Opening Weekend with Jahja Ling and Yuja Wang

OCTOBER 2015Yuja Wang

SAN D IEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WINTER SEASON OCTOBER 2015 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE P1

FROM THECHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

COVER PHOTO CREDITS:Yuja Wang - Norbert Kniat

Martha GilmerChief Executive Officer

There is almost no time that I like more than the beginning of a season. It’s like curling up in a chair and opening a new book. The anticipation of what lies ahead is palpable, and I’m filled with a new energy and curiosity. It’s a time for new beginnings as Maestro Jahja Ling steps onto the podium and the musicians return to the stage once again. Over the past several months we have welcomed several new faces, including six new orchestra members who are eager to begin their first full indoor season with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra.

I so enjoyed my first summer at our outdoor venue on the Embarcadero. We had record ticket sales with one outstanding statistic in particular: five of the ten highest-selling summer concerts in the past eight years occurred in the summer of 2015! There were so many amazing performances at Summer Pops, providing such wonderful memories that will last for many seasons to come.

A combination of new and familiar is the hallmark of the 2015-16 season. There will be new works by both well-known composers and new composers, along with San Diego Symphony Orchestra debuts by over a dozen acclaimed guest conductors and world-renowned guest artists. Jahja Ling is performing works that have meant a great deal to him throughout his conducting life, as well as works such as Copland’s Appalachian Spring, which he has never conducted before here in San Diego. We are launching a new series called Jazz @ the Jacobs, and we’ve already sold over 600 subscriptions. If you’re a jazz lover, be sure to order your tickets early!

I believe that our mission is to create a vibrant and exciting season for you to experience, which includes familiar music balanced with repertoire designed to surprise and delight, to awaken your curiosity. I hope that this season provides that stimulating journey filled with wonderful new acquaintances and experiences, just like the discovery of a new book waiting to be read.

D E A R F R I E N D S ,

Sincerely,

PHO

TO C

RED

IT: L

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Martha Gilmer, Chief Executive Officer


MATTHEW GARBUTTPrincipal Summer Pops Conductor

SAMEER PATELAssistant Conductor

VIOLINJeff Thayer

Concertmaster DEBORAH PATE AND JOHN FORREST CHAIR

Jisun YangActing Associate Concertmaster

Wesley PrecourtActing Assistant Concertmaster

Alexander PalamidisPrincipal II

Jing YanActing Associate Principal II

Nick GrantPrincipal Associate Concertmaster Emeritus

Randall BrintonYumi ChoHernan ConstantinoAlicia EngleyPat FrancisKathryn HatmakerAngela HomnickMei Ching HuangˆAi Nihira*Igor PandurskiJulia PautzSusan RobboyShigeko SasakiYeh Shen Anna SkálováEdmund SteinJohn StubbsPei-Chun TsaiJoan Zelickman

VIOLAChi-Yuan Chen

PrincipalKAREN AND WARREN KESSLER CHAIR

Nancy LochnerAssociate Principal

Rebekah CampbellWanda LawQing LiangCaterina LonghiThomas MorganAdam Neeley* Ethan PernelaDorothy Zeavin

