Musicians Concerto Competition. She was invited as a guest performer at the Fifth Annual Midori and Friends Children’s Music Festival where she shared the progam with Midori and with renowned clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera. In November 2009, she had the honor of performing with Alisa Weilerstein at the White House for President Obama, the First Lady, and their distinguished guests, where she was brought to the attention of many notables in the classical music industry. Sujari Britt has been featured in both Strings and Time magazines, THKR/RadicalMedia PRODIGIES, Ebony.com and on television with Katie Couric. She joined a host of prodigious young movers of the world on TEDx-Redmond of TED Talks, and was featured as one of NBC TheGrio’s “100 History Makers in the Making.” She serves in the Arts Leadership Program of From the Top. She is the distinguished recipient of prestigious academic scholarships and awards, and grand prizewinner of numerous national and international competitions. In addition to her active solo career, Ms. Britt is a member of JoSunJari, a classical string trio with her sister Joelle (violin), and her brother Sunnaj (violin); and a member of various troupes and ensembles of classical, jazz, and eclectic genres. She plays a Neuner and Hornsteiner cello made in Mittenwald, Germany circa 1718, generously loaned to her by Carlsen Cello Foundation. ••

VOLUME 8 • SEPTEMBER 2019 – JUNE 2020 29

BRAND NEW FAMILY CONCERT WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY

Link Up The Orchestra Rocks

Wednesday • April 15 • 7 – 8 pm Frauenthal Theater Scott Speck • conductor Rocker Dude Mona Shores Drum Line WMS Children's Choir Beth Slimko, director WMS Premier Strings Angela Corbin, director

A Highly engaging concert. It Rocks, It Moves, It Surprises… you need to be at this concert! Students who have worked all year in their school Link Up music classes are invited to join the concert and show you how an Orchestra Rocks! Cabaniss Orchestra Families Introduction Verdi “Anvil Chorus” from Il Trovatore Stravinsky “Dance of the Adolescents” from The Rite of Spring Orff “O Fortuna” From Carmina Burana Traditional In a Field Stood a Birch Tree Tchaikovsky Finale from Symphony no. 4 Scarim Simple Melody Holst “Mars” from The Planets Cabaniss Drumlines John Phillip Sousa Stars and Stripes Forever

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VOLUME 8 • SEPTEMBER 2019 – JUNE 2020 31

Mardi Gras in Muskegon Friday • April 17• 7:30 pm Frauenthal Theater Scott Speck • conductor Byron Stripling • trumpet

After You’ve Gone arr. Jeff Tyzik Bourbon Street Parade arr. Kyle Newmaster Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child arr. Larry Cook Basin Street Blues arr. Jeff Tyzik Amazing Grace arr. Hank Marr and Vaughn Wiester Ain’t Misbehavin’ arr. Jeff Tyzik Down by the Riverside arr. Kyle Newmaster INTERMISSION Jungle Blues arr. Jeff Tyzik Black Bottom Stomp arr. Jeff Tyzik Blue Berry Hill Jungle Blues arr. Jeff Tyzik Battle Hymn of the Republic arr. Manny Albam Do You Know What It Means arr. Bill Grimes Twelve Gates to the City arr. Byron Stripling Mahalia Jackson Tribute arr. Marty Robinson He’s Got the Whole World Traditional, arr. Marty Robinson When the Saints Go Marchin' In arr. Larry Cook

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BYRON STRIPLING A spectacular trumpeter with a very wide range, a beautiful tone, and the ability to blend together many influences into his own style, Byron Stripling is also the artistic director of the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, leader of his own quartet, and constantly in demand to play with pops orchestras around the world. He is an extroverted performer who brings the audience into his music. The happiness that he exudes through his trumpet, his vocals and his words is reminiscent of Louis Armstrong, yet very much his own.

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Stripling was born in Atlanta, the son of a classical singer. Due to his father’s work, his youth was spent in several locations including Atlanta, Kentucky, Colorado, Minnesota, St. Louis and Texas. Originally Stripling enrolled at the Eastman School of Music with plans to become a classical trumpeter. Already technically skilled, he met Clark Terry during his freshman year and, after Terry heard him play, he asked Stripling to join his big band. The 12-week tour was his first trip to Europe and he had the opportunity to start friendships with such players as Branford Marsalis and Conrad Herwig. After returning to school, he was three months away from graduation when he was offered a job in Lionel Hampton's band. It ended up being a very good move, starting Stripling in the music business. Next was a stint with the Woody Herman Orchestra and then, in 1985, the Count Basie Orchestra.

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In 1989, Stripling first played with the Boston Pops Orchestra, appearing on their television show under John Williams. That has since led to a great deal of work with pops orchestras. He developed several different orchestral pops shows, which he has performed with over 50 different orchestras. He has worked in the studios, and his trumpet has been heard on numerous soundtracks of films and Broadway shows. A few years ago he was featured at the Monterey Jazz Festival with Dave Brubeck. In 2002, Stripling became the artistic director and conductor of the Columbus Jazz Orchestra. He has presented such guest artists as Branford Marsalis, Chuck Mangione, Patti Austin, John Pizzarelli, Mavis Staples, Melba Moore and Wycliffe Gordon—but remains the orchestra’s biggest draw. His performances are full of remarkable musicianship, wit, showmanship, and a joyous spirit. Stripling makes many guest appearances with pops orchestras, conducts occasional clinics and seminars at colleges and high schools, and tours extensively with his own quartet. He has recorded as a leader (Stripling Now, Trumpetblowingly Yours, and Byron, Get One Free) and is well featured with the New York All Stars on the CDs We Love You, Louis and Play More Music Of Louis Armstrong. ••

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Four Seasons, Two Hemispheres Friday • May 15 • 7:30 pm Frauenthal Theater Scott Speck • conductor Chee-Yun • violin

Golijov Last Round

WMS Premiere

I. Movido, urgente II. Muertes del angel (Deaths of the Angel) Vivaldi The Four Seasons

Last performed February 2009

in alteration with Piazzolla/Desyatnikov The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires WMS Premiere

Vivaldi: La primavera (Spring) Allegro Largo e pianissimo sempre Allegro pastorale Piazzolla: Verano Porteño (Summer) Vivaldi: L’estate (Summer) Allegro non molto Adagio e piano - Presto e forte Presto Piazzolla: Otoño Porteño (Autumn) INTERMISSION Vivaldi: L’autunno (Autumn) Allegro Adagio molto Allegro Piazzolla: Invierno Porteño (Winter) Vivaldi: L’inverno (Winter) Allegro non molto Largo Allegro Piazzolla: Primavera Porteña (Buenos Aires Spring)

