HANDEL & VIVALDI PREMIERES FEB. 13 | 8 PM DOWNTOWN SERIES PROGRAM

HANDEL & VIVALDI ANTOINE PLANTE, CONDUCTOR

Nate Helgeson, Mario Aschauer, Jonathan Godfrey, Oleg Sulyga, Violin Beiliang Zhu, Cello

GEORG MATTHIAS MONN (1717-1750) Harpsichord in G minor I. Allegro II. Adagio III. Allegro non molto

ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678-1741) in E-flat major, RV 483 I. Presto II. Larghetto III. Allegro Concerto For Cello And Bassoon in E minor, RV 409 I. Adagio – Allegro molto II. Allegro – Adagio III. Allegro

—CONTINUED—

MERCURY SEASON 20/21 | 1 PROGRAM

FRANCESCO GEMINIANI (1687-1762) in C major after Corelli, Op. 5, No. 3

I. Adagio II. Allegro III. Adagio IV. Allegro

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL (1685-1759) Concerto Grosso in A major, Op. 6, No. 11, HWV 329

I. Andante larghetto e staccato II. Allegro III. Largo e staccato IV. Andante V. Allegro

LYNN WYATT CHAIR

MERCURY SEASON 20/21 | 2 MERCURY MUSICIANS

ANTOINE PLANTE, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR LYNN WYATT CHAIR

VIOLIN I Jonathan Godfrey, Concertmaster Sponsored by Randy & Cathy Crath Anabel Detrick Andrés González Joanna Becker

VIOLIN II Oleg Sulyga, Principal Sponsored by Mrs. Andrew Wilkomirski Maria Lin Kana Kimura Manami Mizumoto*

VIOLA Kathleen Carrington, Principal Matthew Carrington Rainey Weber

CELLO Beiliang Zhu, Principal Courtenay Vandiver Pereira

VIOLONE Deborah Dunham, Principal

BASSOON Nate Helgeson

HARPSICHORD Mario Aschauer

*JUILLIARD FELLOW

Hudson Davis, Lighting Design BEND Productions/Ben Doyle, Videography

MERCURY SEASON 20/21 | 3 The Mercury-Juilliard Fellowship

The collaboration between The Juilliard School’s Historical Performance Program and Mercury Chamber continues in 2020-2021.

This initiative encourages the development of talented young instrumentalists and fosters a strong relationship between two major players in America’s period instrument performance scene.

2020/2021

MERCURY-JUILLIARD

FELLOWS

CHLOE MANAMI KIM MIZUMOTO (Violin) (Violin)

FOR MORE INFORMATION, SEE OUR WEBSITE. Photo: Todd Rosenberg ARTIST PROFILES

NATE HELGESON, BASSOON Nate Helgeson is one of the West Coast’s leading specialists in historical . Born into a musical family in Eugene, Oregon (his brother, Aaron Helgeson, and uncle Stephen Gryc are both accomplished ), Nate studied modern bassoon with Steve Vacchi and Richard Svoboda before taking up the baroque instrument, continuing his studies with Dominic Teresi at the Juilliard School.

Now based in Portland, he performs on stages large and small throughout North America. In addition to solo and orchestral appearances with premier period ensembles across the country, he can be heard on recordings by Apollo’s Fire, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and the Trinity Baroque Orchestra. Beginning in 2018, Nate has performed works of Rossini and Bellini on period instruments as part of Teatro Nuovo, a newly formed festival in New York exploring 19th century ‘bel canto’ sounds and performance practices on the opera stage.

JONATHAN GODFREY, VIOLIN A founding member of Mercury Chamber Orchestra, violinist Jonathan Godfrey has served as Concertmaster and violin soloist since the orchestra’s inception. A graduate of Rice University, Mr. Godfrey has performed with many ensembles including the Houston , the Houston Bach Society, the IRIS Chamber Orchestra, and the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra.

He has also served as Concertmaster of the Sinfonietta Cracovia, The Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, The American Radio Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra X, and the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra. He has concertized in the US and abroad, performing solo and chamber music recitals in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Interlochen, and Kansas City, as well as Guanajuato, León, Monterrey, and Santiago, Mexico; Yokohama, Kyoto, Matsumoto, Sapporo, Date, and Tokyo, Japan; and Quito and Ambato, Ecuador.

