Scheherazade.2, Dramatic Symphony for Violin and Orchestra I
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23 Season 2019-2020 Thursday, September 26, at 7:30 The Philadelphia Orchestra Friday, September 27, at 2:00 Saturday, September 28, John Adams Conductor at 8:00 Leila Josefowicz Violin Ravel Alborada del gracioso Stravinsky Song of the Nightingale I. Feast at the Emperor’s Palace II. The Two Nightingales III. Illness and Recovery of the Emperor of China Intermission Adams Scheherazade.2, Dramatic Symphony for Violin and Orchestra I. Tale of the Wise Young Woman—Pursuit by the True Believers II. A Long Desire (Love Scene) III. Scheherazade and the Men with Beards IV. Escape, Flight, Sanctuary Chester Englander, cimbalom First Philadelphia Orchestra performances This program runs approximately 1 hour, 50 minutes. These concerts are sponsored by Gretchen and M. Roy Jackson. These concerts are part of the Orchestra’s WomenNOW celebration. Philadelphia Orchestra concerts are broadcast on WRTI 90.1 FM on Sunday afternoons at 1 PM, and are repeated on Monday evenings at 7 PM on WRTI HD 2. Visit www.wrti.org to listen live or for more details. 24 25 The Philadelphia Orchestra Jessica Griffin The Philadelphia Orchestra community centers, the Mann Through concerts, tours, is one of the world’s Center to Penn’s Landing, residencies, and recordings, preeminent orchestras. classrooms to hospitals, and the Orchestra is a global It strives to share the over the airwaves and online. ambassador. It performs transformative power of The Orchestra continues annually at Carnegie Hall, music with the widest to discover new and the Saratoga Performing possible audience, and to inventive ways to nurture its Arts Center, and the Bravo! create joy, connection, and relationship with loyal patrons. Vail Music Festival. The excitement through music The Philadelphia Orchestra Orchestra also has a rich in the Philadelphia region, continues the tradition of history of touring, having across the country, and educational and community first performed outside around the world. Through engagement for listeners Philadelphia in the earliest innovative programming, of all ages. It launched its days of its founding. It was robust educational initiatives, HEAR initiative in 2016 to the first American orchestra and an ongoing commitment become a major force for to perform in the People’s to the communities that it good in every community that Republic of China in 1973, serves, the ensemble is on a it serves. HEAR is a portfolio launching a now-five-decade path to create an expansive of integrated initiatives commitment of people-to- future for classical music, that promotes Health, people exchange. and to further the place champions music Education, The Orchestra also makes of the arts in an open and enables broad Access to live recordings available on democratic society. Orchestra performances, and popular digital music services Yannick Nézet-Séguin is now maximizes impact through and as part of the Orchestra in his eighth season as the Research. The Orchestra’s on Demand section of its eighth music director of The award-winning education and website. Under Yannick’s Philadelphia Orchestra. His community initiatives engage leadership, the Orchestra connection to the ensemble’s over 50,000 students, returned to recording, with musicians has been praised families, and community four celebrated CDs on by both concertgoers and members through programs the prestigious Deutsche critics, and he is embraced such as PlayINs, side-by- Grammophon label. The by the musicians of the sides, PopUP concerts, Free Orchestra also reaches Orchestra, audiences, and Neighborhood Concerts, thousands of radio listeners the community. School Concerts, sensory- with weekly broadcasts on Your Philadelphia Orchestra friendly concerts, the School WRTI-FM and SiriusXM. For takes great pride in its Partnership Program and more information, please visit hometown, performing for the School Ensemble Program, www.philorch.org. people of Philadelphia year- and All City Orchestra round, from Verizon Hall to Fellowships. 26 Conductor Riccardo Musacchio Composer, conductor, and creative thinker John Adams occupies a unique position in the world of music. His works stand out among contemporary classical compositions for their depth of expression, brilliance of sound, and the profoundly humanist nature of their themes. His stage compositions, all in collaboration with director Peter Sellars, have transformed the genre of contemporary music theater. Spanning more than three decades, works such as Harmonielehre, Shaker Loops, El Niño, and Nixon in China are among the most performed of all contemporary classical music. Mr. Adams made his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 1999. As a conductor he has led the world’s major orchestras, programming his own works alongside a wide variety of repertoire ranging from