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Production Database Updated As of 25Nov2020
American Composers Orchestra Works Performed Workshopped from 1977-2020 firstname middlename lastname Date eventype venue work title suffix premiere commission year written Michael Abene 4/25/04 Concert LGCH Improv ACO 2004 Muhal Richard Abrams 1/6/00 Concert JOESP Piano Improv Earshot-JCOI 19 Muhal Richard Abrams 1/6/00 Concert JOESP Duet for Violin & Piano Earshot-JCOI 19 Muhal Richard Abrams 1/6/00 Concert JOESP Duet for Double Bass & Piano Earshot-JCOI 19 Muhal Richard Abrams 1/9/00 Concert CH Tomorrow's Song, as Yesterday Sings Today World 2000 Ricardo Lorenz Abreu 12/4/94 Concert CH Concierto para orquesta U.S. 1900 John Adams 4/25/83 Concert TULLY Shaker Loops World 1978 John Adams 1/11/87 Concert CH Chairman Dances, The New York ACO-Goelet 1985 John Adams 1/28/90 Concert CH Short Ride in a Fast Machine Albany Symphony 1986 John Adams 12/5/93 Concert CH El Dorado New York Fromm 1991 John Adams 5/17/94 Concert CH Tromba Lontana strings; 3 perc; hp; 2hn; 2tbn; saxophone1900 quartet John Adams 10/8/03 Concert CH Christian Zeal and Activity ACO 1973 John Adams 4/27/07 Concert CH The Wound-Dresser 1988 John Adams 4/27/07 Concert CH My Father Knew Charles Ives ACO 2003 John Adams 4/27/07 Concert CH Violin Concerto 1993 John Luther Adams 10/15/10 Concert ZANKL The Light Within World 2010 Victor Adan 10/16/11 Concert MILLR Tractus World 0 Judah Adashi 10/23/15 Concert ZANKL Sestina World 2015 Julia Adolphe 6/3/14 Reading FISHE Dark Sand, Sifting Light 2014 Kati Agocs 2/20/09 Concert ZANKL Pearls World 2008 Kati Agocs 2/22/09 Concert IHOUS -
Download Program Notes
Notes on the Program By James M. Keller, Program Annotator, The Leni and Peter May Chair blue cathedral Jennifer Higdon orn in Brooklyn, Jennifer Higdon grew my for her Percussion Concerto; and, in 2018, Bup in Atlanta and in rural Tennessee in the Nemmers Prize of Northwestern University. a counterculture family — both parents were Although she has written a number of visual artists — for whom art happenings choral and solo vocal pieces, not to mention and experimental film festivals were the the 2015 opera Cold Mountain, Higdon is norm. She thought she might become a writ- principally an instrumental composer, hav- er and didn’t have any involvement with mu- ing produced an impressive body of works sic until she started teaching herself to play for orchestra and for various chamber for- the flute at the age of 15. In the course of her mulations. Her teacher George Crumb has education at Bowling Green State University acknowledged specific qualities that go to (Ohio), the Curtis Institute of Music, and the the heart of her music: its “rhythmic vitality, University of Pennsylvania she developed interesting coloration, and sensitivity to nu- her exceptional talent as a composer. ance and timbre.” These are indeed her musi- Today her dance card for commissions is very cal fingerprints, but beyond what are essen- full, and at least one of her orchestral works, blue tially technical matters one also hears in her cathedral, seems destined to become a classic, scores an immediacy of contact, a genial and having already been performed more than 600 sincere desire to connect with the listener. -
Musical Stories-Reviewers Copy
Musical Stories: Gesture and Texture in Jennifer Higdon’s Music 1998-2003 Deborah Rifkin! My music is known for being audience-friendly. You don’t have to know anything about classical music to enjoy it. You don’t need to have any kind of basic knowledge. It seems to appeal to a wide variety of individuals, even the older crowd, which is sometimes a tricky crowd to please…”1 —Jennifer Higdon According to the League of American Orchestras, Jennifer Higdon (b. 1962) is one of the most frequently performed American composers of contemporary orchestral music. Higdon enjoys more than two hundred performances of her works a year, and she has won many awards, including a Pulitzer Prize for her Violin Concerto (2009), and a Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her Percussion Concerto (2010). In addition, her orchestral work, blue cathedral, is one of the most performed contemporary