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“Basically Bernstein” Dr. Edward C. Harris, conductor Michelle McDaniel, soprano Alexandra Sessler, soprano Andrew Metzger, Sunday, October 15, 2017, 3:00 PM McAfee Performing Arts Center, , California

Diamond Jubilee Fanfare (World Premier) ...... Scott Pierson COMMISSIONED FOR SAN JOSE WIND SYMPHONY’S 60TH SEASON

Symphonic Suite from ......

Suite from ...... adapted by Clare Grundman 1. The Best of All Possible Worlds 2. Westphalia Chorale and Battle Scene 3. Auto-da-Fe (What a Day) 4. Glitter and Be Gay 5. Make Our Garden Grow

Three Dance Episodes from ...... Leonard Bernstein transcribed by Paul Lavender 1. The Great Lover 2. Lonely Town: Pas de Deux 3. Times Square: 1944

I N T E R M I S S I O N

Suite from ...... Leonard Bernstein arranged by Jacco Nefs Michelle McDaniel, Maria Alexandra Sessler, Anita Andrew Metzger, Tony

ABOUT THE ARTISTS D. E C. H was appointed the music and artistic director for the San Jose Wind Symphony in 2002, only the second conductor in the group’s 60-year history. Under his leadership, SJWS has distinguished itself as one of California’s premiere concert bands with performances at the 2009 Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Conference, and the California Music Educators Association Conference. Dr. Harris recently retired as the Director of Bands at San José State University. M MD is relatively new to the Bay Area, but not new to the stage. Two weeks after graduating magna cum laude from California Baptist University with two degrees in Vocal Performance and Music Education in April 2016, she was off ered a teaching position. She currently teaches weekly general music to about 800 elementary students throughout the northern part of the peninsula and enjoys it immensely. Yet Michelle has always had a for performance, and grew up singing on musical theater stages throughout Southern California, Peru, and Italy. During her time at University of Nevada, Reno, Michelle discovered a passion for and classical choral singing, and has spent the last six years pursuing a professional career in that fi eld. In May 2012, she was honored to perform Ola Gjeilo’s Sunrise at under the baton of Dr. Paul Torkelson. However, she is very excited to return to her roots for this performance of Maria with the San Jose Wind Symphony, and hopes it will be the start of many future performances with this ensemble. A S, described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “superb” and delivering a “tender, radiantly pure-toned” sound, has garnered a reputation as a powerful leading lady, a dedicated actress, and an ambassador of classical vocal music. In addition to her active performance schedule, Alexandra dedicates time to sharing her knowledge with younger generations of singers, holding a teaching studio and music directing at Spindrift School of Performing Arts in Pacifi ca, Ca. She frequently performs recitals with her pianist fi ancé, and they have two opera-loving . A M fosters a varied repertoire that ranges from Monteverdi to works newly written. Highlights from his 2016-2017 season include the tenor solos in Orff ’s Carmina Burana, Handel’s Messiah, Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and the role of Lord Cecil in Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux. In the coming season, the tenor will sing the role of Happiness in the workshop premiere of Aleksandra Vrebalov’s Abraham in Flames with the San Francisco International Music Festival. He will also participate in the west coast premiere of Hector Armienta’s Bless me Ultima, singing the role of Pedro. Mr. Metzger is a graduate of the Opera San Jose Summer Program and the OperaWorks Advanced Artist Program. He holds a M.M. in Vocal Performance from the University of Redlands and a B.A. in Music from Santa Clara University.