CELLOYao Zhao

PrincipalChia-Ling Chien

Associate PrincipalMarcia BooksteinGlen Campbell

Andrew HayhurstRichard LevineRonald RobboyMary Oda SzantoXian Zhuo

BASSJeremy Kurtz-Harris ˆ

Principal SOPHIE AND ARTHUR BRODY FOUNDATION CHAIR

Susan WulffActing Principal

Samuel HagerActing Associate Principal

W. Gregory Berton ˆP. J. CinqueJory HermanMargaret Johnston+Daniel Smith*Michael WaisSayuri Yamamoto*

FLUTERose Lombardo

PrincipalSarah Tuck Erica Peel

PICCOLOErica Peel

OBOESarah Skuster

Principal Harrison LinseyAndrea Overturf

ENGLISH HORNAndrea Overturf

DR. WILLIAM AND EVELYN LAMDEN ENGLISH HORN CHAIR

CLARINETSheryl Renk

PrincipalTheresa Tunnicliff Frank Renk

BASS CLARINETFrank Renk

BASSOONValentin Martchev

PrincipalRyan SimmonsLeyla Zamora

CONTRABASSOONLeyla Zamora

HORNBenjamin Jaber

Principal Darby Hinshaw

Assistant Principal & Utility

Danielle KuhlmannTricia Skye Douglas Hall

TRUMPETMicah Wilkinson

PrincipalJohn MacFerran WildsRay Nowak

TROMBONEKyle R. Covington

PrincipalLogan ChopykRichard Gordon+Michael Priddy

BASS TROMBONEMichael Priddy

TUBAMatthew Garbutt

Principal

HARPJulie Smith Phillips

Principal

TIMPANIRyan J. DiLisi

Principal Andrew Watkins

Assistant Principal

PERCUSSIONGregory Cohen

PrincipalErin Douglas DowreyAndrew Watkins

PIANO/CELESTEMary Barranger

ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL MANAGER Magdalena O’Neill

ASSISTANT PERSONNEL MANAGER TBA

PRINCIPAL LIBRARIANCourtney Secoy Cohen

LIBRARIANRachel Fields

* Long Term Substitute Musician+ Staff Opera Musician ˆ On leave

All musicians are members of the American Federation of Musicians Local 325.

Financial support is provided by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture.

SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAJAHJA LING, MUSIC DIRECTOR

SAN D IEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WINTER SEASON OCTOBER 2015 P8 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

OPENING WEEKENDWith Jahja Ling And Yuja Wang

FRIDAY October 9, 2015 – 8:00pmSUNDAY October 11, 2015 – 2:00pm

conductor Jahja Ling piano Yuja Wang

All performances at The Jacobs Music Center’s Copley Symphony Hall

PROGRAM

“The Star-Spangled Banner”

Overture to Die Fledermaus

Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major, K. 271: JeunehommeAllegro Andantino Rondo: Presto Yuja Wang, piano

I N T E R M I S S I O N

Suite from Romeo and Juliet“Montagues and Capulets” from Suite No. 2 “The Child Juliet” from Suite No. 2 “Minuet” from Suite No. 1 “Masks” from Suite No. 1 “Romeo and Juliet” from Suite No. 1 “Death of Tybalt” from Suite No. 1 “Aubade” from Suite No. 3 “Romeo at Juliet’s Before Parting” from Suite No. 2“Dance of the Antilles Girls” from Suite No. 2 “Romeo at the Grave of Juliet” from Suite No. 2 “Death of Juliet” from Suite No. 3

The approximate running time for this program, including intermission, is two hours.

JACOBS MASTERWORKS SERIES

JOHN STAFFORD SMITH / Arr. Otto-Werner Mueller

JOHANN STRAUSS, JR.

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

SERGE PROKOFIEV / Comp. Jahja Ling

OCTOBER 9 & 11


A pianist who radiates palpable magnetism and a distinctly contemporary sensibil-

ity, YUJA WANG is an astounding artist whose awe-inspiring technique is matched only by her eloquence as a musician. Since her breakthrough debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2007 while still a student at the Curtis Institute of Music, she has established herself as an international sensation and a fi xture among the world’s leading orchestras – including those of New York, London, Amsterdam and Berlin – regularly joining them on tours of the Americas, Europe and Asia. Championed early on by pre-eminent maestros including Gustavo Dudamel, Michael Tilson Thomas and the late Claudio Abbado, she is one of today’s most sought after soloists, as well as a fi ercely dedicated chamber musician, recitalist and Grammy®-nominated recording artist.