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PROGRAM NOTES OSVALDO GOLIJOV (b. 1960) Last Round Born in La Plata, Argentina to an Eastern European Jewish family with a piano teacher for a mother, composer Osvaldo Golijov had a diverse musical upbringing. Growing up, he was surrounded by the sounds of chamber music, Jewish liturgical and Klezmer music, and the nuevo tango of Astor Piazzolla. In 1983, the aspiring composer moved to Israel to continue his musical training, then to Pennsylvania where he studied under composer George Crumb. Since 1991, he has been on faculty at the department of music at the College of Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. The impact of a childhood surrounded by the music of Piazzolla never diminished. Piazzolla’s nuevo tango blended the popular Argentine urban dance—itself a probable blending of African, Spanish and Caribbean styles—with classical and jazz elements such as counterpoint, chromaticism and dissonance. Though his tango compositions initially met with resistance in Argentina, Piazzolla later became revered as the “savior of tango.” When Golijov heard of the tango master’s death, he began composing a lament that would become the second movement of Last Round. Golijov writes, “Astor Piazzolla, the last great tango composer, was at the peak of his creativity when a stroke killed him in 1992. He left us, in the words of the old tango, ‘without saying good bye’, and that day the musical face of Buenos Aires was abruptly frozen.” In 1996, Golijov returned to this music, adding a preceding contrasting movement to create Last Round. The two-movement piece in nine string parts is a tribute to Piazzolla, his tango, and his instrument, the bandoneon: a keyboard-less accordion that was a staple of tango ensembles. Golijov writes: The title is borrowed from a short story on boxing by Julio Cortázar, the metaphor for an imaginary chance for Piazzolla’s spirit to fight one more time (he used to get into fistfights throughout his life). The piece is conceived as an idealized bandoneon. The first movement represents the act of a violent compression of the instrument and the second a final, seemingly endless opening sigh (it is actually a fantasy over the refrain of the song My Beloved Buenos Aires, composed by the legendary Carlos Gardel in the 1930s). But Last

Round is also a sublimated tango dance. Two quartets confront each other, separated by the focal bass, with violins and violas standing up as in the traditional tango orchestras. The bows fly in the air as inverted legs in crisscrossed choreography, always attracting and repelling each other, always in danger of clashing, always avoiding it with the immutability that can only be acquired by transforming hot passion into pure pattern. ASTOR PIAZZOLLA (1921-1992) The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires Arranged by Leonid Desyatnikov Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata—a small resort town south of Buenos Aires—but spent most of his childhood and adolescence in New York City. When Piazzolla was eight years old, his father happened upon a bandoneon—a button accordion used as a solo instrument in tango—at a pawn shop. Piazzolla picked up the instrument quickly and within three years had composed his first tango. In 1934, Piazzolla met the tango composer and Argentine cultural icon Carlos Bardel. During Bardel’s trips to New York, Piazzolla acted as his tour guide and translator and occasionally performed with Bardel’s tango orchestra. Gardel encouraged Piazzolla and his family to return to Argentina so that the young Piazzolla could pursue his passion for tango. Piazzolla’s family returned to Mar del Plata in 1936 and two years later, the young musician set off on his own for Buenos Aires. He joined the band of one of the great tango composers, Anibal Troilo, playing bandoneon and arranging music. In 1941, Piazzolla began studying with the Argentine classical composer Alberto Ginastera, from whom he learned the scores of Stravinsky, Bartók and Ravel. In 1953, the Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra performed Piazzolla’s “Buenos Aires Symphony in Three Movements.” At the end of the concert, a fight broke out among audience members, some of whom were offended by the inclusion of two bandoneons within a traditional symphony orchestra. Despite the controversy, this piece won Piazzolla a grant to study in Paris with the famous composition teacher Nadia Boulanger. Upon his arrival in Paris, Piazzolla tried to paint himself as a purely classical composer, hiding his roots in tango and his talents at the bandoneon. However, once Boulanger discovered his gift, she convinced him that his destiny was to reinvent tango. After a year

VOLUME 8 • SEPTEMBER 2019 – JUNE 2020 37

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of pivotal study, the composer returned to Buenos Aires, founded his own tango ensemble and began to create the musical style that would become known as nuevo tango. The style incorporates classical elements like counterpoint, dissonance, and extended forms and jazz elements such as improvisation. It was controversial in Argentina: it was too complicated and could not be danced to. Yet over the following decades, as Piazzolla traveled Europe and North America performing, recording and composing, it gained an international following. By the end of his life, Argentina embraced the composer and his new style, crediting him with revitalizing tango. Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires was conceived neither as a tribute to Vivaldi nor as a piece of orchestral music. It is a set of four tango compositions written individually between 1965 and 1970 for performance by Piazzolla’s tango quintet of violin, piano, electric guitar, bass and bandoneon. In 1996, Russian composer Leonid Desyatnikov arranged—or more accurately, recomposed— these four pieces into a work that would mirror Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. He scored the new work for solo violin with string orchestra. And he converted each season into a three-section movement to reflect the structure of Vivaldi’s model. Most interesting for the classical listener, Desyatnikov incorporated several quotations from Vivaldi’s ubiquitous work. In doing so, he took into consideration the opposing seasons of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. So, during Piazzolla’s “Summer” tango, you will hear Vivaldi’s whipping wind and chattering teeth. And conversely, Piazzolla’s “Winter” tango includes Vivaldi’s summer thunderstorm. The opening of Vivaldi’s “Spring” is quoted in Piazzolla’s “Autumn,” while his Autumn hunt sounds during the “Spring” tango. ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678-1741) The Four Seasons Italian Baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi wrote more than 500 concertos, yet today most people know only four of them. Everyone knows his Four Seasons, even if they don’t think they do. After being forgotten for 200 years, this now ubiquitous work resurfaced around 1950, just in time for the invention of the long-playing record. The LP carried the four concertos to listeners all over the world as it became one of the most frequently recorded works of classical music. 70 years later, it is still ingrained in Western culture, sounding in movies, advertisements, as on-hold music and at dentists’ offices. Vivaldi wrote hundreds of concertos because his employer demanded them. From 1703 to 1715 Vivaldi was employed at the Ospedale della Pietà (Devout Hospital of Mercy) in Venice. The Pietà was an orphanage that housed many illegitimate children of Venice’s noblemen. Vivaldi’s duties there included teaching string instruments, performing, directing ensembles, and composing for Catholic liturgies. These liturgies were so elaborate that they were practically concerts of choral and instrumental music, and were an important part of the social calendars of Vienna’s nobility and their foreign visitors. By the time Vivaldi composed the Four Seasons in the early 1720s, he was no longer employed at the Pietà but was traveling, managing stagings of his operas and working at various courts around Europe. Yet the Pietà had asked him to continue to send concertos, at the rate of at least two per month, for performance by their orchestra.

