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Season 2014-2015

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Season 2014-2015 27 Season 2014-2015 Thursday, December 18, at 7:00 The Philadelphia Orchestra Friday, December 19, at 7:00 Saturday, December 20, at 7:00 The Glorious Sound of Christmas Bramwell Tovey Conductor Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia Alan Harler Artistic Director Traditional/ “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” arr. Tovey Mendelssohn/ “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” arr. Harris Traditional/ “Good King Wenceslas” arr. Tovey Holst/arr. Tovey “In the Bleak Midwinter” Tovey “The Rittenhouse Carol” World premiere Hairston/arr. Tovey “Mary’s Boy Child” Tchaikovsky “Waltz of the Flowers,” from The Nutcracker, Op. 71 Intermission 28 Tormé/arr. Lowden “The Christmas Song” Gruber/arr. Tovey “Silent Night” Moore “The Night Before Christmas,” a poem with music Pierpont/arr. Tovey Jingle Bells Overture Traditional/arr. Tovey “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen” Anderson Sleigh Ride Wade/arr. Harris “O Come, All Ye Faithful” This program runs approximately 1 hour, 40 minutes. Philadelphia Orchestra concerts are broadcast on WRTI 90.1 FM on Sunday afternoons at 1 PM. Visit www.wrti.org to listen live or for more details. 5 Story Title 31 The Philadelphia Orchestra Jessica Griffin The Philadelphia Orchestra is one of the preeminent orchestras in the world, renowned for its distinctive sound, desired for its keen ability to capture the hearts and imaginations of audiences, and admired for a legacy of imagination and innovation on and off the concert stage. The Orchestra is transforming its rich tradition of achievement, sustaining the highest level of artistic quality, but also challenging—and exceeding—that level by creating powerful musical experiences for audiences at home and around the world. Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s highly collaborative style, deeply-rooted musical curiosity, and boundless enthusiasm, paired with a fresh approach to orchestral programming, have been heralded by critics and audiences alike since his inaugural season in 2012. Under his leadership the Orchestra returned to recording with a celebrated CD of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Leopold Stokowski transcriptions on the Deutsche Grammophon label, continuing its history of recording success. The Orchestra also reaches thousands of listeners on the radio with weekly Sunday afternoon broadcasts on WRTI-FM. Philadelphia is home, and the Orchestra nurtures an important relationship with patrons who support the main season at the Kimmel Center, and also with those who enjoy the Orchestra’s other area performances at the Mann Center, Penn’s Landing, and other cultural, civic, and learning venues. The Orchestra maintains a strong commitment to collaborations with cultural and community organizations on a regional and national level. Through concerts, tours, residencies, presentations, and recordings, the Orchestra is a global ambassador for Philadelphia and for the United States. Having been the first American orchestra to perform in China, in 1973 at the request of President Nixon, today The Philadelphia Orchestra boasts a new partnership with the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. The ensemble annually performs at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center while also enjoying summer residencies in Saratoga Springs, New York, and Vail, Colorado. The Philadelphia Orchestra has a decades-long tradition of presenting learning and community engagement opportunities for listeners of all ages. The Orchestra’s recent initiative, the Fabulous Philadelphians Offstage, Philly Style!, has taken musicians off the traditional concert stage and into the community, including highly-successful Pop- Up concerts, PlayINs, SingINs, and ConductINs. The Orchestra’s musicians, in their own dedicated roles as teachers, coaches, and mentors, serve a key role in growing young musician talent and a love of classical music, nurturing and celebrating the wealth of musicianship in the Philadelphia region. For more information on The Philadelphia Orchestra, please visit www.philorch.org. 6 Music Director Chris Lee Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin continues his inspired leadership of The Philadelphia Orchestra, which began in the fall of 2012. His highly collaborative style, deeply rooted musical curiosity, and boundless enthusiasm, paired with a fresh approach to orchestral programming, have been heralded by critics and audiences alike. The New York Times has called Nézet-Séguin “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton, “the ensemble, famous for its glowing strings and homogenous richness, has never sounded better.” He has taken the Orchestra to new musical heights. Highlights of his third season as music director include an Art of the Pipe Organ festival; the 40/40 Project, in which 40 great compositions that haven’t been heard on subscription concerts in at least 40 years will be performed; and Bernstein’s MASS, the pinnacle of the Orchestra’s five- season requiem cycle. Yannick has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most exciting talents of his generation. He has been music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic since 2008 and artistic director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain since 2000. He also continues to enjoy a close relationship with the London Philharmonic, of which he was principal guest conductor. He has made wildly successful appearances with the world’s most revered ensembles, and he has conducted critically acclaimed performances at many of the leading opera houses. Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Deutsche Grammophon (DG) enjoy a long-term collaboration. Under his leadership The Philadelphia Orchestra returned to recording with a CD on that label of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Leopold Stokowski transcriptions. He continues a fruitful recording relationship with the Rotterdam Philharmonic on DG, EMI Classics, and BIS Records; the London Philharmonic and Choir for the LPO label; and the Orchestre Métropolitain for ATMA Classique. A native of Montreal, Yannick Nézet-Séguin studied at that city’s Conservatory of Music and continued lessons with renowned conductor Carlo Maria Giulini and with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College. Among Yannick’s honors are an appointment as Companion of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest civilian honors; a Royal Philharmonic Society Award; Canada’s National Arts Centre Award; the Prix Denise-Pelletier, the highest distinction for the arts in Quebec; and honorary doctorates from the University of Quebec in Montreal and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. To read Yannick’s full bio, please visit www.philorch.org/conductor. 33 Conductor David Cooper Pianist, composer, and Grammy Award-winning conductor Bramwell Tovey has been music director of the Vancouver Symphony (VSO) since 2000. His tenure there has included complete Beethoven, Mahler, and Brahms symphony cycles; tours of China, Korea, Canada, and the United States; and the establishment of an annual festival dedicated to contemporary music. He is also the artistic adviser of the VSO School of Music, which opened in downtown Vancouver in 2011. In 2018, the VSO’s centenary year, he becomes the ensemble’s music director emeritus. Since his debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra at the Mann in 2008, Mr. Tovey has performed with the ensemble at Saratoga and Wolf Trap and led holiday and New Year’s Eve concerts. This season he makes his subscription debut and also returns for the Glorious Sound of Christmas. In the 2014-15 season he makes guest appearances with the New York and BBC philharmonics, and the Melbourne, Sydney, Helsingborg, and Kansas City symphonies. He made his debut with the Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia Festival in the summer of 2014. Other recent guest appearances include performances with the Royal and Los Angeles philharmonics, the Boston and Toronto symphonies, and the Cleveland Orchestra. Mr. Tovey’s Requiem for a Charred Skull won the 2003 JUNO award for Best Classical Composition. His opera The Inventor, written with playwright John Murrell, was commissioned by Calgary Opera and recorded with the original cast, the Vancouver Symphony, and the University of British Columbia Opera for release on Naxos. As a pianist, Mr. Tovey has appeared as soloist with many major orchestras. In the summer of 2014 he played and conducted Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in Saratoga with the Philadelphians. He has performed his own Pictures in the Smoke with the Melbourne and Helsingborg symphonies and the Royal Philharmonic. Mr. Tovey was music director of the Winnipeg Symphony from 1989 to 2001 and music director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg from 2002 to 2006. He is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and he holds honorary degrees from the universities of British Columbia, Manitoba, Kwantlen, and Winnipeg. In 2013 he was appointed an honorary Officer of the Order of Canada for services to music. 35 Chorus John L Shipman For the past 150 years Mendelssohn Club has been devoted to sharing great choral music as a way to connect artists, audiences, and communities. One of America’s oldest choruses, Mendelssohn Club continues to expand its repertoire in the 21st century by collaborating with a wide range of musical organizations, each of which is devoted to representing or reaching out to new audiences in innovative ways. The 140-voice chorus is a highly artistic, auditioned ensemble, made up of 16 professional core singers as well as music teachers, professors, therapists, instrumentalists, and other singers with non- music-related professions. Founded in 1874 the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia made its Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 1904 with a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth led by Music Director Fritz Scheel. A decade later the choir was part of the monumental “Symphony of a Thousand” at the Academy of Music, providing more than 300 singers when the Orchestra and Leopold Stokowski gave the U.S. premiere of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8. Other historical milestones include the 1929 American premiere of Musorgsky’s Boris Godunov in concert version and the first performance outside the Soviet Union of Shostakovich’s Symphony No.
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