FRENCH CONNECTIONS with Avery Gagliano, piano February 13, 2021 | 7:30 PM Welcome to OMP's Virtual Concert Hall! Bonjour et bienvenue! Thank you to our loyal donors and season subscribers for your continued support, and a warm welcome to those who are joining us in our "Virtual Concert Hall" for the first time. Your contributions have made it possible for OMP to present our third virtual chamber orchestra performance in HD audio and video! We hope you enjoy this programme musical français featuring First Prize and Best Concerto Prize winner of the 2020 10th National Chopin Piano Competition Avery Gagliano! THANK YOU TO THESE GENEROUS GRANTING ORGANIZATIONS: Get the PremiumExperience! Level A Subscription Seat Access to Virtual Premium Special Concerts and additional OMP content or concerts. Receive "Kelly's Recommendation" in headphones: Bose® SoundLink around-ear headphones II with contactless shipping Select a personally autographed CD or DVD of "A Virtual Recital", featuring 2015 Young Soloist Competition Winner John Fawcett, violin and Kelly Kuo, piano. Complimentary, contactless wine delivery upon virtual reception advanced reservation Current 2020-21 Subscribers can use the amount of their tickets as a credit toward their purchase of an OMP Premium Experience Package! Give the gift of with OMP and Bose at oregonmomzaurstipclayers.org/tickets Orchestra Kelly Kuo, Artistic Director & Conductor VIOLIN Jenny Estrin, acting concertmaster Yvonne Hsueh, principal 2nd violin Stephen Chong Della Davies Sponsored by Nancy & Brian Davies Julia Frantz Sponsored by James & Paula Salerno Nathan Lowman Claudia Miller Sponsored by Jeffrey Morey & Gail Harris Sophie Therrell Sponsored by W. Mark & Anne Dean Alwyn Wright* VIOLA Arnaud Ghillebaert principal viola Lauren Elledge Kimberly Uwate* CELLO Dale Bradley acting principal cello Sponsored by Larissa Ennis & Lindsay Braun Eric Alterman Noah Seitz BASS Nicholas Burton, principal bass HARPSICHORD/PIANO Thank you to our additional musician sponsors: John Jantzi, Theodore W. & Laramie Palmer (Alice Blankenship, concertmaster) principal keyboard Peter & Josephine von Hippel (Jill Pauls, principal flute) Sponsored by Linda Korth Charles & Leslie Wright (Alexis Evers, flute) *Substitute musician Sandy Whitaker (Cheryl Wefler, principal oboe & Kris Klavik, oboe) BOARD OF DIRECTORS ADMINISTRATION Larissa Ennis, President Kelly Kuo, Artistic Director & Conductor Clarissa Parker, Vice President & Secretary Daren Fuster, Executive Director Craig Starr, Treasurer Darlene Mueller, Office & Marketing Manager Sarah Brown, Orchestra Representative Daniel Cho, Assistant Conductor Milton Fernández Nathan Lowman, Librarian David Guy Julia Frantz, Personnel Manager Hatsue Sato Rubi Yan, OMP Intern Paul Shang Interested in board service? Email [email protected] for more information. Oregon Mozart Players | 317 Goodpasture Island Rd, Ste A, Eugene, OR 97401 | 541-345-6648 | oregonmozartplayers.org Kelly Kuo Artistic Director & Conductor Praised by the Cincinnati Enquirer as “a leader of exceptional musical gifts, who has a clear technique on the podium and an impressive rapport with audiences,” Maestro Kelly Kuo brings a dynamic versatility and nuance to a diverse repertoire, which includes over 90 operas and an expansive symphonic repertoire as well. Recent operatic engagements include Lyric Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Kentucky Opera, Anchorage Opera, and the Janiec Opera Company of the Brevard Music Center. In 2008, Maestro Kuo became the first conductor of Asian descent to lead a performance at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, making his company debut with Porgy and Bess. He has since returned to lead the Chicago premiere of Charlie Parker’s Yardbird and performances featuring artists of the Ryan Opera Center. Upcoming engagements include company debuts with Carmen for Opera Orlando, Don Giovanni for Opera Columbus, and concerts with the Reno Chamber Orchestra and Sunriver Music Festival. Regarding Maestro Kuo’s conducting of Charlie Parker’s Yardbird for the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Seattle Opera, the Chicago Sun Times stated, “Conductor Kelly Kuo and his small but superb orchestra are a seamless match for the singers,” and Bachtrack wrote, “Debuting conductor Kelly Kuo skillfully handled the well- selected 24-piece ensemble in the enormously complex score.” Of his production of Macbeth at Anchorage Opera, the Anchorage Daily news noted, “Top honors should probably go to conductor Kelly Kuo. The sound… was full and taut as Kuo brought out the drama and lyricism. The orchestra played with robust enthusiasm and accuracy.” And of his La traviata for Kentucky Opera, critics stated, “Conductor Kelly Kuo led the Louisville Orchestra Friday with considerable verve, and no shortage of idiomatic delicacy…the sound was balanced