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Home , Anssi Karttunen, Circle Map, Herbert Blomstedt, Jukka Tiensuu, Kaija Saariaho, La Passion de Simone

Friday, October 23, 2015, 8pm Hertz Hall eco ensemble David Milnes, conductor

Anssi Karttunen, Lauren Snouffer, soprano Nikolas Nackley, baritone

PROGRAM

Kaija Saariaho (b. 1952) (2000) Papillon 1 Dolce, leggiere, libero Papillon 2 Leggiere, molto espressivo Papillon 3 Calmo, con tristezza Papillon 4 Dolce, tranquillo Papillon 5 Lento, misterioso Papillon 6 Sempre poco nervoso, senza tempo Papillon 7 Molto espressivo, energico , cello

Saariaho Five Songs from The Tempest Songbook (1993 –2004) Ariel’s Hall ( soprano ) ( 2000) Caliban’s Dream ( baritone ) ( 1993) Miranda’s Lament ( soprano ) ( 1997) Prospero’s Vision ( baritone ) ( 2002) Ferdinand’s Comfort ( soprano & baritone ) ( 2004)

Lauren Snouffer, soprano Daniel Cullen, mandolin Nikolas Nackley, baritone Dan Levitan, harp Tod Brody, flute Hrabba Atladottir, violin Peter Josheff, Leighton Fong, cello Travis Andrews, guitar Richard Worn, double bass

INTERMISSION

15 PROGRAM

Saariaho (2006)

I. Translucent, secret II. On fire III. Awakening IV. Eclipse — V. Heart of light

Anssi Karttunen, solo cello Bonnie Pei, percussion Stacey Pelinka, flute Ben Prima, timpani Kyle Bruckmann, Ann Yi, Peter Josheff, clarinet Karen Rosenak, celesta Daniel Zimardi, Dan Levitan, harp Alicia Telford, horn Hrabba Atladottir, violin Brad Hogarth, Dan Flanagan, violin Weston Olencki, Ellen Ruth Rose, viola Tiffany Bayly, Leighton Fong, cello Daniel Kennedy, percussion Richard Worn, double bass

Special thanks to the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT).

eco ensemble

Executive Director Richard Andrews Production Coordinator Amadeus Regucera Program Development Coordinators Matthew Schumaker, Scott Rubin

Artistic Advisory Committee Edmund Campion David Milnes Matías Tarnopolsky Cindy Cox Franck Bedrossian

Major support for this performance is provided by The Bernard Osher Foundation. Cal Performances’ #!"$–#!"% season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