To launch the 2015-16 season, Ms. Wang joins Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony on their “European Festivals Tour,” performing Beethoven and Bartók at London’s BBC Proms, the Edinburgh, Rheingau, Lucerne and Enescu festivals, and in Amsterdam, Luxembourg and Paris. She plays Messiaen’s Turangalila Symphony with the New York Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar under Dudamel, both in Caracas and throughout Europe. Mozart’s Jeunehomme Concerto is on the program for her debut with the Vienna Philharmonic under Valery Gergiev,

as well as for appearances with the New York, Los Angeles and Israel Philharmonics led by Charles Dutoit, Lionel Bringuier and Zubin Mehta, respectively. A U.S. tour with Mikhail Pletnev and the Russian National Symphony showcases both the Mozart and Tchaikovsky’s Second Concerto, the latter of which she reprises with the Moscow Philharmonic and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, in Amsterdam and Asia. In recital, Ms. Wang tours France, Holland and Germany, and reunites with violinist Leonidas Kavakos for a complete Brahms sonata cycle at the Edinburgh Festival.

Ms. Wang made her European concerto debut in 2003 and her North American concerto debut two years later. She appeared with the New York Philharmonic in Vail in 2006 and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2007. In 2008 she toured the U.S. with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and the next year she performed at Carnegie Hall with the YouTube Symphony Orchestra under Tilson Thomas. She has now partnered with nearly all of the world’s foremost orchestras, including those of Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington; the London Symphony Orchestra; Orchestre de Paris; Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Berlin and Munich Philharmonics; Orquesta Nacional de España; Accademia di Santa Cecilia; Mariinsky Orchestra; the Israel and China Philharmonics; NHK Symphony; Melbourne and Sydney Symphonies; and Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar. In 2011 she performed an out-door concert for an audience of 25,000 with Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Staatskapelle at the German capital’s Bebelplatz, and in 2013-14 she was the subject of a London Symphony Orchestra “Artist Portrait” series. In the 2014-15 season, she served as the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich’s inaugural Artist-in-Residence. Yuja has performed at Carnegie Hall every season since her celebrated recital debut in 2001 and frequently makes solo appearances in other major cities throughout Asia, Europe and North America. As a chamber musician, she graces summer festivals worldwide, making regular appearances at Switzerland’s Verbier Festival.

An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2009, Ms. Wang has released three solo albums

and two concerto recordings to date. Her debut release, Sonatas & Etudes, was nominated for a Grammy®, won an International Piano Award, and saw Ms. Wang named Gramophone’s “Young Artist of the Year.” With her solo title Transformation, she took the 2011 ECHO Klassik Award for “Young Artist of the Year,” while her recording of Rachmaninoff concertos with Abbado and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra received a Grammy® nomination for “Best Classical Instrumental Solo.” Next followed Fantasia, a collection of solo encores, and live accounts of Prokofi ev and Rachmaninoff with Dudamel and the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar. In 2014 Yuja joined Kavakos to record the complete Brahms violin and piano sona-tas for Decca Records, and she also appears on the award-winning soundtrack of the 2013 motion picture Summer in February. Her forth-coming recording on Deutsche Grammophon, Yuja Wang: Ravel with Bringuier and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, is to be released in fall 2015.

An artist who has intrigued the public both with her artistry and with her sense of style, Ms. Wang has been the subject of television docu-mentaries and graced the pages of magazines ranging from arts and culture to fashion, includ-ing Italian Vogue, French Elle and Chinese Marie Claire. She is a Steinway Artist and serves as a brand ambassador for Rolex. An internet sen-sation, she has multiple fan blogs dedicated to her, and a video of her playing Flight of the Bumblebee on YouTube has been viewed almost 4 million times.

