| 914-682-3707 · include complete trios and sonatas of Shostakovich, complete chamber works of Maurice Ravel, a 4-disc set of the complete Brahms Piano Trios, a set of complete Beethoven

JAIME LAREDO, PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR • TED SPERLING, PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR

THE 2015-2016 SEASON

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2 WESTCHESTER PHILHARMONIC | 2015–2016 SEASON


2015–2016 Season Welcome

n Ear-Opening Experience

Welcome to the Westchester Philharmonic’s spectacular 33rd season, and today’s performance. You are about to experience music-making of the highest caliber: A sonic treat for your ears, a stimulating tug of your intellect, and the deeply satisfying nourishment of your soul. Enjoy!

This season’s lineup spans eras, genres, and tastes—something for everyone to fall in love with:

In October, Christopher Theofanidis’ Dreamtime Ancestors kicks-off our season for an exclusive tristate premiere, and renowned cellist Sharon Robinson joins Principal Conductor Jaime Laredo (who happens to be her husband) for the daring and fiercely passionate Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1.

December’s Winter Pops offers exciting new wrinkles, with the amazing vocals of Ashley Brown and the prodigal pianist Joe Mohan, while Principal Conductor Ted Sperling spices things up with classical favorites including Gershwin’s jazz-age masterpiece, Rhapsody in Blue.

Sperling returns to our podium in February with the incomparable Dawn Upshaw performing the hauntingly lyrical Three Songs of Osvaldo Golijov, and Yoon Jae Lee’s acclaimed transcription for full orchestra of Mendelssohn’s beloved Octet.

Laredo takes up his violin in April as soloist-leader for Vivaldi’s scintillating D Minor Concerto Grosso and Mozart’s sublime 3rd Violin Concerto, then he trades bow for baton to lead the orchestra in an emotionally stirring work of Corigliano and a buoyant Stravinsky.

In June, American conductor Kazem Abdullah makes his Westchester debut with Israeli pianist Alon Goldstein, a formidable team to take on Brahms’ equally formidable First Piano Concerto.

Throughout the season, you’ll also hear masterpieces of Beethoven and Bernstein, always more Mozart, and one very sensual fire dance.

Thank you for coming, and for bringing you ears—the pathway to your heart. We hope to meet you there.


Meet the ORCHESTRA

Musicians of the Westchester Philharmonic

Jaime Laredo, Principal Conductor • Ted Sperling, Principal Conductor

VIOLINRobert Chausow, Concertmaster

Robin Bushman, Assistant Concertmaster

Michael Roth, Principal Second

Martin AgeeDiane BruceVictor HeifetsElizabeth KleinmanBarbara LongWende NamkungElizabeth NielsenLaura OattsDorothy StrahlSander StrengerMoira TobeyDavid TobeyCarlos VillaCarolyn Wenk-GoodmanDeborah WongD. Paul Woodiel VIOLAKyle Armbrust, PrincipalAh Ling NeuSandra RobbinsLiuh Wen TingLeslie TomkinsJessica Troy

CELLOGene Moye, PrincipalSarah CarterRoberta CooperMaureen HynesEliana MendozaMaxine NeumanLanny Paykin

BASSJordan Frazier, PrincipalGregg AugustJered EganJack Wenger

FLUTELaura Conwesser, PrincipalRie SchmidtSheryl Henze

OBOEMelanie Feld, PrincipalKathy Halvorson

CLARINETJohn Moses, PrincipalStephen HartDennis Smylie, Bass Clarinet

BASSOONFrank Morelli, PrincipalHarry Searing

FRENCH HORN Peter Reit, PrincipalWill De VosLarry DiBelloNancy Billmann

TRUMPETLowell Hershey, PrincipalLorraine CohenWayne duMaine

TROMBONEHugh Eddy Mark Johansen TUBAMarcus Rojas, Principal

TIMPANIBen Herman, Principal

PERCUSSIONJames Saporito, Principal

HARPSara Cutler, Principal

KEYBOARDChris Oldfather, Principal LIBRARIANRosemary Summers

PERSONNEL MANAGERJonathan Taylor

2015–2016 Season


Jaime Laredo, Principal Conductor

erforming for over six decades before audiences across

the globe, Jaime Laredo has excelled in the multiple roles of soloist, conductor, recitalist, pedagogue, and chamber musician. Since his stunning orchestral debut at the age of eleven with the San Francisco Symphony, he has won the admiration and respect of audiences, critics and fellow musicians with his passionate and polished performances. That debut inspired one critic to write: “In the 1920’s it was Yehudi Menuhin; in the 1930’s it was Isaac Stern; and last night it was Jaime Laredo.” His education and development were greatly influenced by his teachers Josef Gingold and Ivan Galamian, as well as by private coaching with eminent masters Pablo Casals and George Szell. At the age of seventeen,

Jaime Laredo won the prestigious Queen Elisabeth of Belgium Competition, launching his rise to international prominence. With 2009 marking the 50th anniversary of his prize, he was honored to sit on the Jury for the final round of the Competition.

In the 2015–16 season, Mr. Laredo will tour as a soloist with his wife, cellist Sharon Robinson, giving the European premieres of André Previn’s Double Concerto for Violin and Cello, with co-commissioners the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. North American performances of this work, written specifically for the duo, received raves throughout the 2014–15 season with the Cincinnati Symphony, Kansas


City, Austin, Detroit, Pacific, and Toronto symphony orchestras.

During the season, Mr. Laredo will continue to tour as a member of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio in recital and for performances of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto. Founded by Mr. Laredo, Sharon Robinson, and pianist Joseph Kalichstein in 1976, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio performs regularly at Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street Y, and Town Hall in New York, and at the Kennedy Center where they are the ensemble in residence. They have toured internationally to cities that include Lisbon, Hamburg, Copenhagen, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna, Helsinki, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, and Melbourne. Among its numerous awards, the Trio was named Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year in 2002. In addition to his performing work, Mr. Laredo’s season includes conducting engagements with the Vermont Symphony and at Carnegie Hall with the New York String Orchestra. This year marks the fourth year of Mr. Laredo’s tenure as a member of the violin faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

In past seasons, Mr. Laredo and Ms. Robinson performed in recital in the US, Canada and on tour in Bolivia, including performances of Richard Danielpour’s Inventions on a Marriage. The 2011 work was commissioned specifically for the duo and was dedicated to and inspired by their marriage. It explores in “musical snapshots” the bond of long-term relationships. Recent conducting and solo engagements have taken Mr. Laredo to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, the New World Symphony and Scottish Chamber Orchestra in addition to the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and the Vermont Symphony. Festival engagements have taken him across the globe from the Chautauqua Music Festival in New York to Seoul Spring Festival in Korea.

A recent project entitled “Two x Four” celebrated the relationship between the teacher and the student through music. With his colleague and former student Jennifer Koh, Mr. Laredo and Ms. Koh performed the Double Concerti for Two Violins by J.S. Bach, Philip Glass, and two newly commissioned concerti by composers Anna Clyne and David Ludwig with the Delaware Symphony, the IRIS orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Vermont Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and with the Curtis Orchestra on tour at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Kennedy Center and the Miller Theater of Columbia University. The recording of this acclaimed project was released by Cedille Records in 2014.

Other conducting and performing highlights include the Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Detroit Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, and Philadelphia Orchestra, among many others. Abroad, he has performed with the London Symphony, the BBC Symphony, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, the Royal Philharmonic and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, which he led on two American tours and in their Hong Kong Festival debut. His numerous recordings with the SCO include Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (which stayed on the British best-seller charts for over a year), Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, “Italian” and “Scottish” Symphonies, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and recordings of Rossini overtures and Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll.

For fifteen years, Mr. Laredo was violist of the piano quartet consisting of renowned pianist Emanuel Ax, celebrated violinist Isaac Stern, and distinguished cellist Yo-Yo Ma, his close colleagues and chamber

Jaime Laredo


music collaborators. Together, the quartet recorded almost the entire piano quartet repertoire on the SONY Classical label, including the works of Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann, Fauré, and a disc of Brahms piano quartets for which they won a Grammy Award.

Mr. Laredo has recorded close to one hundred discs, received the Deutsche Schallplatten Prize, and has been awarded seven Grammy nominations. Mr. Laredo’s discs on CBS and RCA have included the complete Bach Sonatas with the late Glenn Gould and a Koch International Classics album of duos with Ms. Robinson featuring works by Handel, Kodaly, Mozart, and Ravel. His releases on the Dorian label include Schubert’s complete works for violin and piano with Stephanie Brown, and “Virtuoso!” a collection of favorite violin encores with pianist Margo Garrett. Other releases include Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante and Concertone with Cho-Liang Lin for Sony. Acclaimed Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio releases include complete trios and sonatas of Shostakovich, complete chamber works of Maurice Ravel, a 4-disc set of the complete Brahms Piano Trios, a set of complete Beethoven Piano Trios and the complete Schubert Piano Trios. The Trio’s most recent release on Azica, “Passionate Diversions,” includes the Piano Trio, Septet and Quintet written for them by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Mr. Laredo has also released an album with Sharon Robinson and the Vermont Symphony entitled “Triple Doubles,” which includes three double concertos dedicated to the Duo: Daron Hagen’s Masquerade; a new, fully-orchestrated version of Richard Danielpour’s A Child’s Reliquary (originally written as a piano trio for the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio); and David Ludwig’s Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra. Both albums were released by Bridge Records in November, 2011.

Recognized internationally as a sought after violin teacher, Mr. Laredo has fostered the education of violinists that include Leila Josefowitz, Hillary Hahn, Jennifer Koh, Ivan Chan, Soovin Kim, Pamela Frank, and Bella Hristova. After 35 years of teaching at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, 7 years at Indiana University’s Jacob School of Music, Mr. Laredo teaches at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where his wife, cellist Sharon Robinson, also holds a teaching position. Additionally, Mr. Laredo is the conductor of the New York String Orchestra, which brings young musicians from around the world to the stage of Carnegie Hall every December.

In demand worldwide as a conductor and a soloist, Mr. Laredo has held the position of Music Director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra since 1999 and is in his second season as Principal Conductor of the Westchester Philharmonic. In 2009, Mr. Laredo and his wife were named the Artistic Directors of the Linton Chamber Music Series in Cincinnati, Ohio.

During his 39 years as Artistic Director for New York’s renowned Chamber Music at the Y series, Mr. Laredo created an important forum for chamber music performances, and developed a devoted following. Further, his stewardships of the annual New York String Orchestra Seminar at Carnegie Hall and the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis have become beloved educational pillars of the string community. A principal figure at the Marlboro Music Festival in years past, he has also been involved at Tanglewood, Aspen, Ravinia, Mostly Mozart, and the Hollywood Bowl, as well as festivals in Italy, Spain, Finland, Greece, Israel, Austria, Switzerland, and England.

Born in Bolivia, Jaime Laredo resides in Guilford, VT and Cleveland, OH, with his wife, cellist Sharon Robinson.

Jaime Laredo


Ted Sperling, Principal Conductor

ed Sperling, music director, conductor, actor,

pianist, violinist, singer, director, and arranger has been

active in the New York theater and concert world for thirty years. He is currently the music director and conductor for The King and I on Broadway at Lincoln Center and was the music director and conductor of the Lincoln Center Theater production of South Pacific. Mr. Sperling won the 2005 Tony and Drama Desk Awards for his orchestrations of The Light in the Piazza, for which he was also music director. Sperling was music director

and arranger for Guys and Dolls, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Full Monty, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. His other Broadway credits include My Favorite Year, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Angels in America, Falsettos, Les Misérables, Drood, Roza, and Sunday in the Park with George. Mr. Sperling was an original cast member of Titanic, playing bandleader Wallace Hartley.

Off-Broadway, Mr. Sperling directed the world premieres of Red Eye of Love, The Other Josh Cohen, See What I Wanna See, and Striking 12. His Off-Broadway credits


as music director include A Man of No Importance, Stephen Sondheim’s Wise Guys, Saturn Returns, Floyd Collins, A New Brain, and Romance in Hard Times. He has directed many programs for the American Songbook series at Lincoln Center, for the Lyrics and Lyricists series at the 92nd Street Y, at Joe’s Pub, and at Town Hall. His regional directing credits include the world premiere of Charlotte: Life? or Theater?, and a revival of Lady in the Dark starring Andrea Marcovicci at the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia. He has directed three gala evenings for the Public Theater: Cabaret, starring Anne Hathaway, Linda Lavin and Harvey Feierstein; The Pirates of Penzance, starring Kevin Kline, Glenn Close, Martin Short, Eric Idle, Jonathan Groff and Anika Noni Rose; and a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of A Chorus Line. Mr. Sperling’s upcoming projects include Show Boat with the New York Philharmonic.

In the opera world, Mr. Sperling has conducted The Mikado, Song of Norway, and Ricky Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath at Carnegie Hall, Kurt Weill’s The Firebrand of Florence at Alice Tully Hall, and a double-bill for the Houston Grand Opera and Audra McDonald: La Voix Humaine by Poulenc, and the world premiere of Send: Who are You?

I Love You by Michael John LaChiusa. Mr. Sperling has conducted concerts with many of the major American symphonies, including the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco and Chicago Symphony Orchestras; soloists have included Audra McDonald, Deborah Voigt, Victoria Clark, Patti LuPone, Kelli O’Hara, Nathan Gunn and Paulo Szot. Mr. Sperling’s TV appearances include a “Saturday Night Live” performance with Michael Bublé.