PLAYBILL PROGRAM NOTES

Kaija Saariaho (b. ;C?<) music. Also, all the first perform ances of these Sept papillons (<:::) pieces have been surprises, and no one of them shares the same birthday. Sept papillons was the first piece Saariaho For time being, there are seven songs in The wrote after her opera L’Amour de loin , and it Tempest Songbook , and there might be more was partly written during the rehearsals of the to come. opera in Salzburg. One can sense the desire to Kaija Saariaho, 2015 find a new world, which has nothing to do with the opera neither in style nor in lan - guage. From the metaphors of the opera Saariaho which all have an eternal quality—love, yearn - Notes on Light (<::@) ing, and death—she moved now to a metaphor of the ephemeral: butterfly. Kaija Saariaho’s works are not narrative in Also, from the long times-spans of the the sense that they would describe a specific opera she moved to these seven miniatures, event or tell a story. Nevertheless, through which each seem to be studies on a different the musical textures and also through their aspect of fragile and ephemeral movement titles they tend to evoke the listener’s imag - that has no beginning or end. ination and provoke emotions. The title of Sept papillons was commissioned by the the cello concerto, Notes on Light , gives a vi - Rudolf Steiner Foundation and was first per - sual stimulus which is emphasized by the formed by Anssi Karttunen in in headings of the five movements. The piece September 2000. starts “Translucent, secret” and the imagi - © Chester Music Publishers nary journey ends with “Heart of Light.” The only direct literary reference in the work is the quotation from T. S. Eliot’s The Saariaho Waste Land on last page of the score, as the Five Songs from The Tempest Songbook ’s guiding post scriptum after the (;CC=–<::> ) music has finished. It is more fruitful to see Notes on Light in When I composed Caliban’s Dream in 1993 the context of Kaija Saariaho’s own œuvre for the 50th anniversary of Brian than in the historical line of the concerto Ferneyhough, I used for the first time some tradition. Before starting to write she stud - lines from ’s play The ied the cello concerto repertoire, especially Tempest for my music. I didn’t know then that the concertos of Elgar, Dvořák, and I had started a series of works—to be written Schumann, but finally there is practically over the years, and always as a birthday trib - nothing that has been filtered to Notes on ute—which I would later call The Tempest Light . The key elements of the great roman - Songbook . After Caliban’s Dream appeared, tic concertos—virtuosic cello writing and Miranda’s Lament (1997) for the 60th birth - expressive melodic lines on the A string— day of , th en Ariel’s Hail (2000) are absent in Saariaho’s aesthetics. for the 40th birthday of Anssi Karttunen, Kaija Saariaho’s music is born from a con - Prospero’s Vision (2002) to celebrate Peter tact with musicians. Of her two previous Sellars’s 55th birthday , and Ferdinand’s concertos the first, Graal théâtre (1994), was Comfort (2004) for Roger Reynolds. The most written for , whose playing in - recent addition is Bosun’s Cheer for Aleksi spired her to dedicate a work for him. Barrière in 2014 . All the persons mentioned Camilla Hoitenga was the soloist designed here have been important for me and my for the , Aile du songe (2001 ). PROGRAM NOTES

If one would name one performer who transparent, leaving the cello to be heard has accompanied Kaija Saariaho most faith - even in the very quiet passages. Energy is fully throughout her career, it is Anssi not created through making a lot of noise Karttunen, who has worked very closely with but through more subtle means. Yet, at her since the last 25 years or so. According to times, especially in the second movement, the composer, it is Mr. Karttunen’s personality the music achieves an almost violent driv - that inspires her most while writing for the ing force. The relationship of cello and or - cello. “Through his playing, Anssi can create chestra is not as if a hero was having a battle magical atmospheres like no one else,” she with a crowd, as in the traditional concerto, confirms, and adds that in fact, the collabora - but more a picture of an object seen in dif - tion most often starts only when the piece is ferent lights. Every turn of the kaleidoscope written. “Then, Anssi may propose technical gives a new image, another note on light. adjustments to certain details after trying When you come to the end, all that is left is them out.” For Mr. Karttunen, Kaija Saariaho silence, the other side of sound. Or dark - is able to write very delicate, even fragmentary ness, the heart of light. textures, yet he is able to make the music carry Risto Nieminen to the audience. Although Notes on Light is Saariaho’s first At first sight, Notes on Light, with its five move - cello concerto in the traditional sense of the ments, doesn’t quite resemble the average cello word, she has proposed other works where concerto. However, after taking a closer look I cello plays a central role, like ...à la fumée soon found the elements that I believe make a (1990) for flute, cello, , and electron - great concerto: (1) The relation of soloist and ics, and Amers (1992) for cello, chamber en - orchestra goes through many very different semble, and electronics, both naturally for situations. (2) The cello is given the chance to Mr. Karttunen. Notes on Light is clearly a show its full versatility. (3) When the soloist synthesis of all the music for cello Kaija has important things to say, the orchestra Saariaho has written so far, both musically gives it space and also gets its m oments to lift and technically. the music up into exuberant colors. As regards the form, Notes on Light may The solo cello is not just the hero of Notes mark an endpoint in Saariaho’s production. on Light ; he or she also has to stand up for his The two previous concertos were divided or her rights, fight, lead, collaborate with and into two main movements, whereas the sometimes submit to the orchestra. All these most recent one is set in five separate parts. make Notes on Light a rich voyage that could The pieces that have followed the concerto, well lead us into the very heart of light. Mirage (2007) for soprano, cello (again!), and I see two intervals of a semitone as impor - orchestra and Laterna magica (2008) for or - tant mottos of the piece. The first is a slide chestra, premièred by the down from F-sharp to F-natural, which starts in 2009 , are in one continuous movement. In the piece, and to which one returns from dif - Notes on Light , the five movements allow the ferent paths along the concerto. The second is composer to play on contrasting elements, a rising figure of C-sharp to D-natural, which juxtaposing different characters abrubtly. often interrupts the action and stops the The material out of which the music is de - soloist. These two motives seem to be even rived is seemingly simple, but Kaija Saariaho stronger landmarks than any melodic element. is able to put it in different guises and to light In the last movement the single note of F-sharp it from different angles, showing the rich - proves to be the center of the whole work. ness of the underlying structure. Through the voice of the cello, the first The orchestra, deprived of other brass movement introduces the secret world of the instruments except the horns, is always piece, translucently colored by the orchestra

