Edition 2 | 2019-2020
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WELCOME FROM OUR MUSIC DIRECTOR Dear Friends, Thank you for making the first month of the 2019-20 Knoxville Symphony season such a smashing success! We kicked things off in style, and all of us on stage fed off of the incredible energy from every one of you. Our season now is in full swing, and we want to keep that great momentum going! Our News Sentinel Pops Series opens with a dazzling set of classic hits performed by the Neil Diamond tribute band Super Diamond. Neil Diamond’s songs still stand in the spotlight of pop culture, and their continued vitality renders them anything but ’oldies’! Whether your favorite is ’Cherry Cherry,’ ’Solitary Man,’ or my personal favorite, ’Sweet Caroline’ (anybody who knows my wife’s name will know why!), Super Diamond promises to tug at the nostalgic, happy memories of your life. Nostalgia also carries into our second Moxley Carmichael Masterworks program of the season, featuring Grieg’s unforgettable Piano Concerto in A minor, inspired in part by the Norwegian folk tunes of his youth. I am delighted to welcome an electrifying pianist, my friend Natasha Paremski, to Knoxville to make her KSO debut. Each of the pieces on this program represents milestones of ’arrival’ for their composers, when they moved from being promising young talents to indisputable stars of the symphonic community. If you are a Masterworks or Chamber Classics regular, the name Jessie Montgomery is likely starting to become familiar, as we have performed the music of this distinctive living composer in each of the last three seasons. Her most significant work to date, Records from a Vanishing City is inspired by Montgomery’s memories of the music that surrounded her growing up on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the 80s and 90s. Opening the program is Dvořák’s stirring Seventh Symphony, with its memorably Slavonic third movement. The most nationalistic of his mature symphonies, Dvořák’s Seventh is meant to evoke the political struggles of his countrymen as they tried to establish a Czech nation. Beyond these series, this month the KSO also performs Young People’s Concerts for thousands of elementary school students and continues our dedicated activities in classrooms, libraries and hospitals throughout East Tennessee. By buying tickets, subscribing and donating, you are supporting this essential work and more in our community. Thank you, and enjoy tonight’s concert! Sincerely, Aram Demirjian knoxvillesymphony.com 7 8 knoxville symphony orchestra MUSICIAN ROSTER Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Aram Demirjian, Music Director Natalie L. Haslam Music Director Chair James Fellenbaum, Resident Conductor and Youth Orchestra Music Director Sande MacMorran, Music Director Emeritus, Youth Orchestra Association Mark Zelmanovich, Concertmaster Emeritus VIOLIN I BASS TRUMPET William Shaub, Concertmaster* Steve Benne, Principal* Phillip Chase Hawkins, Clayton Family Chair Steve Clark Principal* Gordon Tsai, Dan Thompson Brian Winegardner* Associate Concertmaster* Herb Hall Shawn White Joseph A. Fielden Yan Peng Family Chair TROMBONE Sean K. Claire* FLUTE Samuel Chen, Principal* I-Pei Lin* Hannah Hammel, Principal* Josh Walker Ikuko Koizumi* Karen Keys & Keith Walburn Brad McDougall Sarah Ringer Bryan Chair Mary Ann Fee Fennell, Principal Jill Bartine* BASS TROMBONE Jeffrey Brannen Cynthia M. D’Andrea Brad McDougall Mary Pulgar Bing Kuang Fang PICCOLO TUBA Daniel Zellars Cynthia M. D’Andrea Sande MacMorran, Principal VIOLIN II OBOE TIMPANI Edward Pulgar, Principal* Claire Chenette, Principal* Bob Adamcik, Principal* Gleb Mamantov Chair Deniz Yayman* Michael Combs, Rachel Loseke* Elizabeth Telling Associate Principal* Ruth Bacon*§ Zofia Glashauser* ENGLISH HORN PERCUSSION Audrey Pride* Elizabeth Telling Bob Adamcik, Co-Principal* Kyle Venlet* Clark Harrell, Co-Principal Elizabeth Farr CLARINET Andrew Adzima Julie Swenson Gary Sperl, Principal* Jay Oberfeitinger Peter Aguilar Mark Tucker,* Stacy Taylor Traver Family Chair HARP Victor Chavez Cindy Hicks, Principal* VIOLA Kathryn Gawne, Principal* BASS CLARINET KEYBOARD Eunsoon Lee-Corliss Victor Chavez Emi Kagawa, Principal* Assistant Principal* Jennifer Bloch* BASSOON DIRECTOR OF Bill Pierce* Aaron Apaza, Principal* OPERATIONS Hillary Herndon Jessica Findley Yang* Jon Agazzi Megan Tipton Cora Nappo Alicia Keener PERSONNEL MANAGER/ Kristina Zeinstra CONTRABASSOON LIBRARIAN Cora Nappo Mark Tucker CELLO Andy Bryenton, Principal* FRENCH HORN Theodore I. Kartal* Jeffery Whaley, Principal* * Member of Knoxville Symphony Ildar Khuziakhmetov* Sean Donovan* Chamber Orchestra Mary and Joe Sullivan Chair Brooke Ten Napel § Leave of Absence Stacy M. Nickell* Kelsey Bentley Bruce Wilhite D. Scot Williams Alice Stuart Donald Grohman knoxvillesymphony.com 9 10 