A music educator as well, Mr. Godfrey has taught for twenty-five years, including positions on the violin faculty of both the Interlochen Arts Camp and the Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory. Mr. Godfrey is also the co-director of Prelude Music Classes for Children, a school of music for young children and their families that teaches the research-based music and movement program Music Together® and a co-founder of the Prelude Music Foundation.

MERCURY SEASON 20/21 | 5 ARTIST PROFILES

OLEG SULYGA, VIOLIN

A native of Moscow, Russia, Oleg Sulyga began his music education in Moscow Central Music School followed with further studies in , France, at Southern Methodist University in Dallas at at the University of Houston under guidance of professor Emanuel Borok.

As a member of world-renowned ensemble “The Moscow Virtuosi”, Sulyga traveled extensively and performed in the world’s most prestigious concert halls. As a chamber musician he has performed with the principals of the Wiener Philharmoniker and The Kopelman . As an orchestral musician he has performed with the Chicago Symphony, the National Symphony, and the Houston Symphony . In addition, Sulyga has been a participant of numerous international festivals worldwide; such as Ravinia, Prague Spring Festival, Pacific Music Festival, Colmar International Music Festival, and Schlezwig-Holstein Festival.

Currently Mr. Sulyga is a violinist of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, Houston Ballet, Mercury, the Bach Society of Houston and is a frequent chamber musician.

BEILIANG ZHU, CELLO Dear readers, instead of listing my past accomplishments in third person, I am going to use this opportunity to communicate with you what really matters to me as a performer.

When I walk onto the stage, I often wonder: what does music mean to everyone here? It is many things to me: a reflection of the present, a recollection of the past, a comforting hug in sadness, a cheerful toast in celebration, or even a sweetener for a slightly tart strawberry. As an introvert, I have connected with the world in ways far beyond what my social skills allow because of music. When the music fills a room, everyone present enters a new dimension in the space- time and is permitted to create a world as they please. When I hear music, I see stories, perhaps the composers’ stories, my own, someone else’s, or simply fairy tales that are conjured up by the magic of sound waves. And you, my lovely audience, are part of my story as much as I am part of yours right now. Time stops as the heartbeat echoes.

For information such as my degrees, awards, press quotes, collaborations with famous people, and appearances in prestigious venues and concert series, please visit my website www.beiliangzhu.com.

MERCURY SEASON 20/21 | 6 ARTIST PROFILES

MARIO ASCHAUER, HARPSICHORD

Praised as an “unconventionally playful” performer by the press, Mario Aschauer works as conductor, harpsichordist, and musicologist at the interface of music scholarship and performance.

As a performer on historical keyboard instruments, Mario specializes in Austrian repertoire from the Baroque and Classical periods. He is member of the Calamus-Consort, which won first prize at the International H.I.F. Biber Competition in 2009 and since then has been invited to numerous renowned early music festivals such as Resonanzen Wien, Bach Fest Leipzig (Germany), and Itinéraire Baroque en Périgord Vert (France). Their CD “Un dolce affanno” (Passacaille, 2012) features highlights from operas performed at the court around 1700 with chalumeau, clarinet, and harpsichord as solo instruments.

Having earned a degree in conducting from the Linz Bruckner Conservatory at the young age of seventeen, Mario had already conducted major works from the choral and symphonic canon before he graduated from high school. With his period instrument group Ensemble NovAntique Linz, Mario has performed late eighteenth-century repertoire beyond the standard including large-scale sacred and symphonic works and oratorios by composers such as Florian Leopold Gassmann, Joseph Martin Kraus, Antonio Salieri and Georg Christoph Wagenseil.

In addition, Mario also collaborates with early music ensembles such as Progetto Semiserio Vienna, Harmony of Nations Baroque Orchestra, Ars Antiqua , and L’Orfeo Baroque Orchestra, Ars Lyrica Houston, Houston Bach Society, and Mercury Chamber Orchestra.

Mario Aschauer is Assistant Professor of Music at the Sam Houston State University School of Music where he also directs the Center for Early Music Research and Performance (CEMRAP). Furthermore, he teaches harpsichord and basso continuo at the Rice University Shepherd School of Music. In addition to his conducting degree from the Linz Bruckner Conservatory, Mario holds degrees in harpsichord performance from the University of Music and Performing Arts (Vienna), and a PhD in musicology from the University of Vienna. He has since returned to teach at these institutions.