Mozart, Beethoven, and Debussy to Ives, Ellington, and Carter. Among his honorary doctorates are those from Yale, Harvard, Northwestern, and Cambridge universities and the Juilliard School. A provocative writer, he is author of the highly acclaimed autobiography Hallelujah Junction and is a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review. Since 2009 he has been creative chair of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Recent recordings include the Berlin Philharmonic’s John Adams Edition, a box set comprising seven of his works, and two Grammy-nominated albums: Doctor Atomic, featuring the BBC Symphony and BBC Singers conducted by Mr. Adams with Gerald Finley and Julia Bullock; and Scheherazade.2, Dramatic Symphony for Violin and Orchestra, written for Leila Josefowicz. Born and raised in New England, Mr. Adams learned the clarinet from his father and played in marching bands and community orchestras during his formative years. He began composing at age 10 and his first orchestral pieces were performed while he was still a teenager. In 2017 he celebrated his 70th birthday with festivals of his music in Europe and the U.S., including special retrospectives at London’s Barbican Centre, the Cité de la Musique in Paris, and in Amsterdam, New York, and Geneva, among other cities. In 2019 he was the recipient of Spain’s BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award and the Netherlands’ Erasmus Prize “for notable contributions to European culture, society, and social science.” 27 Soloist Chris Lee Leila Josefowicz’s passionate advocacy of contemporary music for the violin is reflected in her diverse programs and enthusiasm for performing new works. In recognition of her outstanding achievement and excellence in music, she won the 2018 Avery Fisher Prize and was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2008, joining prominent scientists, writers, and musicians who have made unique contributions to contemporary life. She made her Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 1992 at the Mann Center and her subscription debut in 1996. In addition to these current performances, highlights of her 2019–20 season include opening the London Symphony’s season with Simon Rattle and returning to the San Francisco Symphony with its incoming music director, Esa- Pekka Salonen, to perform his Violin Concerto. Further engagements include concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; the Cleveland and NDR Elbphilharmonie orchestras; the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; and the Chicago and City of Birmingham symphonies. A favorite of living composers, Ms. Josefowicz has premiered many concertos, including those by Colin Matthews, Steven Mackey, and Mr. Salonen, all written specially for her. This season she performs the U.K. premiere of Helen Grime’s Violin Concerto with the BBC Symphony and Dalia Stasevska. Other recent premieres include John Adams’s Scheherazade.2 in 2015 with the New York Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert and Luca Francesconi’s Duende—The Dark Notes in 2014 with the Swedish Radio Symphony and Susanna Mälkki. Ms. Josefowicz enjoyed a close working relationship with the late Oliver Knussen, performing various concertos, including his Violin Concerto, together over 30 times. Ms. Josefowicz has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Philips/Universal, and Warner Classics and was featured on Touch Press’ iPad app The Orchestra. Her latest recording, released in 2019, features Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Violin Concerto with the Finnish Radio Symphony and Hannu Lintu. Ms. Josefowicz has received Grammy nominations for her recordings of Scheherazade.2 with the St. Louis Symphony and David Robertson and Mr. Salonen’s Violin Concerto with the Finnish Radio Symphony conducted by the composer. 28 Framing the Program Distant times and places inspired the three evocative Parallel Events pieces performed today on a program curated, conducted, 1904 Music and (partly) composed by John Adams, one of the Ravel Webern preeminent musical figures of our time. Alborada del Im Sommerwind gracioso Literature French composer Maurice Ravel was born to a Basque Chekhov mother in the Pyrenees, not far from the Spanish border. The Cherry Like other composers of his time, he harbored an enduring Orchard fascination with Spain, which started compositionally Art with the spirited scherzo Alborada del gracioso (Morning- Matisse Serenade of the Jester) that opens the concert and Luxe, calme, et continued with his Rapsodie espagnole, Bolero, and other volupté compositions. History Work begins on Shortly before Igor Stravinsky catapulted to international Panama Canal fame with ballets written for the Ballets Russes, most scandalously The Rite of Spring in 1913, he had started an 1914 Music opera based on a story by Hans Christian Andersen about Stravinsky Vaughan