PLAYBILL PROGRAM NOTES in small ensembles. The second movement the fifth movement, and the two embark on a opposes the soloist and the orchestra in a fiery voyage towards light. Finally, F-sharp is the dialogue. The music is energetic and obses - note that becomes the heart of light, lifting the sive, the soloist refusing to speak at the same cello in the end high up to the spheres of ab - time with the orchestra. The third movement solute brightness…or total darkness. finally awakens both into building together On the last page of the score, Saariaho has in - large, colorful gestures. cluded a quote from T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land : In the fourth movement, the orchestra “…I could not eclipses the soloist with dark waves of sound. Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither The soloist offers his C-sharp–D motive twice, Living nor dead, and I knew nothing, in vain. He finally shakes the shadows away Looking into the heart of light, the silence.” with the third try which leads us directly to © Anssi Karttunen, Paris, 2008 TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS

Kaija Saariaho Prospero Five Songs from The Tempest Songbook Be collected. Texts from The Tempest by William Shakespeare No more amazement, Tell your piteous 1 heart There’s no harm done.

Ariel’s Hail Prospero’s Vision All hail, great master, Grave Sir, hail! I come To answer thy best pleasure; be it to fly, You do look, my son, in a moved sort, To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride As if you were dismayed. Be cheerful sir, On the curled clouds; to thy strong bidding task [Our revels now are ended.] These our actors, Ariel, and all his quality… As I foretold you, were all spirits, and I boarded the King’s ship. Now on the beak, Are melted into air, into thin air, Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin, And like the baseless fabric of this vision I flamed amazement: sometime I’d divide, The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, And bum in many places… The solemn temples, the great globe itself, …Then I beat my tabor, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, At which like unbacked colts they pricked their ears, And like this insubstantial pageant faded Advanced their eyelids, lifted up their noses Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As they smelt music, so I charmed their ears. As dreams are made on; and our little life Is rounded with a sleep. Sir, I am vexed; [Bear with my weakness, my old brain is troubled. Caliban’s Dream Be not disturbed with my infirmity. If you be pleased, retire into my cell, And there Caliban repose;] a turn or two I’ll walk, Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, To still my beating mind. Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices Ferdinand’s Comfort That, if I then had waked after long sleep, Will make me sleep again; and then, in dreaming, Ferdinand The clouds methought would open, and show riches Where should this music be? I’th’air or th’ earth? Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked I cried to dream again. Sitting on a bank, Weeping again the King my father’s wrack, This music crept by me upon the waters, Miranda’s Lament Allaying both their fury and my passion With its sweet air. Miranda Thence I have followed it, If by your art, my dearest father, you have Or it hath drawn me, rather. But ‘tis gone. Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them. No, it begins again. The sky it seems would pour down stinking pitch, But that the sea, mounting to th’ welkin’s cheek’ 2, Ariel Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffered Full fathom five thy father lies, With those that I saw suffer! [A brave vessel, Of his bones are coral made; Who had, no doubt, some noble creatures in her, Those are pearls that were his eyes; Dashed all to pieces.] O, the cry did knock Nothing of him that doth fade, Against my very heart! Poor souls, they perished, But doth suffer a sea-change Had I been any god of power, I would Into something rich and strange. Have sunk the sea within the earth, or ere