PROGRAM NOTES Diamond Jubilee Fanfare Scott Pierson (b. 1949) Scott Pierson is the Director of the San Jose State University Spartan . He composes and arranges all of the music performed by the marching band. Before coming to SJSU, he taught at Piedmont Hills High School in San Jose, as well as acting as an instructor with many drum and bugle corps, including the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum & Bugle Corps. He was the outdoor entertainment coordinator at California’s Great America thteme park, and has written arrangements for bands and drum corps throughout the United States. In 2014, Mr. Pierson won the Dallas Wind Symphony’s annual fanfare contest with his composition Sir Richard’s Fanfare. The work was premiered at Dallas’ Meyerson Symphony Hall in March of that year. Diamond Jubilee Fanfare was commissioned by the San Jose Wind Symphony to open its 2017-2018 steason. The work celebrates the ensemble’s 60 years of artistic leadership in the San Jose community. Symphonic Suite from Carousel Richard Rodgers (1902 – 1979) With the collapse of Rodgers’ partnership with his brilliant but increasingly unreliable lyricist Lorenz Hart in 1942, the already-famous composer began a partnership with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, who had spent much of the 1930s writing shows that fl opped. Their fi rst eff ort, Oklahoma! reintroduced the “book musical” to Broadway, a format whose only real predecessor, (Hammerstein and , 1927), ended its Broadway run after barely one year. After years of shows fi lled with jokes, weak plots, and lines of dancing girls (all known as “” or “”), Oklahoma! neatly blended all elements of the stage – story, lyrics, music, dance, mood, scenery – to advance a cohesive plot that could be counted on to draw a multifaceted emotional response from the audience. Almost on a dare from their producers, the composers agreed to write a musical play based on a dark romance by Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnár, called Liliom. Liliom (Lily, or “tough guy” in Budapest street slang), the headstrong antihero of the story, is a barker on a carousel who falls in love with servant girl Julie Zeller, but neither is willing to admit their feelings to the other. moved the story from Budapest to the coast of Maine and changed the names to Julie Jordan and Billy Bigelow. After a botched robbery to earn money for the impending birth of his child, a humiliated Billy dies by his own hand. At this point, Hammerstein bathes the story in a subtly religious atmosphere, with a revamped ending. Billy, from “Up There,” manages to give hope to his unhappy daughter and to Julie. Up to the time of this musical (1945), redemption of a main character was rarely experimented with, since previously the emphasis was always on a single emotion from the audience – laughter. In 1999 TIME Magazine named Carousel the Best Musical of the 20th Century. It is Rodgers’ most beautiful score and Hammerstein’s most aff ecting story-telling. When asked their favorite show, both Rodgers and Hammerstein unhesitatingly named Carousel. When singer Mel Tormé told Rodgers that “You’ll Never Walk Alone” always made him cry when he heard it, the composer replied, “You’re supposed to.” This suite features “The Carousel Waltz,” “When I Marry Mister Snow,” “Blow High, Blow Low,” “,” “June is Bustin’ Out All Over,” “This Was a Real Nice Clambake,” “What’s the Use of Wondrin’,” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

Suite from Candide Leonard Bernstein (1918 – 1990), adapted by Clare Grundman The son of Russian immigrants, Leonard Bernstein began life in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He studied composition at Harvard University, where he fi rst met Aaron Copland. They later worked together at Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Bernstein achieved instant fame at the age of 25 when he conducted a broadcast of the Symphony with 16 hours’ notice, after the scheduled guest conductor became ill. Bernstein composed symphonies, ballets, an opera, a fi lm score, works for and chorus with orchestra, four Broadway musicals, and several works for solo and chamber music groups. His music features characteristics of both classical music and the jazz and Tin Pan Alley sounds of popular America. Composer William Schumann said of Bernstein, “He is an authentic American hero, a new breed of hero, an arts hero, showing that America does honor her artists.” Candide was Bernstein’s third Broadway musical. It was not a commercial success when it opened in New York in 1956. Adapted from ’s 18th-century on blind optimism, the story concerns Candide, a young man who has been led to believe that everything is for the best “in this best of all possible worlds,” according to his tutor Dr. Pangloss. Candide journeys with Pangloss and his sweetheart Cunegonde to , , Buenos Aires, and the legendary El Dorado, only to encounter harsh reality in the crime and social suff ering he observes. He returns to with Cunegonde, stripped of his idealism. His ultimate emotional maturation concludes in the fi nale with these lyrics: “…And let us try before we die To make some sense of life We’re neither pure nor wise nor good We’ll do the best we know.” Three Dance Episodes from On the Town Leonard Bernstein, transcribed by Paul Lavender Bernstein writes, “It seems only natural that dance should play a leading role in the show On the Town, since the idea of writing it arose from the success of the ballet …. The story of On the Town is concerned with three sailors on 24-hour leave in New York, and their adventures with the monstrous city which its inhabitants take so for granted.” The fi rst episode is “Dance of the Great Lover,” in which the romantic sailor Gabey falls asleep on the subway and dreams of sweeping Miss Turnstiles off her feet; the eff ervescent music underlines Gabey’s naiveté as well as his determination. In the second episode, “Pas de Deux,” Gabey watches a scene, “both tender and sinister, in which a sensitive high-school girl in is lured and then cast off by a worldly sailor.” This is set to “Lonely Town,” one of Bernstein’s greatest tunes, worthy of his friend and mentor, Aaron Copland, in its air of refl ective melancholy. The fi nale, “Times Square Ballet,” is described by Bernstein as “a more panoramic sequence in which all the sailors congregate in Times Square for their night of fun.” Part of the action takes place in the Roseland Dance Palace, with music to match. The famous “New York, New York, it’s a Helluva Town” makes a cameo appearance.

