10 Overture September 12, 2009 – November 29, 2009 11

Two years ago when the string trioTime for Three invited JenniferHigdon to compose a concerto

that reflected their unique combination ofclassical, bluegrass, jazz and rock, sheaccepted without hesitation.The prospectof writing something that combined blue-grass and classical music in an innovativeway intrigued the much in-demand,Grammy Award-winning composer.

Right from the start, she knew it wasn’t

going to be easy.“It was the blend,” shesays.“It’s a huge challenge to try to get thegenres to fit logically and to make sense.”Higdon wanted Concerto 4-3 to be trulyoriginal, not just a patchwork of quotedpieces.“Oh my gosh, what have I commit-ted myself to?” she wondered as shebegan writing.

Fortunately, Higdon wasn’t onlyrelying on years of training as a classicalmusician and composer as she started the

project. She also had something else: hermusical roots.

Growing up in EastTennessee, thecomposer heard bluegrass live at Buddy’sLittle River Barbecue and at OldTimers’Day, the biannual gathering that broughtbluegrass musicians from miles around toplay at Great Smoky Mountains NationalPark as families, like Higdon’s, broughtpicnics and listened. She loved the clearrhythms and pulse of bluegrass, the sounds

of extraordinary sadness and enthusiasmfor the life that she heard in it.“People playbluegrass for the pure joy of it,” Higdonsays in a voice that still holds a hint of herchildhood home at the base of the SmokyMountains.And as she began writing theconcerto, which the Baltimore SymphonyOrchestra andTime forThree will performon September 24 and 25, she let go of herclassical training and instead focused onthe music of her youth.

The result is a 25-minute, three-move-ment work in which the orchestra serves asthe classical “straight man” andTime forThree is the bluegrass “comedian.” Theconcerto, which premiered in Philadelphiain 2008, incorporates the language of classi-cal music with the slides and rhythm ofbluegrass and the improvisation of jazz.It’s technically difficult, but accessible tothe audience.“You don’t need to have abackground in classical or bluegrass to

By Maria Blackburn Music Director Marin Alsop’s vision for the seasonincorporates music by composers and musicians who

look to their musical heritage for inspiration.

understand this,” says Higdon, who adds thataudiences regularly respond to Concerto 4-3with standing ovations, screams of approvaland returns on successive nights.“It seems toappeal to folks the first time they hear it. Ittakes a lot of work to do that, but it’s soworth it. It is so, so worth it.”

Exploring cultural roots throughmusic is a focus of the BSO’s 2009-2010season. From the American mountain musicsounds of Higdon’s Concerto 4-3 andGershwin’s jazz-influenced Rhapsody in Blueto the Russian folk themes of Tchaikovsky,Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff and thetraditional Hungarian dances of Brahms, theBSO will span continents, centuries andgenres to highlight Baltimore’s rich diversity,celebrate a wide array of cultural and ethnictraditions and connect it all to the music

that brings the community together.“What I’m trying to achieve here is a senseof shared heritage,” says Marin Alsop, theBSO’s music director.

The idea of focusing on cultural rootsthis season grew out of Alsop’s ongoingefforts to build bridges for people to better

relate to classical music.“A lot of the musicthat I love, and most music generally, hassome kind of cultural or ethnic influence,whether it is because of the composer’sheritage, the style of the music or theperiod in which it was written,” shesays.“It’s an important part of almostevery piece I conduct.”

Understanding where music comesfrom helps to impart a sense of continuity,history and belonging.“One of the greatthings art can do is connect us to 100 years

ago in an instant,”Alsop says.“As the worldbecomes more globalized and generic, wecan lose our sense of individuality in termsof heritage and culture. I’d like to try to puta stop to that.That’s really our key to great-ness as Americans, I think, the ability tocelebrate and respect our diversity.”

Her focus on cultural roots this season ishighly personal, too.Alsop, the child of twoclassical musicians, admits she’s become“slightly obsessed” with exploring hergenealogy. So far through her research she’sdiscovered that her ancestors include notjust hymn-singing New Englanders on hermother’s side of the family, but also a virtu-oso saw-and-fiddle player in Pocatello, Idaho,on her father’s side.“All of these elementsare somehow present in me,” she says.

ForWalt Mahovlich, founder and leaderof the group Harmonia, which will bringthe traditional folk music of Eastern Europe,played on authentic folk instruments, tothe Meyerhoff on October 2-4, the linkbetween his heritage and the music heplays is undeniable.

Mahovlich grew up listening to theHungarian folk music of his grandparents.“This has been the soundtrack to my lifesince I was born,” the accordion player says.“It is what makes me, me.”

Mahovlich also believes that there is astrong relationship between the music that

12 Overture

Time for ThreeThursday, September 24, 2009 at 8 p.m.Friday, September 25, 2009 at 8 p.m.Marin Alsop conducts a selection of Brahms’

Hungarian Dances and concludes with

Tchaikovsky’s fate-filled Symphony No. 4. Also

featured is Jennifer Higdon’s groundbreaking

Concerto 4-3—written for and performed by

Time for Three.

Tchaikovsky and BartókFriday, October 2, 2009 at 8 p.m.Saturday, October 3, 2009 at 8 p.m.Sunday, October 4, 2009 at 3 p.m.Special guests Harmonia perform traditional

Eastern European folk music and Marin Alsop

leads the BSO in Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra.