It should the good ship so have swallowed and In this setting, the following texts have been substituted: The fraughting souls within her. 1. the face of the sky 2. pitying

PLAYBILL ABOUT THE ARTISTS

“spectralist” , whose techniques are based on computer analysis of the sound- spectrum. This analytical approach inspired her to develop her own method for creating harmonic structures, as well as the detailed notation using harmonics, microtonaly and detailed continuum of sound extending from pure tone to unpitched noise—all features found in one of her most frequently per - formed works, Graal théâtre for violin and or - chestra or ensemble (1994–1997 ). Later, Ms. Saariaho has turned to opera, with outstanding success. L’Amour de loin , with a li - bretto by based on an early bi - ography of the twelfth-century troubadour Jaufré Rudel, received widespread acclaim in its première production directed by at the 2000 , and won the com - poser a prestigious . Adriana u j a h

ö Mater , on an original libretto by Mr. Maalouf, t y K

mixing gritty present-day reality and dreams, t i r a

a followed, again directed by Mr. Sellars, at the M Opéra Bastille in Paris in March 2006 . Émilie , AIJA SAARIAHO is a prominent member of an opera and monodrama for Ka group of Finnish composers and per - had its première in Lyon in March 2010 . formers who are now, in mid-career, making a Around the operas there have been other worldwide impact. Born in Helsinki in 1952, vocal works, notably the ravishing Château de she studied at the there with l’âme (1996 ), Oltra mar (1999), and the song- the pioneering modernist Paavo Heininen cycle Quatre instants (2002). And the oratorio and, with and others, she , portraying the life and founded the progressive Ears Open group. She death of the philosopher , formed continued her studies in Freiburg with Brian part of Mr. Sellars’s international New Ferneyhough and , at the Crowned Hope festival in 2006–2007. The summer courses, and, from 1982, chamber version of the oratorio was pre - at IRCAM in Paris—the city which has been mièred by La Chambre aux echos at the most of the time her home ever since. Bratislava Melos Ethos Festival in 2013. At IRCAM, Ms. Saariaho developed tech - The experience of writing for voices has led niques of computer-assisted composition and to some clarification of Ms. Saariaho’s lan - acquired fluency in working on tape and with guage, with a new vein of modally oriented live electronics. This experience influenced her melody accompanied by more regular repeat - approach to writing for orchestra, with its em - ing patterns. This change of direction has been phasis on the shaping of dense masses of sound carried over into orchestral works including in slow transformations. Significantly, her first Aile du songe for flute and chamber orchestra orchestral piece, Verblendungen (1984 ), in - (2001) and the stunning Orion for large or - volves a gradual exchange of roles and charac - chestra (2002), Notes on Light (2006) for cello ter between orchestra and tape. And even the and orchestra, and the Bergman inspired titles of her next, linked, pair of orchestral Laterna Magica (2008 ), written for Sir Simon works, Du Cristal (1989 ) and …à la Fumée Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, (1990)—the latter with solo and cello, D’om le vrai sens (2010) was written for clar - and both with live electronics—suggest their inetist , (2013) for preoccupation with color and texture. organ and orchestra, among others. Before coming to work at IRCAM, In the profusion of large and small works Ms. Saariaho learned to know the French which Ms. Saariaho has produced in recent ABOUT THE ARTISTS years, two features which have marked her exclusively by Chester Music and Edition whole career continue to stand out. One is a Wilhelm Hansen, part of the Music Sales close and productive association with indi - Group of Companies. vidual artists—not least Mr. Maalouf and Mr. Sellars, as well as the conductor Esa- Pekka Salonen, the flautist Camilla Hoitenga, the cellist Anssi Karttunen, the soprano , and the pianists Emmanuel Ax and . The other is a concern, shown equally in her choice of subject matter and texts and in the profusion of expression marks in her scores, to make her music not a work - ing-out of abstract processes but an urgent g communication from composer to listener of n u J