Suite from West Side Story Leonard Bernstein, arranged by Jacco Nefs West Side Story was Bernstein’s greatest popular success. Known as an American Romeo and Juliet, the story is set in in the mid-1950s and explores the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of diff erent ethnic backgrounds. Tony, a Jet, falls in love with Maria, whose brother Bernardo is the leader of the Sharks. The dark theme, sophisticated music, extended dance scenes, and focus on social problems marked a turning point in American . The original 1957 Broadway production, directed and choreographed by , marked lyricist ’s Broadway debut. The production received a Tony Award nomination for Best Musical in 1957, and it won the Tony award for choreography. The 1961 musical fi lm of the same name won ten Academy Awards. Program notes are edited by Karen Berry. SAN JOSE WIND SYMPHONY Dr. Edward C. Harris, Music & Artistic Director

PICCOLO / SAXOPHONE Sarah Truebe, speleologist Michael Beale, guest musician FLUTE CORNET / Karen Berry, preschool teacher James Hollabaugh, guest musician Lorie Boardman, homemaker Paul Hubel, musician Grace Chiarella, educatort Thomas Hutchings, principal engineer Ilene Finger, teacher * Peter Morris, insurance and fi nancial * Barbara Larsen, special education and services music teacher Mike Pakaluk, music educator / ENGLISH HORN HORN * Lorna Kruse, retired teacher * Armando Castellano, music educator Sandra Moore, music teacher and ASI Ed Lacina, guest musician specialty items representative Joseph Kelly, band and orchestra director / Caroline McIntyre, attorney Ron Bobb, retired musician EUPHONIUM * Matt Thornton, software engineer Dave Erickson, software engineer Eb / Bb CLARINET * Vanessa Sayres, project manager * Nancy Farmer, retired music educator Bb CLARINET Dave Brown, studio manager Walker Blount, electrical engineer Randall Chase, accelerator technologist * Karen Hoexter, private music teacher * Matt Feinstein, product manager Henri Kukanaho, materials engineer Ryan Heisinger, music student Nora Lemmon, musician Greg Miller, music educator Jordan Selburn, software strategic marketing director Dan Boykin, bank executive Terri Weber, registered nurse ALTO CLARINET STRING BASS Tyra Cable, middle school music teacher Victor Ruiz, guest musician * Richard Cooper, retired software engineer HARP Constance Koo, musician * Steven Holmes, electrical engineer / PERCUSSION Keith Thomson, software designer Geri Actor, musician BASS / CONTRABASS CLARINET PERCUSSION Grant Green, patent attorney Curtis Azevedo, music student * Jeff Jones, IT analyst relations Debbie Downs, private music teacher Joshua Kwan, music student * Dan Ortega, HR analyst Christine Lovejoy, music student Chris Pun, music student Gordon Snyder, retired San Jose fi reman (* principal) Sponsors The Darrell Johnston Founding Conductor Group ($2500+): Bergeson, LLP Caroline McIntyre The Frederick Fennell Group ($1000 – $2499): Anonymous Corporation Anonymous Foundation Daniel & Marianne Boykin Copacabana USA Lincoln Financial Foundation Peter & Fredda Morris Welton Family Foundation The Alfred Reed Group ($500 – $999): Douglas & Lauren Boardman In memory of David M. Browne Jack & Nancy Farmer Matthew Feinstein & Vicki Axelrod Herb & Ilene Finger Karen & Rob Hoexter Darrell & Helen Johnston Laura Kosakowsky & Ruth Kosakowsky Donald & Lorna Kruse Charles & Honor Morehouse Larry & Terri Weber The Frank Ticheli Group ($250 – $499): Bright Funds Foundation IBM Matching Grants David & Barbara Larsen Galen & Nora Lemmon Vanessa Sayres The John Williams Group ($100 – $249): Matthew & Karen Berry Walker & Beverly Blount Ron Bobb Cadence Design Systems Tyra Cable Rich Cooper Scott & Debbie Downs David & Susan Erickson John Felder Roberta & Jason Fox Stan & Marilyn George Steven Holmes Thomas Hutchings Rick & Stephanie Janowski Linda Jansen Jeff & Kim Jones Henri Kukanaho Daniel Ortega Jordan & Gail Selburn Gordon Snyder John & Grace Sorg Keith & Kathy Thomson John Zielinksi The Percy Grainger Group ($10 – $99): Amazon Smile Peggy Cremers Diane & Rick Fontaine Charles & Shirley Heger Nancy Kamalski Charlette Toledo Thanks to our Volunteers Thomya Arterberry, Lynn Burstein, Ron Cable, Scott Downs, Dave Erickson, Roy Farmer, Herb Finger, Anita Hardage, Maryon Hicks, Rob Hoexter, Darrell Johnston, Dave Larsen, Nancy McIntyre, Rich & Sandy Remmers, Kammy Rose, Susan Stone, Ellen Thotus, Larry Weber. Additional Thanks Jan Turnage, David Bowers, Ruth Butterfi eld, John DiLoreto, Herb Finger, Doug Forsyth, Jimmy Holmes, Miller Middle School (Nancy Moser), Saratoga HS Music Department, San José State University School of Music & Dance.

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