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America Awakens 2021 SEASON AMERICA AWAKENS Aaron Copland Adolphus Hailstork AN ON- DEMAND PERFORMANCE APRIL 30-MAY 2 . 2021 Spring is in the air, the light of awareness is dawning, change is within reach, growth is on the horizon, and pride lends a bounce to one’s step. Please join Maestro Wes Kenney and the Fort Collins Symphony for an evening of American composers and themes. This streamed virtual concert features two of Aaron Copland’s compositions — the enduring American anthem, Appalachian Spring, and a coming-of-age story, The Tender Land—and composer Adolphus Hailstork’s jazz/blues/Black gospel-inspired Church Street Serenade. Pre-recorded at the Fort Collins Lincoln Center, this concert is available to stream at your leisure over the weekend of April 30-May 2. The America Awakens concert is dedicated to the memory of Leabelle R. Schwartz The FCS is deeply grateful to the following concert donors The Lincoln Center Support Guild . Roberta Mielke . Dr. Peter Springberg Season Concert Sponsors City of Fort Collins Fort Fund . Colorado Creative Industries . National Endowment for the Arts Dr. Ed Siegel . Dr. Peter Springberg SEASON 2020-2021 AMERICA AWAKENS PROGRAM Repertoire On-Demand Streaming Concert April 30 - May 2 . 2021 Recorded at the Fort Collins Lincoln Center WES KENNEY, CONDUCTOR Aaron Copland Appalachian Spring: Ballet for Martha (1900-1990) Complete Chamber Orchestra Version Adolphus Hailstork Church Street Serenade (b. 1941) Aaron Copland, Arr. Murry Sidlin The Tender Land Suite 1. Introduction 2. Laurie’s Aria 3. Love Duet 4. Stomp Your Foot 5. Daybreak Will Come 6. Hire a Stranger 7. Promise of Living Laurie: Amy Maples, soprano Ma: Patricia Goble, mezzo-soprano Martin: John Carlo Pierce, tenor Pa: Wes Kenney, bass The America Awakens Concert is Dedicated in Memory of Leabelle R. Schwartz Donors: Kara Holstrom & Warren Diggles . Wes & Leslie Kenney . Mary & Paul Kopco . Roberta Mielke Sharyn & Larry Salmen . Stephanie Stern & Daniel Curran . Kathleen Warnecke Signature Concert Sponsors THE LINCOLN CENTER SUPPORT GUILD . ROBERTA MIELKE . DR. PETER SPRINGBERG 2021 Season Sponsors Dr. Ed Siegel Dr. Peter Springberg With Special Thanks to Our Performance Hall Partner: The Fort Collins Lincoln Center SEASON 2020-2021 AMERICA AWAKENS MUSICIAN Roster First Violin Cello Piano Nina Fronjian, Concertmaster Becky Kutz Osterberg, Principal Joshua Sawicki Mary Gindulis, Assistant Concertmaster Joseph Howe, Assistant Principal Mary Evans, Principal Beth Wells Bennett Stucky Yi-Ching Lee Assistant Conductor Second Violin Bass Jeremy Cuebas Christine Menter, Principal Forest Greenough, Principal Librarian Sarah Whitnah, Assistant Principal Colton Kelley, Assistant Principal Ethan Hecht Evan De Long Flute Personnel Manager Jean Denney Norman Menzales, Principal Jean Denney Viola Clarinet Production Manager Ethan Hecht, Principal Kellan Toohey, Principal Kevin Wolfgang Kyla Witt, Assistant Principal Erin Napier Bassoon Margaret Miller Tom Bittinger, Principal The Sounds of Change 2021 On-Demand Streaming Concerts With gratitude to our generous sponsors who help keep your Fort Collins Symphony playing - Thank you! America Awakens Signature Concert Sponsors 2021 Season . Media Sponsors THE LINCOLN CENTER SUPPORT GUILD ROBERTA MIELKE . DR. PETER SPRINGBERG 2021 Season Business Sponsors Destination Justin Holcomb by Design Piano Tuning bell-law.com dellenbachsubaru.com dbdtravel.com fortcollinsnursery.com garyhixondesigns.com valpak.com garyhixondesigns.com [email protected] 2021 Season Sponsors Dr. Ed Siegel Dr. Peter Springberg With Special Thanks to Our Performance Hall Partner: The Fort Collins Lincoln Center SEASON 2020-2021 AMERICA AWAKENS CONCERT Soloists Amy Maples Laurie - The Tender Land Soprano Amy Maples is a Tennessee native who Specialty roles include: Cunegonde (Candide), Adina currently resides in Golden, CO. Performing with (L’Elisir d’Amore), Gilda (Rigoletto), Linda (Linda such companies as the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, di Chamounix), the title role in (Lakmé), Lucy (The Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Brevard Symphony Telephone), Thérèse (Les Mamelles de Tiresias), Mabel Orchestra, Bangor Symphony, Orchestra Kentucky, (The Pirates of Penzance), Dorinda (Orlando), Susanna Ohio Light Opera, and Piedmont Opera, Ms. Maples (Le Nozze di Figaro), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Tuptim has made her mark as both a concert soloist and an (The King and I), Cosette (Les Miserables), and Christine opera performer. She has been a featured artist with (The Phantom of the Opera). Maples received a MM in Opera Theatre of the Rockies, Opera Colorado, Opera Voice Performance from Florida State University and Fort Collins, the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, and a BM in Voice Performance