23 Season 2012-2013 Sunday, April 14, at 3:00 28th Season of Chamber The Philadelphia Orchestra Music Concerts—Perelman Theater Holló José/beFORe John5, for percussion quartet Christopher Deviney Percussion Víctor Pablo García-Gaetán Percussion (Guest) Bradley Loudis Percussion (Guest) Phillip O’Banion Percussion (Guest) Reich from Drumming: Part I Part II Christopher Deviney Percussion Víctor Pablo García-Gaetán Percussion (Guest) Bradley Loudis Percussion (Guest) Phillip O’Banion Percussion (Guest) Temple University Percussion Ensemble (Guests) Spivack Scherzo for Percussion Septet and Forty Instruments Christopher Deviney Percussion Víctor Pablo García-Gaetán Percussion (Guest) Bradley Loudis Percussion (Guest) Phillip O’Banion Percussion (Guest) Temple University Percussion Ensemble (Guests) Intermission Bartók String Quartet No. 3 (In one movement) Marc Rovetti Violin William Polk Violin Kerri Ryan Viola Yumi Kendall Cello Beethoven String Quartet No. 2 in G major, Op. 18, No. 2 I. Allegro II. Adagio cantabile III. Scherzo: Allegro IV. Allegro molto quasi presto Marc Rovetti Violin William Polk Violin Kerri Ryan Viola Yumi Kendall Cello This program runs approximately 1 hour, 55 minutes. 224 Story Title The Philadelphia Orchestra Jessica Griffin Renowned for its distinctive vivid world of opera and Orchestra boasts a new sound, beloved for its choral music. partnership with the keen ability to capture the National Centre for the Philadelphia is home and hearts and imaginations Performing Arts in Beijing. the Orchestra nurtures of audiences, and admired The Orchestra annually an important relationship for an unrivaled legacy of performs at Carnegie Hall not only with patrons who “firsts” in music-making, and the Kennedy Center support the main season The Philadelphia Orchestra while also enjoying a at the Kimmel Center for is one of the preeminent three-week residency in the Performing Arts but orchestras in the world. Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and also those who enjoy the a strong partnership with The Philadelphia Orchestra’s other area the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Orchestra has cultivated performances at the Mann Festival. an extraordinary history of Center, Penn’s Landing, artistic leaders in its 112 and other venues. The The ensemble maintains seasons, including music Philadelphia Orchestra an important Philadelphia directors Fritz Scheel, Carl Association also continues tradition of presenting Pohlig, Leopold Stokowski, to own the Academy of educational programs for Eugene Ormandy, Riccardo Music—a National Historic students of all ages. Today Muti, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Landmark—as it has since the Orchestra executes a and Christoph Eschenbach, 1957. myriad of education and and Charles Dutoit, who community partnership Through concerts, served as chief conductor programs serving nearly tours, residencies, from 2008 to 2012. With 50,000 annually, including presentations, and the 2012-13 season, its Neighborhood Concert recordings, the Orchestra Yannick Nézet-Séguin Series, Sound All Around is a global ambassador becomes the eighth music and Family Concerts, and for Philadelphia and for director of The Philadelphia eZseatU. the United States. Having Orchestra. Named music been the first American For more information on director designate in 2010, orchestra to perform in The Philadelphia Orchestra, Nézet-Séguin brings a China, in 1973 at the please visit www.philorch.org. vision that extends beyond request of President Nixon, symphonic music into the today The Philadelphia 4 Music Director Jessica Griffin Yannick Nézet-Séguin triumphantly opened his inaugural season as the eighth music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra in the fall of 2012. From the Orchestra’s home in Verizon Hall to the Carnegie Hall stage, his highly collaborative style, deeply-rooted musical curiosity, and boundless enthusiasm, paired with a fresh approach to orchestral programming, have been heralded by critics and audiences alike. The New York Times has called Yannick “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton, “the ensemble, famous for its glowing strings and homogenous richness, has never sounded better.” Over the past decade, Yannick has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most exciting talents of his generation. Since 2008 he has been music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic and principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic, and since 2000 artistic director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain. He has appeared with such revered ensembles as the Vienna and Berlin philharmonics; the Boston Symphony; the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia; the Dresden Staatskapelle; the Chamber Orchestra of Europe; and the major