With more than 500 concertos to keep track of, Vivaldi was often imaginative with his titles. He sometimes named his concertos for the person who originally performed them or for the feast on which they were first performed, such as “per la Solennita di S. Lorenzo.” He sometimes named them for an unusual musical feature (“L’Ottavina” or “the octaves”) or their overall mood (“L’inquietudine”). And occasionally, as with The Four Seasons or his concerto “La tempesta di mare,” his titles were programmatic. In fact, The Four Seasons is one of the earliest examples of program music: music written to evoke an extra-musical idea, theme or story—a practice that only became widespread in the mid-19th century. Each of The Four Seasons’ three-movement concertos is accompanied by a three-part sonnet– possibly written by the composer himself—that clearly describes what each movement attempts to depict. Vivaldi also sprinkled verbal cues throughout the score so that the musicians would know exactly what they were meant to represent. For example, the violas in the second movement of “Spring” are instructed that they should sound like a barking dog. And the violin soloist in the first movement of “Autumn” is reminded that he is playing the role of a stumbling drunkard at a harvest dance. “Spring” begins with the flitting sounds of birds, interrupted in the middle of the first movement by a furious thunderstorm. In the second movement, Vivaldi has the solo violin play a slow, quiet melody to depict a sleeping shepherd. Accompanying the soloist are the orchestral violins sounding like a babbling brook and the viola playing a two-note motive meant to sound like the “woof-woof” of the shepherd’s vigilant sheep dog. The final movement of “Spring” is a dance in the countryside, complete with drones in the low strings to imitate the sound of a bagpipe. For the first movement of “Summer,” the soloist creates the distinct birdsongs of a cuckoo, turtle dove and goldfinch, while thunderstorms approach from the distance. The second movement is again a mid-day nap, this time accompanied by the buzz of insects. Vivaldi unleashes a furious storm in the third movement. Vivaldi begins “Autumn” with a peasant dance. The solo violin sounds as if he has had too much to drink, stumbling around the party with quickly descending lines. The drunken revelers fall asleep for the slow second movement, where the harpsichord plays along with muted strings. Once rested, the partiers are ready for a hunt in the third movement. Listen for the rhythm of prancing horses, the sound of barking dogs and the quick rattle of gunfire. “Winter” brings shivering violin trills and the chattering of teeth illustrated by trembling dissonant chords in the first movement. The rushing notes of the solo violin sound like the whipping winter wind. The second movement evokes cozy huddling by the fire while the sound of ice falling outside is achieved by pizzicato violins. In the third movement, Vivaldi illustrates carefully walking—and then slipping on—ice with descending scales. ••

NOTES BY SARAH A RUDDY, PhD

VOLUME 8 • SEPTEMBER 2019 – JUNE 2020 39

CHEE-YUN Chee-Yun has performed with many of the world’s foremost orchestras and conductors. Orchestral highlights include her tours of the United States with the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas and Japan with the NHK Symphony; a concert with the Seoul Philharmonic conducted by Myung-Whun Chung that was broadcast on national television; and a benefit for UNESCO with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Avery Fisher Hall. Chee-Yun has performed with such distinguished conductors as Jaap van Zweden, Manfred Honeck, Hans Graf, James DePriest, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Krzysztof Penderecki, Neeme Järvi, Pinchas Zukerman, Giancarlo Guerrero, José Luis Gomez, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, and Carlos Kalmar. She has appeared with the Toronto, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Atlanta, and National symphony orchestras, as well as with the Saint Paul and Los Angeles chamber orchestras. Other orchestral engagements include performances with the Orquesta Sinfonia Nacional and the Mobile and Pasadena symphonies, in addition to appearances with the National Philharmonic, Colorado and Pacific symphonies, and the Tucson, Detroit, and Pensacola symphonies. A champion of contemporary music, Chee-Yun has performed Christopher Theofanidis’Violin Concerto conducted by David Alan Miller as part of the Albany Symphony’s American Festival, in addition to performing Kevin Puts’ Violin Concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. As a recitalist, Chee-Yun has performed in many major U.S. cities, including New York, Chicago, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta. Career highlights include appearances at the Kennedy Center’s “Salute to Slava” gala honoring Mstislav Rostropovich and with the Mostly Mozart Festival on tour in Japan, as well as a performance with Michael Tilson Thomas in the inaugural season of Carnegie Hall’s

Zankel Hall and the U.S. premiere of Penderecki’s Sonata no. 2 with pianist Barry Douglas. In 2016, Chee-Yun performed as a guest artist for the Secretary General at the United Nations in celebration of Korea’s National Foundation Day and the 25th anniversary of South Korea joining the UN. Other career highlights include recitals in St. Paul, Buffalo, Omaha, Scottsdale, and Washington, D.C.; duo recitals with cellist Alisa Weilerstein; a recital tour with pianist Alessio Bax; and a performance at American Ballet Theatre’s fall gala. Firmly committed to chamber music, Chee-Yun has toured with Music from Marlboro and appears frequently with Spoleto USA, a project she has been associated with since its inception. Additional chamber music appearances include performances at the Ravinia, Aspen, Bravo! Vail Valley, La Jolla, Caramoor, Green Music, Santa Fe, Orcas Island, Hawaii Performing Arts, and Bridgehampton festivals in the U.S.; the Great Mountains Music Festival in South Korea; the Clandeboye Festival with Camerata Ireland in Northern Ireland; the Opera Theatre and Music Festival in Lucca, Italy; the Colmar Festival in France; the Beethoven and Penderecki festivals in Poland; and the Kirishima Festival in Japan. Chee-Yun has received exceptional acclaim as a recording artist since the release of her debut album of virtuoso encore pieces in 1993. Her recent recording of the Penderecki Violin Concerto no. 2 on Naxos was acclaimed as “an engrossing, masterly performance” (The Strad) and “a performance of staggering virtuosity and musicality” (American Record Guide). Her releases on the Denon label include Mendelssohn’s E-minor Violin Concerto, Vieuxtemps’ Violin Concerto no. 5, Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole and Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto no. 3 with the London Philharmonic under Lopez-Cobos; and violin sonatas from Debussy,

We’re proud supporters of the arts, and big fans of the people behind them. Thank you, West Michigan Symphony, for helping to make the Muskegon community a beautiful place. To learn more about PNC Bank visit pnc.com ©2019 The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. All rights reserved. PNC Bank, National Association. Member FDIC

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Fauré, Franck, Saint-Saëns, Szymanowski, Brahms and Strauss. Two compilation discs, Vocalise d’amour and The Very Best of Chee-Yun, feature highlights of earlier recordings. In 2007, Chee-Yun recorded the Beethoven Triple Concerto with Camerata Ireland, pianist Barry Douglas, and cellist Andrés Diaz for Satirino Records. In 2008, Decca/ Korea released Serenata Notturno, an album of light classics that went platinum within six months of its release. Chee-Yun has performed frequently on National Public Radio’s Performance Today and on WQXR and WNYC radio in New York City. She has been featured on KTV, a children’s program on the cable network CNBC, A Prairie Home Companion, Public Radio International, and numerous syndicated and local radio programs across the world. She has appeared on PBS as a special guest on Victor Borge’s Then and Now 3, in a live broadcast at Atlanta’s Spivey Hall concurrent with the Olympic Games, and on ESPN performing the theme for the X Games. In 2009, she also appeared in an episode of HBO’s hit series Curb Your Enthusiasm. A short documentary film, Chee-Yun: Seasons on the Road, premiered in 2017 and is available on YouTube. Chee-Yun’s first public performance at age eight took place in her native Seoul after she won the Grand Prize of the Korean Times Competition. At 13, she came to the United States and was invited to perform Vieuxtemps’ Concerto no. 5 in a Young People’s Concert with the New York Philharmonic. Two years later, she appeared as soloist with the New York String Orchestra under Alexander Schneider at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. In 1989, she won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and a year later became the recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. In Korea, Chee-Yun studied with Nam Yun Kim. In the United States, she has worked with Dorothy DeLay, Hyo Kang, Daniel Phillips, and Felix Galimir (chamber music) at The Juilliard School. In addition to her active performance and recording schedule, CheeYun is a dedicated and enthusiastic educator. She gives master classes around the world and has held several teaching posts at notable music schools and universities. Her past faculty positions have included serving as the resident Starling Soloist and Adjunct Professor of Violin at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and as Visiting Professor of Music (Violin) at the Indiana University School of Music. From 2007 to 2017, she served as Artist-in-Residence and Professor of Violin at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. •• VOLUME 8 • SEPTEMBER 2019 – JUNE 2020 41