Mr. Sperling conducted the world premiere recordings of Ragtime and Dream True, songs for the animated film Anastasia and the film scores of The Manchurian Candidate, Everything Is Illuminated and the recent Sundance Award-winning 3 Backyards. He made his film directorial debut with the short musical film, Love, Mom, for which he won the Director’s Choice Award at the Black Maria Film and Video Festival, and he appears in the film One Night Stand.

Mr. Sperling received the 2006 Ted Shen Family Foundation Award for leadership in musical theater, and is the director of the Music Theater Initiative at the Public Theater, as well as the creative director of the 24-Hour Musicals. This is his second season as Principal Conductor of the Westchester Philharmonic.

Ted Sperling



CONCERT I

Sunday, October 18, 2015, at 3pmThe Eugene and Emily Grant Opening Series

Jaime Laredo, conductor

Sharon Robinson, cello

This season is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

This season is made possible by ArtsWestchester with support from Westchester County Government.

CHRISTOPHER THEOFANIDIS (b. 1967)Dreamtime Ancestors* (2015) (*NEW YORK PREMIERE)

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906–1975)Concerto No. 1 in E-flat for Violoncello and Orchestra, Op. 107 (1959) I. Allegretto II. Moderato III. Cadenza – Attacca IV. Allegro con moto

Ms. Robinson

Intermission

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827)Symphony No. 4 in B-flat, Op. 60 (1806) I. Adagio – Allegro vivace II. Adagio III. Allegro vivace IV. Allegro ma non troppo

Program Notes - CONCERT I


f we close our eyes and leave our modern mind,

if we remember our early childhood, with no awareness of

passing time, when each day was full, really full, the eternity of a week or a month, the enormous and unquestioned sense of connection with our family, everything still untraumatized, then, can we begin to enter the Dreaming. This is “all-at-once” time—our past, present, and future, our connection to all things—in a seed.

Baiame! Ancestor Maker of Many Things.Baiame! Baiame!Bring forth other ancestors from the ground and send them over the seas.

Rainbow Serpent Ancestor, carve rivers, leave stars!Flow blood, hurl lightning—bring life to empty space!

Eagle ancestor, burst Emu Ancestor’s egg in the air—burst it into flame: the sun!

Crocodile Man Ancestor, whose ridges carve the earth,Leave a memory of your earthly pain!Valleys and peaks everywhere!

Every event an ancestor, a connection, a record in the land. These are the Songlines of the earth. Nothing is apart. All we know, all we are, accumulated.

Before and after life, a spirit-child exists.When this spirit-child is about to be born,It is the songline that calls the child forth to be a custodian of that place— to understand its connection, to stay.

Songlines call the whispers of animals yet to be, the stirrings of faint breaths, souls of creatures deeply slumbering under the earth’s crust, into the great human consciousness. Each stone speaks a poem.

This is the Dreaming.

—Christopher TheofanidisFrom the Australian Aboriginal Tradition

Dreamtime Ancestors (2015)New York PremiereCHRISTOPHER THEOFANIDISBorn December 18, 1967 in Dallas, Texas

• Aboriginal mythology and the mysteries of creation underlie this tone poem

• Theofanidis is interested in the relationship between music and the human condition

• Listen for a recurrent “weaving” theme that unifies the opening “Songlines”

• Strings dominate the second movement, and a driving pace propels the finale

Christopher Theofanidis’s new piece is part of an exciting nationwide commissioning consortium. At press time, orchestras in 39 of the 50 states had scheduled performances of Dreamtime Ancestors during the 2015–16 season. The world premiere took place two weeks prior to today’s performance, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. This afternoon marks only the second performance of this important new composition and its exclusive performance in the tristate area.

Theofanidis has rocketed to prominence among American composers in recent years. His Rainbow Body has been programmed by more than 120 orchestras in the USA and overseas. Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony have recorded Rainbow Body and performed several of Theofanidis’ other works. He has composed for violinist Sarah Chang, the American Ballet Theatre, baritone Thomas Hampson, and the San Francisco Opera. Theofanidis taught at Baltimore’s Peabody Conservatory and New York’s Juilliard School before joining the faculty of Yale University.

The new piece is an outgrowth of Theofanidis’ oratorio, Creation/Creator (2015), which drew on texts from a variety of disciplines. That project catalyzed his interest in creation stories as part of our collective human psychology. “I started

What is the Dreaming?


thinking about archetypes that clarify and define our relationship to daily things, from family dynamics to nature and everything in between,” he explains. “I was particularly struck by Australian aboriginal stories.” His composer’s note states:

Dreamtime Ancestors is a three-movement, 17-minute tone poem for orchestra that includes an optional reading to precede the music. It is based on the Australian aboriginal creation myths connected to “dreamtime,” where each of us is connected to each other through our “dreamtime ancestors” in the past, present, and future. This is referred to as “all-at-once time.”

The work is dedicated to Stephen Paulus, a wonderful human being and music maker, who is a part of us all, past, present, and future.

To this brief description Theofanidis adds, “Each movement starts from the general Dreamtime mythology. ‘Songlines’ refers to the way dreamtime ancestors leave earthly remnants of their existence: rivers, mountains and the like are all direct connections to our ancestors having inhabited this planet. In this first movement, a weaving line moves about, ‘threading’ the other materials and melodies.

“The second movement, ‘Rainbow Serpent,’ refers to one of the major Ur -characters in the dreamtime, a kind of Brahma figure. Strings are the focus, and the principal theme meanders chromatically, leaving a ‘rainbow’ in its wake.

“The third movement, ‘Each stone speaks like a poem,’ refers to the concept that the poetry of our collective history surrounds us every day and requires our connection to all things. The music is more earthy and driven.”

Dreamtime Ancestors unfolds with a gentle flow that evokes a sense of the inevitable and the eternal. Although pacing and instrumentation shift in each movement, the three sections share an expanded modal/tonal vocabulary that is immensely appealing, while subtly uniting the entire composition. Our minds and ears remain engaged, with narrative flow to sustain logic, yet just enough quirky rhythmic adjustments and unusual scale patterns to keep us on our toes.

The score calls for two flutes (second doubling piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, trombone, timpani, vibraphone, bells, suspended cymbal, Chinese cymbal, tam tam, slapstick, and strings.

Concerto No. 1 in E-flat for Violoncello and Orchestra, Op. 107DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICHBorn 25 September, 1906 in St. Petersburg, RussiaDied 9 August, 1975 in Moscow

• A four-note motive dominates the first movement

• The remaining three movements are played without pause

• Clarinet, horn, and celesta have important solo cameos

Dmitri Shostakovich spent his entire creative life under the shadow of Soviet communism. His compositions broadly divide into two principal categories: ideological and non-ideological. The latter are—or have been construed to be—more attuned to his inner thoughts, rather than musico-public statements or compliance with then-politically-correct artistic expression. Both of Shostakovich’s Cello Concertos, Op. 107 (1959) and Op. 126 (1966) are generally considered to be more personal, non-ideological works, and both are very important within his oeuvre.



The First Concerto is a terse and controlled work with strong thematic unity. Shostakovich wrote it for his friend Mstislav Rostropovich, who played the first performances in the Soviet Union and did much to further the composer’s reputation internationally. Shostakovich introduced the concerto at a Soviet composers’ club meeting early in the autumn of 1959. The formal premieres took place in October in Leningrad and Moscow.

On tour in America during the Cold War

Late that year, he traveled with other Soviet composers to the United States as part of the “loosening” of Soviet cultural policies. The delegation was led by Tikhon Khrennikov and also included Dmitri Kabalevsky, Fikret Amirov, Konstantin Dankevich and Boris Harustorsky. They toured Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Louisville, Philadelphia and New York City. Rostropovich played the American premiere of the Cello Concerto at one of the Philadelphia concerts honoring the Soviet composers.

At one of the Washington concerts, Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony had its American premiere. Shortly after that performance, he told an American interviewer:

I consider the Communist Party of the Soviet Union the most progressive force in the world. I have always heeded its advice and shall continue to do so till the end of my life.

And so he did. But what worlds of different thought he communicated through his music!

About the music

The concerto is cast in four movements, the last three of which are played without pause. In the opening Allegretto, the cellist jumps directly in with the four-note motive that dominates the entire movement and also figures prominently in the finale. Counterpoint is initially provided by the woodwind; the strings are secondary, but provide an important supporting role. Shostakovich’s orchestration is spare and laconic, allowing the soloist to dominate without interference from an oversized or overly aggressive ensemble.

Indeed, the cello rests little in this energetic movement. Rhythmic games throw off the pulse here and there, implying that Shostakovich had a more than passing acquaintance with Stravinsky’s music. The Allegretto includes brief but important solos for both clarinet and French horn; the latter actually echoes and shares the cello’s principal solo line. Toward the end, the two play a striking unaccompanied duet for about two dozen bars.

Shostakovich’s slow movement, marked Moderato, shares an odd rapport with the passionate, deeply tragic mode of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings. As in the first movement, there is an important obbligato role for horn and a lesser one for solo clarinet. Except at the musical climax, the composer pares back the orchestra still further. A middle section recapitulates the opening A-minor idea in F-sharp minor, which provides a piquant and effective key change. The soloist introduces several beautiful new melodies, enhanced by woodwind accompaniment. This section takes maximum advantage of the cello’s vocal and expressive character.



Late in the movement, the cello plays its plaintive theme on harmonics, in dialogue with the celesta. The effect is breathtakingly beautiful and very moving. This magical ending moves attacca (without pause) to the third movement, an extended solo cadenza exploiting the full expressive and technical range of the instrument. Sometimes the cello sounds as if it were two instruments at once! Shostakovich uses this cadenza to develop the ideas of the ethereal slow movement. Gradually he gathers momentum and imparts dazzling difficulty to the solo line, as it hints at the dominant idea of the first movement and moves, again without pause, toward the dramatic and driven Allegro con moto with which the concerto closes. A metric switch to 3/8 time serves as the vehicle to re-introduce the first theme, and the concerto concludes with the familiar four-note motive of the opening hammered home in resounding triumph.

The soloist is supported by an orchestra comprising two flutes (second doubling piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons (second doubling contrabassoon), horn, timpani, celesta and strings.

SIDEBAR: STALIN’S FAVORITE DITTY

Shostakovich enjoyed a special friendship with the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. They first met in 1943 when Rostropovich joined Shostakovich’s orchestration class at the Moscow Conservatory. Shostakovich chaired the jury in December 1945 when Rostropovich, then 18, won the All-Union Competition for Performers. The two often played chamber music together. In 1955, Shostakovich went on tour with Rostropovich and his wife, the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. They performed an all-Shostakovich program comprising works for solo piano, cello and piano, and songs for voice and piano. Shostakovich subsequently composed important works for both Rostropovich and Vishnevskaya.

The Cello Concerto No.1, Op.107, was the first piece that Shostakovich wrote specifically for Rostropovich. In an interview with Elizabeth Wilson in November 1989, the late cellist revealed a surprise connection to Joseph Stalin:

In his First Cello Concerto, Shostakovich alludes to Stalin’s favorite song, “Suliko.” These allusions are undoubtedly not accidental, but they are camouflaged so craftily that even I didn’t notice them to begin with. The first time Dmitri Dmitrievich hummed this passage through to me, he laughed and said, “Slava, have you noticed?”

I hadn’t noticed anything.

“Where is my dear Suliko, Suliko? And where is my dear Suliko, Suliko?”

I doubt if I would have detected this quote if Dmitri Dmitrievich hadn’t pointed it out to me.

—Quoted in Elizabeth Wilson, Shostakovich: A Life Remembered

(Princeton 1994)

(“Suliko” is a familiar Georgian folk song; it appears in the concerto’s finale, where Shostakovich repeats it and exaggerates the tune obsessively. He subsequently re-introduces the motive from the concerto’s first movement, combining the two for the work’s biting conclusion.)

Rostropovich also did yeoman work in preparing the First Concerto for performance, learning and memorizing it in record time, to the composer’s astonishment and delight. Speaking with Manashir Yakubov in 1998, Rostropovich recalled:

In the summer of 1959 he gave me the score of the First Cello Concerto and, five days later, I went with my accompanist, Alexander Dedyukhin, to Shostakovich’s dacha in Komarovo, in order to play it to



him. He had handed me the manuscript only in the evening of the 1st of August, and I worked for ten hours on the 2nd, and ten hours on the 3rd. But on the 4th, I could not take so much, so I only worked for eight hours then, and I did another eight on the 5th—and then, finally, on the 6th, I went to see him, and in spite of everything, it came out well! When I said to him, “I don’t need [a music stand!],” he gave me such a look, that for the sake of that look alone, it would have been worth working for another fifty hours.—Quoted in A Shostakovich Casebook, ed.

Malcolm H. Brown (Bloomington, IN: 2004)

Symphony No. 4 in B-flat, Op. 60LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVENBorn 16 December, 1770 in Bonn, GermanyDied 26 March, 1827 in Vienna, Austria

• Beethoven’s mysterious, hypnotic slow introduction baffled audiences in 1806

• Sudden contrasts, drama, and wit abound in the Fourth Symphony

• His increasing mastery of the orchestra is evident in his woodwind writing

• Violins play teasing games with the winds in the trio section of the scherzo

• Listen for a whirlwind-fast bassoon solo in the finale

Among Beethoven’s nine symphonies, the odd-numbered ones are the “biggies” that almost everybody knows by reputation, if not well enough to identify immediately. His Ninth, the “Choral” Symphony, concludes with the famous “Ode to Joy,” which schoolchildren can hum. Though the Seventh bears no nickname, it is a major work on a large scale, and a favorite of many Beethoven lovers. Everyone acknowledges the universal appeal of “fate knocking on the door” in Beethoven’s Fifth. The “Eroica” changed the scope of the symphony forever, and is forever associated with Napoleon’s 1803 invasion of Vienna. And the First is, well,

Beethoven’s first symphony, and a farewell to the eighteenth century.