Mario’s current recording projects include a selection of keyboard works by Mozart and Beethoven contemporary Emanuel Aloys Förster.

MERCURY SEASON 20/21 | 7 ARTIST PROFILES

ANTOINE PLANTE, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR LYNN WYATT CHAIR

Praised by audiences and musicians alike for his conducting verve and innovative programming, Antoine Plante has garnered praise for bringing music to life.“Plante led his orchestra, the choir and the soloists in an impressive account of the Requiem: authoritative, vigorous, emotionally intense, at times utterly gripping,’’writes Charles Ward of the Houston Chronicle. Plante is a founder of Mercury Chamber Orchestra, a Houston, Texas- based orchestra that has experienced remarkable audience growth over its twenty-year history. In that capacity, Plante has become known for his deftness in balancing a great works repertoire with lesser-known and unknown pieces. His exciting musicality has made him an audience favorite, as evidenced by Mercury’s fast-growing audience. He is also a passionate supporter of classical music education and has led Mercury’s educational outreach program, a significant effort that includes classroom music education in underserved schools, master classes for school orchestras, and performances for school children. Plante is extremely versatile. At ease with the great romantic and modern composers, he also loves to perform Classical and Baroque music with period instrument orchestras. Experienced in directing orchestral pieces as well as staged works, he has conducted several operas and ballets. He collaborated with noted French director Pascal Rambert to produce a modern staged version of Lully’s Armide, which was performed to critical acclaim in Paris and Houston. He worked with Dominic Walsh Dance Theater to create a score for Dominic Walsh’s ballet Romeo and Juliet. An innovative artist, he has premiered new works such as The Crimson Prince with Director Denis Plante, and Loving Clara Schumann with Director Tara Faircloth. Under his leadership, Mercury has grown to be an important arts organization in Houston, offering over 50 concerts per season in many different venues, making great music accessible to the whole community. Plante has been invited to perform as guest conductor for the San Antonio Symphony, Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, Chanticleer, Ecuador National Symphony Orchestra and Atlanta Baroque.

MERCURY SEASON 20/21 | 8 PROGRAM NOTES

A search for the origins of the the (solo first and concerto could start with the second , and cello) and a word itself, and it bore a dual larger four-part group called the meaning in Renaissance Italian: ripieno (first and second violin, on the one hand, concerto viola, and cello, all of which could connoted a cooperative be played by multiple players ensemble, which is preserved per part). There are no pieces in our expression “make a by Corelli on this program to concerted effort”; on the other represent the Roman concerto hand, it expressed striving grosso, but the and competition. The earliest by Francesco Geminiani and applications of the word to follow musical repertory, from around the Corellian model closely. The 1600, reflected the new style of collection from which Geminiani’s the early Baroque that favored concerto grosso is drawn is a different forms of contrast, both series of concerto arrangements cooperative and competitive. that he made of Corelli Op. 5 These could include contrasts of violin sonatas, and Handel’s different voices or voice types concerto comes from a collection within a choral piece, contrasts that amounts to an homage- between voices and instruments, by-emulation of Corelli’s Op. 6 or even the contrasts of concertos. individual lines made to stand out from the surrounding texture. The Venetian concerto is abundantly represented in the Only by the end of the hundreds of examples composed seventeenth century did the by , two of which concerto refer to an instrumental appear on this program. This piece that featured a scoring of form of concerto is likely more soloists versus the full ensemble familiar to us because it features (or tutti). And even by that point, the contrast between a soloist the genre hadn’t settled into a (usually one but sometimes single procedure because there more) and the full ensemble were two forms of instrumental (usually strings) in which concerto, one associated with virtuosity and improvisatory Roman composers and the freedom distinguish the soloist, other with Venetians. The and key thematic material recurs Roman concerto, known as the in a refrain played by the full concerto grosso and perfected ensemble. The Italian word for by Arcangelo Corelli, drew upon a refrain, ritornello, gives its the effects of sonority created name to the movement type by the difference between a that dominates the Venetian smaller three-part group called concerto, ritornello form, in