Voices of Resurrection Friday • June 5 • 7:30 pm Frauenthal Theater Scott Speck • conductor Martha Guth • soprano Susan Platts • mezzo Chamber Choir of Grand Rapids Mark Webb, director Muskegon Chamber Choir Bradley Taylor, director Jim Hylen, director

Mahler Symphony no. 2 in C minor, “Resurrection” WMS Premiere

I. Allegro maestoso II. Andante moderato III. In ruhig fliessender Bewegung IV. Urlicht (Primeval Light) V. Im Tempo des Scherzo There will be a 20 minute intermission after movement II.

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PROGRAM NOTES GUSTAV MAHLER (1860-1911) Symphony no. 2, “Resurrection” Gustav Mahler was an Austro-Hungarian composer of the late Romantic era. His music formed a bridge from the nineteenth-century German tradition to twentieth-century modernism. Mahler was born in Bohemia (then part of the Austrian empire) to a German-speaking Jewish family. He began playing piano at age four and soon became known as a local wunderkind, giving his first public performance at age 10. After graduating from the Vienna Conservatory, Mahler went on to become a prominent conductor, taking on posts at opera houses and orchestras across Europe, and even at the New York Philharmonic. Because he held full-time conducting jobs throughout his career, Mahler’s compositional output is not huge. He generally organized his life around a typical fall-to-spring conducting schedule and saved the summer months for composing, often at small, secluded “composer huts.” Though his body of work is small, Mahler chose genres that were big. His oeuvre is primarily made up of large orchestral pieces, symphonic choruses, and operatic solos. In 1891, Mahler moved to Hamburg to take a position at the Hamburg Opera. This move put him in contact with Hans von Bülow—the conductor in charge of the city’s symphony concerts— who would play an important role in the composition of Mahler’s Second Symphony. Though relatively unknown today, Bülow was a towering figure in the musical world of the late romantic era. He was an outstanding pianist and conductor. He was a student of Frank Liszt and married Liszt’s daughter, Cosima, though she later left him for Richard Wagner. Bülow, nonetheless, championed Wagner’s music, as well as that of Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Richard Strauss. It is easy to imagine that Mahler would have been thrilled to count this influential conductor as a colleague and friend. Mahler began composing what would become his Second Symphony in 1888 when he wrote a 20-minute symphonic poem called Todtenfeier (Funeral Rites). Never quite happy with the composition, he abandoned it for a number of years. In 1891, he pulled it out to play for Bülow. Mahler reports that his new friend listened to the piece with his hands covering his ears, though imploring Mahler to continue. When Mahler reached the end, he sat in an uncomfortable silence awaiting a response. Finally Bülow spoke, saying “If what I have just heard is still music, then I no longer understand anything about music!” Mahler was crushed and wrote to Richard Strauss that he would give up composing. Luckily, Mahler did not give up. In 1893, he returned to the project, working on the second, third and fourth movements. He then abandoned the work again, struggling to decide the order of the interior movements and unable to come up with a finale. In 1894, Bülow died and his funeral was held at St. Michael’s church in Hamburg. Following the service, the procession to the cemetery paused at the Opera House, where Mahler conducted Siegfried’s Funeral March from Gotterdämmerung on the terrace. Later that day, Mahler confided to a friend that he had found the solution for his Second Symphony Finale. He later wrote:

“I had long contemplated bringing in the choir in the last movement, and only the fear that it would be taken as a formal imitation of Beethoven made me hesitate again and again. Then Bülow died, and I went to the memorial service.—The mood in which I sat and pondered on the departed was utterly in the spirit of what I was working on at the time.—Then the choir, up in the organ loft, intoned Klopstock’s Resurrection chorale.—It flashed on me like lightning, and everything became plain and clear in my mind! It was the flash that all creative artists wait for.—‘conceiving by the Holy Ghost’! What I then experienced had now to be expressed in sound. And yet—if I had not already borne the work within me— how could I have had that experience?... It is always the same with me: only when I experience something do I compose, and only when composing do I experience.” And so Mahler used the first two verses of Klopstock’s hymn— stopping short of a “Hallelujah” verse—then added verses of his own. He finished the finale three months after the funeral, thus completing his Second Symphony. It was premiered in December 1895, with the composer conducting. Mahler did not give the symphony its now ever-present subtitle, and only provided a program when pressed for one. But he was often so pressed. Early on, listeners were confounded by the length, immensity and range of emotion of the symphony, and grasped for a narrative to help comprehend it. Mahler gave in and provided a program three times between 1896 and 1901. The three accounts differ in the details, but all refer to the struggle of a hero as he succumbs to death; the striving of his soul toward God; and the inner experience of Redemption. But, in writing to his wife Alma, Mahler warns against relying too heavily on such a program: “It gives only a superficial indication, all that any program can do for a musical work, let alone this one, which is so much all of a piece that it can no more be explained than the world itself.—I’m quite sure that if God were asked to draw up a program of the world he created he could never do it.—At best it would be a ‘revelation’ that would say as little about the nature of God and life as my analysis says about my C minor Symphony.” In Mahler’s Second Symphony, we hear an encapsulation of Mahler’s unique style. First and foremost, we see and hear Mahler’s propensity for immense scale. This symphony is long, both in its five-movement form and in its one-hour and twenty-minute performance time. And the forces required to perform it are huge: nearly double the typical number of brass and woodwind players are required, some of whom play off stage; there is a outsized battery of percussion, including seven timpani played by three players; an organ joins in for the fifth movement; and solo voices and a chorus are employed for the final two movements. In the first movement, we hear Mahler’s propensity for fatalism as he grapples with the death of the hero. Mahler marked this movement—originally the symphonic poem Todtenfeier—with the phrase “with complete gravity and solemnity of expression.” Its loud, brassy fanfares, propelling bass lines, and prominent drum strikes make it sound like a funeral march, though one interrupted by moments of quiet reflection. VOLUME 8 • SEPTEMBER 2019 – JUNE 2020 43

For the second movement, Mahler uses a popular triple-meter folk dance that he often employed in his music: the Ländler. Though there are contrasting darker sections, this movement— primarily characterized by major tonality, airy melodies played by treble instruments, and spinning dance rhythms—suggests the remembrance of happier times.