i l

ideas, images, and emotions. e m r

Ms. Saariaho has claimed the major com - I posing awards in the Grawemeyer Award, the The Finnish cellist Anssi Karttunen is one of Wihuri Prize, and the Nemmers Prize, and in the most reputable and versatile musicians on 2011 was awarded the Sonning Prize. In May today’s classical music scene. Exceedingly ac - 2013, Ms. Saariaho was awarded the Polar tive both as a soloist and chamber musician, Music Prize. In 2015, she was the judge of the his repertoire covers all of the standard works Toru Takemitsu Composition Award. Always for cello, as well as a myriad of forgotten mas - keen on strong educational programs, terpieces and his own arrangements. He plays Ms. Saariaho was the music mentor of the on modern, classical, and baroque , as 2014–2015 Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts well as the violoncello piccolo. Initiative and is in residence at UC Berkeley as His concert with the Helsinki the Bloch Professor of Music in autumn 2015. Philharmonic under at the Helsinki In 2012, her was commissioned Festival kicked off the 2015/16 season. Other by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the highlights of the season are his tour of China Boston Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Esa-Pekka Salonen, a re-invitation to the New , Royal Scottish National Orchestra, World Symphony (with Dutilleux’s Tout un and Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. The monde lointain under Susanna Mälkki), his piece has been inspired by six poems of Rumi. début recital at the Wigmore Hall with pianist These poems recited in Persian are used as the Nicolas Hodges, which will include the pre - material for the electronic part. Circle Map mière of a new work by Sean Shepherd, as well was premièred by the Royal Concertgebouw as the Spanish, French and Finnish premières Orchestra, conducted by Susanna Mälkki, at of Magnus Lindberg’s Cello Concerto No. 2 the Westergasfabriek Gashouder in which he first performed in October 2013 Amsterdam on June 22, 2012. with the under In 2015, the song cycle was pre - Mr. Salonen. In the following season, he will mièred by and Los Angeles play this work with the Konzerthaus Philharmonic, conducted by Gustavo Orchestra Berlin and the London Dudamel. Her next opera, Only the Sound Philharmonic Orchestra. At UC Berkeley, he Remains , will be premièred in March 2016 at will teach and perform as a Regents’ Lecturer the Dutch National Opera. Other perform - in the autumn of 2015. ances will follow in Paris, Helsinki, Madrid, Mr. Karttunen is a passionate advocate of and Toronto. Ms . Saariaho’s harp concerto contemporary music. He has performed over Trans will receive its world première in August 140 world premières, collaborating with such 2016 by Xavier de Maistre and the New composers as Kaija Saariaho, Mr. Lindberg, Philharmonic, conducted by Ernest Martinez- Rolf Wallin, Luca Francesconi, and Tan Dun. Izquierdo at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo. An astounding 29 concertos have been writ ten The music of Kaija Saariaho is published for him. He premièred Mr. Lindberg’s Cello