MERCURY SEASON 20/21 | 9 PROGRAM NOTES which tutti refrains alternate with Both Handel’s musical style and improvisatory solos. The only approach to textural contrasts concerto yet to be mentioned reflect his more thoroughly in this introductory history is internationalized purview in that of . comparison to Corelli. The Monn is the youngest opening two movements of his on the program by as much as concerto amount to expansions a generation, and his piece is upon the French overture, chronologically the latest. As we beginning with majestic dotted- shall see, its lineage is Venetian, rhythms in the first movement, but it shows a new approach to and proceeding to an allegro the ritornello form that looks fugue in the second (but without forward to concerto movements solo/tutti differentiation). After a seen in late-eighteenth-century brief third-movement intermezzo, piano concertos by Mozart. Handel’s concerto proceeds to two dancelike movements: a In Geminiani’s and Handel’s -like fourth movement Roman-influenced pieces there with violin solos of accumulating is neither a set number of energy, and a gavotte-like finale movements nor a predominant that again throws most of the form. We can instead understand soloistic weight on the first the gist of the concerto grosso violin of the concertino. Over the whole of the piece, there as applying its contrasts of are sometimes violin solos, sonority to a variety of different sometimes concertino solos (that movement types: French is, two violins and cello), and overture, fugue, minuet, gigue, sometimes no solos at all (ripieno and the like. Geminiani’s throughout), so that Handel can modus operandi was to overlay be seen as freely choosing among concertino and ripieno contrasts different scorings as suited his onto the existing phrases of imagination: Venetian, Roman, Corelli’s violin sonata. Where and arguably French orchestral the continuo of the original (this last, not a concerto texture). sonata makes an interjection or response to the violin line, Vivaldi has sometimes been Geminiani converted those accused of cut-and-paste moments into orchestral ripieno composing, or of writing passages; where the sonata’s variations of the same piece time fugal exposition gave way to after time, but the accusation a non-thematic digression, is inaccurate and unfair. His Geminiani shifted from ripieno to two concertos on this program concertino. illustrate his motivic and

MERCURY SEASON 20/21 | 10 PROGRAM NOTES harmonic inventiveness within that each cello solo throughout his preferred ritornello form and, the movement offers new more immediately apparent, improvisatory-sounding material the bursting energy of his fast centered on a different motif. movements and plaintive melodic gift of his slow movements. The A contemporary of the Bach Bassoon Concerto in E-flat Major, son, Carl Philipp Emanuel, and RV 483, begins with a compact of the mid-century Mannheim Allegro in the stile concitato (that symphonist, Johann Stamitz, is, the theatrical “agitated style” the short-lived Georg Matthias signaled by persistent tremolo Monn (1717-1750) represents strings). Bassoon lyricism a generation of composers dominates second-movement associated with the so-called Larghetto, whose virtuoso quality galant style that followed on comes from the accumulating the heels of the late Baroque embellishments that decorate during the middle decades of the solo line, and whose tight the eighteenth century. His coherence is a result of the concertos broke new ground in dotted-rhythm motif that acts using the harpsichord, not for as a brief refrain. An expansive, continuo accompaniment, but rollicking ritornello begins the as the featured soloist. Monn final movement and establishes cast his concertos in the same the bouncing moto perpetuo tone three-movement layout as did of the movement as a whole. The Vivaldi and also relied heavily Concerto for Cello and Bassoon on ritornello form, but there are in E Minor, RV 409, may seem important differences in Monn’s just another three-movement approach. His melodic style, like piece dominated by refrain that of the galant generation, forms, but Vivaldi’s procedure is features greater decorative strikingly different in this piece. detail in the use of Scotch snaps, In the first movement, Vivaldi sixteenth-note triplets, and contrasts solos and tuttis starkly intricate trilling. His ritornellos by creating slow tuneful solos are longer and feature a greater that are interspersed between diversity of ideas; or rather, the driving fast-tempo tuttis. The opening and closing ritornellos second movement reverses this behave in this way, while the relationship: now the solos are middle portion of the ritornello motoric-virtuosic allegros that form is instead dominated by are interspersed among slow lengthy solos with shorter and cadential tuttis. With the finale, shorter tutti interjections. The a more recognizable ritornello result, exemplified by the opening movement returns, but note movement of Monn’s concerto,