Born in Beijing in 1987, Yuja Wang began piano lessons at the age of six and went on to study with Ling Yuan and Zhou Guangren at Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music. In 1999 she joined the Morningside Music summer pro-gram at Calgary’s Mount Royal College, and in 2001 she embarked on two years of study with Hung-Kuan Chen at Mount Royal College Conservatory. Following studies with John Perry at Aspen Music Festival and a win in the concerto competition, Ms. Wang became a stu-dent of Gary Graff man at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute, graduating in 2008. Ms. Wang is the recipient of the 2006 Gilmore Young Artist Award and winner of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. n

ABOUT THE ARTISTSOPENING WEEKEND WITH JAHJA LING AND YUJA WANG– OCTOBER 9 & 11

YUJA WANG, PIANO


ABOUT THE COMPOSERSOPENING WEEKEND WITH JAHJA LING AND YUJA WANG– OCTOBER 9 & 11

Overture to Die FledermausJOHANN STRAUSS, JR.Born October 25, 1825, ViennaDied June 3, 1899, Vienna(Approx. 9 minutes)

From the moment of its premiere on April 5, 1874, Die Fledermaus has

been a symbol of a city – Vienna – devoted to the good life, but this quintessentially Viennese story actually had a multinational lineage. It began as a German play called Das Gefängnis (“The Prison”), was adapted by two French playwrights as Le révéillon (“Midnight Supper”), and only then was it turned into a libretto by two Austrian writers. But JOHANN STRAUSS II transformed this complex heritage into a Viennese operetta as intoxicating as the champagne that flows so freely throughout, and Die Fledermaus (“The Bat”) did much to cheer up a Viennese public still reeling from

the effects of a recent financial crash.

As with most operettas, the plot is so complicated that it defies summary. The wealthy Gabriel Eisenstein is on his way to a five-day stay in prison for a minor infraction at just the moment that his wife Rosalinde has encountered Alfred, an old flame. Her husband contrives to delay his stay in prison to attend the masked ball at Prince Orlovsky’s, where – disguised – he flirts with his wife’s maid Adele, also disguised. Meanwhile Rosalinde, disguised as a Hungarian princess, arrives to catch her husband in the act. The disguises, complications and intrigues continue until – well-fortified with large amounts of champagne – the principals sort it all out.

The sparkling overture, energetic and fun, sets the mood for what will follow; it is episodic in structure, and for its themes Strauss draws on arias from throughout Die Fledermaus. One of his most effective touches is to include the terrific waltz that brings Act II to its climax, and this appears

several times. Like the tale it introduces, the overture to Die Fledermaus is full of snap, sizzle and champagne bubbles, and Strauss drives it to a sudden, surprising close. n

Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major, K. 271: JeunehommeWOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZARTBorn January 27, 1756, SalzburgDied December 5, 1791, Vienna(Approx. 32 minutes)

In January 1777 a pianist from Paris visited Salzburg. Her name was Mademoiselle

Jeunehomme, and MOZART must have been impressed by her playing, because for her visit he composed a piano concerto far beyond anything imagined before. Earlier keyboard concertos, including Mozart’s own, had descended from the baroque concerto, in which the solo instrument was essentially absorbed into the orchestral texture and allowed only brief moments when it broke free from that ensemble. With this concerto Mozart transforms – transcends! – that entire tradition: now soloist and orchestra are equals, they share the presentation and development of ideas, and the concerto suddenly evolves from a simple display piece into a form suited to the most serious musical expression. But what is equally remarkable is the new depth evident here. From a young man who had spent the previous year writing church music, serenades and choral canons that – while technically accomplished – are unremarkable, suddenly comes music full of contrast, a sense of space and scope, and – in the slow movement – a new intensity of feeling. Alfred Einstein has called this concerto “Mozart’s Eroica,” suggesting that just as Beethoven suddenly expanded the whole conception of the symphony in the Eroica, Mozart here did the same for the piano concerto.