PLAYBILL ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Concerto No.1 with the Orchestre de Paris nominated for a Gramophone Award 2013: a (1999), Mr. Salonen’s Mania with Avanti! CD of Mr. Lindberg’s chamber music works (2000), Martin Matalon’s cello concerto with with the composer and clarinetist Kari Kriikku the Orchestre National de France (2001), and on , and Dutilleux’s Tout un monde loin - Luca Francesconi’s Rest with the RAI Torino tain with the Orchestre Philharmonique de (2004). Ms. Saariaho wrote the concerto Notes Radio France under Mr. Salonen on Deutsche on Light for Karttunen, which he premièred Grammophon, which was chosen as best con - with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, who temporary recording of the year 2013. commissioned the work, in February 2007. Born in 1960, Mr. Karttunen studied with Performances of Notes on Light with the Erkki Rautio, , Jacqueline du Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Pré, and Tibor de Machula, among others. Radio, NDR Symphony Orchestra, Royal From 1999 to 2005, he was principal cellist Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre de with the London Sinfonietta. Between 1994 Paris, and the New World Symphony fol - and 1998 he was the Artistic Director of the lowed. In November 2014, he premièred a Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, and from 1994 to new cello concerto by Jukka Tiensuu with the 1997 of the Suvisoitto Festival in Porvoo, Tampere Philharmonic. New projects cur - . He was the artistic director of the rently planned include new works by Pascal Helsinki Biennale 1995 and 1997 and the Dusapin, Thierry Pécou, Denis Cohen, Fred Festival Musica Nova Helsinki in 2015 . Lerdahl, and Oliver Knussen, as well as a very He frequently teaches master classes, for ex - special project with John Paul Jones. ample in 2012 together with Ms. Saariaho at Mr. Karttunen has worked with world- Carnegie Hall, at the 2012 Cello Biennial renowned such as the Philadelphia Amsterdam, and regularly since 2008 at the Orchestra, BBC Symphony, NHK Orchestra, workshop series Creative Dialogue, offered in Southwest German Radio Symphony collaboration with the Sibelius Academy in Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Ensemble Santa Fe. He began teaching at the École Modern, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Normale de Musique in Paris last season. Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Anssi Karttunen plays on a Francesco , and Helsinki Ruggeri cello. Philharmonic. He also performs regularly as a soloist and chamber musician at Europe’s Heralded by the San most important music festivals, including Francisco Chronicle as Edinburgh, Salzburg, Lockenhaus, Berlin, “sonorous and heroic” Venice, Strasbourg, and Helsinki. His Zebra and acclaimed by The Trio, with violinist Ernst Kovacic and violist Boston Globe for his Steven Dann, performs concerts on both sides ability to “continually of the Atlantic. He also closely collaborates impress with his beauti - with the Argentine choreographer Diana ful voice and acting,” Theocharidis, with whom he is currently plan - baritone Nikolas ning a fifth joint project. Nackley is in demand His recordings traverse a broad musical spec - for his work on the concert and operatic stage trum, from Beethoven’s complete works for in the and abroad. cello and piano on period instruments, to 20th- Most recently heard in the title role of century solo pieces, to concertos performed Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria with with the London Sinfonietta and the Los West Edge Opera, Mr. Nackley’s other recent Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra under credits include the role of Joe Pitt in Peter Mr. Salonen. He has released recordings of con - Eötvös’s Angels in America with the Los certos by Mr. Lindberg, Ms. Saariaho, and Angeles Philharmonic, Adonis in Blow’s Mr. Salonen with Sony Classical. With Venus and Adonis with Marin Baroque, and , he released a DVD of baritone soloist for the world première of Tan Dun’s The Map for cello, video, and or - Stacy Garrop’s Terra Nostra with the San chestra. Two of Mr. Karttunen’s recordings were Francisco Choral Society. He has worked ABOUT THE ARTISTS under such conductors as Gustavo Dudamel, Orchestra at Severance Hall and Lincoln Sir Roger Norrington, Joana Carneiro, Bruno Center for concert performances of Strauss’s Weil, Craig Smith, Harry Christophers, John Daphne . Other appearances included the Harbison, and Pablo Heras Casado. His up - Fauré Requiem with the Florida Orchestra and coming engagements include Bach’s a performance as guest soloist for their New Christmas Oratorio with Marin Oratorio, Year’s concert, From Vienna to New York , and Mozart’s Requiem and Hagen’s Ashes of Roses a return engagement with the Baltimore with the Santa Clara Chorale, and Orff’s Symphony Orchestra as Cunegonde in a semi - with the Merced Symphony staged presentation of Bernstein’s Candide , Orchestra. Mr. Nackley is on the faculty of the conducted by Music Director Marin Alsop. School of Music at San Francisco State A recent graduate of the Houston Grand University and Santa Clara University. Opera Studio, Ms. Snouffer has bowed with the company in L’italiana in Algeri , Show Boat , Recognized for a unique The Rape of Lucretia , and Il barbiere di artistic curiosity in Siviglia , among others. She was a winner of a world class perform - 2013 Sara Tucker Study Grant from the ances spanning the Richard Tucker Music Foundation and a music of Claudio Richard F. Gold Career Grant bestowed by Monteverdi and Johann Houston Grand Opera, a grand finalist in the Adolphe Haase to 2012 National Council György Ligeti and Auditions, and is a graduate of Rice University George Benjamin, so - and the . prano Lauren Snouffer is celebrated as one of the most versatile and The eco ensemble is a group of experienced, sought after sopranos on the international stage. highly skilled Bay Area musicians dedicated Performances of the current season include to performing new music from established the Mozart Requiem with Harry and emerging composers. Its mission is to en - Christophers and the Handel and Haydn rich and serve the Bay Area’s cultural life Society of Boston, Beethoven’s Egmont with through the creation, performance, and dis - Markus Stenz and the Baltimore Symphony semination of new music by composers from Orchestra, Poulenc’s Gloria with the Houston Berkeley and around the world. Ballet, and Handel’s Messiah with Mercury What does “eco” stand for? Like other art Baroque. On the opera stage, Ms. Snouffer re - forms, new music doesn’t exist in a vacuum— turns to Houston Grand Opera in two pro - it is part of the fabric that makes up our cul - ductions: She sings Cherubino in Le nozze di tural landscape. The San Francisco Bay Area Figaro conducted by Harry Bicket, in a pro - generally (and Berkeley in particular) plays an duction by Michael Grandage; and she bows essential role in the eco ensemble’s formation: as Carrie Pipperidge in Carousel conducted our musicians, composers, media, and audi - by Richard Bado and directed and choreo - ence are all part of the region’s vibrant cultural graphed by Rob Ashford. scene. We are both influenced by—and exert The 2014–2015 season saw Ms. Snouffer’s influence on—the artistic ecology within début with Parnassus Arts Productions as which we exist. The name “eco” acknowledges Arasse in Max Emanuel Cencic’s new produc - this ecology and locates our work as part of tion of Hasse’s Siroe at the Opéra Royal de the Bay Area’s abundant cultural community. Versailles, with performances in Budapest and Vienna; the project was recorded and released David Milnes serves as conductor of the eco commercially on the Decca label. She made ensemble, Berkeley’s professional new music her début with the Atlanta Opera as Susanna ensemble in residence, as well as Music in Le nozze di Figaro and, on the concert stage, Director of the UC Berkeley University with the Portland Baroque Orchestra in Symphony Orchestra since 1996. In his early Messiah , conducted by John Butt. She also years, he studied piano, organ, clarinet, cello, joined Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland and voice, and briefly entertained a career as