MERCURY SEASON 20/21 | 11 PROGRAM NOTES is a ritornello form adapted to basis of the evidence that we a proto : opening have. The precedent established tutti ritornello as exposition; by Corelli’s concerti grossi was extended mid-movement solos to use them for special festive as development; ritornello occasions. These were plentiful shared equally by tutti and solo in Baroque-era Rome in its role as recapitulation. Monn himself as both a political and spiritual would likely have seen this as capital. In Vivaldi’s case, his experimenting with the inherited concertos were written for ritornello form, but with the the orphaned denizens of the future Mozartean concerto in Venetian Ospedale della Pietà, mind, we can appreciate Monn’s where Vivaldi was intermittently earlier Viennese example as a employed for most of his missing link between the Baroque career. These pieces ostensibly and Classical Eras. accompanied the church services at the Pietà, but eventually took The rest of the concerto on the trappings of concert comprises a charming middle performances for visitors drawn movement in the style of a slow to the Pietà by the published pastoral aria, but featuring a tourist guides of the period. In melody embellished in the French Handel’s case, the concertos style with appoggiaturas, slides, served as introductory and and (sometimes vastly extended) entr’acte music in the London trills, while also including galant- performances of his operas style rhythms (dotted-sixteenth- and oratorios. In the case of and-thirty-second motifs, more his Op. 6, Nº 11, we know that subdivided triplets). The finale it is an arrangement of his is closer in style to Vivaldi than in A major, is the first movement, both in its which he played in 1739 during more traditional ritornello form performances of his oratorio and in the motoric figurations Alexander’s Feast. On the of the keyboard solos that are basis of just this much, we can typical of Vivaldi’s improvisatory appreciate how the genre of style. The ritornello itself, the concerto led the way in however, begins like a fugal establishing public concert exposition, playing out the main performances of instrumental theme in successive voices. music, such as we enjoy to this very day. If the foregoing gives an account of some of the musical features Gregory Barnett © of these concertos, their original purpose and performing context bear one or two remarks on the

MERCURY SEASON 20/21 | 12 MERCURY PATRON SOCIETY

Mercury’s Patron Society recognizes individuals that make an annual leadership gifts of $2,500 or more. Mercury is grateful to the follow- ing individuals whose annual contributions provide vital support for the organization and make our concerts, events, and music educa- tion programs possible.

PLATINUM BRONZE ($5,000 - $9,999) ($25,000 and above) Mary Kay & Walter Mark Buehler* Mollie & Wayne Brunetti* Paul Erb & Barbara Belt Kirsten Jensen & David Kerley* Marcia & Tom Faschingbauer* Dr. & Mrs. Christopher Prince* Linda & Joe Fowler Christine & Jan Spin* Debra & Mark Gregg Kristine & Stephen Wallace* Barbara & Stephen Hall* Lynn & Oscar Wyatt* Carmen Delgado & Duane C. King* Lili & Hans Kirchner* Anonymous Julia & Keith Little* Marty & Bruce Lundstrom GOLD ($15,000 - $24,999) Carol & Joel Mohrman* Donna & Mike Boyd* Kelly & David Rose* Catherine & Randy Crath Linda & Tom Sparks Bastiaan & Nathalie de Zeeuw* Nina & Michael Zilkha* Martha & Blake Eskew* Virginia Hart & Robert Navo* PATRONS ($2,500 - $4,999) Amy & Lloyd Kirchner* Matthew Brogdon* Mrs. Warren W. Kreft* Drs. Susan & Dennis Carlyle* Rose Ann Medlin & William E. Joor III* Joe & Kim Caruana Lori Muratta & Antoine Plante* Robert Chanon* Gaby & Kenny Owen* David & Margaret Fifield* Sharon & Tim Taylor Sheri Henriksen Mrs. Andrew Wilkomirski* Nan Earle & George Holliday* Cristela & Bill Jonson* Mimi Lloyd* SILVER ($10,000 - $14,999) Shannon & Jamie Mann* Jessica & Jay Adkins* Angelika & Michael Mattern* June & Steve Barth* Luc Messier & Julie Fette* Rebecca Fieler* Patricia & Kevin Mitchell William Guest* Dr. Maureen O’Driscoll-Levy Janice & Timothy Howard* Joëlle & Geoffroy Petit Mariko & John Jordan* Nancy Scofield Hester Rosemary Malbin* Sasha Van Nes & Jim Smith* Neil Sackheim & Stephen Voss* Carolynne & Doug White* The van der Ven Family* Courtney Williams, MD*