Mozart shatters precedent in the first moments of the Allegro. The orchestra

opens with a one-measure figure, and the piano leaps in to complete the phrase itself. The orchestra repeats its opening gesture, and once again the piano takes over to complete the phrase. This opening establishes the most unusual feature of the first movement: the equality of piano and orchestra and their mutual development of ideas. When the piano later makes its main entrance, it further declares its independence by introducing completely new material. But first the orchestra lays out a wealth of ideas, and when the piano eventually makes its main entrance, it arrives imaginatively on a long trill. Mozart’s development, largely motivic, is focused and brief, and the recapitulation is enlivened by the new sonorities he generates as familiar themes return in new instrumental colors.

The Andantino, in C minor, is the first movement in any Mozart concerto in a minor key. Often compared to an aria from a tragic opera because of its intense and expressive lyric lines, this movement opens with a pulsing, dark theme from muted violins in their lowest register, a theme that sets the mood for the entire movement (and it is a mark of the new sophistication of this concerto that the two violin sections are in canon here). Though the Andantino later moves into radiant E-flat Major, it remains deeply affecting throughout, prefiguring the great slow movements of Mozart’s late piano concertos. The concluding movement is a propulsive rondo, though even here Mozart introduces an original touch. Midway through, he brings the music to a halt and inserts a lengthy minuet (marked Cantabile), which he then treats to four elaborate variations. If the dark expressiveness of the slow movement suggested opera seria, the decorative elegance of these variations takes us into the world of opera buffa. This extended interlude stands in pleasing contrast to the energy of the rondo theme, and Mozart makes the transition back to



the rondo with great skill; when that Allegro finally arrives, we feel that we have suddenly stepped back onto a speeding train.

The Concerto in E-flat Major is in all ways an original piece of music, one of those rare works that in one stroke expand the possibilities of a form. Mozart must have felt a continuing affection for this music, because he performed it in Vienna after his move from Salzburg in 1781. Coming from the month of the composer’s twenty-first birthday, the Concerto in E-flat Major marks Mozart’s coming of age in more ways than one. Mademoiselle Jeunehomme, meanwhile, has passed into the shadows of history. Even her first name has not survived, and she is remembered today only as the inspiration for this impressive music. n

Suite from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64 (compiled by Jahja Ling)SERGE PROKOFIEVBorn April 23, 1891, SontsovkaDied March 5, 1953, Moscow (Approx. 50 minutes)

Late in 1934 the Kirov Theater in Leningrad approached SERGE PROKOFIEV with

the proposal that they collaborate on a bal-let based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Prokofiev agreed, and he completed the massive score by the end of the summer of 1935, but the project came to seem nearly as star-crossed as Shakespeare’s young lovers. The Kirov Ballet backed out, and the Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow took over the project. Prokofiev’s first plan had been to give the story a happy ending in which Romeo would rescue Juliet before her suicide, and he actu-ally composed that version, explaining that “The reasons for this piece of barbarism were purely choreographic: living people can dance, the dying cannot.” Fortunately, this idea was scrapped, but when the Bolshoi finally saw Prokofiev’s score, they called it “undanceable” and refused to produce it.

While Romeo and Juliet languished in limbo, Prokofiev transformed excerpts from the ballet’s 52 numbers into a series of instrumental suites. He made a suite for piano of Ten Pieces from Romeo and Juliet and assembled two orchestral suites of seven movements each (a third orchestral suite followed in 1946). Prokofiev took some movements for these suites directly from the ballet, but others he created by combining excerpts from different scenes. The first two suites were premiered in 1936 and 1937 (and Prokofiev himself conducted their American premieres in Boston and Chicago); wide performances of these suites meant that the music from the ballet was familiar to audiences long before it was produced on the stage.

The premiere of the ballet itself took place not in Russia but in Brno in 1938, without Prokofiev’s participation. Preparations for the Russian premiere brought more trouble, including a fight between Prokofiev and the choreographer, disputes with the dancers (who at first found the music alien), and a threatened walk-out by the orchestra. When the premiere finally took place in Leningrad on January 11, 1940, it was a triumph for all involved, though Soviet ballerina Galina Ulanova, who danced the part of Juliet, touched on the ballet’s difficult birth when she paraphrased the play’s final lines in her toast to the composer after the opening performance: Never was a tale of greater woe, Than Prokofiev’s music to Romeo.