Of the even-numbered symphonies, only the Sixth, the “Pastoral,” can reckon with the colossuses mentioned above. For many years, Symphonies No. 2, 4, and 8 took a back seat to the others. Then, in the 1970s, something of a backlash took place. For a while the Fourth was the most frequently performed Beethoven symphony in the United States! It has been alternately overlooked and overplayed. This afternoon’s performance by the Westchester Philharmonic is a welcome re-acquaintance.

Robert Schumann referred to the B-flat symphony as “a slender Greek maiden between two Norse giants.” His assessment makes sense in the context of the “Eroica” and the Fifth Symphonies, but should not persuade the listener that this work is altogether lacking in fire or passion. The Fourth symphony is relatively free of the conflict and tortured purpose that dominate the symphonies that preceded and followed it. Composed in 1806, it shares an overall aura of serenity with other major compositions Beethoven completed that year: the Fourth Piano Concerto, Op. 58 and the Violin Concerto, Op. 61. Those two masterworks are a better framework in which to consider the Fourth Symphony.

Beethoven prepares us for a serious, weighty experience with his expectant slow introduction to the first movement. We anticipate minor mode, but he fools us, launching into a lighthearted Allegro full of delicacy and verve. Syncopation and canon play a major role in this exuberant opener. In the slow movement, an Adagio in E-flat major, Beethoven spins a gloriously long theme out of primarily stepwise motion, adding rhythmic and textural interest through the underlying accompaniment

Program Notes - CONCERT IProgram Notes - CONCERT I


and in the bridge passages. He adds drama with unexpected use of the timpani, so often silent in slow movements.

Cat-and-mouse chases between woodwinds and strings characterize the scherzo, in which a mischievous, unlikely melodic figure derives from an arpeggiated diminished seventh chord. The intervening trio provides some delightful solo woodwind opportunities. Flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon each have additional occasions to shine in the finale. Here, Beethoven celebrates his classical heritage with Haydn-esque humor, plus a dash of Beethovenian practical joking thrown in for spice.

Beethoven worked on the Fourth Symphony during summer 1806, completing it in the autumn. In early February 1807, he sold it to Count Franz von Oppersdorf for six months’ private use. Beethoven gave two concerts in the home of either Prince Lichnowsky or Prince Lobkowitz (his notebooks say ‘Prince L.’) in March. Scholars believe that the symphony received its first performance at one of those concerts.

The score calls for woodwinds, horns and trumpets in pairs; timpani and strings.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Program Notes by Laurie Shulman ©2015First North American Serial Rights Only


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inner of the Avery Fisher Recital Award,

the Piatigorsky Memorial Award, the Pro Musicis Award,

and a Grammy nominee, cellist Sharon Robinson is recognized worldwide as one of the most outstanding musicians of our time. Whether as a recitalist, soloist with orchestra, or member of the world-renowned Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, critics and audiences alike respond to what the Indianapolis Star has called “A cellist who has simply been given the soul of Caruso.” Ms. Robinson divides her time among solo engagements, teaching, performing with her husband, violinist and conductor Jaime Laredo, and touring with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. In 2014–15, Ms. Robinson and Mr. Laredo premiered André Previn’s Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra, performing with the orchestras of Austin, Cincinnati, Detroit,

Kansas City, Toronto, as well as the Pacific Symphony in Orange County, California. Also in 2014–15, Ms. Robinson and pianist Benjamin Hochman continued presenting their Beethoven mini-marathon of all the works for cello and piano, including the three sets of variations.

Guest appearances with orchestras include the Philadelphia and Minnesota orchestras, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, National, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and San Francisco symphonies; and in Europe with the London Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, Zürich’s Tonhalle Orchestra, and the English, Scottish, and Franz Lizst chamber orchestras.

In the fall of 2012, Sharon Robinson joined the instrumental and chamber music faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music. Highly sought after for her dynamic master classes, she brings insight to her teaching from the rare combination of her lifetime experiences as a member of the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Ciompi String Quartet of Duke University, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, plus countless solo recitals and concerto performances.

In 2009 Ms. Robinson and Mr. Laredo became co-artistic directors of the famed Linton Chamber Music Series in Cincinnati, Ohio, gathering musicians from around the globe in combination with soloists and members of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra to explore beloved and innovative chamber works. The couple also continue as co-artistic directors of the Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle at Bard College and Artistic Advisors for the Brattleboro Music Center in Vermont.

Sharon Robinson has recorded extensively as soloist and with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. In 2011, in celebration of their 35th wedding anniversary,

Sharon Robinson, cello


Ms. Robinson and Mr. Laredo released an album entitled “Triple Doubles,” consisting of three double concertos dedicated to the Duo: Daron Hagen’s Masquerade ; a new, fully-orchestrated version of Richard Danielpour’s A Child’s Reliquary (originally written as a piano trio for the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio); and David Ludwig’s Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra. The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio also released the complete Schubert piano trios. Both albums were released by Bridge Records.

hristopher Theofanidis has had performances by many leading orchestras from

around the world, including the London Symphony, the New York

Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Moscow Soloists, the National, Atlanta, Baltimore, St. Louis, and Detroit Symphonies, among many others. He also served as Composer of the Year for the Pittsburgh Symphony during their 2006–07 season, for which he wrote a violin concerto for Sarah Chang.

Mr. Theofanidis holds degrees from Yale, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Houston. He has been the recipient of the International Masterprize, the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim fellowship, a Fulbright fellowship to France to study with Tristan Mural at IRCAM, a Tanglewood fellowship, and two fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2007, he was nominated for a Grammy Award for best composition for his chorus and orchestra work, The Here and Now, based on the poetry of Rumi. His orchestral work, Rainbow Body, has been one of the most performed new orchestral works of the new millennium, having been performed by over 150 orchestras internationally.

Mr. Theofanidis’ has written a ballet for American Ballet Theatre, a work for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra as part of their “New Brandenburg” series, an opera for the Houston Grand Opera and for the San Francisco Opera with Thomas Hampson singing the lead role. He has a long-standing relationship with the Atlanta Symphony and Maestro Robert Spano; his concert length oratorio, Creation/Creator, was recently recorded with them. He has served as a delegate as part of the Leadership Program of the US-Japan Foundation and is a former faculty member of the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University as well as The Juilliard School. Mr. Theofanidis is currently a professor of composition at Yale University.

Christopher Theofanidis, composer



CONCERT II



December 20, 2015, at 3pm

Ted Sperling, conductorAshley Brown, vocalsJoseph Mohan, piano

Winter Pops!


shley Brown originated the title role in Mary Poppins on Broadway

for which she received Outer Critics, Drama League, and Drama Desk nominations for Best Actress. Ms. Brown also starred as Mary Poppins in the national tour of Mary Poppins where she garnered a Garland Award for Best Performance in a Musical. Ms. Brown’s other Broadway credits include Belle in The Beauty and The Beast, and she has starred in the national tour of Disney’s On The Record. Ms. Brown recently returned to critical acclaim starring in

the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of Oklahoma!. She has played Magnolia opposite Nathan Gunn in Francesca Zembello’s Showboat, also with the Lyric Opera. Ms. Brown has performed with virtually all of the top orchestras in North America, including the Boston Pops, the New York Philharmonic, The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra at Disney Hall, The Pittsburgh Symphony, the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall (four times), Fort Worth Symphony, the Cincinnati Pops, Philadelphia Orchestra (two times), the Milwaukee Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony (three times), Seattle Symphony, the Houston Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Jacksonville (two times), and the Philly Pops. She has also performed with the BBC Orchestra opposite Josh Groban. Ms. Brown made her solo concert debut at The Kennedy Center as part of Barbara Cook’s Spotlight Series, and has appeared in New York City at prestigious venues including Feinstein’s at the Regency and Birdland. Other projects include star turns in Hello Dolly! at The Goodspeed Opera House, The Sound of Music at the St. Louis MUNY which garnered her a Kevin Kline Award, Limelight at the La Jolla Playhouse, and her own PBS special called Ashley Brown: Call Me Irresponsible which received a PBS Telly Award. Other television credits include NBC’s The Sound of Music. Ms. Brown’s long awaited album of Broadway and American Songbook standards is available on Ghostlight/Sony. Ms. Brown is a graduate of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.

Ashley Brown, vocals


urrently a master’s candidate in Piano

Performance at The Juilliard School, where he also

earned his undergraduate degree in performance, the Ocean City Sentinel described Joseph Mohan as a “tremendously talented pianist with a flair for improvisation.” He has released three CD’s: A Touch of Classics, The Broadway Variations, and Offerings, the latter showcasing his arrangements of well-known hymns and songs of praise. He performed in One Thrilling Combination, a special tribute to Marvin Hamlisch at Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre. He has also performed in Juilliard’s Wednesdays at One concert series in Alice Tully Hall, the school’s PianoScope series at The Morgan Library, with The Collegiate Chorale in Song of Norway at Carnegie Hall, and with the Ocean City Pops as guest conductor, composer, and soloist.

Mr. Mohan has collaborated with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, South Carolina Philharmonic, American Symphony Orchestra, Amherst Symphony, and the Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra under the batons of Marvin Hamlisch, Ted Sperling, Bill Scheible, Matthew Kraemer, Gerard Floriano, and Steven Thomas. His solo recitals and performances include a guest performance at the Thousand Islands International Chopin Piano Competition for Young People, the Ocean City Tabernacle’s annual summer concert series, and “Music and a Message” for the Niagara Lutheran Health Foundation. Mr. Mohan has won several national and international piano competitions,

including the BPO Idol with Marvin Hamlisch, and was featured on the PBS Documentary, Piano Forte.

He has been a member of The Gluck Community Fellowship, a program devoted to bringing Juilliard performers from all disciplines into rehabilitation centers and underprivileged communities throughout the five boroughs of New York City. Presently, he is the Ear Training coach for The Juilliard School’s Precollege Division and a teaching fellow in the Ear Training division of The Juilliard School. He is also the Director of Music at Calvary United Methodist Church in Dumont, New Jersey.

Joseph Mohan, piano



CONCERT III

February 7, 2016, at 3pmThe Westchester Philharmonic’s Friends & Family Concert

Ted Sperling, conductor

Dawn Upshaw, soprano



WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1791)Overture to The Marriage of Figaro, K.492 (1786)

OSVALDO GOLIJOV (b. 1960)Three Songs for Soprano and Orchestra (2000–2001) I. Night of the Flying Horses II. Lúa Descolorida III. How Slow the Wind

Ms. Upshaw

Intermission

FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809–1847)Octet in E-flat Major for Strings, Op. 20 (1825)(Transcribed for full orchestra by Yoon Jae Lee, 2009)(Scherzo movement arranged for orchestra by the composer, 1829) I. Allegro moderato con fuoco II. Andante III. Scherzo IV. Presto


This afternoon’s program consists of chameleons. Each of the compositions we hear exists in more than one version—or fulfills a different function in another venue. Mozart conceived his Overture to The Marriage of Figaro as a curtain raiser for a comic opera. The sparkling overture is such a masterpiece that it has become one of the most popular works in the orchestral literature, independent of the opera house (where it also remains a great favorite).

Three songs round out the first half. Argentinian-born Osvaldo Golijov composed all of them for our soloist, soprano Dawn Upshaw, initially for voice and piano or for voice and chamber ensemble. Her glorious interpretations have enchanted listeners, prompting Golijov to arrange each of the songs for voice and orchestra.

Mendelssohn composed his immortal Octet for Strings for four violins, two violas, and two cellos; however, he obviously recognized its symphonic potential, since he arranged its Scherzo for orchestra in 1829. Yoon Jae Lee’s orchestration of the remaining three movements brings this masterpiece to the concert hall in a version for full orchestra. The genius and glory of Mendelssohn’s music take on new luster in this larger iteration.

Overture to The Marriage of Figaro, K.492WOLFGANG AMADÈ MOZARTBorn 27 January 1756 in Salzburg, AustriaDied 5 December 1791 in Vienna, Austria

• Virtuoso strings play fast and fleet in this overture

• Listen for sudden contrasts of soft and loud

• The big crescendo at the end is a precursor to the famous “Rossini crescendo”

The Marriage of Figaro was the first of Mozart’s three collaborations with the Italian poet Lorenzo da Ponte. Da Ponte crafted his superb libretto from Caron de Beaumarchais’s French play, Le mariage de Figaro, which is actually part II of a Figaro trilogy. Beaumarchais’s drama was considered subversive by the Viennese monarchy. In order for the libretto to clear the imperial censors, da Ponte had to make some adjustments. He downplayed the political aspects of the drama and capitalized on its inherent comedy. In his music, Mozart matched and surpassed da Ponte’s admirable achievement. Mozart was at the height of his powers in 1786, and there are many who rank this opera as his supreme masterpiece.

Mozart’s overture is remarkable for several reasons. First, it does not include any actual themes from the opera; all its music is completely independent of the musical drama, except in the sense that the overture’s key of D-major is the dominant tonality of the opera. Second, in spite of this thematic independence, the music captures the comic, effervescent atmosphere of the opera with exquisite skill. Third, Mozart—always a master of formal structures—has written a tightly unified sonata form movement without an ounce of pedantry. To the contrary, his overture is brimming with joy and enthusiasm, sounding as spontaneous as if it were jotted down on the spur of the moment.