MERCURY SEASON 20/21 | 13 MERCURY SUPPORTERS

Mercury is grateful to the following individuals whose ongoing support makes our concerts, events, and music education programs possible. SUPPORTERS ($500 - $2,499) Ms. Diane Marcinek* Joel Abramowitz & Rita Bergers* D M Marco Mrs. Mary Lynne & Mr. Albert Allen* Mrs. Nancy Wynne Mattison* James & Barbara Becker Kathleen Moore & Steven Homer Dr. Joan H Bitar* Dr. & Mrs. Robb Moses Dr. Jerry L. Bohannon* Warren Nicholson Michael & Marsha Bourque David & Maria Perez Chuck Bracht & Cheryl Verlander* Olivia Petrini Di Monforte* Denise Byington Patricia & Gary Rathwell* Capital Advisors, Inc/Andy Brown Claudia Reyes Joe & Kim Caruauna Clarruth Seaton & Greer Barriault David Cook Mr. Don Shackelford* Dr. Gilbert Cote* Janis & Scott Stevenson Mimi & David Cotellesse* Ralph & Meredith Stone Cotton Club Collection Sandra Tirey & Jan R. van Lohuizen The Carl and Phyllis Detering Fdn. Dr. Paul Vitenas* Dr. Bill & Sharon Donovan Rachel & Jason Volz Richard & Rena D’Souza Geoffrey Walker & Ann Kennedy* Annette & Knut Eriksen Rick & Betsy Weber Denis Flanigan Ph.D. & Mr. & Mrs. Richard Weiss Thomas Jolley* Elizabeth D. Williams* Robert Fuentes Richard & Carlie Yoo Gerald Gallion Ann & Ben Ziker Mr. Gary Gardner & Mrs. Peg Palisin Anonymous(3) Leonard Goldstein & Helen Wils Dennis Griffith & Louise Richman DONORS ($100 - $499) Irene & Greg Haas* Anthony Abisogun* Claire & Joseph Halloin* Raju Adwaney Hovig Heghinian & John & Kathy Agee Isabelle Bedrosian Philip Ahern* Heimbinder Family Foundation Jack & Ruth Alpert* Robert & Carol Hermes Carol & Glen Anderson* Janet & Ed Hess Art Attack - Merry Schooley Robert Heyl Helga K. Aurisch Carter & Nancy Hixon* Jerry S. Baiamonte Maurice Isaac* Philip Ball* Brad & Alida Johnson* John & Rosemarie Baugher* Molly & Hugh Rice Kelly John Robert Behrman* Candace & Weir Kyle D. Bentley Sarah & Christopher Lewis Judy Bergman Priscilla L. List Mark Berry Jim & Ellana Livermore Daniel Biediger

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MERCURY SEASON 20/21 | 17 MERCURY SUPPORTERS