from Lee University. Z the Colorado Chamber Orchestra. John Carlo Pierce Martin - The Tender Land American tenor Dr. John Carlo Pierce enjoys an European television and radio, and can be heard on international reputation for beautiful sound and incisive the EMI recording of Zemlinsky’s Der Traumgörge, acting. He has held contracted positions with the opera conducted by James Conlon. His solo recording, Songs theaters in cities of Cologne and Mainz, Germany. He of Wintter Watts, was recently released on Centaur appeared as a guest at the Spoleto Festival in Italy, the Records. Pierce holds a Master of Music degree from Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Aargau Festival the Eastman School of Music and Doctor of Musical in Switzerland, and in opera houses across Germany. Arts degree from the University of Connecticut. He Dr. Pierce’s repertoire features leading roles in operas is currently Associate Professor of Voice at Colorado by Mozart, Rossini, and Donizetti, and stretches State University, where he teaches lyric diction, opera from the Baroque to new works. He has appeared on history, and applied voice. Z CONCERT Dedication TheAmerica Awakens concert is dedicated in Schwartz, professor of music and founder/conductor memory of Leabelle ‘Lea’ R. Schwartz who passed of the Fort Collins Symphony Orchestra. In 1963, Lea away on January 13, 2021. Lea grew up on a farm in founded the Women’s Symphony Guild, now known as northeastern Kansas where she learned the value of hard the Friends of the Symphony. The Schwartz’s partnership work and an appreciation for living in harmony with the and work to create and support classical music in Fort land. She was an excellent student, a stalwart protector of Collins set the stage for what is today a top-notch regional her three younger siblings, and a devoted daughter who orchestra and thriving cultural arts community. was as equally adept at helping her mother can vegetables In addition to her work with the Guild, Lea taught at and helping her father herd cattle on horseback. Foothills Gateway and co-founded the Women’s Resource Lea was passionate about classical music. Throughout her life Center. After earning her MBA, she worked in marketing she performed in choruses, played piano, and picked up the cello communications for NCR, AT&T and Symbios Logic. She later after her high school orchestra leader recruited her for her excellent opened her own public relations firm, Point Public Relations, musical ear, strong hands (farm work), and tall stature. and continued working until the age of 80, capping a long and After earning the first of two master’s degrees, she accepted successful career. A devotion to those she loved, hard work, and a job to teach at CSU. There she met and later married Will making a positive impact were hallmarks of Lea’s life. Z SEASON 2020-2021 AMERICA AWAKENS PROGRAM Notes By Dr. K. Dawn Grapes Aaron Copland Appalachian Spring: Ballet for Martha Date of Composition: 1944 Duration: 25 minutes What is it about Copland’s music that evokes such U.S. art music community. feelings of nationalism and nostalgia? Some would point to the composer’s use of open intervals of fourths and Several years earlier, Martha Graham, renowned fifths, which emblematize the wide-open spaces of the dancer and choreographer, had approached Copland American West. Others note his incorporation of folk- with a commission for a new, modern ballet. Separated tunes and hymns, sometimes only in fragments, which geographically, the two collaborated through written add a familiarity for listeners. There is also a certain correspondence to create Appalachian Spring. Copland indefinable quality about his music that is—simply responded with a work for thirteen instrumentalists, a Copland. Aaron Copland (1900–1990) was born to group small enough to fit into the performing space at Lithuanian-Jewish immigrant parents in Brooklyn, the Library of Congress where the work was premiered. where he grew up. Yet his music is so associated with Later the composer would re-orchestrate the piece for rustic Americana that he has been deemed the “Dean of American full orchestra, but there is something about this first chamber- Music.” His most popular works seize upon themes and scenes like instrumentation that is especially evocative of the ballet’s reinforcing this portrayal and include titles such as Rodeo, Billy narrative. The story simply tells of a revivalist preacher and a the Kid, Lincoln Portrait, Fanfare for the Common Man, and young couple whose wedding in the then-Pennsylvania-wilds of course, Appalachian Spring. All of these compositions, and heralds a promising future. Graham and legendary dancer Merce indeed, the majority of Copland’s most well-known works, were Cunningham performed lead roles. The production, in terms of composed
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