The music of the overture is so familiar that it requires no introduction. Those who are fortunate enough to be discovering it this afternoon for the first time will be delighted with Mozart’s verve and energy. Others who know it well may smile as they recognize a technique in the coda as Mozart builds toward the decisive final chords. We call it a “Rossini

Program Notes - CONCERT III


crescendo,” but Mozart understood how to create the same excitement and momentum with consummate artistry, in this case six years before Rossini was born.

Mozart scored the overture for woodwinds, horns and trumpets in pairs, timpani, and strings.

A Word on Mozart’s Name

Mozart was born in Salzburg on 27 January 1756 and died in Vienna 5 December 1791, not quite thirty-six years old. He was baptized with the names Joannes Chrysost[omus] Wolfgangus Theophilus. His parents gave him the names Johann and Chrysostom because he was born on that saint’s day. Wolfgang was the first name of Mozart’s maternal grandfather. The name “Theophilus” (Greek for ‘beloved of God’) came from the godfather, Joannes Theophilus Pergmayr, a Salzburg businessman and local official. Days after the boy’s birth, Leopold referred to his infant son as Gottlieb (the German for Theophilus). “Amadeus” is the Latinate form.

In letters, the composer signed his name variously as “Mozart,” “W.A. Mozart,” “Wolfg. Amad. Mozart,” “MZT,” “Wolf. Amdè Mozart” and, most frequently, “Wolfgang Amadè Mozart.” As a boy in Italy, he occasionally signed in the Italianate spelling: “Wolfgango Amadeo.” Despite Peter Shaffer’s stage play Amadeus and Miloš Forman’s even more popular film, Mozart did not use the name Amadeus!

In recent years, the spelling “Wolfgang Amadè Mozart” has supplanted the old-fashioned “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart” in common usage and printed programs. The glory of his music remains unchanged.

Three Songs for Soprano and OrchestraNight of the Flying HorsesLúa DescoloridaHow Slow the WindOSVALDO GOLIJOV (b.1960)

• Golijov is an Argentine with Eastern European Jewish roots; his music is multicultural

• These songs have origins ranging from film soundtrack to chamber music

• Golijov’s literary taste is as wide-ranging as his musical styles are varied

• Listen for unusual vocal techniques, especially in “How Slow the Wind”

In 2001, when the latest edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians was published, it did not even include an entry for Argentinian-born Osvaldo Golijov (pronounced Go-LEE-hoff ). Were a new edition to be published today, such an article would have to be substantial. Golijov caused a sensation in the music world in 2001 with the Stuttgart première of his La Pasión Según San Marcos (The Passion According to St. Mark). That orchestral/vocal/theatrical score incorporates elements of Latin music ranging from Afro-Cuban rumba to Argentinian tango à la Astor Piazzolla, with dashes of Spanish flamenco thrown in for spice. Audience reaction was electrifying and has remained equally enthusiastic in subsequent performances of La Pasión and other works. As a result, Golijov catapulted into the cultural spotlight and is now one of the busiest living composers.

Golijov was reared in an Eastern European/Jewish household in La Plata, Argentina. (His mother was a Romanian piano teacher; his father a Ukrainian doctor.) He emigrated from Argentina to Israel in 1983, studying with Mark Kopytman at



the Jerusalem Rubin Academy. Golijov came to this country in 1986 to pursue a doctorate in composition with George Crumb at the University of Pennsylvania. Subsequently he worked with Lukas Foss and Oliver Knussen at Tanglewood.

He is currently Loyola Professor of Music at Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts. Golijov has been composer-in-residence of New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Spoleto USA Festival, Marlboro Music, and elsewhere. In 2003 he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, the so-called “genius” award. His opera Ainadamar received its world premiere production at the Santa Fe Opera in 2005. Azul, his cello concerto for Yo-Yo Ma, was commissioned by the Boston Symphony and opened the New York Philharmonic’s 2013–14 season.

Night of the Flying Horses is drawn from Golijov’s soundtrack to Sally Potter’s 2001 film, The Man Who Cried, starring Christina Ricci, Cate Blanchett, Johnny Depp, and John Turturro. The film, set primarily in Nazi-occupied Paris, deals with the fate of Jews and Gypsies in that perilous time. Night of the Flying Horses opens with variations on a Yiddish lullaby. The composer has written:

The lullaby metamorphoses into a dense and dark doina (a slow, Gypsy rubato genre) featuring the lowest string of the violas. The piece ends in a fast gallop boasting a theme that I stole from my friends of the wild Gypsy band Taraf de Haïdouks.

Sliding pitches and propulsive rhythms drive Night of the Flying Horses to its surprise ending.

Golijov composed Lúa Descolorida in 2000 for Dawn Upshaw and the Kronos

Quartet. The text is by Rosalia de Castro, a poet greatly admired by Federico García Lorca. His composer’s note elaborates.

“A dead man in Spain is more dead than anywhere else,” said García Lorca, explaining that Spanish poets define rather than allude. Lúa Descolorida, a poem written in Gallego (the language of the Galicia region in Spain) by Lorca’s beloved Rosalía de Castro, defines despair in a way that is simultaneously tender and tragic. The musical setting is a constellation of clearly defined symbols that affirm contradictory things at the same time, becoming in the end a suspended question mark. The song is at once a slow motion ride on a cosmic horse, a homage to Couperin’s melismas in his Lessons of Tenebrae, velvet bells coming from three different churches, a death lullaby, and the ladder of Jacob’s dream. But the strongest inspiration for Lúa Descolorida was Dawn Upshaw’s rainbow of a voice, and I wanted to give her a piece so quietly radiant that it would bring an echo of the single tear that Schubert brings without warning in his voicing of a G major chord.

How Slow the Wind is a conflation of two short poems by Emily Dickinson: “How Slow the Wind” (1883) and “Is it too Late to Touch You, Dear” (1885). The texts address the emotions of those left to deal with the aftermath of death. The song was Golijov’s response to the death of a friend, Mariel Stubrin, who was killed in a car accident in January 2001. He later recalled:

[She] died…while driving in the south of Chile (a landscape similar to northern California). How Slow the Wind is about sudden death, about an instant in which life turns upside down, unlike a process of slow death. I think that Emily Dickinson’s words could be understood like that. I imagine that those words



could represent the feeling that Mariel’s husband, Dario (a friend of mine since childhood), felt the minute after the accident. The voice is a call from a flying spirit, and the strings are the wind.

Golijov’s eight-minute setting probes expressive depths, reaching into the dark spaces of bereavement. Extensive use of the strings sul ponticello [playing on the bridge] and some unusual vocal techniques add to the otherworldly quality of the music.

All three of these songs originated in chamber versions and were subsequently orchestrated. Golijov’s score changes the instrumentation for each one. Night of the Flying Horses calls for two flutes (second doubling piccolo and alto flute), oboe, English horn, clarinet, bass clarinet, two bassoons, two horns, celesta, solo soprano, and strings. Lúa Descolorida is for solo soprano and strings. The orchestra for How Slow the Wind comprises flute (doubling alto flute), oboe, English horn, basset horn, clarinet, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, two horns, vibraphone, marimba, chimes, tam tam, celesta, harp, and strings.

Octet in E-flat Major for Strings, Op. 20FELIX MENDELSSOHNBorn 3 February, 1809 in Hamburg, GermanyDied 4 November, 1847 in LeipzigMovements I, II, and IV arranged for orchestra by Yoon Jae LeeScherzo arranged by Mendelssohn in 1829

• Mendelssohn was only 16 when he composed his Octet

• He orchestrated the Scherzo as a substitute third movement for his Symphony No.1

• Yoon Jae Lee’s arrangement transforms the other three movements for the orchestral concert hall

Once or twice in an artistic career, a masterpiece of such overpowering splendor, skill and charm bursts forth that it begs the dictionary for words to praise it. Mendelssohn hit the jackpot several times while he was still a teenager. The Octet for Strings is the crown jewel of those magically productive years. Here is a work that one takes to heart on a first hearing, delighting in its soaring melodies, emotional immediacy, humor, and quasi-orchestral sound flirting with delicate textures. Its fruits yield themselves more generously on repeated hearings; that generally means settling into a comfortable chair and auditing a favorite recording. This afternoon we have a rare opportunity to hear the beloved Octet performed by full orchestra.

Felix Mendelssohn was all of sixteen when he wrote this work. The concept of such mastery from one so young is at once mind-boggling and exhilarating, as indeed is his music. He completed the Octet on October 15, 1825 in Berlin, on the heels of a trip to Paris with his father. (It is only fair to note that scholars now know that Mendelssohn revised and tightened the work substantially between its initial completion and eventual publication in 1833.) He wrote it for, and dedicated it to, Eduard Rietz (1802–1832), a violinist and conductor with whom Mendelssohn both studied and played quartets since 1820. Rietz was later the concertmaster for Mendelssohn’s historic revival of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in 1829. His superior musicianship and string technique doubtless influenced the brilliant first violin part of the Octet.

Even in the original for eight players, Mendelssohn’s approach to the texture is symphonic. From the exuberant opening measures, the first theme takes flight with energy and upward impetus. A series of arpeggios moves the music forward with urgency and commitment, propelled by


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humming tremolandi and syncopations in the inner voices. The second theme, as closely knit and narrow in its range as the first was far-flung, displays Mendelssohn’s superb attention to contrapuntal detail. Its deceptive simplicity lends itself to subtle variation at each restatement, and the availability of eight voices enables Mendelssohn to take maximum advantage of the imitative possibilities. The movement is cast in one of the free sonata forms so characteristic of his early chamber music, particularly in its truncated recapitulation and extended coda. (Sonata form, in various guises, prevails in all four of the Octet’s movements.) The first movement’s length—about fourteen minutes—supports its sense of symphonic expanse.

The slow movement is Mozartean in its harmonic nuance and emotional depth. Mendelssohn’s treatment of sonata form is unusual in that the main theme does not recur in the recapitulation; he delays its restatement until the coda.

Allegro leggerissimo (fast and as lightly as possible) is Mendelssohn’s designation for the Scherzo, a model of gossamer delicacy. It prompts wonder that a full orchestra can sound so slight and ethereal.

By contrast, the galumphing cello line that starts the finale is intentionally gauche. As John Horton has observed:

Not even the best cellists can make this sound dignified, and unless one subscribes to the view that Mendelssohn has for once miscalculated an instrumental effect the only conclusion must be that the whole of this passage is humorous in intention.

A possibility is that [his] thoughts were still running on…Shakespeare’s fantasy of the overlapping supernatural and mortal worlds. If the scherzo mirrors the court of Oberon and Titania, why should not the following movement be in some sense an expression of the other side of the comedy?

Indeed, Mendelssohn not only demonstrates the same type of bumpkin humor as his donkey brays in the overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but also introduces a brisk fugal line that allows him to exercise his contrapuntal wizardry again. In complexity and ambition, this finale approaches that of Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony. The difference is that Mendelssohn incorporates subtle references to the earlier movements, binding the Octet together as a cyclic composition. The entire work is a delight, filled with spontaneity and substance, entertaining and satisfying the listener for every joyous step of the journey.

Yoon Jae Lee arranged the first, second, and final movements of the Octet for orchestra in 2009, on the occasion of the Mendelssohn bicentennial year. His version does not include the Scherzo movement because Mendelssohn arranged the Scherzo for full orchestra in 1829 as an alternate third movement for his Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 11. Both Mr. Lee’s arrangement and Mendelssohn’s orchestration of the Scherzo call for woodwinds, horns, and trumpets in pairs, timpani, and strings.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Program Notes by Laurie Shulman ©2015First North American Serial Rights Only




oining a rare natural warmth with a fierce

commitment to the transforming communicative

power of music, Dawn Upshaw has achieved worldwide celebrity as a singer of opera and concert repertoire ranging from the sacred works of Bach to the freshest sounds of today. Her ability to reach to the heart of music and text has earned her the devotion of an exceptionally diverse audience, and the awards and distinctions accorded only to the most distinguished of artists. In 2007, she was named a Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation, the first vocal

artist to be awarded the five-year “genius” prize, and in 2008 she was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Her acclaimed performances on the opera stage comprise the great Mozart roles (Susanna, Ilia, Pamina, Despina, and Zerlina) as well as modern works by Stravinsky, Poulenc, and Messiaen. From Salzburg, Paris and Glyndebourne to the Metropolitan Opera, where she began her career in 1984, she has made nearly 300 appearances. Dawn Upshaw has also championed numerous new works created for her, including The Great Gatsby by John Harbison, the Grawemeyer Award-winning opera L’Amour de Loin, oratorio La Passion de Simone by Kaija Saariaho, John Adams’s Nativity oratorio El Niño, and Osvaldo Golijov’s chamber opera Ainadamar and song cycle Ayre.

It says a great deal about Dawn Upshaw’s sensibilities as an artist and colleague that she is a favored partner of many leading musicians, including Gilbert Kalish, the Kronos Quartet, James Levine, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. In her work as a recitalist, and particularly in her work with composers, Ms. Upshaw has become a generative force in concert music, having premiered more than 25 works in the past decade. From Carnegie Hall to large and small venues throughout the world she regularly presents specially designed programs composed of lieder, contemporary works in many languages,

Dawn Upshaw, soprano


and folk and popular music. She furthers this in master classes and workshops with young singers at major music festivals, conservatories, and liberal arts colleges. She is Artistic Director of the Vocal Arts Program at the Bard College Conservatory of Music, and the head of the Vocal Arts Program at the Tanglewood Music Center.

