CZECH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 100 Years of Leonard Bernstein SYMPHONY SCHOLARS KEYNOTES WELCOME! 2 State Theatre New Jersey is delighted to welcome our Symphony Scholars to the performance of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. The young musicians in this exciting program have been preparing for the big event by studying and listening to the music, exploring the composer, the performers, and the works on the program, and learning about what to expect at a live symphony concert. These Keynotes provide helpful information and some fun details to make the concert a memorable experience—one that we hope will be the start of a lifelong love of classical music. CONTENTS photo: Jason Paddock Welcome! ...................................................................................2 About the Orchestra ..............................................................3 Meet the Artists .......................................................................4 Meet Lenny! ...............................................................................5 The Program Page ...................................................................6 Notes on the Program ....................................................7-11 Keynotes © 2019 State Theatre New Jersey Online at www.STNJ.org/Keynotes Going to the Concert ..........................................................12 Find us at www.STNJ.org Contact: [email protected] State Theatre New Jersey—creating extraordinary experiences through the power of live performance. EDUCATION & OUTREACH SUPPORTERS State Theatre New Jersey’s Education & Community Engagement programs are funded in part by Andersen Corporate Foundation, The Thomas & Agnes Carvel Foundation, Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, Colgate- Palmolive, The DiLeo Family Foundation, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, Investors Bank, Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies, The Karma Foundation, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, The George Grant funding has been provided Link Jr. Charitable Trust, McCrane Foundation, MDRT Foundation, MetLife Foundation, NJM Insurance Group, by the Middlesex County Board Plymouth Rock Assurance, PNC Foundation, The Provident Bank Foundation, PSEG Foundation, RBC Wealth of Chosen Freeholders through a Management, The Rea Charitable Trust, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Arnold A. Schwartz Foundation, grant award from the Middlesex The Wawa Foundation, Wells Fargo, and others. Additional in-kind support is provided by Cream-O-Land Dairy and La Bonbonniere Bake Shoppe. Their support is gratefully acknowledged. County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund. Support for Classical Education and Outreach is provided in part by The Blanche & Irving Laurie Foundation and The Harold I. and Faye B. Liss Foundation. Made possible by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. OFFICIAL HOTEL OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OFFICIAL AIRLINE ABOUT THE ORCHESTRA 3 CZECH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ČESKÝ NÁRODNÍ SYMFONICKÝ ORCHESTR The Czech National Symphony Orchestra was established in 1993 in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. Since 2007, Libor Pešek has served as Chief Conductor. The orchestra is known for the wide range of music it performs—everything from classical to contemporary music, as well as fi lm scores, jazz, HOW TO SAY IT: pop music, and musical theater. In 2003, at a CZECH - “check” Symphonic Game Music concert in Germany, the Czech National Symphony became the fi rst orchestra outside of Japan to give a live concert of music written for video games. They have made many recordings, including the soundtrack to the fi lm, The Hateful Eight, directed by Quentin Tarantino. The Czech National Symphony Orchestra makes its home in Smetana Hall in Prague’s Municipal House. They have performed around the world, in countries including Great Britain, the U.S., Canada, France, Spain, Dubai, Japan, Mexico, China, Korea, Oman, Australia, and New Zealand. Smetana Hall, home of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra THE CZECH REPUBLIC • The Czech Republic is a country in Central Europe. Sharing Sweden borders with Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and Poland, it is Latvia almost entirely surrounded by mountains. Denmark Lithuania • Beginning in 1918, it was part of a country called Czechoslovakia. On January 1, 1993, Czechoslovakia was peacefully divided into the independent countries of the Belarus Czech Republic and Slovakia. Netherlands Poland • The country has a population of over 10.5 million. Germany Belgium • The offi cial language is Czech. Prague • The Czech Republic became a full member of the European CCZZECH REP. Ukraine Slovakia Union (EU) in 2004. Austria France • Famous for its beauty