knoxville symphony orchestra MEET THE MUSIC DIRECTOR The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra is flourishing under the transformative leadership of music director Aram Demirjian. Through bold programming, innovative collaborations and Aram’s dynamic presence both on stage and in the community, the KSO has attained new artistic heights, sustained significant ticket revenue increases and received national recognition for its achievements over the 3 years of his tenure. The 2019-20 KSO season extends and intensifies Aram’s commitment to fostering community through collaboration in the concert hall. Local partnerships include performances with the Knoxville Choral Society, contemporary ensemble Nief-Norf, Street Beatz Studios and Go! Contemporary Dance Works, plus sought-after guest artists including Natasha Paremski, Bella Hristova and Grammy©-nominated violinist Philippe Quint. Quint will perform the world premiere of Michael Schachter’s Violin Concerto: Cycle of Life, a joint commission of the KSO and the Knoxville Museum of Art. Aram and the KSO continue to champion American music with works by Barber, Bernstein, James P. Johnson, Florence Price and George Walker, plus living composers Avner Dorman, Jennifer Higdon, Missy Mazzoli, Jessie Montgomery and Dosia McKay. Further highlights include Handel’s Messiah, Mahler’s First Symphony, Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony and a yearlong celebration of Beethoven’s 250th anniversary. Most notably, the KSO will perform in Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as one of only four organizations featured at SHIFT: A Festival of American Orchestras. Aram will conduct a program highlighting Knoxville’s artistic history called “Knoxville: Artists at Home,” featuring soprano Julia Bullock, poets RB Morris and RheaSunshine and a brass ensemble from University of Tennessee. Aram has appeared with the nation’s top orchestras and maintains a close relationship with The Philadelphia Orchestra, with which he appears three times in the 2019-20 season. He also makes subscription debuts with the Tucson Symphony, Portland Symphony and the Orlando Philharmonic. Other recent engagements include the Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Omaha, San Antonio and St. Louis symphonies, the Minnesota and Sarasota orchestras, and the Louisiana Philharmonic. Aram is involved in a substantial breadth of education and community initiatives with the goal of ensuring that everyone, regardless of age, background or circumstance, has access to great symphonic music. A gifted public speaker, he is a passionate and vocal advocate for the arts, and he regularly addresses to community and business organizations advocating for arts non-profits and arts education in our society. Aram is the winner of the 2019 Career Assistance Award from the Solti Foundation U.S. and the 2011 Robert J. Harth Conducting Prize from the Aspen Music Festival, and he has appeared in masterclasses with renowned conductors Bernard Haitink and Kurt Masur. Aram holds a joint Bachelor of Arts in Music and Government from Harvard University and a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from New England Conservatory. knoxvillesymphony.com 11 12 knoxville symphony orchestra COMING EVENTS Young People’s Concert A World of Rhythm October 30 at 9:30 A.M. October 31 at 9:30 A.M. & 11:00 A.M. November 1 at 9:30 A.M. Knoxville Civic Auditorium Chamber Classics Peter and the Wolf & Other Symphonic Tales November 3 at 2:30 P.M. Bijou Theatre November Story Time Performances Wednesday, November 6 at 10:15 A.M., Bearden Branch Library Friday, November 8 at 10:15 A.M., Fountain City Branch Library Wednesday, November 13 at 10:00 A.M., Burlington Branch Library Wednesday, November 20 at 11:00 A.M., Halls Branch Library Moxley Carmichael Masterworks Series Beethoven and the Art of Rhythm November 21 & 22 at 7:30 P.M. Tennessee Theatre Chamber Classics Classical Christmas: Handel’s Messiah December 1 at 2:30 P.M. Tennessee Theatre Knoxville Civic Auditorium knoxvillesymphony.com 13 14 knoxville symphony orchestra Friday, October 11, 2019, 8:00 p.m. Tennessee Theatre Rama Kolesnikow, guest conductor Randy Cordero (Surreal Neil), lead sponsored by: vocals, acoustic guitar Chris Collins, electric guitar, backing vocals Matt Tidmarsh, bass, backing vocals James Terris, keyboards, backing vocals Timothy Degaugh, drums David Trinchero, engineer, front of house SUPER DIAMOND: THE ULTIMATE NEIL DIAMOND TRIBUTE Songs by Neil Diamond Orchestrations by Rama Kolesnikow and Chris Guardino Prologue Cracklin’ Rosie Song Sung Blue/Shilo/Kentucky Woman Girl, You’ll be a Woman Soon Solitary Man Love on the Rocks Red Red Wine Play Me You’re So Sweet Thank the Lord for the Nighttime/Forever in Blue Jeans INTERMISSION Prologue/Hello Again/September Morn Cherry Cherry/I’m a Believer Holly