orchestral works in the United States, having been performed by more than 200 orchestras since its premiere in 2000.2 This essay explores Higdon’s musical style in the years surrounding her break-out composition of blue cathedral. When I first heard blue cathedral, I was struck by its vivid sound colors, contrasting imagistic gestures, and visceral and immediate appeal. I also was struck by how ill suited these initial reactions were for building an interpretation based on traditional tools of analysis. Whereas my reactions focused on timbre, texture, and ephemeral gestures, traditional analysis typically subordinates these events to a grander, overarching system of sustained coherence based upon pitch and form. -
Network Notebook
Network Notebook Summer Quarter 2017 (July - September) A World of Services for Our Affiliates We make great radio as affordable as possible: • Our production costs are primarily covered by our arts partners and outside funding, not from our affiliates, marketing or sales. • Affiliation fees only apply when a station takes three or more programs. The actual affiliation fee is based on a station’s market share. Affiliates are not charged fees for the selection of WFMT Radio Network programs on the Public Radio Exchange (PRX). • The cost of our Beethoven and Jazz Network overnight services is based on a sliding scale, depending on the number of hours you use (the more hours you use, the lower the hourly rate). We also offer reduced Beethoven and Jazz Network rates for HD broadcast. Through PRX, you can schedule any hour of the Beethoven or Jazz Network throughout the day and the files are delivered a week in advance for maximum flexibility. We provide highly skilled technical support: • Programs are available through the Public Radio Exchange (PRX). PRX delivers files to you days in advance so you can schedule them for broadcast at your convenience. We provide technical support in conjunction with PRX to answer all your distribution questions. In cases of emergency or for use as an alternate distribution platform, we also offer an FTP (File Transfer Protocol), which is kept up to date with all of our series and specials. We keep you informed about our shows and help you promote them to your listeners: • Affiliates receive our quarterly Network Notebook with all our program offerings, and our regular online WFMT Radio Network Newsletter, with news updates, previews of upcoming shows and more. -
Jennifer Higdon-Large Full
Pulitzer Prize and two-time Grammy-winner Jennifer Higdon (b. Brooklyn, NY, December 31, 1962) taught herself to play flute at the age of 15 and began formal musical studies at 18, with an even later start in composition at the age of 21. Despite these obstacles, Jennifer has become a major figure in contemporary Classical music. Her works represent a wide range of genres, from orchestral to chamber, to wind ensemble, as well as vocal, choral and opera. Her music has been hailed by Fanfare Magazine as having “the distinction of being at once complex, sophisticated but readily accessible emotionally”, with the Times of London citing it as “…traditionally rooted, yet imbued with integrity and freshness.” The League of American Orchestras reports that she is one of America's most frequently performed composers. Higdon's list of commissioners is extensive and includes The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Chicago Symphony, The Atlanta Symphony, The Cleveland Orchestra, The Minnesota Orchestra, The Pittsburgh Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, as well such groups as the Tokyo String Quartet, the Lark Quartet, Eighth Blackbird, and the President’s Own Marine Band. She has also written works for such artists as baritone Thomas Hampson, pianists Yuja Wang and Gary Graffman, violinists Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Jennifer Koh and Hilary Hahn. Her first opera, Cold Mountain, won the prestigious International Opera Award for Best World Premiere in 2016; the first American opera to do so in the award’s history. Performances of Cold Mountain sold out its premiere run in Santa Fe, North Carolina, and Philadelphia (becoming the third highest selling opera in Opera Philadelphia’s history). -
