N O Ë L A VIRTUAL Holiday Concert December 19, 2020 | 7:30 PM Happy Holidays from Oregon Mozart Players! It is an understatement to say that arts organizations around the world have been disproportionately impacted during these unprecedented times, but your contributions have made it possible for OMP to present our very first virtual chamber orchestra performance in HD audio and video! 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. We hope this festive program brings you joy this holiday season! 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 Julia Frantz Sponsored by James & Paula Salerno Nathan Lowman Sophie Therrell Sponsored by W. Mark & Anne Dean VIOLA Lauren Elledge Dana Rokosny CELLO Eric Alterman Noah Seitz Photo credit: Kelly Kuo (@kuowiththeflow) BASS Thank you to our additional musician sponsors: Nicholas Burton, Theodore W. & Laramie Palmer (Alice Blankenship, concertmaster) principal bass Nancy & Brian Davies (Della Davies, violin) Jeffrey Morey & Gail Harris (Claudia Miller, violin) HARPSICHORD/PIANO Larissa Ennis & Lindsay Braun (Dale Bradley, cello) John Jantzi, Peter & Josephine von Hippel (Jill Pauls, principal flute) principal keyboard Charles & Leslie Wright (Alexis Evers, flute) Sponsored by Linda Korth 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 Jessica Price Rubi Yan, OMP Intern Hatsue Sato Paul Shang Interested in board service? Email [email protected] for more information. Oregon Mozart Players | 317 Goodpasture Island Rd, Ste A, Eugene, OR 97401 | 541-345-6658 | 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. N O Ë L A VIRTUAL Holiday Concert Saturday, December 19, 2020 7:30 PM | Central Presbyterian Church Kelly Kuo, conductor Calm and Bright* Franz Xaver Gruber (1787-1863) arr. Katie O'Hara LaBrie Concerto Grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8, Arcangelo Corelli “Christmas Concerto” (1653-1713) I. Vivace, 34 – Grave. Arcate, sostenuto e come stà, 42 II. Allegro III. Adagio - Allegro - Adagio IV. Vivace V. Allegro VI. Largo. Pastorale ad libitum Serenade in G Major, K. 525, "Eine kleine Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Nachtmusik" (1756-1791) I. Allegro II. Romanze: Andante III. Menuetto: Allegretto IV. Rondo: Allegro Weihnachtsmusik* Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951) Fantasia on Christmas Carols* Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) arr. Todd Parrish Mozart in the Jingle Bells* James Lord Pierpont (1822-1893) arr. Stefanie Fife Program Notes NOËL - December 19, 2020 Gruber: Calm and Bright (1818/2020) Program Notes by Gavin Borchert he traditional legend about the beloved carol “Silent Night” seems to be true: On T Christmas Eve 1818, Joseph Mohr, a Catholic priest, asked Gruber, a schoolteacher and church musician in the (then and still today) tiny Austrian town of Arnsdorf, to set to music his six-stanza poem about the Nativity. Since the church organ was undergoing repair, Gruber wrote this simple tune with only a guitar accompaniment for that night’s candlelight Mass. This richly harmonized version of the carol is by LaBrie, orchestral director at Luther Jackson Middle School in Falls Church, VA. Correlli: Concerto Grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8, “Christmas Concerto” (publ. 1714) Program Notes by Gavin Borchert lmost all Corelli’s rather small output of music was published, or readied for publication, A during his lifetime, in six neat packages. The problems of discovering, editing, dating, and numbering manuscripts that make Baroque musicology so thrilling are thus reduced. Though the precise composition date for each piece within an opus number may never be known, the opuses themselves are easily enumerated: Op. 1 Twelve trio sonatas (publ. 1681) Op. 2 Twelve trio sonatas (1685) Op. 3 Twelve trio sonatas (1689) Op. 4 Twelve trio sonatas (1694) Op. 5 Twelve violin sonatas (1700) Op. 6 Twelve concerti grossi (1714) Though Corelli’s dedicatory preface for Op. 6 is dated Dec. 3, 1712, a year and a half passed between it and the appearance of the first edition in 1714, after Corelli’s death. The composer Georg Muffat visited Rome in 1682, and reported hearing some orchestral music by Corelli at that time, so some of the concerti grossi may be at least that old; perhaps a feeling that he was nearing the end of his life led Corelli to gather the fruits of more than 30 years of orchestral composition and finally present them to the public. A concerto grosso is a work that sets off a small group of soloists, almost always two violins and a cello, against a larger string orchestra, called the ripieno. Corelli suggests that these concerti could also be performed as chamber works by the three soloists alone. (Odd, to imagine a composer today writing a concerto in which the orchestra was optional!) At the other size extreme, it is known that Corelli conducted an orchestra of 150 strings at a Papal festival in 1687; a Christmas Mass, for which this G minor concerto was written, was also the sort of special event for which such a large ensemble might have been amassed. In their orchestral music for Christmas services, Italian baroque composers liked to imitate the bagpipes played by shepherds at the Nativity through the use of drone basses and gentle tempos.