FRIENDS (up to $99) cont. Mark Valentine Tamara McFarland* Pamela Vogel Joan McKirachan Robert & Sandra Wager Christopher Mendell Dean Walker Daniel Meyler Susan Weatherly* Chris & Elizabeth Miller Mark Wilson Marion Miller Dr. Robert K. Wimpelberg & Ann Montgomery Peter Hodgson Gail Nash Clifford Engle Wirt* Buford Nichols Paul & Andrea Yatsco Hillary K. Oseas Gay & Dean Zimmerman Cheryl & George Allen Pace Anonymous (14) Nan & Bruce Parker Maria Patino GIFTS IN HONOR OR MEMORIAL Marjorie Patten Carl A. Detering Jr., Margo Pearson in honor of J. Michael Boyd Ngoc Pham Mikhail & Elena Geilikman, Arlene Price in honor of Oleg Sulyga Lucy Ann Randel Crispin Reyna Noemi Islam, Greg & Kate Robertson in memory of Jose Nobile Gnazzo Jim Robin Rosemary Malbin, Mrs. Lisa Robinson in loving memory of Leslie Saia* Ann Saunders Michael Malbin Ingrid Schenkel Karen Merriam, Hans U. Schutt in honor of June Barth Jerry Seeley Robb & Audrey Moses, Boudewijn Siemons in loving honor of Sally J. Smith Tom & Margaret Gwynne Tad Smith Warren Nicholson, Susan Spiese in honor of Ginny Hart Dr. Victoria Stafford Olivia Petrini di Monforte, Jennifer Stearns in memory of Count Rinaldo Dragan & Ranka Stojkovic Petrini di Monforte Karla & Bradley Stuebing Arnaud and Margaret Pichon, Ms. Barbara Taake in memory of Maurice K. Isaac Boris & Vita Taksa Kade Smith, Cesar & Patty Tamez in memory of Karen Skaer Soh Carolyn M. Tatge Andrew Wallace, Brian Tulloch in honor of Stephen Wallace

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MERCURY SEASON 20/21 | 18 FOUNDATIONS & CORPORATE COUNCIL

Mercury is grateful to the following foundations, government entities and Corporate Council members whose ongoing support makes our concerts, events, and music education programs possible.

CONDUCTOR’S CIRCLE (over $50,000) The Brown Foundation, Inc. The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts Houston Endowment Inc. Anonymous CONCERTMASTER’S CIRCLE ($25,000–$49,999) Houston Arts Alliance Southern Chemical Corporation Texas Commission on the Arts The Wyatt Foundation PLATINUM CIRCLE ($15,000–$24,999) Miller Outdoor Theatre Advisory Board Shell Oil Company Foundation Valobra Master Jewelers GOLD CIRCLE ($5,000–$14,999) The Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation Baker Botts, LLP BB&T/Truist Chevron ConocoPhillips Enspirall LLC William E. & Natoma Pyle Harvey Charitable Trust Houston Saengerbund Inscription Capital National Endowment for the Arts Phillips 66 Riviana Foods Team, Inc. Ware, Jackson, Lee, O’Neill, Smith & Barrow, LLP BRONZE CIRCLE (up to $2,499) Capital Advisors Cotton Club Collection ExxonMobil Foundation Mid America Arts Alliance Québec Government Office in Houston

MERCURY SEASON 20/21 | 19 MISSION AND VISION

MILLER OUTDOOR THEATER, AUGUST 31, 2019

MERCURY’S MISSION

To serve the community by celebrating the power of music through teaching, sharing and performing with passion, intimacy and excellence.

MERCURY’S VISION

• Be the most welcoming and innovative arts institution

in Houston.

• Be an exemplary period instrument ensemble for the nation.

• Transform the lives of a diverse audience through music.

MERCURY SEASON 20/21 | 20 MERCURY BOARD AND ADMINISTRATION

BOARD ADMINISTRATION

Virginia Hart, President Antoine Plante Artistic Director, Lynn Wyatt Chair Blake Eskew, Treasurer

Timothy Howard, Secretary Brian Ritter Executive Director Lloyd Kirchner, Immediate Past

President Jennifer Yorek Antoine Plante, Artistic Director Development Director

Executive Director Brian Ritter, Katie DeVore Jay Adkins Marketing Manager

Steve Barth Judy Frow Catherine Crath Artistic Administrator

Bastiaan de Zeeuw Brian August Marcia Faschingbauer Production Manager Rebecca Fieler Matthew Carrington William Guest Music Librarian Kirsten Jensen sponsored by Rebecca Fieler

Keith Little Andrés González Rose Ann Medlin Education Manager

Joel W. Mohrman

Ken Owen

Christopher Prince

James E. Smith

Christine Spin

Ana Treviño-Godfrey

Ralf van der Ven

Stephen Wallace

Lynn Wyatt, Special Advisor

MERCURY SEASON 20/21 | 21 DOWNTOWN SERIES BACH, HOLST, GRIEG MARCH 27 | 8 PM

NEIGHBORHOOD SERIES MUSIC AMONG FRIENDS APRIL 8 | 7:30 PM

DOWNTOWN SERIES MOZART’S NIGHT MUSIC MAY 22 | 8 PM