Canadian orchestras. His talents extend beyond symphonic music into opera and choral music, leading acclaimed performances at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, London’s Royal Opera House, and the Salzburg Festival. In February 2013, following the July 2012 announcement of a major long-term collaboration between Yannick and Deutsch Grammophon, the Orchestra announced a recording project with the label, in which Yannick and the Orchestra will record Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. His discography with the Rotterdam Philharmonic for BIS Records and EMI/Virgin includes an Edison Award-winning album of Ravel’s orchestral works. He has also recorded several award-winning albums with the Orchestre Métropolitain for ATMA Classique. A native of Montreal, Yannick studied at that city’s Conservatory of Music and continued studies with renowned conductor Carlo Maria Giulini and with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College. In 2012 Yannick was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest civilian honors. His other honors include Canada’s National Arts Centre Award; a Royal Philharmonic Society Award; the Prix Denise-Pelletier, the highest distinction for the arts in Quebec; and an honorary doctorate by the University of Quebec in Montreal. To read Yannick’s full bio, please visit www.philorch.org/conductor. 25 The Music José/beFORe JOHN5, for percussion quartet Aurél Holló Aurel Holló is one of the foremost avant-garde composers Born in Mór, Hungary, in on the European scene. Born in 1966 in Mór, Hungary, 1966 Holló studied composition at the Györ Conservatory in Now living in Hungary western Hungary. It was while a student there that he began to study percussion instruments and to find in them the resources for his own musical expression. Jazz also influenced the young composer. For several years, he played percussion for Tea, a jazz fusion group that some called the Central European answer to American fusion band Spyro Gyra. Holló joined European percussion ensemble Amadinda in 1991 and remains a member of that group. Most of his music is written for Amadinda, including José/beFORe JOHN5 composed in 2000. But percussion is not the composer’s only medium, and his list of titles include A Rák jegyében (Under the Sign of Cancer) for piano; It’s like jazz! for small ensemble; Preludes for piano; Pan for electronic sources; and Sör és virsli (Sausage and Beer) for clarinet, cello, and piano. José is one of a series of pieces under the umbrella title of beFORe JOHN5, some of them composed by Holló’s colleague Zoltán Váczi, intended to explore the musical cultures of various world populations. About José, the composer writes: The basic idea of my piece was born when I was listening to the recording Oriental Bass by the ethnic contrabass-player Renaud Garcia-Fons. I wondered many times whether it would be possible to present his fundamentally Spanish style with its Arabic and Gypsy effects in an original percussion composition instead of a simple adaptation. My answer to this question is José. Besides Garcia-Fons’s recording I also used a theme by Paco de Lucía in this composition. Marimba has the lead through in this short character piece almost exclusively: Two players standing face-to-face play especially virtuosic complementary motives. Most of these figures are based on the traditional xylophone music of Africa. The players use techniques of amadinda and akadinda (traditional percussion instruments 26 from Uganda) yet the scale they cover is typically flamenco-like at the same time. In the end these two players sound a real guitar as well, with the same technique. This rhythmical-melodic source is enriched by the playing of two other musicians who create many interesting and exciting sounds, for example with the Spanish cajon or the favorite instrument of Gypsy folk music, the simple sheet-iron can, and many more. The piece is dedicated to the composer’s friend, percussionist Josep Vicent. In addition to his continued work with Amadinda, Holló teaches percussion at the Béla Bartók Conservatory in Budapest. His current creative projects include background music for animated films, orchestral arrangements for Hungarian pop singers, in addition to his series of compositions for Amadinda. —Kenneth LaFave Parts I and II from Drumming Steve Reich Here is a recognized way of charting the contested Born in New York City, history of post-war classical music by using the October 3, 1936 geography of the island of Manhattan: There were Now living there and in “uptown” composers (so-called because of the connection Rochester, Vermont with Columbia University) who wrote complex music in the high Modernist tradition of Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern. Then there was the “midtown” contingent, based at the Juilliard School of Music, performed