MARTHA GUTH

The third and fourth movements demonstrate how entangled song and symphony were in Mahler’s compositional process. The third movement began life as a song about St. Anthony’s fruitless attempts to preach Christianity to fish. Its text is taken from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a collection of poetry that Mahler returned to throughout his life. As a symphonic movement, it is a scherzo that references Jewish folk music. It is more pessimistic and macabre than the second movement as Mahler—a Jewish man who converted to Catholicism to secure employment, but was always agnostic—ruminates on the meaningless nature of life. Near the end of the movement, listen for a climactic sustained dissonant chord played by the entire orchestra. Mahler called this a “cry of despair” or a “death shriek.” The fourth movement is a short Lied for solo alto expanded into symphonic form. This solemn song, also from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, is a hopeful response to the preceding movement. In it Mahler contrasts a solemn brass chorale with an urgent song in which the alto expresses her wish to leave earthly pain behind and enter heaven. The fifth movement flows directly from the fourth. It begins with the third movement’s “cry of despair,” then many themes from earlier movements sound again. You might also recognize the funeral chant Dies Irae, which Berlioz famously quoted in his five-movement Symphonie Fantastique six decades previously. Long drum rolls usher in a brash march: the so-called “March of the dead.” And then with an extensive horn call that Mahler called “The great summons,” the voices enter, bringing with them a more prayerful tone. Following Klopstock’s traditional hymn text about rising from ashes and achieving immortal life, Mahler adds his own text including:

With wings, which I have won, I shall soar upwards, I shall die, to live!

The voices finish dramatically at full volume before a short instrumental coda with tolling bells brings the symphony to a close. The immense performing forces and intense emotion of the final movement are so awe-inspiring that it impressed even the composer himself. Mahler wrote: “The increasing tension, working up to the final climax, is so tremendous that I don’t know myself, now that it is over, how I ever came to write it.” •• NOTES BY SARAH A RUDDY, PhD

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Soprano Martha Guth brings consummate musicianship and a distinctive tonal palette to a wide range of musical periods and styles. A much-sought-after concert soloist, her repertoire includes soprano 1 in Mozart’s C Minor Mass (New York’s Sacred Music in a Sacred Space in St. Ignatius Loyola Cathedral and Columbus, Ohio’s ProMusic Chamber Orchestra); Orff’s Carmina Burana (West Michigan, Mobile, Lima symphonies, Florida Orchestra); the Brahms Requiem (Washington, D.C.’s Cathedral Choral Society, New York’s Voices of Ascension, Grand Rapids’ Calvin College); Britten’s Spring Symphony (Choral Society of Durham); Handel’s Messiah (Santa Fe Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Christ Church Cathedral in Lexington, Kentucky); Mendelssohn’s Elijah (Columbia Pro Cantare and Gloriae Dei Cantores); Mahler’s symphonies nos. 2 (Evansville Philharmonic) and 4 (Flagstaff Symphony); Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 (Fort Wayne Philharmonic) and Missa solemnis (Bachakademie Stuttgart); Mozart’s Exsultate jubilate (Hamilton Philharmonic) and Concert Arias (Germany’s Bad Reichenhaller Philharmonie); Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été (Canadian Opera Company orchestra); Haydn’s Die Schöpfung (New Mexico Symphony); and Poulenc’s Stabat Mater (Spokane Symphony). Just issued on the Naxos label is her recording of Roberto Sierra’s Beyond the Silence of Sorrow with Maximiano Valdés and the Puerto Rico Symphony, which was nominated for a 2016 Latin Grammy Award. In addition, she has collaborated with John Nelson, Helmuth Rilling, Richard Bradshaw, both Seiji Ozawa and Robert Spano at Tanglewood and been guest soloist with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic and Toronto Symphony, among many other orchestras. A persuasive actress, Ms. Guth has performed Frau Fluth in the Boston Midsummer Opera’s production of Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor; Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (Countess) and Don Giovanni (Donna Anna) at Opera Lyra Ottawa; Die Zauberflöte (Pamina) and Die Entführungaus dem Serail (Konstanze) in Göggingen, Germany; the title role of Handel’s Alcina in Lucca, Italy; Lauretta in Bizet’s Dr. Miracle and Norina in Don Pasquale

with the Santa Fe Opera; and Alyce in Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied at New York’s Chelsea Opera, which she reprised in the 2015-16 season. She has also performed with the opera companies of Graz (Austria) and Palma de Mallorca (Spain). A model collaborator, Ms. Guth has earned special distinction for her passionate devotion to recital and chamber repertoire, earning First Prize at the 2007 Wigmore Hall International Song Competition in London. She has given recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall and Leeds Lieder Festival with pianist Graham Johnson; in New York with Dalton Baldwin and Malcolm Martineau; and at both the Vancouver International Song Institute and Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival with Erika Switzer (with whom she co-hosts an online magazine Sparks and Wiry Cries, featuring performances and discussions with singers, pianists and composers). She also curates the Casement Fund Song Series in New York City. Her recitals have been broadcast on the CBC Radio/Radio Canada, BBC Radio (U.K.) and WDR (Germany). Recordings include a solo disc of Schubert songs with fortepianist Penelope Crawford, John Fritz-Roger’s Magna Mysteria on the Innova label, Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes and The Five Borough Song Book.

SUSAN PLATTS British-born Canadian mezzo-soprano Susan Platts brings a uniquely rich and wide-ranging voice to concert and recital repertoire for alto and mezzo-soprano. She is particularly esteemed for her performances of Gustav Mahler’s works. In May of 2004, as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, world-renowned soprano Jessye Norman chose Ms. Platts as her protégée from 26 international candidates and has continued to mentor her ever since.

Martha Guth was raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. She holds an undergraduate degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, a Master’s from the Cincinnati College/Conservatory of Music, and a post-graduate degree from the Hochschule für Musik in Augsburg/ Nürnberg where she studied with Edith Wiens. ••

VOLUME 8 • SEPTEMBER 2019 – JUNE 2020 45

Ms. Platts has performed at Covent Garden, Royal Albert Hall, Teatro alla Scala, Teatro di San Carlo, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center; as well as with the Philadelphia, Cleveland and Minnesota orchestras; Orchestre de Paris, BBC Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra; the Montreal, Toronto, American, Detroit, Milwaukee, Baltimore and Houston symphonies; Les Violons du Roy, Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society, and the Los Angeles and St. Paul chamber orchestras. She has collaborated with many of today’s leading conductors including Marin Alsop, Roberto Abbado, Sir Andrew Davis, Ludovic Morlot, Leon Botstein, Josep Caballé-Domenech, Andreas Delfs, John Adams, Christoph Eschenbach, Jane Glover, Jeffrey Kahane, Carlos Kalmar, Bernard Labadie, Keith Lockhart, Kent Nagano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Roger Norrington, Peter Oundjian, Itzhak Perlman, Bramwell Tovey, Osmo Vänska and Pinchas Zuckerman. Ms. Platts has appeared on many distinguished art song series including Vocal Arts Society at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Ladies Morning Musical Club in Montreal, Aldeburgh Connection in Toronto, and both the Frick Collection and Lincoln Center “Art of the Song” series in New York City.