Bienvenue Stéphane Mahler's Resurrection Rachmaninoff's Third
's 8 5 6 7 CONCERTS CONCERTS CONCERTS CONCERTS FRIDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY Coffee A B A B C D A B SEP Bienvenue Stéphane Stéphane Denève, conductor PUTS Virelai (World Premiere) Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano* HIGDON Blue Cathedral SEP SEP DEBUSSY La Mer 21 22 CONNESSON The Shining One RAVEL Piano Concerto in G GERSHWIN An American in Paris Mahler’s Resurrection Stéphane Denève, conductor MAHLER Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection” Joélle Harvey, soprano SEP SEP Kelley O’Connor, alto St. Louis Symphony Chorus 27 28 Amy Kaiser, director OCT Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto Edo de Waart, conductor Joyce Yang, piano OCT OCT RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3 4 5 ELGAR Symphony No. 1 A Hero’s Life Leonard Slatkin, conductor VARIOUS Yet Another Set of Variations (on a Theme of Paganini) Jelena Dirks, oboe OCT OCT MOZART Oboe Concerto, K. 314 12 13 R. STRAUSS Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life) Symphonic Dances Stéphane Denève, conductor POULENC Les biches Suite Karen Gomyo, violin OCT OCT OCT PROKOFIEV Violin Concerto No. 1 18 19 20 RACHMANINOFF Symphonic Dances NOV Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony Stéphane Denève, conductor BARBER Adagio for Strings James Ehnes, violin NOV NOV J. WILLIAMS Violin Concerto 2 3 SAINT-SAËNS Symphony No. 3, “Organ” Mozart’s Great Mass Masaaki Suzuki, conductor HAYDN Symphony No. 48, “Maria Theresia” Mojca Erdmann, soprano MOZART Mass in C Minor, K. 427 Joanne Lunn, soprano Zachary Wilder, tenor NOV NOV Dashon Burton, bass-baritone 9 10 St. Louis Symphony Chorus Amy Kaiser, director Brahms’ Fourth Symphony Stéphane Denève, conductor KERNIS New Work (World Premiere) Gil Shaham, violin NOV NOV BARTÓK Violin Concerto No. -
The Magic Flute), K
Firebird! – May 14, 2017 Overture to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), K. 620 1756-1791 Public taste is fickle. By the late 1780s, Mozart’s star in Vienna was dimming rapidly. The change in popular musical taste, general economic decline and his own inability to manage his finances combined to make him emotionally frantic and scrambling for commissions. Since there was no more demand for Mozart’s Akademien (self-promoting subscription concerts), and his most successful librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte, had left Vienna, he turned for a joint operatic venture to one of the most colorful (and successful) dramatists and theater directors of the era, Emanuel Schikaneder. Mozart and Schikaneder knew each other both professionally and as fellow Freemasons. Schikaneder’s libretto contains many elements of the Freemason philosophy and ritual in its emphasis on human enlightenment. It promotes its high-minded ideology through a fairytale plot and characters, in addition to moments of incredible silliness. The Magic Flute is a dramatization of the battle between the forces of good (light) and evil (darkness), symbolized by the high priest of Isis, Sarastro, and the Queen of the Night. In order to win the hand of the Queen’s daughter, Pamina, whom Sarastro has abducted and detained “for her own good,” Prince Tamino must undergo trials by fire and water. He succeeds with the aid of a magic flute, while his companion, the comic bird-catcher Papageno, bungles through lower level trials to win himself a wife, Papagena. Most operatic overtures of this period contain no themes from the operas themselves. -
Program Notes