The irony, of course, is that Romeo and Juliet has become Prokofiev’s most famous stage work and one of the most popular creations of his Soviet period: both Ulanova and Dame Margot Fonteyn achieved particular success with the role of Juliet.

The movements in Prokofiev’s orchestral suites from Romeo and Juliet are not in chronological sequence – that is, he created

them by arranging movements in sequences he felt would be effective in the concert hall, without regard to their order in the ballet. Conductors have felt free to prepare their own selection of movements from these suites, and for these concerts Maestro Jahja Ling has drawn excerpts from all three of Prokofiev’s suites and arranged them in correct “story” order.

Prokofiev piles dissonance on top of dissonance at the beginning of The Montagues and the Capulets, and then the music forges ahead brutally on the swagger of the rival families. There is some wonderful instrumental color throughout the ballet, and this movement features a striking saxophone solo as well as interludes for muted viola glissandos combined with the sound of solo flute. The sprightly Young Juliet captures the energy of the girl with racing violins; some wistful interludes along the way, one of them marked con eleganza, suggest a depth to her character.

Minuet pictures the arrival of the guests at the ball at the Capulets’, while the witty Masques comes from the end of Act I, when Mercutio and Benvolio talk Romeo into crashing that party. Romeo and Juliet accompanies the balcony scene; soaring love music alternates with ominous interludes marked Inquieto. Death of Tybalt brings the terrific swordfight (a racing perpetual-motion for the violins), the fatal thrust and a clod-hopping funeral march in which cellos and horns sing the funeral song above rolling drums.

Aubade (Morning Serenade), which includes the exotic sound of mandolins, is performed on the morning of Juliet’s scheduled wedding, as guests arrive bringing gifts. Romeo and Juliet Before Parting brings some of the finest music in the ballet. The tender flute solo at the beginning sets the mood of love, which Prokofiev underlines


with a solo for viola d’amore (a part usually undertaken by the modern viola); a horn call leads to a mighty climax, and the music fades into delicate (if troubled) silence. The lilting Dance of the Maids from the Antilles is danced by Juliet’s attendants as she falls asleep from Friar Laurence’s potion. Romeo at the Tomb of Juliet is marked Adagio funebre: grieving violins drive the music to a painful climax, and it falls away to stumble into numbed silence. Death of Juliet is the music that brings the ballet to its dark conclusion: Juliet awakes, discovers the body of Romeo, stabs herself and dies. n

-Program notes by Eric Bromberger

WHY THIS PROGRAM? WHY THESE PIECES?

By DR. MELVIN G. GOLDZBAND,

SDSO Archivist

At the beginning of our initial talk regarding the programs Jahja Ling chose for his valedictory seasons as music director of the fine ensemble which he built and trained to its present level of excellence, he paused. Finally, he began by saying, “Because these two are my last seasons before leaving my position here, I have to say that I deliberately chose works to conduct that might be my favorites, or that might be works that the audiences here especially enjoyed. Most of them, though, truly represent the style of music that I find most compatible and even personal to me. I grew up hearing many of them on the radio or on disc, and then, as a conducting student, learned them, the immortal representatives of the Mitteleuropa musical tradition handed down to many of my instructors. Many of those teachers had even been taught by some of the masters who had created or were creating that

tradition. It is that tradition that I have tried to instill in the players of this orchestra.” “Johann Strauss was a master, and his music continues to deserve prominence on today’s concert stages. I grew up listening to Viennese waltzes, and he wrote the best. Even Brahms recognized this, when he autographed Frau Strauss’s fan, after drawing the first notes of The Blue Danube Waltz on it, and then writing, ‘Unfortunately, not by Johannes Brahms....’” Jahja Ling related that conductors who really know how to lead Viennese waltzes must respect the necessary rubato and the little, applied hesitations that often are emphasized between the second and third beats of the music. “That’s the real Viennese traditition. The Overture to Fledermaus brings out the highest levels of Viennese operettas.”