CHAMBER CHOIR OF GRAND RAPIDS This is the 40th season for the Chamber Choir of Grand Rapids. The choir has a rich history of concert giving, touring and compact disc releases. It has performed in, and with, many of the churches and church choirs in Grand Rapids and Western Michigan; with the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, the West Michigan and Battle Creek symphonies; and has toured in St. Petersburg, Russia, Eisenstaedt Austria, Helsinki, Finland and Tallinn, Estonia. The choir has also sung with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City and in Grand Rapids. In addition, the choir has raised social awareness by coordinating with the Holland Youth Advisory Panel, Heartside Ministries, Degage, Senior Neighbors, Children’s Assessment Center, Silent Observer, Alzheimer’s Association, and the Butterworth Foundation. The choir has also collaborated with other Michigan arts organizations such as the St. Cecilia Youth Chorale, the Grand Rapids Ballet Company, the Women’s Chorus of Grand Rapids, and the Aquinas College Music Department.

Ms. Platts’ recent opera highlights include her Royal Opera House debut in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, John Adams’ Nixon in China (BBC Symphony), Britten’s Albert Herring (Pacific Opera, Vancouver Opera), Erda in Wagner’s Das Rheingold (Pacific Opera), and Bernstein’s A Quiet Place (Montreal Symphony Orchestra). On the concert stage, she recently performed Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and premiered a new work by Howard Shore with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Handel’s Messiah with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius with the Vancouver Symphony, and Mahler’s symphonies nos. 3 and 8 with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Ms. Platts was on a recent Naxos release of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde (chamber version) with JoAnn Falletta conducting. She has also recorded the full version of Das Lied von der Erde for Fontec Records with Gary Bertini, conducting the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, as awell as a CD of art songs with pianist Dalton Baldwin, Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Smithsonian Chamber Players and Santa Fe Pro Musica for Dorian Records, Brahms Zwei Gesänge with Steven Dann and Lambert Orkis, and a solo disc of Lieder by Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms on the ATMA label. ••

46 WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY SEASON MAGAZINE

Dr. Mark Webb received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Music Education and Choral Conducting from the University of Michigan, and his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Choral Conducting from Michigan State University. Dr. Webb retired from public school teaching in 2009, after serving for 33 years as a secondary vocal music teacher—teaching in the Kentwood and East Grand Rapids Public School Districts. His past positions include Choral/Opera Coordinator and Director of the International Choral Ensemble at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Visiting Professor of Music at Albion College, and President of the Michigan School

Vocal Music Association—receiving the honor of Teacher of the Year from that organization in 2003. Mark is currently an Associate Professor of Music at Aquinas College, and is also the director of the Chancel Choir at Mayflower Congregational Church, and the Chamber Choir of Grand Rapids. He has been a guest clinician for school and church choirs throughout Michigan. He and his wife, Susan, have two daughters—Natalie (married to Mickey Bullock) and Ashley (married to Nick Cintorino); and three grandchildren— Jeremiah and Hanna Bullock, and Ella Cintorino. ••

Having trouble hearing the piccolos?

MUSKEGON CHAMBER CHOIR The Muskegon Chamber Choir was founded by David Wikman as a sixteen-voice ensemble in the Fall of 1963. The first purpose of the group was to audition for a place in a summer music festival in Northern Michigan. While the choir was accepted, the festival never got off the ground so rehearsals were halted. After a few months the singers persuaded Wikman that they had something too precious to let go. Rehearsals began again and the Choir’s first concert was given in April of 1964. Dave Wikman remained as Director and Conductor for 52 years, retiring in 2016. Since that time the choir has gradually increased its membership to perform larger and more demanding choral works. It regularly sings with the West Michigan Symphony, and performs an annual concert series in various area churches and concert halls.

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Its members come from all walks of life: teachers, accountants, doctors and nurses, salespeople, and heavy equipment operators singing side-by-side. They all share one common love: that of singing great choral music together.

Bradley Taylor is a native of Muskegon and a product of Muskegon Public Schools. His BA in Vocal Music Education is from Western Michigan University. He returned to Muskegon and taught Vocal and Instrumental Music for 25 years at Muskegon Public Schools. He has held several Church Choir Directorships including Spring Lake Presbyterian, and First Congregational Church. Since 1986 he has sung 1st/2nd Tenor as a member of the Muskegon Chamber Choir. Jim Hylen is a graduate of Muskegon High School and studied at Olivet College with post graduate work at MSU. Mr. Hylen also attended the Rene’ Clausen School. He taught choir at Charlotte High School for 35 years and has directed many Church Choirs. •• VOLUME 8 • SEPTEMBER 2019 – JUNE 2020 47

About West Michigan Symphony Celebrating its 80th Anniversary in 2019-2020, West Michigan Symphony (WMS) is a cultural gemstone in Muskegon and a leading arts organization in West Michigan. Founded in 1939, the original symphony had 50 volunteer members and held its performances in area schools. In the late 1970s WMS moved its concerts to the 1,720 seat Frauenthal Center for the Performing Arts, which has been its home venue ever since. WMS is the Frauenthal’s primary tenant, and represents its largest and most consistent presence. Music Director Scott Speck joined WMS in 2002. He is a dynamic yet highly approachable conductor beloved by players and audiences alike. His leadership has attracted and cultivated an ensemble of 60 committed professionals who travel from throughout Michigan and the surrounding Midwest, as well as from California, Texas and Florida, to perform with WMS. They are Muskegon’s cultural ambassadors and a key part of its creative capital. With advanced degrees in performance and a commitment to symphonic music, our players serve on the faculties of major Michigan universities as well as teaching privately and performing as recitalists and chamber musicians across the Midwest. Together, they comprise a vital community resource serving our organization and the entire West Michigan region. The Symphony’s compelling concerts, exceptional guest artists and far-reaching youth education programs contribute significantly to the fabric of our community. In our fast-paced modern life, people need space for listening, reflection and togetherness. WMS concerts provide a welcoming atmosphere, opportunities to connect with friends and neighbors, and artistically captivating performances right in the heart of West Michigan. STATEMENT OF DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION West Michigan Symphony is committed to building an organization that fosters diversity, equity and inclusion. We acknowledge and celebrate the 19th century European cultural heritage from which the symphony orchestra arises. At the same time, we believe the art form is renewed and enlivened by embracing multifarious cultures and influences, as it has done throughout its history. We will continually explore ways to reflect plurality, inclusivity and curiosity in our artistic programming. We commit to inviting underrepresented ethnic groups into an ongoing, active dialogue so that we can learn, grow, and change, making the Symphony a place where everyone feels invited and accepted. In our Board, staff and volunteer base, we will work for greater inclusivity, thereby reflecting the rich diversity of the West Michigan community. We will strive to reflect these values throughout our organization. ••

