the philharmonia orchestra of yale peter oundjian principal conductor
Friday, October 27, 2017 • 7:30 pm Woolsey Hall
martin bresnick Grace (2000) I.
Pendula and the Center of Gravity
(The Puppet Theatre)
II.
Of the Heaviness of Matter
(Only a god is a match for matter)
III. Grace Will Return
(Most purely in a puppet or a god)
Sam Seyong Um, marimba Georgi Videnov, marimba
intermission
anton bruckner Symphony No. 8 in C minor edited by YSM professor Paul Hawkshaw I.
Allegro moderato
II.
Scherzo. Allegro moderato
III. Adagio. Feierlich langsam,
doch nicht schleppend
IV.
Finale. Feierlich nicht schnell
Robert Blocker, Dean
As a courtesy to others, please silence all cell phones and devices. Photography and recording of any kind is strictly prohibited. Please do not leave the hall during musical selections. Thank you.
P ro g ra m N otes
Martin Bresnick » b. 1946 Grace (2000) Grace is a musical meditation on Heinrich von Kleist’s brief essay “The Puppet Theatre." In the essay, two friends meeting in a public park discuss the concept of grace as suggested by a simple puppet show. During their conversation they observe, among other ideas, how easy it is to lose grace and what should be done to find it again:
Anton Bruckner » 1824–1896 Symphony No. 8 in C minor
Anton Bruckner composed his Eighth Symphony between the summer of 1884 and August 1887, much of it while riding a wave of confidence and enthusiasm following successful performances of the Seventh Symphony in Munich and Leipzig. As soon as the Eighth was finished on August 10, 1887, he sent the score to his friend Hermann Levi, who had conducted the Munich performance “I am well aware of the damage done by con- of the Seventh Symphony, in the hopes of sciousness to the natural grace of a human convincing him to do the premiere of the new being. A young man of my acquaintance lost work. Levi declined, writing to Bruckner on his innocence by a chance remark before my October 7 that he could not understand the very eyes, and afterwards, despite making every new symphony. Levi felt, among other conceivable effort, never regained that paradise.” things, that the work was too avant-garde and over-orchestrated for the brass. Levi’s “Such mistakes have been unavoidable ever rejection of the symphony served as catalyst since we ate of the Tree of Knowledge. But for a tortuous series of revisions that culmiParadise is locked and barred and the cherub nated in a new shorter version of the symphony is behind us. We shall have to go all the way completed in March 1890. The readings of around the world and see whether it might 1887 and 1890 have since come to be identified be open again somewhere at the back. For as the first and second versions of Bruckner’s just as two lines intersecting at a point then Eighth Symphony. passing through infinity will suddenly come together again on the other side, so when The second version has been by far the favorite consciousness has passed through an infinwith audiences. In fact, the symphony was ity grace will return. Grace will be most purely accessible to the public only in the second present in the human frame that has either no version until the celebration of the composer’s consciousness at all or an infinite amount of 130th birthday, May 2, 1954. At that time, Eugen it, which is to say either in a puppet or in a god.” Jochum conducted the opening movement of the first version in Munich. The great “But should we have to eat again of the Tree Austrian Bruckner scholar Leopold Nowak of Knowledge to fall back into the state of published the entire score of the first version innocence?” in 1972, and Hans Hubert Schönzeler conducted its premiere in London on “Indeed, that is the final chapter of the history September 2, 1973. of the world.” When the present writer began to work on To Eloise M. Morgan, a person who has graced new editions of both the first and second our lives. versions of the Eighth Symphony for the New Anton Bruckner Collected Works Edition Grace was commissioned by Ronald H. now being published under the auspices of Martin, Jr. for his grandmother and written the Austrian National Library in Vienna, he for marimbist Robert van Sice. soon realized that Nowak had used a single copyist’s score rather than the surviving autograph scores for his publication. The principal sources for the reading of the first version performed this evening are the autograph scores of movements one through three in the Music Collection of the Austrian National Library and a copy score of the Finale preserved in the same collection. Tonight, for the first time ever, Anton Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony will be performed, as much as possible, as he originally conceived it. It is
art ist pPro less Artist roff iile