and its history, the Czech Republic’s Hungary Switzerland capital, Prague, is one of the most visited cities in Europe. Slovenia Romania Croatia • Prague castle is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as Italy Bos. & the largest ancient castle in the world by area. Herz. Serbia • Famous Czechs include scientist Gregor Mendel, composers Bedřich Smetana and Antonín Dvořák, • Traditional Czech foods include knedíky (dumplings), guláš painter Alphonse Mucha, author Franz Kafka, and tennis (a spicy stew made with beef or pork), smažák (breaded champions Martina Navratilova and Ivan Lendl. fried cheese), and koláče (a sweet fruit-fi lled pastry). • Beer has been brewed in the Czech Republic since the year • The Czechs are big sports fans. The most popular sports 1118. The Czech people drink the most beer per person in are soccer and ice hockey. the world! MEET THE ARTISTS 4 JOHN ISABEL MAUCERI, LEONARD, CONDUCTOR MEZZO-SOPRANO John Mauceri (pronounced mao-CHAIR-ee), a native of Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard MEZZO-SOPRANO New York City, has conducted some of the world’s greatest was born in New York City. Her (MET-zo so-PRAN-o) - The opera companies and symphony orchestras, on Broadway, mother is Argentinian, and so second-highest woman’s voice, slightly lower than and in Hollywood. He is also a respected writer, producer, Isabel grew up in a bilingual a soprano. arranger, and music educator. He has served as music household. As a child, she sang director at opera companies in the U.S. and Europe, and as with the Manhattan School of Music children’s chorus, and chancellor of the University of North Carolina School of the from age fi ve studied dance at the Joffrey Ballet School. She Arts. earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music at New York’s famous Juilliard School. John Mauceri started piano lessons at an early Leonard made her professional opera debut in 2007. Since age with his Sicilian- then, she has sung at opera houses around the world, born grandfather. He including the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, went on to study music Paris Opera, San Francisco Opera, Salzburg Festival, and theory and composition Lyric Opera of Chicago. at Yale University, Isabel Leonard has performed in the world premieres of and later became two operas based on movies: Cold Mountain and Marnie. music director of their John Mauceri with Leonard She has made two children’s recordings: The Polar Express & symphony orchestra. In Bernstein Dr. Seuss’s Gertrude McFuzz and Dr. Noize: Phinease McBoof 1971, he was invited to Crashes the Symphony. She has won two Grammy Awards for study conducting at the famous Tanglewood Music Center Best Opera Recording. in western Massachusetts, where he fi rst met Leonard Bernstein. For 18 years, he worked closely with Bernstein ISABEL SAYS... and conducted the premiere performances of many of the • She can’t live without chocolate. composer’s works. • She loves jazz. Her all-time favorite singer is Ella He is well known for performing and preserving important Fitzgerald. musical works that have been neglected, forgotten, • Being Latina has helped her when it comes to being an unknown, or underappreciated—not only classical music, opera singer, because many operas are sung in Italian but especially Broadway musicals and Hollywood fi lm and French—languages that are similar to Spanish. music, including the music of Leonard Bernstein. He has made over 70 recordings, including two different recordings Watch Isabel Leonard talk of Bernstein’s Candide. In 2017 he published a book called about opera with Murray Maestros and Their Music: The Art and Alchemy of Conducting. Monster and Ovejita from Mauceri has received many awards and honors, including a Sesame Street! Tony, Grammy, Billboard, Olivier, and two Emmys. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xrab76v5zU MEET LENNY! 5 Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music. — Leonard Bernstein LEONARD BERNSTEIN was a man of many talents: conductor, composer, pianist, educator, lecturer, and political activist. He was enormously successful in all of these areas, winning dozens of awards, including two Tony Awards, seven Emmy Awards, 16 Grammy Awards, and the Kennedy Center Honors. Bernstein was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1918, the son of HOW DO YOU SAY HIS NAME? Russian Jewish immigrants. His father, Sam, often took him to orchestra concerts. At one of these concerts, Leonard heard a piano performance Growing up, Lenny pronounced his last that was so incredible that it made him want to become a pianist. But his name bern-STEEN. Later on in his career, he father didn’t want him to become a musician. changed the pronunciation to bern-STINE. Whenever people said it the other way he Fortunately, this didn’t stop Leonard from pursuing his dream. After would correct them and say, “You wouldn’t