A five-time Grammy Award-winner, Ms. Upshaw most recently received the 2014 Best Classical Vocal Solo Grammy for Maria Schneider’s Winter Morning Walks on the ArtistShare Label. She is featured on more than 50 recordings, including the million-selling Symphony No. 3 by Henryk Gorecki for Nonesuch Records. Her discography also includes full-length opera recordings of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Messiaen’s St. Francois d’Assise, Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, John Adams’s El Niño, two volumes of Canteloube’s “Songs of the Auvergne,” a dozen recital recordings, and an acclaimed three-disc series of Osvaldo Golijov’s music for Deutsche Grammophon.

Dawn Upshaw holds honorary doctorate degrees from Yale, the Manhattan School of Music, The Juilliard School, Allegheny College, and Illinois Wesleyan University. She began her career as a 1984 winner of the Young Concert Artists auditions and the 1985 Walter W. Naumburg Competition, she was also a member of the Metropolitan Opera Young Artists Development Program.

oon Jae Lee enjoys a multifaceted career

as conductor, arranger, pianist, and musical

entrepreneur. As founder and artistic director of Ensemble

212, Mr. Lee has built the New York based orchestra into one of today’s finest young ensembles. Ensemble 212 has received critical acclaim for innovative programming featuring works by living composers, arrangements of Mr. Lee, and for exciting interpretations of the standard repertoire. Mr. Lee is a dedicated champion of new music and has initiated

Yoon Jae Lee, arranger


a new music educational concert series aimed at introducing living composers to young audiences. He has conducted numerous New York and world premieres of works by award-winning composers including Mohammed Fairouz, Huang Ruo, Daniel Felsenfeld, and Ke-Chia Chen. This season, he is collaborating with composer Texu Kim as part of Ensemble 212’s Composer in Residence Program. His list of appearances as guest conductor include the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, Bruckner Orchester Linz, Opera on Tap, and New England Conservatory. He has collaborated with distinguished artists including Nick Canellakis, D’Anna Fortunato, David Krakauer, Mimi Stillman, as well as members of the Attacca, Borromeo and Orion String Quartets, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra. In November 2014, Mr. Lee was appointed principal conductor of Hartford’s Albano Ballet Company.

Mr. Lee’s arrangements have been praised by audiences and critics alike. His orchestral transcription of Mendelssohn’s Octet with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra “Incorporated winds and brass.....intelligently” (The Philadelphia Inquirer). The New York Times described

his chamber version of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony as “Illuminating..... with solos leaping out in unusually bold detail.” Mr. Lee is currently engaged in The Mahler Chamber Project which plans to arrange all Mahler symphonies and Das Lied von der Erde for chamber orchestra by 2020.

A native of New York City, Mr. Lee is a second-generation Korean-American. He received degrees in piano and conducting from the Mannes College of Music where he was awarded the N. T. Milani Memorial Conducting Fellowship and given support from the Peter M. Gross Fund. Mr. Lee also studied at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg in Austria. During that time, he served as Assistant Conductor to the Salzburger Kammerphilharmonie. His conducting mentors include Dennis Russell Davies, David Zinman, Samuel Wong, David Hayes, Michael Charry, Murry Sidlin, and Arkady Leytush. Mr. Lee has participated in Kurt Masur’s conducting masterclass, the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen, and the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute led by his keen interest in historical performance practice. He currently serves on the faculty at the City College of New York (CUNY).


CONCERT IV

April 17, 2016, at 3pmEternal Spring

Jaime Laredo, conductor and violin



ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678–1741)Concerto Grosso in D minor, Op. 3, No. 11, RV 565 (1711) I. Allegro – Adagio e spiccato – Allegro II. Largo e spiccato III. Allegro

WOLFGANG AMADÈ MOZART (1756–1791)Violin Concerto No. 3 in G, K.216 (1775) I. Allegro II. Adagio III. Rondeau

Mr. Laredo

Intermission

JOHN CORIGLIANO (b. 1938)Voyage (1971; arr. for string orchestra by the composer, 1976)

IGOR STRAVINSKY (1882–1971)Suite from Pulcinella (1922) I. Overture: Sinfonia II. Serenata III. Scherzino – Allegro – Andantino IV. Tarantella V. Toccata VI. Gavotta – Variation I & II VII. Duetto – Vivo VIII. Minuetto – Finale


At first glance, this afternoon’s program looks as if it leapfrogs from 18th century works on the first half to 20th century works following intermission. Vivaldi and Mozart are twin peaks of the Baroque and Classical eras, while Corigliano and Stravinsky represent the modern age.

Jaime Laredo’s repertoire selections are savvy, thoughtful, and more nuanced than they appear. The Vivaldi and Mozart pieces show how the concerto evolved from a genre featuring multiple soloists within a larger ensemble to one that focused on an individual player. We also hear differences in musical structure between these two works, as concerto style shifted from the recurring music of a ritornello toward the thematic contrast and developmental organization of sonata form.

As for our two modern works: both Voyage and the Pulcinella Suite have strong connections to the past. Corigliano’s catalyst was a celebrated poem by the 19th century French romantic Charles Baudelaire. His original choral setting adopts rich modal harmonies that hark to an earlier time; they transfer beautifully to string orchestra. The inspiration for Stravinsky’s Suite was 18th century Italian music by Pergolesi and others. By imprinting his distinctive musical personality on music from a different era, Stravinsky helped to establish a new neoclassical style.

Concerto Grosso in D minor, Op. 3, No. 11, RV 565ANTONIO VIVALDIBorn 4 March, 1678 in Venice, ItalyDied 27 or 28 July 1741 in Vienna, Austria

• Vivaldi was ordained as a priest but spent most of his life as a professional musician

• This concerto is part of a larger set of twelve concerti

• Listen for strong contrasts of piano (quiet) and forte (loud)

• Notice how the accompanying group is smaller when the soloists play

Vivaldi’s L’estro armonico is one of the finest concerto collections of the entire Baroque era. These twelve works were first published by Estienne Roger of Amsterdam in 1712. French and English editions by LeClerc and Walsh followed, a reflection of Vivaldi’s popularity and fame throughout Europe. L’estro armonico is a composite set, which means that their instrumentation varies. Some are for solo violin, others for four violins, still others for two. The one we hear this afternoon features a concertino group of two violins and cello. The entire opus is a spectacular reflection of Vivaldi’s versatility and imagination.

Even in his own day, the eleventh concerto of L’estro armonico was singled out for praise. The Englishman William Hayes, then a Professor of Music at Oxford, wrote in 1753:

I think Vivaldi has so much greater merit than the rest that he is worthy of some distinction…in the eleventh of his first twelve concertos, op. 3, he has given us a specimen of his capacity in solid composition. For the generality, in the others, he piques himself upon a certain brilliance of fancy and execution, in which he excelled all who went before him…But in the above concerto is a fugue, the principal subjects of which are well invented, well maintained, the whole properly diversified with masterly

Program Notes - CONCERT IV


contrivances, and the harmony full and complete.

The concerto is unusual in that its first movement subdivides into three parts: two allegros separated by an Adagio e spiccato [spiccato means detached]. The second allegro will be instantly recognizable to anyone who listened to the Swingle Singers in the 1960s.

The slow movement, Largo e spiccato, is a siciliana with no basso continuo; Vivaldi awards that role to his supporting strings. His concluding fugue, as Professor Hayes wrote, is vigorous and persuasive. Another contemporary who admired it was Bach. He transcribed it for organ as BWV 596.

Violin Concerto No. 3 in G, K.216WOLFGANG AMADÈ MOZARTBorn 27 January, 1756 in Salzburg, AustriaDied 5 December, 1791 in Vienna, Austria

• Most of Mozart’s pieces for violin and orchestra date from his Salzburg years

• In Mozart’s Salzburg, this concerto might have been played outdoors, in church, or between the acts of an opera

• Thoughtful music-making is more important than technical fireworks

• Listen for beauty of sound, clarity of structure, and gorgeous melodies

The year that Mozart was born, his father Leopold published a violin method called Versuch einer gründliche Violinschule (A Treatise on the Fundamentals of Violin Playing; sometimes translated simply as The Art of the Violin). The book was well-received and influential, establishing Leopold’s authority and reputation as a string pedagogue. As difficult as it is for us to place this information in context, to some extent Wolfgang grew up identified through his father’s fame. He became an expert performer on violin and viola as well as piano, and by age 14 had been named Konzertmeister in the

Salzburg Court Orchestra. For a while, he contemplated a career as a concert violinist.

With that background, we can better assess the remarkable fact that, between April and December, 1775, 19-year-old Wolfgang composed four (!) concerti for violin and orchestra. Even though he likely wrote them for Antonio Brunetti, concertmaster of the Salzburg orchestra, these concerti surely reflect Mozart’s own string technique in his late ’teens.

The G major concerto, K.216, was the third to be completed that year; the autograph is dated 12 September. More self-assured than its two predecessors, the Third Concerto shows a convincing command of form and interaction between soloist and orchestra. The main theme of the Allegro derives from an aria in the opera Il rè pastore, K.208, which Mozart had just completed in April, 1775. Among other details, Mozart gives the oboes and horns a more significant role than in earlier concerted works. As Stanley Sadie has observed, this was the first concerto movement in which Mozart gave the soloist thematic material that had not been previously stated in the orchestral introduction. This introduction of fresh themes would characterize all the later piano concerti.

Other foretastes of the mature piano concerti are present. The Mozart specialist Philip Radcliffe compares the sustained, vocal melody of the slow movement to the famous “Elvira Madigan” theme in the Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K.467. Pizzicato basses, muted strings, and a duet of flutes replacing oboes provide gentle support to the elegant solo cantilena. The Rondeau finale, a bubbling movement in 3/8, is interrupted by two episodes in duple time. Mozart further surprises us by avoiding fireworks in favor of a quiet, unassuming conclusion to this graceful movement. His emphasis is on melody, tone quality, and surpassing musicianship.



All three movements in K.216 provide opportunities for a cadenza, and the third movement has several additional places that invite Eingänge (brief improvised embellishments, like mini-cadenzas). For the first movement, Jaime Laredo plays a cadenza by Sam Franko (1857–1937), an American violinist and conductor who studied in Germany with Joachim and in Paris with Vieuxtemps. Mr. Laredo has composed his own cadenzas and Eingänge for the second and third movements.

The score calls for two flutes, two oboes, two horns, solo violin, and strings. The oboes play in the outer movements, and are silent in the slow movement. The flutes are only used in the second movement. In the 18th century, most wind players played more than one instrument. Mozart almost certainly expected that his oboists would switch to flute for the slow movement. In these performances, of course, our regular flutists and oboists play their respective parts.

A Word on Mozart’s Name

Mozart was born in Salzburg on 27 January 1756 and died in Vienna 5 December 1791, not quite thirty-six years old. He was baptized with the names Joannes Chrysost[omus] Wolfgangus Theophilus. His parents gave him the names Johann and Chrysostom because he was born on that saint’s day. Wolfgang was the first name of Mozart’s maternal grandfather. The name “Theophilus” (Greek for ‘beloved of God’) came from the godfather, Joannes Theophilus Pergmayr, a Salzburg businessman and local official. Days after the boy’s birth, Leopold referred to his infant son as Gottlieb (the German for Theophilus). “Amadeus” is the Latinate form.

In letters, the composer signed his name variously as “Mozart,” “W.A. Mozart,” “Wolfg. Amad. Mozart,” “MZT,” “Wolf.

Amdè Mozart” and, most frequently, “Wolfgang Amadè Mozart.” As a boy in Italy, he occasionally signed in the Italianate spelling: “Wolfgango Amadeo.” Despite Peter Shaffer’s stage play Amadeus and Miloš Forman’s even more popular film, Mozart did not use the name Amadeus!

In recent years, the spelling “Wolfgang Amadè Mozart” has supplanted the old-fashioned “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart” in common usage and printed programs. The glory of his music remains unchanged.

VoyageJOHN CORIGLIANOBorn 16 February, 1938 in New York City

Winner of the 1991 Grawemeyer Award for his First Symphony, the 2001 Pulitzer Prize in music for his Second Symphony, and an Academy Award for his score to François Girard’s 1997 film The Red Violin, John Corigliano is one of America’s most prominent living composers. His landmark opera The Ghosts of Versailles (1991) was the first to be commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera in half a century.

Corigliano was educated at Columbia, where he studied with Otto Luening. He taught at the Manhattan School of Music from 1971 to 1986, and currently serves on the faculties of the Juilliard School and Lehman College-CUNY, where he holds the title Distinguished Professor of Music. His music is eclectic, drawing on multiple styles but nearly always in an accessible and inviting manner. He often favors lyricism, striking instrumental sonorities, and a harmonic palette with modernist touches, still firmly anchored in tonality.

Voyage is singular among Corigliano’s compositions in that it exists in multiple versions. Initially, in 1971 he set Richard Wilbur’s translation of Charles Baudelaire’s



poem “L’invitation au voyage” for a cappella chorus. Seven years later, Corigliano arranged the choral movement for string orchestra, in the version Mr. Laredo conducts this afternoon. At the behest of the Irish flutist James Galway, Corigliano recast Voyage for flute and strings in 1983. Subsequent versions exist for flute and harp, and for flute and piano.

The popularity of Voyage is easy to understand, particularly in this string orchestra version. Like Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, it takes full advantage of the string ensemble to flesh out the flowing modal themes with rich harmonies. Like Samuel Barber’s Adagio for strings, it is emotionally charged, here suggesting the seductive, exotic world to which the poet invites his mistress. Corigliano is a literary-minded composer who responded to both the musicality and the voluptuousness of Baudelaire’s verse and Wilbur’s translation. His composer’s note explains:

Wilbur’s poignant setting pictures a world of obsessive imagination— a drugged version of heaven full of sensual imagery. The music echoes the quality of the repeated refrain found in this lush translation: “There, there is nothing else but grace and measure, richness, quietness and pleasure.”