necessary to use a copy score for the finale because, in making his revisions for this movement, Bruckner obliterated many passages of the first version. The first version differs from the second in many obvious ways. Perhaps because he was ill during most of the revision process, the second version, particularly at the end of the first movement, is much darker. The opening movement of the first version that we hear tonight ends with a triumphant coda. The Trio, or middle section of the second movement, is entirely different from that of the second version. Tonight, we will hear a delightful love song at this point. The Adagio, perhaps Bruckner’s finest, is sublime in both versions. In the second version, the climax when the triangle and cymbal enter is a second inversion E-flat major chord; in the first version, it is in C major. The finales are more or less the same, though the earlier version is a little bit longer. Bruckner himself was rightly very proud of the first version. He wrote that the finale in particular was “the best piece I have ever composed.” We hope you will enjoy this magnificent work in the form in which its colossal, often enigmatic creator first conceived it. —Paul Hawkshaw
Peter Oundjian, principal conductor A dynamic presence in the conducting world, Toronto-born conductor Peter Oundjian is renowned for his probing musicality, collaborative spirit, and engaging personality. Oundjian’s appointment as music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) in 2004 reinvigorated the orchestra with numerous recordings, tours, and acclaimed innovative programming, as well as extensive audience growth, thereby significantly strengthening the ensemble’s presence in the world. He recently led the TSO on a tour of Europe that included a sold-out performance at Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw and the first performance by a North American orchestra at Reykjavik’s Harpa concert hall. Oundjian was appointed music director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) in 2012. Under his baton, the orchestra has enjoyed several successful tours including one to China, and has continued its relationship with Chandos Records. In 2015, Oundjian and the RSNO opened the Edinburgh Festival with the innovative Harmonium Project to great critical and audience acclaim. Few conductors bring such musicianship and engagement to the world’s great podiums —from Berlin, Amsterdam, and Tel Aviv to New York, Chicago, and Sydney. Oundjian has appeared at some of the great annual gatherings of musicians and music-lovers, from the BBC Proms and the Prague Spring Festival to the Edinburgh Festival and the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Mozart Festival, where he was artistic director from 2003 to 2005. Oundjian was principal guest conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 2010 and artistic director of the Caramoor International Music Festival in New York between 1997 and 2007. Since 1981, he has been a visiting professor at the Yale School of Music, and in 2013 he was awarded the School’s Samuel Simons Sanford Award for distinguished service to music.
a rti st Profiles p rofiles A r t i st Sam Seyong Um, marimba
Georgi Videnov, marimba
Sam Seyong Um is a percussion artist, performer, and educator. Sam has been featured in many music series and festivals including YellowBarn, the Sunset Music Series, and Essex Winter Music Series, among others. Sam was the winner of the concerto competition at the Eastman School of Music and also a recipient of the third-place prize at the 2012 PAS Marimba Competition. Sam is also a member of Robert van sice Percussion Collective, which emerged from one of the world’s foremost student percussion ensembles, the Yale Percussion Group. As an active educator, Sam has given lectures and clinics at the Peabody Conservatory, Eastman School of Music's Summer at Eastman program, and New Life Foundation. Sam has premiered many new works by well-known composers including YSM faculty composers Martin Bresnick, Christopher Theofanidis, and Hannah Lash. Sam is an active artist in community outreach/community engagement programs performing in various places around the world such as Mexico, Costa Rica, and various places in the United States with programs such as the YellowBarn Music Haul, and The New Life Foundation. Sam earned his Master of Music Degree from the Yale School of Music, with a Havemeyer Scholarship, under the tutelage of Robert van Sice. He earned his Bachelor of Music Degree from the Eastman School of Music, with a Howard Hanson Scholarship and a John Beck Scholarship, under Michael Burritt and was honored with the prestigious performer’s certificate. Sam is currently pursuing a Master of Musical Arts Degree at the Yale School of Music. Sam is a proud endorser of mallet manufacturer Vic Firth.
Bulgarian-born percussionist Georgi Videnov specializes in orchestral, solo, and chamber music performance. He has participated in a number of national and international competitions, both as a soloist and as a member of chamber ensembles. Among his numerous awards, Mr. Videnov has received first prizes at the Pendim and Young Virtuosos competitions in Bulgaria, as well as the Competition for French Music Performance in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. In April 2008, he was featured as a soloist with the Bulgarian National Radio Orchestra. Earlier this spring, he completed his education at the Yale School of Music under the tutelage of professor Robert van Sice. During his time there, he took part in the Yale in New York concert series performing at Carnegie’s Weill and Zankel recital halls. Currently, Mr. Videnov serves as a leader of the percussion section in the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra in China.