Referring to the concerto on this opening program, he noted, “This is a young Mozart, but the work shows his genius clearly, especially his incredible skill in creating dialogues between piano and orchestra, and even conversations!” The conductor spoke very highly of Yuja Wang, our soloist, pointing out that she has transcended the urge toward fireworks and excessive displays of virtuosity. Her selection of a Mozart concerto to play here validates that, he told me. It represents maturity and sensitivity of the highest order. Continuing, he noted that her selection of the Second Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto to play at the Opus Gala concert also represents that kind of growth of real musicality. “It is a piece that certainly has virtuosic passages but, for example, the beautiful slow movement is really chamber music, a trio for violin, cello and piano, with orchestral accompaniment.”

Then our maestro made a very emphatic statement: “Prokofiev’s score for Romeo and Juliet is the greatest ballet music of the twentieth century, even greater than Stravinsky’s earlier masterpieces!” He

pointed out Prokofiev’s careful use of dissonance as contrast to and accents against the beautiful romantic passages, always reminding us that tragedy will follow at the end. Jahja Ling is not conducting the first or second concert suites that the composer created from the ballet score. The pieces in those suites do not follow the drama of the ballet. Instead, he has selected pieces from the entire score, placing them in an order according to the ballet’s scenario; the excerpts can easily be recognized as complements to the familiar action.

***********

Performance History: One of everyone’s favorites, Johann Strauss II’s Overture to Die Fledermaus, was initially played by this orchestra under the baton of Nino Marcelli, in Balboa Park’s then-new Ford Bowl during the 1935 Exhibition Season, and was broadcast nationwide over the then-equally-new Columbia Broadcasting System. Its last performance here was during the 2012 season, when Jahja Ling conducted it. In March of 2006 Jahja Ling conducted his own compilation of music, as heard on these concerts, from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Ballet Suites. Prokofiev’s original suites have been performed several times throughout this series, beginning with Robert Emile’s performances of the Second Suite in 1967, and repeated under his baton in 1971.

The great Lili Kraus was the piano soloist for the Mozart Jeunehomme concerto during the first of her successive all-Mozart seasons with the SDSO, back in 1969. Zoltan Rozsnyai conducted. The current performances are the first since then. n


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COUGH DROPSComplimentary cough suppressants are available to symphony patrons. Please ask our house staff for assistance.

LOST & FOUNDReport all lost and/or found items to your nearest usher. If you have discovered that you misplaced something after your departure from Jacobs Music Center, call the Facilities Department at 619.615.3909.

PRE-CONCERT TALKSPatrons holding tickets to our Jacobs Masterworks Series concerts are invited to come early for “What’s The Score?” pre-performance conversations beginning 45 minutes prior to all Jacobs Masterworks programs (Fridays and Saturdays, 7:15 pm; Sundays, 1:15 pm).

HALL TOURSFree tours of the Jacobs Music Center are given each month of the winter season. Check the “Jacobs Music Center” section of the website, or call 619.615.3955 for more details. No reservations are necessary.

JACOBS MUSIC CENTER TICKET OFFICE

750 B Street (NE Corner of 7th and B,

Downtown San Diego)San Diego, CA 92101 Phone: 619.235.0804

Fax: 619.231.3848

SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ADMINISTRATION OFFICE

1245 7th AvenueSan Diego, CA 92101 Phone: 619.235.0800

Fax: 619.235.0005

Our Website: SanDiegoSymphony.com Contact us to receive mailed or e-mailed updates about Orchestra events.

All artists, programs and dates are subject to change.

Documents

Opening Weekend with Jahja Ling and Yuja Wang