Program Notes for kids Blue Cathedral Saturday, March 17, 2018 8:00 p.m. Michigan Theater Higdon Blue Cathedral Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 Intermission Schumann Symphony No. 1, “Spring” Blue Cathedral Fun Facts Higdon uses two non-traditional by Jennifer Higdon percussion instruments in Blue Ca- thedral: Chinese Refl ex Bells and About the Music Tuned Glasses. What kind of piece is this? Blue Cathedral is a tone poem. A tone poem (also often called a symphonic poem) is typically a single-movement piece of music that is inspired by a non-musical idea or story. Blue Cathedral was also created as a commission from the Curtis Institute of Music, where Jennifer Higdon Listen for... teaches. A commission is when a person or group of people pay a composer to write a brand new piece of music. Often, Watch for the back row of brass that piece is written for a specifi c event or to honor a per- players to set down their instru- son or place. In the case of Blue Cathedral, this composi- ments and pick up water glasses. tion does both. The Curtis Institute asked Higdon to write How are they playing these glasses? a piece for a celebration of the Institute’s 75th anniversary. She chose to write about the inspirational story of her and What sounds are the glasses mak- her brother’s journey through life. ing? What is it about? Do all of the glasses sound the same? This piece was written after the death of Jennifer’s brother, Andrew Blue. The solo fl ute & clarinet voices are used to represent Jennifer and her brother. -
Boston University Symphony Orchestra
BOSTON UNIVERSITY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Wednesday, November 20, 2019 Tsai Performance Center BOSTON UNIVERSITY Founded in 1839, Boston University is an internationally recognized institution of higher education and research. With more than 33,000 students, it is the fourth-largest independent university in the United States. BU consists of 16 schools and colleges, along with a number of multi-disciplinary centers and institutes integral to the University’s research and teaching mission. In 2012, BU joined the Association of American Universities (AAU), a consortium of 62 leading research universities in the United States and Canada. BOSTON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS Established in 1954, Boston University College of Fine Arts (CFA) is a community of artist-scholars and scholar-artists who are passionate about the fine and performing arts, committed to diversity and inclusion, and determined to improve the lives of others through art. With programs in Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts, CFA prepares students for a meaningful creative life by developing their intellectual capacity to create art, shift perspective, think broadly, and master relevant 21st century skills. CFA offers a wide array of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs, as well as a range of online degrees and certificates. Learn more at bu.edu/ cfa. BOSTON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS SCHOOL OF MUSIC Founded in 1872, Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Music combines the intimacy and intensity of traditional conservatory-style training with a broad liberal arts education at the undergraduate level, and elective coursework at the graduate level. The school offers degrees in performance, conducting, composition and theory, musicology, music education, and historical performance, as well as artist and performance diplomas and a certificate program in its Opera Institute. -
Madison Symphony Orchestra Program Notes September 28-29-30, 2018 Subscription Concert No.1 Michael Allsen
Madison Symphony Orchestra Program Notes September 28-29-30, 2018 Subscription Concert No.1 Michael Allsen This program begins our 93rd season, a season that celebrates Maestro John DeMain’s 25th year as our music director. In keeping with this celebratory tone, we open the program with a brisk, upbeat, and rhythmically intense overture by Jennifer Higdon. We continue a set of dramatic selections from Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet. Our soloist for this program is the amazing Emanuel Ax, performing the monumental second piano concerto of Brahms. (This is his fourth program with the Madison Symphony Orchestra: he performed the same Brahms concerto in 2005, and has played both concertos by Chopin, No.1 in 1979 and No.2 in 2008.) Jennifer Higdon (b. 1962) Fanfare Ritmico Higdon composed Fanfare Ritmico in 1999, and it was premiered by The Women’s Philharmonic in San Francisco in March 2000. This is our first performance of the piece. Duration 6:00. Jennifer Higdon is among America’s most successful contemporary composers. Born in Brooklyn, she studied flute at Bowling Green State University and composition at both the University of