48 WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY SEASON MAGAZINE

Music Director Scott Speck With the 2019-2020 season, Scott Speck enters his 18th full season as Music Director of the West Michigan Symphony. Over this period he is proud to have helped the WMS enter the ranks of the nation's finest regional orchestras. Scott Speck also holds leadership positions with the Mobile Symphony (AL), Joffrey Ballet (IL), and Chicago Philharmonic. His recent concerts with the Moscow RTV Symphony Orchestra in Tchaikovsky Hall garnered unanimous praise. His gala performances with Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Renée Fleming, Midori, Evelyn Glennie and Olga Kern have highlighted his recent and current seasons; and he was invited to the White House as Music Director of the Washington Ballet. In recent seasons Scott Speck has conducted numerous performances in London’s Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, the Paris Opera, Washington’s Kennedy Center, San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House, and the Los Angeles Music Center. He has led numerous performances with the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Houston, Chicago (Sinfonietta), Paris, Moscow, Shanghai, Beijing, Vancouver, Romania, Slovakia, Buffalo, Columbus (OH), Honolulu, Louisville, New Orleans, Oregon, Rochester, Florida, and Virginia, among many others. Previously he held positions as Conductor of the San Francisco Ballet; Music Advisor and Conductor of the Honolulu Symphony; and Associate Conductor of the Los Angeles Opera. During a recent tour of Asia he was named Principal Guest Conductor of the China Film Philharmonic in Beijing. Scott Speck is the co-author of two of the world’s best-selling books on classical music for a popular audience, Classical Music for Dummies and Opera for Dummies. These books have received stellar reviews in both the national and international press and have garnered enthusiastic endorsements from major American orchestras. They have been translated into over fifteen languages and are available around the world. His third book in the series, Ballet for Dummies, was released in September 2003. Scott Speck has been a regular commentator on National Public Radio, the BBC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and Voice of Russia, broadcast throughout the world. His writing has been featured in numerous magazines and journals. Born in Boston, Scott Speck is a Fulbright Scholar, a summa cum laude graduate of Yale University, and an Aspen Conducting Fellow. He is fluent in English, German and French, has a diploma in Italian, speaks Spanish and has a reading knowledge of Russian. Scott Speck can be reached at scottspeck.org, on Facebook at facebook.com/ConductorScottSpeck, or @ScottSpeck1 on Twitter. ••

VOLUME 8 • SEPTEMBER 2019 – JUNE 2020 49

Concerts at The Block WMS’s subsidiary, The Block, is an innovative performance venue featuring a mixture of jazz, crossover-folk, and classical chamber concerts. Performers at this 125-seat listening room for the musically curious include regional, national and international artists as well as WMS musicians. A model partnership between culture and urban renewal, The Block is a vibrant musical “third place” in the heart of downtown Muskegon. Neither club nor concert hall, The Block throws the art in relief with elegant but unpretentious surroundings. Patrons find it both enjoyable and stimulating to attend concerts at a venue that features an informal atmosphere, close proximity to the performers, and a plurality of musical genres. Now in its 7th season, The Block continues to grow and innovate artistically and as a community center. During the summer, The Block is the site of the sold-out jazz series Tim Froncek and Friends. A new Movies & Music series was launched during the winter of 2019 to explore the creative marriage between the two art forms through screenings of acclaimed independent films. These offerings are curated by the WMS administration under the guidance of a sevenmember independent Board of Directors. (Please see roster on p. 4) The Block is also used for music education activities and made available to outside organizations. Civic and community groups—Muskegon Rotary, Downtown Muskegon Now, Young Black Professionals and Kountry Kitchen—rent the venue for meetings and other activities. Through The Block, West Michigan Symphony has become a key player in downtown revitalization and continues to expand its artistic and community footprint. •• The 2019-20 Block season is on p. 54.

50 WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY SEASON MAGAZINE

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Education West Michigan Symphony and The Block offer a host of programs that address access to arts learning and education. Music and the arts furnish young people with important skills they need to better navigate through life. These include creative thinking, problem solving, motivation, and collaboration—traits that boost both academic performance and employability. WMS education programs impact toddlers through young adults and are provided free or at very low cost to ensure access to all. These combined programs reach over 5,000 area youth in more than 50 schools. All WMS education programs offer needs-based scholarships so no child is denied an opportunity to participate simply because they cannot afford tuition. Grants are actively sought throughout the year and this funding allows the WMS to bring a selection of their music education programs to local schools, community events and nonprofit organizations. CLICK CLACK MOOSIC Created by WMS, Click Clack Moosic is a four-concert storybook series for young children and their families. Based on books by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin, Click Clack Moosic features original music composed for the series by Phil Popham. Children attending these events, held at The Block, meet WMS musicians, view instruments up close, and learn new music skills through fun and interactive skits. In these performances, children listen to a narration of one of the Click Clack Moo series of books while symphony musicians perform music composed specifically for the Click Clack stories. All four Click Clack stories give children a fun way to learn musical concepts and experience how music can tell a great story. (Please see schedule on p. 10) DEBUT AND PREMIER STRINGS Debut Strings introduces beginning and intermediate students to large ensemble performance through challenging and diverse repertoire. Students in Debut Strings have at least two years of playing experience and strong note reading skills. Debut Strings rehearses once a week throughout the fall and spring and performs two concerts annually at The Block. Premier Strings is an ensemble made up of intermediate to advanced string players who are part of the Debut Strings program. Premier String members have the opportunity to perform on stage with the West Michigan Symphony at the spring Link Up concerts. For those string players who are looking to challenge their abilities and experience additional performance opportunities, this is THE group! Both ensembles are led by Angela Corbin, Orchestra Director at North Muskegon Public Schools. Corbin earned her Master’s in Music Education from Michigan State University and has studied violin with Minghuan Xu at Grand Valley State University. As a private and class music instructor for over fifteen years, teaching music through string instruction has been one of Angela’s deepest passions.

52 WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY SEASON MAGAZINE

WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY CHILDREN’S CHOIR (WMSCC) The WMSCC is an audition-based choir for children ages 8-13. With the goal of providing children quality music education of the highest level, we strive to enrich the lives of youth from all backgrounds and to be an integral part of the artistic community in West Michigan. During the 2018-2019 season, the WMSCC experienced an exciting season of performances throughout the year, including singing on stage with the WMS orchestra for the Holiday Pops and three Link Up concerts. The choir rehearses weekly during the school year and performs regularly with WMS and in stand-alone concerts. Beth Slimko, the WMSCC Conductor, holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education with dual concentrations in vocal and instrumental pedagogy from Butler University. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education from Grand Valley State University. Ms. Slimko is currently the director of the North Muskegon Public School choir program and is a vocal music specialist for elementary music. LINK UP The largest of our education programs, WMS Link Up is beginning its 16th year of school partnerships, reaching six West Michigan counties, serving over 50 elementary schools and over 5,000 children. In collaboration with Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, WMS is the only orchestra to present the program continually since Carnegie Hall unrolled their national partnership. Provided free to participating schools, WMS Link Up is a beginner music education program that pairs our orchestra with local community schools. Students learn to read and play music on the recorder, meet WMS professional musicians in their classroom, and gain an understanding of the orchestra and orchestral repertoire through a yearlong, handson music curriculum that culminates with a spring Link Up concert in the Frauenthal Theater. (Please see concert program on p. 30) MUSIC MENTOR PROGRAM The Music Mentor program places WMS professional musicians into elementary school music programs that are participating in Link Up. The Music Mentor Program travels to schools throughout the region, becoming an integral part of their classroom experience and enriching the Link Up music curriculum all year long. Kids have the opportunity to meet and learn from professional musicians and gain an understanding that music is something that everyone can learn to play, sing and enjoy. In 2018-2019, five Music Mentors completed 80 in-school visits to area classrooms. INSTRUMENT PETTING ZOO Providing a hands-on experience creating sounds on musical instruments, the WMS Instrument Petting Zoo is an exciting way to show children they have the potential to play an instrument well before middle school band programs begin. Offered regionally at elementary schools, community events and as an occasional preconcert activity for youth and families attending a WMS concert, the Petting Zoo features instruments from each of the four families (strings, woodwind, brass and percussion) and children are able to handle and play them during the 45-minute program. VOLUME 8 • SEPTEMBER 2019 – JUNE 2020 53