Suite from PulcinellaIGOR STRAVINSKYBorn 17 June, 1882 in Oranienbaum, RussiaDied 6 April, 1971 in New York City

• 18th century themes were the basis for this neoclassical ballet

• Sergei Diaghilev, the great Russian impresario, commissioned Pulcinella

• The melodies, supposedly by Pergolesi, were actually by other composers

• Stravinsky “seasoned” the 18th century material with his unique 20th century spices

From skeptic to advocate

When Serge Diaghilev, the legendary impresario of the Ballets Russes, suggested in 1919 that Stravinsky turn his attention to music by little-known 18th century masters with the idea of orchestrating some movements as a ballet score, the composer reacted with initial skepticism. Diaghilev proposed music of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–1736). Stravinsky knew little of Pergolesi’s work beyond the Stabat Mater and the opera La serva padrona, neither of which interested him.

Then he riffled through the obscure manuscripts Diaghilev had obtained from Italian libraries. Captivated by the music’s simplicity and melodious charm, Stravinsky reconsidered Diaghilev’s proposal. Ultimately the entire project proved too seductive to resist. Diaghilev offered him a kind of package deal: Pablo Picasso would do the sets, and Leonid Massine the choreography. Stravinsky later wrote that his “discovery of the past was the epiphany through which the whole of (his) late work became possible.”

Neoclassicism: a new phase rooted in tradition

One often hears the term “neoclassical” applied to Stravinsky. Pulcinella, the ballet score he composed in response to Diaghilev’s commission, earned that sobriquet for him. It was the first work in which he consciously turned to the rhythms, melodies and textures of an earlier era. Musically, the greatest difficulty in explaining Pulcinella is not in the metamorphosis of rococo music into a 20th century score, but the fact that music attributed to Pergolesi turned out not to be by Pergolesi at all! Musical scholars have ascribed nearly all the fragments to Pergolesi’s contemporaries, proving their attribution to Pergolesi to be spurious. Nevertheless, Pergolesi’s name remains closely associated with Stravinsky’s score.



Making old music sound fresh: the Stravinsky touch

Stravinsky left the melodic lines of the 18th century pieces intact. By the addition of his own music in bridge passages, he succeeded in breaking up the predictability of the original. His personal imprint is both harmonic and rhythmic: the gentle dissonance created by pedal points, and clever adaptations of the dance meters with unexpected repetitions and startling sonorities. Despite the reduced orchestra, the scoring is brilliant and varied.

Two years after the première of the ballet in Paris in May 1920, Stravinsky created a concert version of the Suite in eight movements, for the same chamber orchestra forces as the original. In 1947 he made modest revisions to the Suite, largely consisting of metronome markings and one movement title change.

The score calls for two flutes (second doubling piccolo); two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, one trumpet, one trombone, solo string quartet, and strings.



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CONCERT V

June 19, 2016, at 3pmBurgers, Beers & Brahms

Kazem Abdullah, conductor

Alon Goldstein, piano



MANUEL DE FALLA (1876–1946)Ritual Fire Dance from El Amor Brujo (1915)

WOLFGANG AMADÈ MOZART (1756–1791)Symphony No. 41 in C, K.551 (“Jupiter”) I. Allegro vivace II. Andante cantabile III. Menuetto: Allegretto IV. Molto allegro

Intermission

JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833–1897)Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 (1858) I. Maestoso II. Adagio III. Rondo: Allegro non troppo

Mr. Goldstein


Ritual Fire Dance from El amor brujoMANUEL DE FALLABorn 23 November, 1876 in Cádiz, SpainDied 14 November, 1946 in Alta Gracia, Argentina

• El amor brujo originated as a star vehicle for an Andalusian Gypsy dancer

• Lively, seductive Andalusian dances occur throughout the score

• Ritual Fire Dance captures the frenzy necessary to exorcise an evil spirit

Along with his older countrymen Isaac Albéniz and Enrique Granados, Manuel de Falla helped restore Spanish music to a level it had not enjoyed since Renaissance times. Enormously gifted, he was drawn to music early. He decided on composition after developing a passion for the works of the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg, vowing to achieve a comparable legacy for Spanish music.

In 1907, at the age of 31, Falla went to Paris, where he benefitted by his association with French composers, including Dukas, Debussy and Ravel. Falla’s voice was original, however, and he learned from his French colleagues without imitating. To the contrary, both Debussy and Ravel were drawn to the sensuous harmonies and compelling rhythms of Falla’s native Spain, revealing more of Spain in their French music than Falla did of France in his own.

Falla composed some twenty operas. Only one, La vida breve, has achieved even a secondary niche in the standard repertoire. He is best known for Nights in the Gardens of Spain, his set of symphonic impressions

for piano and orchestra, and the two ballet scores The Three-cornered Hat and El amor brujo (“Love the Magician”), the source of this afternoon’s opening number.

When the Great War erupted in 1914, Falla left Paris for Madrid. Soon after his return to Spain, the librettist Gregorio Martinez Sierra told him that Pastora Imperio, a celebrated Andalusian Gypsy dancer, had requested a song and dance. The project, initially a modest scene for Imperio and 8 instrumentalists, evolved into a larger work combining ballet, song, and full orchestra. Its three dances have become some of Falla’s most celebrated compositions.

El amor brujo is the story of Candelas, a young woman whose jealous lover has died. Candelas knows that the dead man was unfaithful to her. Still, his ghost haunts her, interfering with the advances of her new suitor, Carmelo.

Ritual Fire Dance, the most famous excerpt in the score, is one of Candelas’s efforts to exorcise the departed lover’s unwelcome spirit so that her new romance may flourish. Charged with exotic Arab/Iberian harmonies and pulsing incantations, Falla’s music has retained its visceral impact. His music succeeds for Candelas as well; at the end of El amor brujo, her new love triumphs. The exuberant closing chords of the Ritual Fire Dance herald that happy ending.

The score calls for 2 flutes, piccolo, oboe, 2 clarinets, bassoon, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, timpani, piano and strings.

Program Notes - CONCERT V


Symphony No. 41 in C, K.551 (“Jupiter”)WOLFGANG AMADÈ MOZARTBorn 27 January, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria Died 5 December, 1791 in Vienna, Austria

• The Roman god “Jupiter” connotes nobility, subtlety, grandeur, and power

• The symphony’s nickname may have come from the entrepreneur and violinist Johann Peter Salomon

• Short themes in the finale lend themselves to elaborate counterpoint

• Listen to how skillfully Mozart weaves together the lines of his double fugue

The sublime in 18th century aesthetics

Jupiter was the sovereign god of the Romans. He held supreme rank and ultimate authority over the other deities. Throughout modern history, his name has been associated with power and might, both in natural phenomena (storms, lightning) and in political supremacy.

In music, the name “Jupiter” brings two works to mind: the fourth movement of Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite, The Planets, and Mozart’s final symphony. The former is clearly an astronomical reference, though Holst’s music does suggest the character of each god who inspired those seven planetary names. The case of the Mozart is more abstract, linked to the late 18th century aesthetic of the sublime: the ultimate in artistic achievement, music of an exalted greatness beyond comparison.

Genesis of a nickname

For many years the origins of the nickname “Jupiter” for Mozart’s last symphony were unknown. An arrangement of the symphony for one piano, four hands was published in England around 1820 with the sobriquet, but with no explanation. Musicologist H.C. Robbins Landon has found mention

of Mozart’s symphony in the diaries of Vincent and Mary Novello, a 19th century English couple who traveled widely and interviewed the composer’s widow Constanze in 1829. According to them, the name was bestowed by Johann Peter Salomon, the entrepreneur responsible for Haydn’s two visits to London in the 1790s.

No doubt Salomon was struck, as we must be, by the ceremonial and grand effects of Mozart’s C major symphony. Assertive and forthright from its opening, it is music of majesty and sweep, convincingly bringing to mind the king of the ancient Roman gods. The slow movement is a standout. Ivor Keys calls it:

…the apotheosis of the ornate song which bewitched Mozart since his Italian days. To the beauty of sound of the muted violins is added the woodwind counterpoint featured in so many concertos, but added to this is a new rhythmic dimension sometimes highlighted by unexpected harmony.

Mozart’s syncopations and unexpected accents add to the effect.

The ultimate double fugue

The “Jupiter” is justly celebrated for its finale. Mozart had developed an interest in the music of Bach and Handel, which manifested itself in the magnificent contrapuntal fabric of this splendid conclusion. While the finale is not, strictly speaking, a double fugue, it incorporates virtually every aspect of contrapuntal technique into a sonata movement: canon, fugato, stretto, invertible counterpoint, even cancrizans, in which a theme is played backwards! The greatest miracle of all is that Mozart makes all this formidable intricacy sound perfectly wonderful. His extraordinary complexity and superb craft reach their peak in the



magnificent coda, where all five principal themes are interwoven in one of music’s greatest triumphs.

Mozart’s final three symphonies (No. 39 in E-flat, No. 40 in G minor, and the “Jupiter”) date from summer 1788. The three autograph scores barely span six weeks. What an astonishing level of productivity, even for Mozart! Ironically, there is no record of any of them being performed during his lifetime.

The score calls for flutes, oboes, bassoons, horns, and trumpets in pairs; timpani, and strings.

Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15JOHANNES BRAHMSBorn 7 May, 1833 in Hamburg, GermanyDied 3 April, 1897 in Vienna, Austria

• Symphony? Two piano sonata? Concerto? Brahms wrestled with all three concepts

• Two-handed trills electrify the first movement

• Brahms’s Adagio was a musical portrait of Clara Schumann

Brahms was notoriously harsh on himself. He destroyed a substantial number of early compositions that did not meet his high standards. Those compositions he did allow to be published were of astonishingly high quality, particularly for one so young. He was only twenty when his Opus 1, a Piano Sonata in C major, appeared in 1853.

In these early works, Brahms stayed where he was most comfortable: at the keyboard. Of his first ten published works, six were for solo piano, and three were songs for voice and piano. His Opus 8 is a piano trio.

Learning to write for orchestra

From the mid-1850s onward, he experimented with orchestral works, trying to master the challenges of composing for large ensemble. The first completed essay was his delightful Serenade No. 1 in D major, an outgrowth of an earlier Nonet composed in 1858. The Serenade, for full orchestra, appeared in 1860. Simultaneously, he labored on a larger, more serious symphonic work. Sketches for a symphony in D minor survive from as early as 1854 and 1855. That work remained unfinished. Although he drafted three movements, Brahms only orchestrated the first. Much of its musical material was eventually subsumed by the First Piano Concerto.

In its original conception, the unfinished symphony was intended as a tribute to Robert Schumann. The older composer had attempted suicide in February 1854 and was thereafter incarcerated in a mental asylum in Endenich. Brahms was not yet comfortable writing for large orchestra. He sketched the piece as a sonata for two pianos. In that form, he showed it to several friends: the violinist Joseph Joachim, the composer Julius Otto Grimm, Brahms’s former piano teacher in Hamburg, Eduard Marxsen and—perhaps most importantly—Schumann’s wife Clara. Her absorption in Brahms’s extraordinary music, whose quality she recognized instantly, was one way in which she mitigated her anxiety about her husband’s declining health.

The slow movement, a sarabande-like funeral march, later found its way into A German Requiem. The first movement of the two-piano work evolved into the concerto’s opening Maestoso. Brahms apparently destroyed the original finale. Instead, he composed two new movements, the Adagio and the concluding Rondo, completing the score



in 1859. The lengthy gestation period reflects the trouble this concerto gave him.

About the music

The first movement has been called “the trills movement.” Its vivid two-handed trills are a leitmotif that emphasize the work’s dramatic, tragic character. The sweeping melodies in 6/4 meter contribute to its majesty.

Brahms’s slow movement has historically been construed as a Requiem for Robert Schumann; more likely it is a tribute to Schumann’s widow. In a December 1856 letter about the concerto to Clara, Brahms wrote, “I am also painting a lovely portrait of you; it is to be the Adagio.” Coming from the nineteenth century’s greatest champion of absolute music, it is an uncharacteristic and revealing allusion to programmatic content.

He concludes his concerto with a feisty, masculine rondo that was also the last portion of the concerto to be composed. The heroic struggle so dominant in the opening movement gives way to a freer, less agonized spirit. A glorious D-major coda leaves no doubt that the internal conflict has been satisfactorily resolved.

Brahms scored the concerto for woodwinds in pairs, four horns, two trumpets, timpani, solo piano and strings.

SIDEBAR: AN INAUSPICIOUS PREMIERE

History is filled with incidents in which great works of art were misunderstood by their intended audiences. With respect to music, few composers have escaped the onslaught of critical abuse. For those who did, in many cases the explanation was neglect—no one paid much attention to them at all. Considered in this context,

Johannes Brahms was one of the lucky ones. Robert Schumann hailed him as a genius when he was but a lad of twenty. Keenly conscious of the burden he carried by such distinguished recognition at so young an age, Brahms was stringently critical of his own compositions, destroying many early pieces.

The ones he did publish were excellent: well crafted, original music. He deserved the acclaim they earned for him. They point clearly toward the brilliant future that lay ahead. Even a great composer like Brahms occasionally stumbled, however, suffering an intensely bitter experience that wounded him deeply. The year was 1859; the piece was the Piano Concerto in D minor. Its premiere was probably the worst setback of his entire career.