and quite full.” Maestro Kuo also led critically praised new productions of Philip Glass’ Galileo Galilei for both Madison Opera and Cincinnati Opera and has served as Music Director and Conductor of the Butler Opera Center at The University of Texas at Austin and on the conducting staff of Santa Fe Opera. World premieres conducted by Maestro Kuo include chamber orchestrations for Jake Heggie’s At the Statue of Venus and Daniel Catán’s La hija de Rappaccini, in addition to the premiere of Daron Hagen’s A Woman in Morocco. As Artistic Director of Oregon Mozart Players, Maestro Kuo recently extended his contract through 2024, having “transformed this chamber group into...a band of professional, enthusiastic, and superior musicians, playing confidently as one unit” (The Register Guard). Recent symphonic engagements have included concerts with Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Lexington Philharmonic, and Ballet Fantastique. Maestro Kuo also curated and conducted the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra’s inaugural Summermusik festival as Interim Music Director. Maestro Kuo has collaborated with such soloists as Cho-Liang Lin, Mark Kosower, David Shifrin, Mary Dunleavy, Bion Tsang, Anton Nel, Bella Hristova, Inbal Segev, and Elizabeth Rowe. An Oregon native and recipient of a Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistant Award for young conductors, Kuo continues to concertize as a keyboardist as the only pianist to have studied with two pupils of the Russian virtuoso Vladimir Horowitz. He is the resident pianist for the Zenith Chamber Music Festival and regularly performs recitals with the Kasarah Trio. Maestro Kuo holds a master’s degree in piano performance from the Manhattan School of Music and is an alumnus of the Houston Grand Opera Studio. T H I S E V E N T is sponsored by CONCERT SPONSORS EDWIN E. & JUNE E. CONE FUND OF THE OREGON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION SOLOIST SPONSORS DONALD & LINDA HIRST COLUMBIA BANK F R E N C H C O N N E C T I O N S with Avery Gagliano, piano Saturday, February 13, 2021 7:30 PM | Central Presbyterian Church Kelly Kuo, conductor Avery Gagliano, piano Concert VI from Nouvelles suites de pièces de Jean-Philippe Rameau clavecin (1683-1764) La Poule 1er Menuet | 2e Menuet L'Enharmonique L'Egyptienne Variations on a Theme by Girolamo Alexandre Tansman Frescobaldi (1897-1986) Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat Major, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart K. 449 (1756-1791) Allegro vivace Andantino Allegro ma non troppo Avery Gagliano, piano Soloist Biography Avery Gagliano, piano Avery Gagliano, First Prize and Best Concerto Prize winner of the 2020 10th National Chopin Piano Competition, is a young artist who captures audiences with her sensitivity, emotional depth, and musical expression. Her success has taken her to stages and concert venues such as the Verbier Festival Academy, Ravinia Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Chicago’s Millennium Park, WQXR Greene Space, WRTI Performance Studio, and the GRAMMY Salute to Classical Music at Carnegie Hall. This coming season, she will make her recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. As a soloist, Avery has collaborated with several symphonies in the United States including the Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra, Tuscarawas Philharmonic, MostArts Festival Orchestra, and Capital City Symphony. She is an avid chamber musician, and will return as a guest artist with the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players in 2021. Avery is an alumna of the 2019 Verbier Festival & Academy and the Lang Lang International Music Foundation. She received the Audience Prize at the 2019 Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition, and was also the first-prize winner of the Aspen Music Festival Concerto Competition and the MostArts Festival Piano Competition. Avery began playing the piano at age five and made her recital and orchestral debuts at age nine. She is originally from Washington, D.C., where she studied with Marina Aleksyeva. Avery currently resides in Philadelphia and studies at the Curtis Institute of Music under the tutelage of Gary Graffman and Robert McDonald; she has also studied with Jonathan Biss while at Curtis. Program Notes Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) Concert VI from Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin (1726/27) Program Notes by Gavin Borchert o many composers seem to have made a vow, as if following some unspoken S but unbreakable rule, to devote their creative energies to chamber music or opera but never both. Corelli, Bach, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Grieg, and Elgar chose the first path, Berlioz, Rossini, Verdi, Wagner, Bizet, Rimsky-Korsakov, Puccini, and Strauss the second;