Pennsylvania and the Curtis Institute, where she now teaches. In 2010 she won the Pulitzer Prize for her Violin Concerto, one of many honors she has garnered in the past several years. In just the last few years, her first opera, Cold Mountain, won the prestigious International Opera Award for Best World Premiere in 2016—the first American opera to do so in the award’s history. Within the past year, Higdon has had successful premieres of her Low Brass Concerto with the Chicago Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestra, her Tuba Concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and her Harp Concerto with the Rochester Philharmonic and Harrisburg Symphony. -
Works Composed in the Past 25 Years – All Groups
PERFORMANCES OF WORKS COMPOSED IN THE PAST 25 YEARS 2012-2013 SEASON ALL GROUPS Composer Work Total Perfs. First Perf Conductor Orchestra Soloist(s) Perfs Adams, John ON THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS 2 Sep. 21, 2012 Edo De Waart Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Milwaukee Children's Choir 2 [2002-2002] Milwaukee Children's Choir Milwaukee Symphony Chorus Adams, John CITY NOIR [2009] 5 May 30, 2013 John Adams National Symphony Orchestra 3 Feb. 15, 2013 David Robertson Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra Timothy McAllister, alto 2 saxophone Adès, Thomas IN SEVEN DAYS, PIANO AND 2 Nov. 30, 2012 David Robertson Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra Kirill Gerstein, piano 2 ORCHESTRA [2008] Bell, Allan Gordon SPIRIT TRAIL [1994] 2 Apr. 12, 2013 Jose Luis Gomez Edmonton Symphony Orchestra Benjamin Grosvenor, piano 2 Bernstein, Leonard CANDIDE SUITE (ARRANGED BY 3 Feb. 14, 2013 Thomas Wilkins The Naples Philharmonic 3 HARMON/RAMIN) [1956-98] Bolcom, William PROMETHEUS [2010] 1 Oct. 27, 2012 John Nardolilo University of Kentucky Orchestra 1 Chapela, Enrico INGUSEU [2003] 1 Oct. 6, 2012 Jason Love The Columbia Orchestra 1 Danielpour, Richard WOMAN'S LIFE [2007] 2 Feb. 23, 2013 Michael Butterman Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra Angela Brown, soprano 2 Daugherty, Michael ROUTE 66 [1999] 1 Oct. 20, 2012 Daniel Meyer Erie Philharmonic Orchestra 1 Daugherty, Michael TROYJAM [2008] 2 Nov. 9, 2012 Neal Gittleman Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra 2 Dutilleux, Henri SHADOWS OF TIME [1995-1997] 3 Jan. 24, 2013 Ludovic Morlot Los Angeles Philharmonic 3 Estacio, John A FARMER'S SYMPHONY [1993] 1 Mar. 3, 2013 William Eddins Edmonton Symphony Orchestra 1 Estacio, John BOOTLEGGER’S TARANTELLA [2003] 2 Jan. -
REPERTOIRE CONDUCTED in PERFORMANCE Current March 2020
REUBEN BLUNDELL – CONDUCTOR REPERTOIRE CONDUCTED IN PERFORMANCE Current March 2020 Information concerning premiere recording of American Romantics, including reviews: http://www.newfocusrecordings.com/catalogue/gowanus-arts-ensemble-american-romantics/ http://www.newfocusrecordings.com/catalogue/gowanus-arts-ensemble-american-romantics-ii/ http://www.newfocusrecordings.com/catalogue/reuben-blundell-lansdowne-symphony-orchestra-american-romantics-iii/ John Adams Ludwig van Beethoven The Chairman Dances Ah! perfido Coriolanus Overture Elfrida Andrée Creatures of Prometheus Overture Andante quasi recitativo Egmont Overture Leonore Overture No. 1 Anton Arensky Name Day Overture Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky Symphonies 1 & 3-8 Johann Sebastian Bach Seth Bedford The Art of Fugue Flushing Meadow 1964* Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 Freedom from Fear* Concerto for Two Violins In a Snowy Day* Orchestral Suite No. 3 Samuel Beebe Samuel Barber The Rest is Silence* Adagio for Strings Overture to the School for Scandal Jeanne Behrend Concert Fanfare Béla Bartók Concerto for Orchestra Jennifer Bellor Concerto for Viola (Serly ed.) Air and Angels* Old Hungarian Dances Echo's Lament* Rumanian Folk Dances, Str/Orch Two Pictures Alban Berg Chamber Concerto María de Baratta Danza del Incienzo Hector Berlioz Hungarian March from Faust Randol Alan Bass Symphony Fantastique A Christmas Flourish Seasonal Sounds Leonard Bernstein Concert Suite from West Side Story Mason Bates The B-Sides Georges Bizet Carmen Suite No. 1 Priscilla Beach Suite from L’Arlesienne