It is well known that Brahms did not publish a symphony until 1877, when he was 44. Like the Serenade, Op. 11, this First Concerto was one of his “exercises” in preparation for a symphony. In the process, he forged a daring partnership between keyboard and orchestra that was completely different from the expected virtuosic display. Unfortunately this departure from the norm confused audiences and even angered critics. The concerto was disastrously received at its first performances in Leipzig. The press lambasted Brahms, accusing him of having written a symphony with obbligato piano part. The Signale called it:

…three-quarters of an hour of laboring and burrowing, of straining and tugging…Not only must one take in this fermenting mass; he must also swallow a dessert of the harshest dissonances and most unpleasant sounds.

Brahms was nonchalant in his reportage to the violinist Joseph Joachim, writing:



At the rehearsals it met with total silence and at the performance (where hardly three people raised their hands to clap) it was regularly hissed. But all this made no impression on me. I quite enjoyed the other music.

Despite his casual dismissal of the performance, he was deeply hurt. He was to wait six years before the concerto was acclaimed as the masterpiece he knew it to be.

What was so off-putting to Brahms’s German listeners in 1859? This magnificent concerto is so integral a part of our standard repertoire that the initial resistance is difficult to understand. The most likely explanation is that Brahms did not adhere to the Mendelssohnian-Chopinesque model of fleet, pianistic

wizardry and gossamer melodies. His solo part is big, and very difficult, but not in the traditional virtuosic sense. The piano functions independently from the orchestra in terms of its melodic material, especially in the first movement. But basically piano and orchestra are cast as equals rather than opponents, and the piano is fully integrated into the massive orchestral texture.

Posterity has been kinder than Brahms’s first audience. Symphonic in scope, his concerto salutes the majesty and nobility of Beethoven, while heralding the restrained romanticism of Bruckner.



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We love spontaneity, especially in music.But a budget always works better with a plan, and a legacy gift to the orchestra makes that plan stronger and more reliable.There are three simple ways to have a lasting impact on the music with a legacy gift:

Include the Westchester Philharmonic as a charitable beneficiary of your will or trust;

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Establish a Charitable Gift Annuity that will provide you with a fixed and guaranteed income for life.

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vibrant, versatile and compelling presence on the podium, American

conductor Kazem Abdullah is one of the most watched up-and-coming talents on the international stage today. Since 2012 he has been Generalmusikdirektor of the City of Aachen, Germany, where he leads both the orchestral and operatic seasons. His predecessors in this tradition-rich post include Fritz Busch, Herbert von Karajan, and Wolfgang Sawallisch.

In his third season in Aachen, Kazem Abdullah conducts four opera productions: Luisa Miller, Brokeback Mountain, Jenufa, and West Side Story. In addition to this he will also lead several subscription concerts and conduct Mendelssohn’s Elijah in the Aachener Dom. As GMD in Aachen, Mr. Abdullah will also serve as the Artistic Director of the 4th International Aachen Chor Bienalle, where he will lead several concerts with choirs from Germany, the Netherlands, Israel, Iceland, and France.

A passionate advocate of new music as well as established repertoire, Mr. Abdullah continues to develop relationships with national and international orchestras and opera houses. Among his orchestral credits are the Berliner Kammerphilharmonie, Philharmonisches Orchester der Stadt Nürnburg, Staatskapelle Weimar, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México, Oregon Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Huntsville Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, Napa Valley Symphony, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, and the National Arts Center Orchestra of Ottawa. During the 2013–14 season, Mr. Abdullah was guest conductor for performances with the Pasadena Symphony, Augsburg Philharmoniker, Orkest Zuidnederland, Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy, and Opera national de Lorraine.

Of special note are three acclaimed orchestral engagements from the 2009–10 season: leading the Orquestra de São Paulo, one of Brazil’s most celebrated classical music ensembles, on its third United States coast-to-coast tour; conducting the New World Symphony’s 2009 Ives Festival by special invitation from Michael Tilson Thomas; and substituting on very short notice at the Tanglewood Music Center in performances of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas in collaboration with the Mark Morris Dance Group. In the opera arena, Mr. Abdullah has been guest conductor with such esteemed companies as the Atlanta Opera, where he conducted Cosi fan tutte, and the Théâtre du Châtelet de Paris, where he led sold-out performances of Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha. Mr. Abdullah made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2009, conducting Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice. The New York Times lauded this first performance at the Metropolitan Opera as “…a confident performance…impressively responsive to

Kazem Abdullah, conductor


the singers during their long stretches of orchestra-accompanied recitative.”

Born in Indiana, Kazem Abdullah began his music studies at the age of ten. He graduated from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, with a Bachelor of Music in Clarinet. He then studied at the University of Southern California before joining The New World Symphony as a clarinetist under Michael Tilson Thomas for two seasons. After that he continued his musical studies at The Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Abdullah served as assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, a three-year post to which he was appointed by Music Director James Levine. In addition to Maestro Levine, while at the Met he worked with conductors such as Louis Langree, Kirill Petrenko, Lorin Maazel, and Fabio Luisi. A recipient of a prestigious 2010 Solti Foundation U.S Career Assistance Award, Mr. Abdullah was named #4 by The Daily Beast on its 2009 list of “Young Rock Stars of the Conducting World.” Mr. Abdullah’s conducting teachers include Jorma Panula, Gustav Meier, Stefan Asbury, Bernard Haitink, and James Levine.

lon Goldstein is one of the most original and sensitive artists of

his generation, admired for his musical intelligence and dynamic personality. Mr. Goldstein’s artistic vision and innovative programming have made him a favorite with audiences and critics alike throughout the United States, Europe, and Israel. He made his orchestral debut at the age of 18 with the Israel Philharmonic under the baton of Zubin Mehta, and returned with Maestro Herbert Blomstedt for Beethoven’s Concerto No.1. In recent seasons, Mr. Goldstein has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco, Baltimore, St. Louis, Houston, Vancouver, Kansas City, and North Carolina Symphonies, the Rhode

Island Philharmonic, and orchestras on tour in Paris, Russia, Romania, and Bulgaria.

His 2015–16 season begins with performances at the Ravinia Festival and New York’s International Keyboard Festival, followed by a tour of China with the Amber String Quartet. He will be performing with the Alabama, Knoxville, Fairfax, Spokane, and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestras, among others. He will also be heard in solo recitals and with the Goldstein-Peled-Fiterstein Trio and the Tempest Trio in chamber music concerts throughout the world, including appearances in Israel, Romania, England, Germany, Ecuador, China, and across the United States. In the fall of 2015, Naxos will release his recording of Mozart Piano Concertos No. 20 and No. 21 with the Fine Arts Quartet. A passionate advocate for music education, his recent teaching engagements have included posts at The Steans Institute of the Ravinia Festival and The Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, in addition to extended educational residencies across the country.

Released in 2013, of Mr. Goldstein’s acclaimed Centaur recording of Mendelssohn Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 with the Israel Chamber Orchestra conducted by Yoav Talmi was preceded by an enthusiastically received 17-concert Latin American tour. Other recent highlights included an appearance as soloist with the Chicago Symphony at Ravinia in the Mozart Double Concerto, K.365 with Katherine Jacobson Fleisher as well as in the Triple Concerto, K.242 with Leon Fleisher and Ms. Jacobson Fleisher. He also appeared at the prestigious Ruhr Piano Festival in Germany performing the Britten Diversions and the Poulenc Double Concerto with Mr. Fleisher, his former teacher, conducting.

Among many memorable recent experiences were nation-wide performances with the Tokyo Quartet on their final tour appearances, and the premiere Lost Souls with the Kansas City Symphony and conductor Michael Stern, written for Mr. Goldstein


by the noted young Israel composer Avner Dorman. Highlights of recent seasons also include a successful debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski playing Mendelssohn Concerto No. 1, a return to the IRIS Orchestra for the Saint-Saëns Concerto No. 2 with Michael Stern, performances of Tchaikovsky’s Concerto No. 1 with Jaime Laredo and the Vermont Symphony and Concerto No. 2 with the Toronto Symphony. Mr. Goldstein was also heard in Paris with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France with Leon Fleisher conducting. Among his recital and chamber music concerts were critically-acclaimed performances in Beijing, Guatemala City, Kent, Chicago, Los Angeles, Coral Gables, Seattle, St. Paul, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv.

He made his Carnegie Hall debut in the Mozart Triple Concerto with Joseph Kalichstein and Shai Wosner, and gave the world premiere of a concerto by Mark Kopytman with Avner Biron and the Jerusalem Camerata Orchestra. Mr. Goldstein was a featured panelist at a recent League of American Orchestras annual conference where he discussed his performance of a Beethoven concerto cycle with the Rockford Symphony. The concerto cycle expanded the traditional concert experience to a multi-media presentation contextualizing Beethoven’s life and work, and resulted in unprecedented attendance and a subsequent surge in subscriptions.

Mr. Goldstein has appeared at the Gilmore, Santa Fe, Tanglewood, Ravinia, Marlboro, Seattle, and Steamboat festivals in the United States as well as internationally at Prussia Cove in England, the Verbier Festival in Switzerland and the Klavier Festival in Rühr. He performed at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and at Millennium Park in Chicago with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra. Over the past several years he has also taught and played at the “Tel Hai” international piano master classes in Israel.

He is the winner of numerous competitions, among them the Arianne Katcz Piano Competition in Tel Aviv, the Nena Wideman Competition in the U.S. and the Francois Shapira competition in Israel. He is the recipient of the 2004 Salon di Virtuosi Career Grant and the America Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship. The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC chose a live recording of one of Mr. Goldstein’s recitals there for its first CD release. Other recordings include solo recital programs through the Jerusalem Music Center “Mishkenot Sha’ananim” and the Israeli Music Institute featuring works by Israeli composers. Mr. Goldstein graduated from the Peabody Conservatory where he studied with Leon Fleisher and served as his assistant, a position assigned only to his most exceptional students.

Alon Goldstein, piano


Board of Directors & Administration

OFFICERSMillicent Kaufman, Chair Mary Neumann, Vice Chair Murray Stahl, Vice ChairJennifer Solomon, TreasurerNeil D. Aaron, Past ChairTony AielloHannah ShmerlerLisa A. TibbittsJoshua Worby, ex-officio

ADMINISTRATIONJoshua Worby, Executive & Artistic Director

Lenore Eggleston, Director, Marketing & Development

Jennifer Kugelmas, Manager, Education & Operations

Burton Greenhouse, Bookkeeping

Jonathan Taylor, Personnel Manager

Leszek Wojcik, Production Manager

Rosemary Summers, Librarian

Julian Ham, Graphic Design

Cappa Crucy & Co., Events Management

WestchesterPhilharmonic

TOGETHER we make GREAT MUSIC possible.It is with great respect and admiration that we acknowledge the support of those

corporations and individuals who helped to make this season possible. We are grateful for your long-standing dedication and service to the Westchester Philharmonic.

Become a Friend oF the Phil today.Donations are always welcome and much appreciated. To make a gift today please

use the envelope enclosed in this program and return it to the information table in the lobby, or visit our website or call (914) 682-3707 ext. 15.

the Westchester Philharmonic is grateFul to its major Funders and sPonsors:

COUNTY

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Our Supporters

$50,000 and aboveEugene and Emily GrantMr. and Mrs. Murray Stahl

$20,000–$49,999ArtsWestchesterMrs. Leona KernVivian MilsteinNew York State Council

on the Arts

$10,000–$19,999AnonymousRobert ArnowDonald CecilBarbara and Richard B.

DannenbergMartin and Millicent KaufmanNataly and Toby RitterJennifer Solomon and

Bill FeingoldSherry and Robert WienerDiana and Louis Worby

$5,000–$9,999Peter and Jane BradyEntergy NuclearThe Gilder FoundationMrs. Joy HenshelSylvia and Leonard MarxMary D. NeumannNews CorpHannah and Walter ShmerlerSt. Vincent De Paul FoundationLee and Jacqueline Bellsey Starr

Ruth B. ToffStephen Ucko

$2,500–$4,999Astoria BankMaryann and George EgglestonTom and Marge GilbertTom and Libby HollahanPhyllis and Peter HonigKeith Kearney and

Debby McLeanMacy’s Matching Gift

FoundationPeckham Family FoundationYvonne Tropp and Alan EpsteinRory and Joshua Worby

$1,000–$2,499Neil and Gayle AaronDavid and Madeleine ArnowJanie and Tom BezansonMr. and Mrs. H. Rodgin CohenElla Fitzgerald Charitable

FoundationMr. and Mrs. Jeff ElliottRobert Fried and

Robin BushmanGE FoundationJuliet Gopoian and Jim RantiDr. and Mrs. Gerald GreitzerMr. Martin GrossmanDorothy and Fred HaasMarilyn and John HeimerdingerIBM Matching Gifts ProgramMary Ann and

Peter S. Liebert, M.D.

Raina and Pentti LindholmChristina Maurillo,

Barnum Financial Group, an office of MetLife

Mrs. Elaine PetschekNuma and Kaaren RoussevePeter Scarlato,

Barnum Financial Group, an office of MetLife

Mr. and Mrs. Robert SmithLee and Jacqueline Bellsey Starr

In Honor of Walter ShmerlerLisa TibbittsMr. and Mrs. John WernerWilliam and Theda WhiteMr. David E. Worby and

Dr. Melanie Grossman

$500–$999Mr. and Mrs. Robert BischoffMr. & Mrs. Richard B. Dannenberg

In Memory of Mary WhitakerMr. & Mrs. Richard B. Dannenberg

In Memory of Jane CecilMrs. Norma EdelmannThe Marjorie Gilbert FoundationRobert and Susan HackerLowell HersheyMarcella KahnMrs. Barbara KlauberMs. Karen KochevarMarjorie LeeMr. and Mrs. Lawrence J. NokesJean and Henry PollakRene and Kirsti ProchelleCynthia Riehl

Thank you…for your vision and generosity in supporting the Westchester Philharmonic. The following list represents gifts totaling $75 or more made between March 1, 2014 and September 1, 2015. We thank all of our donors for gifts at any level. To make a contribution, call 914-682-3707, ext. 11, or mail your gift using the envelope included in this program.