A b o u t Ya l e Philharmo nia
The Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale is one of America’s foremost music-school ensembles. The largest performing group at the Yale School of Music, the Philharmonia offers superb training in orchestral playing and repertoire.
peter oundjian Principal Conductor
Performances include an annual series of concerts in Woolsey Hall, as well as Yale Opera productions in the Schubert Theater. The Yale Philharmonia has also performed on numerous occasions in Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York City and at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The orchestra undertook its first tour of Asia in 2008, with acclaimed performances in the Seoul Arts Center, the Forbidden City Concert Hall and National Center for the Performing Arts (Beijing), and the Shanghai Grand Theatre.
jeffrey m. mistri Manager
philharmonia staff
samuel bobinski Assistant Manager/Librarian office assistant Kristy Tucker david yi Assistant Conductor
the philharmonia orchestra of yale Violin I Kate Arndt Jessy Kim Emily Switzer Laura Park Gregory Lewis Kevin Zheng Ethan Hoppe Mevlan Mecid Michael Tropepe Ji Soo Lee Dongsoo Cha Chang Hoon Bae Violin II Alyssa Marie Blackstone Ariel Horowitz Bora Kim Gaga Won Emre Engin Maathew Woodard Andy Peng Yuqi Li Martin Peh Maura Scanlin Viola Allie Simpson Marta Lambert Marlea Simpson Rayna Yun Chou Thomas Duboski Abby Elder Josip Kvetek Hayaka Komatsu Cello James Rosamilia Samuel DeCaprio Eric Adamshick Jenny Kwak Justin Park Ji Young Choi Valentina Crnjak Bo Bae Lee
Bass Russell Thompson Jordan Calixto Mariya-Andoniya Andonova Chin To Kelvin Ng Kohei Yamaguchi Eric Timperman Flute Helen Park 2 Lucas Guedes Oliveira Maria Luisk Piccolo Maria Luisk
Horn Scott Leger Esteban Garcia Luke Baker Gabriel Marison Antonia Chandler 2 Josh Thompson Steven Harmon Stephen Newberry 1 Trumpet Ashley Hale 2 Eric Rizzo Chloe Swindler Oscar Mason
Oboe Shawn Hutchison 1 Lauren White Leonardo Ziporyn 2 Elliot Lichtenberg Michelle Nguyen
Trombone Ingram Lee Hillary Simms 2
Clarinet Michael Moy 1 Richard Adger Elisha Willinger 2
Tuba Joseph Guimaraes
E Flat Clarinet Michael Moy Bassoon Kristy Tucker 1 Dana Brink Patrick Broder 2 Contrabassoon Mingyuan Yuan
Bass Trombone Zachary Haas
Timpani Dmitrii Nilov Percussion YoungKyoung Lee Shiqi Zhong Harp Anna Ellsworth Margaret Davis 1 2
Principal on Bresnick Principal on Bruckner
Music Librarians Antonia Chandler Bora Kim Marta Lambert Gregory Lewis Laura Park Lauren Williams Leonardo Ziporyn Stage Crew Jisu Jung Matt Keown YoungKyong Lee Aaron Israel Levin Gabriel Mairson Dmitrii Nilov Lucas Oliveira Tanner Porter Hillary Simms Sam Seyong Um Daniel Vaitkus Rimbo Wong
Up co ming Event s NOV 3&4
NOV 8
FALL OPERA SCENES Yale Opera Scenes from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and Don Giovanni, Heggie's Dead Man Walking, Massenet's Cendrillon, Puccini's La Bohème, Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia, and Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos Morse Recital Hall | Friday & Saturday | 7:30 pm Tickets Start at $10, Students $5 PETER FRANKL, WITH JANNA BATY AND RANDALL SCARLATA Horowitz Piano Series Faculty pianist Peter Frankl is joined by faculty mezzo-soprano Janna Baty and baritone Randall Scarlata for an all-Schumann program Morse Recital Hall | Wednesday | 7:30 pm Tickets from $13, Students $7
NOV 9
DAVID LANG & HANNAH LASH New Music New Haven Music by YSM faculty composers David Lang and Hannah Lash, and graduate-student composers Morse Recital Hall | Thursday | 7:30 pm Free Admission
NOV 12
YALE PERCUSSION GROUP YSM Ensembles The Yale Percussion Group, under the direction of Robert van Sice, has been described by composer Steve Reich as a "truly extraordinary" ensemble Morse Recital Hall | Sunday | 7:30 pm Tickets from $10, Students $5
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