PLAYBILL ABOUT THE ARTISTS a jazz pianist, appearing with Chuck MANCA Festival in Nice, France, with the Mangione, Gene Krupa, Billy Taylor, and John Philharmonic Orchestra of Nice; in Mexico, at Pizzarelli. After receiving advanced degrees in the Festival Internacional El Callejón del from SUNY –Stony Brook and the Ruido with the Guanajuato Symphony Yale School of Music, and studying with Otto- Orchestra; and in Russia, with the Novosibirsk Werner Mueller, , Erich Symphony Orchestra. He has collaborated in Leinsdorf, and , he won the performances with Frederica von Stade, Dawn prestigious Exxon Assistant Conductor posi - Upshaw, Bill T. Jones, Paul Hillier, James tion with the , where Newton, David Starobin, and Chanticleer, and he also served as Music Director of the highly has appeared at the Santa Fe, , acclaimed San Francisco Symphony Youth Aspen, and Monadnock music festivals. A Orchestra, which he led on its first European dedicated proponent of new music, from 2002 tour in 1986. to 2009 Mr. Milnes was Music Director of the Mr. Milnes has conducted frequently in San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Russia and the Baltics, serving as Music with whom he commissioned and premièred Director of the Riga Independent Opera many new works from around the world. He Company and as a principal guest conductor has made recordings of music by John of the Latvian National Symphony. Recent en - Anthony Lennon, James Newton, Edmund gagements have included appearances at the Campion, Jorge Liderman, and Pablo Ortiz.