Our Supporters

Shirley G. RomneyMrs. Ann ScheuerEleanor and Abe StenbergBruce Winston

$250–$499Liz and Tony AielloMr. and Mrs. Steven BearCarl and Lynn BloomJane Bridges and Robert DennardSteven and Lois DreyerSelma FeinbergGloria Fields and Andy SeligsonFoundation For LifeLouella GottliebNancy F. HoughtonHarold and Lida KeltzMr. and Mrs. Benedict LeerburgerHarriet LeibowitzIrwin and Vivienne LevensonLois Lindberg and

Carl WinterroseEllen and Jonathan LittStephen and Nita LoweyCheryne and David McBrideJoan and Robert MeyerJanet and Steve MeyersMr. and Mrs. Robert S. OlsenDaniel Politi and Cecily GottlingKaren RaginsMr. and Mrs. David ReichmanDenise A. RempeMrs. Frances RosenfeldMrs. Ann Scheuer

In Honor of Hannah ShmerlerJoan and Jim SchwimmerMs. Sara SheperdMr. and Mrs. Alan StahlSusan and Larry TolchinDorothy and Arthur Zuch

$125–$249AnonymousShawn AmdurJames Aucone and

Joanne McGrathHerbert and Melissa Baer

In Honor of Neil & Gayle Aaron

Mr. and Mrs. Anthony BloombergMr. Richard Bobbe and

Ms. Jocelyn SchumanFay and Norman BurgerDavid and Anne CaseyMichael Chang and Robert HerrigMr. and Mrs. Julian L. CohanPhyllis ColeJo-Ann N. DierksMiriam and Paul DouglasJohn and Tish EconomidesLenore Eggleston and

Robert HerbstElmwood Charity FundMs. Valerie Dalwin EtraMr. and Mrs. John FavaAnita FeldmanMr. Stanley D. FriedmanMr. and Mrs. Bruce GavrilMr. and Mrs. Harold GlickLouella Gottlieb

In Honor of Beth Eve SchwartzPhilip and Ellen HeidelbergerRita KaplanMrs. Sally KellockMarie KishMrs. Rosemarie LanzaDonald and Margaret MahaneyPeggy G. MarxMrs. Leah MendelsohnDr. and Mrs. Abraham MizrahiHelmut and Barbara NorpothMarianne and Arnold I. RichJoan and Mills RipleyHarold and Sandra SamuelsFaith SaundersJ. Lew ScheppsMrs. Rosalind SchulmanMs. Sheila SeldinMr. and Mrs. Albert ShapiroHannah and Walter Shmerler

In Memory of Stanley and Barbara Goldstein

Heda SilversteinProfessor Karen P. SmithLucille SmithRosalind T. Starkman

Howard Steinman and Barbara Birshstein

Anton and Eileen StenzlerMr. and Mrs. Ronald SwitzerInge TreserMr. and Mrs. Henri Van DamMrs. Marjorie WatermanMr. and Mrs. Ralph WattsFred and Beth WeilerMr. John Wilson

$75–$124Mr. and Mrs. Herbert BaerBeatrice and Bernard BartnerJack Billig and Judy NorthMs. Ellen BlaunerCarole M. BoccuminiAlbert and Barbara BoutrossMr. and Mrs. Patrick CahillRon CarranMargaret and Donald CoeJudy and Martin CohenPatrice and Elliot ColemanDorothy CooperMrs. Janet C. CrohnMarjorie B. DaviesLee Diamond

In Memory of Patricia GriciusMs. Pat Esgate

In Memory of Mary WhitakerBev and Les FederMr. and Mrs. James J. FloodKaren Gahl-Mills and

Larry Mills-Gahl In Memory of Mary Whitaker

Carol GoldbergJames and Anne GolubDr. and Mrs. Arnold J. GordonElihu and Minette GorelikRuth GrantMary GreenlyDr. Ruth GreerGeorge and Sandra HaussArlene HoltumEleanor HowellsAndrew and Deborah JagodaMs. Halina Jamner


Our Supporters

Martin and Millicent Kaufman In Memory of Mollyann Goldstein

Mr. David KaufmanElaine and Joshua Jay KaufmanMs. Barbara Kelly

In Memory of Mary WhitakerRuth and Martin KestBetty LandauerMr. Todd Lao and Ms. Iris LoMr. and Mrs. Irwin LibrotMr. and Mrs. Thomas LocastroMrs. Jeanette LoringMr. and Mrs. Herbert Luckower

In Memory of Paul KleinmanRichard and Diane Lert

In Honor of Neil & Gayle AaronMr. Pedro MaymiMcKesson Matching Gifts

ProgramHelen F. Mecs

Judy Meyer and Ted MorseMr. and Mrs. Daniel MillerMs. Therese M. NagaiBetty and Al OsmanPfizer Foundation Matching Gifts

ProgramIrving and Sharon PicardMr. and Mrs. Norton A. Roman

In Memory of David Joseph Lefkowitz

Shirley G. Romney In Honor of Ruth Toff

Dr. Ben RomneyMr. Martin RubensteinMrs. Henrietta SanfordElaine SchenkermanMr. and Mrs. Lawrence SchneckDr. and Mrs. Warren SeidesMr. and Mrs. Stanton SelbstJack Sherman

Hannah and Walter Shmerler In Honor of Shirley Singer

Heda SilversteinBill and Margaret SlatteryRobert and Judy SoleyMartin and Grace SolowayMr. and Mrs. William SpiroMrs. Abraham StaalCarol SturtzMrs. Francine TancerMarcia TeschnerDavid and Moira TobeyRuth B. Toff

In Memory of Jane CecilMilton and Susan WackerowJudith WankRussel WatskyBella WeissmanMs. Barbara WenglinRita WexlerArline Wood

Our VolunteersA hearty bravo to the following individuals and organizations for in-kind donations of items or services:

Martin OppenheimerSandy ShertzerDeborah WongD. Paul Woodiel

Ardsley Musical Instrument ServiceAries Fine Wines and SpiritsCappa Crucy & Co.Captain Lawrence

Brewing CompanyDoral ArrowwoodFairway MarketFrank Soriano/House of FlowersSara Faust & Faust Harrison PianosJoseph Richard FloralsNew York PostNew York Power AuthorityRosewood Hotels & Resorts

Royal PressSerendipity MagazineStardust LimousineToday Media/ Ralph MartinelliWAG MagazineWestchester MagazineWhole FoodsWHUD RadioWQXR RadioWVOX Radio

–––––––––––––––––––––––––A deep bow of gratitude to Ruth Toff for assisting with this program book. Special thanks also to preconcert host Robert Sherman and to photographers Matt Dine, Susan Farley, Kenji Mori and Sandy Shertzer.

Gayle AaronJanie BezansonBarbara FeldmanRoberta HydeKathleen MahonJudith & Lowell Pollack

Roslynne ReichgottMarcia RodmanNuma RousseveStephen UckoAndrea WorbyRory WorbyBenjamin Zacharia


The Westchester Philharmonic

ow in its 33rd season, the Westchester Philharmonic

is the oldest, continuously running professional

symphony orchestra and largest group of performing artists in Westchester County. The Philharmonic’s main stage concert series makes its home at the 1,300 seat Concert Hall at the Purchase Performing Arts Center, with outdoor concerts, chamber concerts, children’s programs, and special events throughout the area, attracting savvy music-lovers from Rockland, Bergen, Fairfield, and Putnam counties, New York City, and beyond.

Founded in 1983 as the New Orchestra of Westchester under the leadership of Music Director Paul Lustig Dunkel (who became Music Director Emeritus

in 2008), the orchestra was later re-named the Westchester Philharmonic. Renowned artists who have performed with the Phil include Joshua Bell, Jeremy Denk, Branford Marsalis, Midori, Garrick Ohlsson, Itzhak Perlman, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Gil Shaham, Isaac Stern, and André Watts.

Commencing with the 2014–15 season, Jaime Laredo and Ted Sperling were appointed as Principal Conductors.

Among the many new works commissioned and premiered by the Westchester Philharmonic is Melinda Wagner’s Concerto for Flute, Strings and Percussion, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1999. A new commission by Christopher Theofanidis, Dreamtime Ancestors, makes


its NY-area debut during this 2015–2016 season. For the 2016–17 season, the Phil will present another newly commissioned work, a violin concerto by David Ludwig, composed for violinist Bella Hristova, who performed with the Phil last season, in celebration of their marriage.

The orchestra’s award-winning education program reaches thousands of elementary school students each year and culminates in a full orchestra concert. The Phil also partners with local organizations to present free and low-cost chamber concerts, as well as to provide subsidized seating at main stage concerts, welcoming hundreds of area residents each year who might not otherwise have an opportunity to attend.

The orchestra is comprised of the finest professional free-lance musicians from around the greater metropolitan area, who also perform regularly with the New York City Ballet, Orchestra St. Luke’s, Orpheus, Mostly Mozart, and for many Broadway shows. Members of the Phil hold faculty positions at Juilliard, Mannes, Manhattan School of Music, Purchase Conservatory, Vassar and Bard Colleges, and at local public schools.

For thirty-three years the Westchester Philharmonic has made the musical arts accessible to the community, providing the highest quality educational programming in the classroom; enhancing the quality of life in the region through innovative professional performances; and showcasing the finest new artistry in the concert hall.


General InfoThe use of recording devices or photographs in The Concert Hall is strictly forbidden.

As a courtesy to other concert-goers, please turn off all electronic devices and do not talk during the performance. Kindly unwrap any candy or lozenges before the performance begins.

Latecomers will be seated at the discretion of the management.

Smoking is not permitted in any area inside The Performing Arts Center.

Emergency exits are indicated by red signs above the doorways. For your safety, please check the location of the exit nearest your seat.

All programs, artists, dates, times and prices are subject to change.

Unable to attend a concert?We welcome subscribers to exchange their tickets for any alternate main stage performance. Kindly contact the Philharmonic box office 48 hours in advance of the concert you’d like to attend. Tickets may also be donated back to the Philharmonic. We will provide you with a written acknowledgement allowing the value of returned tickets as a tax-deductible contribution. Exchanges and donations cannot be made at The Performing Arts Center box office or on the day of the performance. You must call (914) 682-3707 ext. 10.

Important Contact InfoPhilharmonic Administrative Offices: 123 Main Street, 9th Floor, White Plains, New York

Philharmonic Box Office and General Info: (914) 682-3707 ext. 10

Box Office hours: Monday through Friday, 10 am to 5:30 pm.

Development Office: (914) 682-3707 ext. 15

Performing Arts Center Lost & Found: (914) 251-6209

Email us at [email protected]

Visit us at westchesterphil.org

General Information

PROGRAM PRODUCED BY:

AdvertisingOnStage Publications937-424-0529 | 866-503-1966e-mail: [email protected] program is published in association with OnStage Publications, 1612 Prosser Avenue, Kettering, OH 45409. This program may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. JBI Publishing is a division of OnStage Publications, Inc. Contents © 2015. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.

Program Notes: Laurie Shulman

Artist Image Credits: Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson by Christian Steiner, Ted Sperling by Charles Chessler, Christopher Theofanidis by Bob Handelman, Joseph Mohan by Sandy Shertzer, Dawn Upshaw by Brooke Irish and Patrick Ryan (cover), Yoon Jae Lee by Chen Chu, and Alon Goldstein by Meagan Cignoli. Westchester Philharmonic images by Matt Dine, Susan Farley, and Sandy Shertzer.

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FRIENDS OF THE PHIL DINNER

And the Golden Baton goes to…

In 2014 the Golden Baton Award was given to Dr. Shawn Amdur, Music Department Chair of the Rye City School District. Dr. Amdur is instrumental in supporting the Phil’s classroom music education program which brings 2,000 students to the concert hall, many for the first time, each winter. Friends of the Phil Dinner attendees heard a keynote by WQXR’s General Manager and Vice President, Graham Parker, and a delightful performance by cellist Joshua Roman.

The inaugural Westchester Philharmonic Golden Baton Award was given in 2013 to Neil Aaron for his ten years of dedicated service to the orchestra. League of American Orchestra’s President Jesse Rosen gave the keynote and violinist Ryu Goto entertained. (Pictured with wife and invaluable Phil volunteer, Gayle Aaron.)

The 2015 award was given to long-time orchestra board member Hannah Shmerler, whose tireless efforts and incalculable devotion to the orchestra epitomize the very definition of a “friend.” Supporters of the Phil heard a keynote by Jamie Bernstein, daughter of the famed Leonard Bernstein, and a delightful performance by rising pianist Joseph Mohan.

The Friends of the Phil Dinner is a tribute to the passion, vision, and dedication of like-minded individuals, in whom the power and beauty of music stir a personal desire to help sustain it.

Invited guests are treated to a special performance by a rising young artist, hear a stimulating keynote, and witness the bestowal of the organization’s Golden Baton Award.

To learn how you can join us, visit our website or call Lenore Eggleston at (914) 682-3707.

Documents

| 914-682-3707 · include complete trios and sonatas of Shostakovich, complete chamber works of Maurice Ravel, a 4-disc set of the complete Brahms Piano Trios, a set of complete Beethoven