Violinist James Ehnes performs Tchaikovsky’s

Violin Concerto.

Symphonic FairytalesThursday, October 29, 2009 at 8 p.m.Friday, October 30, 2009 at 8 p.m.Atlanta Symphony Music Director Robert Spano

conducts as violinist Leila Josefowicz performs John

Adams’ Violin Concerto. The program begins with

Scheherazade and ends with Stravinsky’s ballet,

The Firebird.

OFF THE CUFF

ScheherazadeSaturday, October 31, 2009 at 7 p.m.Guest conductor Robert Spano examines how

music can enhance a plotline with a discussion of

Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. The BSO

performs Scheherazade in its entirety, prefaced by

enlightening insights, all in a 90-minute program

with no intermission.

All-GershwinThursday, November 12, 2009 at 8 p.m.Friday, November 13, 2009 at 8 p.m.Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 3 p.m.Music Director Marin Alsop and French pianist

Jean-Yves Thibaudet bring classic Gershwin to the

hall with Rhapsody in Blue, Concerto in F and the

“I Got Rhythm” Variations.

Beethoven’s Third Piano ConcertoFriday, January 22, 2010 at 8 p.m.Sunday, January 24, 2010 at 3 p.m.BBC Symphony Orchestra’s Chief Conductor

Jirí Belohlávek leads the BSO in Beethoven’s

Coriolan Overture and Janácek’s Taras Bulba.

Pianist Garrick Ohlsson joins the BSO in

Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto.

Beethoven’s Seventh SymphonyThursday, April 8, 2010 at 8 p.m.Friday, April 9, 2010 at 8 p.m.Conductor Hannu Lintu and percussionist

Colin Currie join together for the U.S. premiere

of Incantations by Finnish composer Einojuhani

Rautavaara. Sibelius’ own Finlandia begins the

evening and Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony

completes the concert.

EspañaSaturday, April 17, 2010 at 8 p.m.Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 3 p.m.Juanjo Mena leads a masterful violin concerto by

the blind Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo. Also

hear the vivacious melodies from Falla’s ballet

The Three-Cornered Hat.

Russian PerfectionFriday, April 30, 2010 at 8 p.m.Marin Alsop leads a world premiere by Baltimore

composer Jonathan Leshnoff and Rachmaninoff’s

Second Symphony. Acclaimed violinist Gil Shaham

joins the BSO for Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto.

OFF THE CUFF

Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2Saturday, May 1, 2010 at 7 p.m.Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony helped launch

the career of this pianist, composer and conductor.

How did he do it? The BSO performs Symphony

No. 2 in its entirety, prefaced by enlightening

insights with Maestra Marin Alsop, all in a 90-

minute program with no intermission.

Underground Railroad: An Eveningwith Kathleen BattleSaturday, May 29, 2010 at 8 p.m.Superstar Kathleen Battle and the Morgan State

University Choir sing in a new program celebrating

the roots of African-American music and freedom

via the Underground Railroad.

his group plays and that of such classicalcomposers as Bela Bartók and Franz Liszt.“Bartók was really turned on by thismusic,” Mahovlich says of the Hungariancomposer who was one of the founders ofethnomusicology and researched, recordedand collected Slavic music.“You can hearits influence in his willingness to be inven-tive with other modes and other emotionalranges and harmonization in his work.”And there’s virtuosity to Liszt’s music thatMahovlich also connects to the music heplays.“Liszt definitely took themes fromurban folk music primarily played byGypsy (Roma) musicians and incorporatedthose into his music.”

Having the opportunity to share hiscultural heritage with classical music audi-ences who may have never before heard acimbalom or a sopilka gives Mahovlich afeeling of great satisfaction.“When we playin symphony halls people’s jaws tend todrop because they don’t expect this levelof music,” he says.“They’re immediatelydrawn into the rich tapestry of musicwe present.”

That news is music to Maestra Alsop’sears.This season she’s working to conveythe message that all cultures are accessiblethrough music.“One of the prejudicesI’d like to blow out of the water … is thatpeople can’t relate to heritages outsideof their specific experiences,” she says.“In order to relate to other people it isalways helpful to always understandone’s self first.

“Classical music was a shared socialexperience for hundreds of years beforebeing stereotyped as an elitist ivory towerexperience,”Alsop says.“Originally, playinga musical instrument was something every-one did. Regardless of their background orclass, everyone sat down and played musictogether.”This focus on heritage is justanother part of Alsop’s vision to return themusic to the people.“I just want everyoneto feel some kind of ownership in music. Ithink everyone should have the right toparticipate.”

Time for Three members Zachary De Pue (violin),Nicolas Kendall (violin) and Ranaan Meyer (double bass).

ExploreYour Musical Rootsat these BSO Concerts

“I just want everyone to feel some kind of ownership tomusic. I think everyone should have the right to participate.”

Harmonia members Steven Greenman (violin), Alexander Fedoriouk (cimbalom), Brano Brinarski (bass), Beata Begeniova (vocals),Walt Mahovlich (accordion), Andrei Pidkivka (panflute and sopilka) and Josef Janis (violin)-not pictured.

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—Marin Alsop, BSO Music Director

VANESSA BRICENO

-SCHERZER