FO R TH E M U S I CA L LY CU R I O U S

2019-20 SEASON

Alexander Zonjic & Friends, smooth jazz Thurs, Aug 22 7:30 pm Velvet Caravan, gypsy jazz Fri, Oct 4 7:30 pm Rodney Whitaker, jazz quartet Fri, Oct 18 7:30 pm Charlie Albright, classical piano Sat, Nov 9 7:30 pm Walvoord & Co, classical chamber Sat, Nov 23 7:30 pm ESME, classical crossover Fri, Jan 24 7:30 pm John Proulx Trio, vocal jazz Sat, Feb 8 7:30 pm Sujari Britt, classical cello Sat, Mar 14 7:30 pm House of Hamill, Celtic fiddle Sat, Mar 28 7:30 pm Fareed Haque & Tony Monaco, guitar & organ jazz Fri, May 1 7:30 pm Chee-Yun, classical violin Sat, May 16 7:30 pm

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PREMIER: 11 tickets: 1 for each show Regular Seating: $220 • Table Seating: $308 BLOCK SAMPLER: 6 tickets: 1 for each specified show Regular Seating: $126 • Table Seating: $180 WMS UNPLUGGED: 5 tickets: 1 for each specified show Regular Seating: $106 • Table Seating: $149 JAZZ: 4 tickets: 1 for each specified show Regular Seating: $90 • Table Seating: $126 PICK AND CHOOSE: 6 tickets: to use for any show, in any combination Regular Seating: $126 • Table Seating: $180

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54 WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY SEASON MAGAZINE

LUNCH ‘N LEARN Each season free “Lunch n’ Learn” sessions invite the community to bring a lunch and get better acquainted with upcoming concert repertoire; joining in conversation with Music Director Scott Speck and an invited musician or guest artist. This program continues into the 2019-2020 season with sessions scheduled at The Block the Wednesday afternoon prior to each Masterworks concert. (Please see schedule on p. 11) COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Seasonally, WMS donates tickets to dozens of charitable organizations and those unable to afford to purchase regular tickets. We regularly partner with the MAISD to reach staff, students and families from Muskegon Area schools, giving them an opportunity to attend a West Michigan Symphony concert for free. Currently WMS is collaborating with Muskegon Rotary and other community activists to bring all-weather outdoor musical instruments to Muskegon. Manufactured by Freenotes™ Harmony Park, these are durable, sustainable sound sculptures that enhance outdoor community spaces. The first installation took place during the summer of 2019 at McLaughlin Neighborhood Park in collaboration with Community enCompass. The plan calls for installation of 15 different instruments in multiple locations throughout the city. A visible presence in the community, WMS is privileged to serve our area through a diverse array of programming and educational outreach, making Muskegon a great place to live, work and play. ••

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2019-20 Concerts

Debut and Premier Strings Concert Sun, Nov 24, 2019, 4:30 pm The Block, 360 W Western Ave, 2nd floor, Muskegon Debut/Premier Strings and WMSCC Concert Sun, Mar 22, 2020, 4:30 pm Location TBD

(Listen on the web at www.bluelake.org/radio)

WMS Debut and Premier Strings will present a collaborative concert with the WMS Children’s Choir.

A Division of Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp

Tickets: Adults $10, Children/Students Free VOLUME 8 • SEPTEMBER 2019 – JUNE 2020 55

A Division of Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp

Advertisers Aquastar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

L3Harris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Raymond James . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Baker College of Muskegon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Lakeshore Museum Center. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Smash Wine Bar & Bistro. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Blue Lake Public Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Lorin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

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Chalet Floral & Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Medendorp Real Estate Group/

Sytsema Funeral Homes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Click Clack Moosic Series. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Michigan Mortgage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

The Block Season . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Community Shores Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Merrill Lynch – Kimberly L. Hammond . . . . 38

The Playhouse at White Lake . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

DaySpring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Muskegon Civic Theatre. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Timbers 939 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Debut/Premier Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Muskegon Co-op

Torresen Marine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Delta Hotel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

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Warner Norcross + Judd LLP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Drip Drop Drink. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Muskegon Community College. . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Wasserman's Flowers & Gifts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Feeding the Soul of the City. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Muskegon Country Club/Se4sons . . . . . . . . 46

West Michigan Symphony Gala. . . . . . . . . . . 38

Generation Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Muskegon County Airport. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

West Michigan Symphony

Goodwill Industries of West Michigan. . . . . 14

Muskegon Museum of Art. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Grand Valley State University . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Nichols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Back cover

West Shore ENT & Allergy . . . . . . . . . . . . 33, 47

Greenridge Realty – Tom Knight. . . . . . . . . . 31

Northern Trust. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

WMS Children's Choir. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

H&S Companies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Opera Grand Rapids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

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PNC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Zopa Consulting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Hearthstone Bistro. . . . . . . . Inside back cover

Port City Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Lunch n' Learn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

hen all

the music

WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY

Children's Choir

has been played,

and the baton lies motionless on the stand,

West Michigan Concert Winds Sat, Nov 23, 2019, 7:30 pm WMS Children’s Choir will join the West Michigan Concert Winds onstage at the Frauenthal Theater. Tickets: Adults $10, Children $2. For more info: wmcw.org Sounds of the Season Fri, Dec 13, 2019, 7:30 pm | Sat, Dec 14, 2019, 3 pm WMS Children’s Choir will join the West Michigan Symphony onstage at the Frauenthal Theater. For more info: westmichigansymphony.org WMSCC and Debut/Premier Strings Concert Sun, Mar 22, 2020, 4:30 pm

what’s remembered most is the song that remains in the heart forever.

WMSCC presents a concert with the WMS Debut and Premier Strings, their first collaboration. Location TBD Tickets: Adults $10, Children/Students Free

~ Since 1929 ~

VOLUME 8 • SEPTEMBER 2019 – JUNE 2020 57

Celebrating the

Arts with

THE WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY

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58 WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY SEASON MAGAZINE

Michigan • Ohio • Indiana

prélude

Articles inside

Sounds of the Season

Education

Frequently Asked Questions

About: West Michigan Symphony

Sustaining the Symphony

Scott Speck Music Director