TABLE OF CONTENTS “A Hero’s Journey: Fun & Games .......................6 Beethoven & Prometheus, Grades 4-8 . 2 Fan Mail ...........................7 Civil Rights: Remembering Youth Orchestra ....................8 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Grades 6-12 . 3 Children’s Chorus ...................8 See the Sounds. 4 Youth Chorus. .8 Conductor of the Orchestra ............5 Family Concerts ....................8 2017-18 Season Guide for Young Concert-goers MUSIC DIRECTORS 100 Years of NIKOLAI SOKOLOFF 1918-33 The Cleveland Orchestra!! 2017-2018 marks the 100th season of The Cleveland and dismissal pro cess (where every bus and corresponding Orchestra! You may not realize that by coming to school group gets a number) was established in 2000 to a Cleveland Orchestra Education Concert you are man age traffic and insure students’ safety. There are many part of a great Cleveland tradition! Students have more cars on the road today than there ARTUR RODZINSKI were in the 1930’s! 1933-43 been attending Cleveland Orchestra concerts since 1918! Ms. Lillian Bald win, the Orchestra’s first Ed u ca tion Director, pioneered the In the be gin ning, The Cleve land Or ches tra performed format of ‘educational concerts’ we concerts in com mu ni ty cen ters and sev er al area schools, know today. She developed extensive including East Tech and West Tech High Schools in study ma te rials so students could be Cleveland, Shaw High School in East Cleveland, and knowl edge able about the music they Lakewood High School. By 1920 audienc es be came too would hear at the concerts. (Instead large to accommodate in school settings and teachers and of read ing The Score as you are now, students be gan to trav el to hear The Cleve land Orchestra, ERICH LEINSDORF students read Ms. Baldwin’s Little 1943-46 as they do now for Education Con certs. The first “Children’s Folks Program, pic tured right.) Ms. Concerts” were held at Masonic Auditorium (still stand ing at Baldwin also planned con cert programs for specific grade th East 40 and Chester Avenue in Cleveland) in 1921. And so levels, a con cept that is still pre served to day. Ms. Baldwin’s the fi eld trip tra di tion was born! “Cleveland Plan,”was emulated by orchestras and music In 1931 concerts moved to The Cleveland Orchestra’s educators na tion wide. Over the years, preparation new home, Severance Hall. Stu dents have ac tually seen materials evolved to in clude tapes, CDs, and Spotify three dif er ent Sev er ance Hall interiors over the years: the Playlists of concert music for classrooms, resources for original Sev er ance Hall, from 1931-1957; the wood-paneled teach ers, and a television program, “Get Ready for The Cleve land Orchestra,” produced and broad cast by lo cal GEORGE SZELL “Szell shell,” named for music director George Szell, from 1946-70 1958-1998; and the Sev er ance Hall you see to day, which PBS sta tion WVIZ-TV. was restored to its orig i nal splendor in 2000. The ar riv al Stu dents have had the opportunity to see many dif er- ent con duc tors lead Edu ca tion Concerts, in clud ing Ni kolai Sokolof (the first mu sic director of The Cleve land Or ches- tra), Ru dol ph Ring wall, Lou is Lane, Robert Shaw, James Le vine, Jah ja Ling, Alan Gilbert, Brett Mitchell, Franz Welser-Möst, among others. In the 2017-2018 season, Education Concerts will be con ducted by Cleveland PIERRE BOULEZ Orchestra Assistant Conductor Vinay Parameswaran (see Musical Advisor and Principal Guest Conductor 1970-72 biography on page 5). The mu si cians and staf at The Cleve land Or ches tra are so pleased that you and your class mates will soon become part of the great Ed u ca tion Con cert tra di tion. We look forward to see ing you soon! LORIN MAAZEL Students arriving for Education Concerts at Severance Hall in 2016. 1972-82 CHRISTOPH VON DOHNÁNYI Music Director Designate 1982-84 1984-02 Education Concert, March 1927. Children and buses in front of Cleveland’s Masonic FRANZ WELSER-MÖST Auditorium (site of The Cleveland Orchestra’s 2002-present early subscription and education concerts). Photo by: Mildred Ockert Waugh November 8-10, 2017 The Cleveland Orchestra Education Concerts for Grades 4-8 Vinay Parameswaran, conductor Severance Hall “Beethoven & Prometheus A Hero’s Journey” VINAY PARAMESWARAN Overture to Creatures of Prometheus Symphony No. 5, Movement 4, Allegro Symphony No. 1, Movement 2, Andante cantabile con moto Symphony No. 5, Movement 1, Allegro con brio Symphony No. 7, Movement 1, Poco sostenuto – vivace Symphony No. 1 in C major, Movement 2: This Cleveland Orchestra Education Concert, explores a unique Andante cantabile con moto intersection between mythology and music, examining the Beethoven composed his First Symphony at the dawn of a new connection between Prometheus, A Titan of Greek Mythology, century, 1799-1800. His orchestral legacy cast an imposing shadow and Beethoven, a titan of classical music. Bound in spirit by that composers had to deal with in various ways for the remainder their creativity, rebellious nature, and a deep love of humankind, of the century-and beyond. The second movement begins with the Beethoven and Prometheus both overcame great obstacles and second violins presenting a courtly theme that is taken up fugally by used their individual gifts to create a better world. This concert other instruments; this theme alternates with a more light-hearted will feature movements from some of Beethoven’s most important melody. symphonies accompanied by the creative output (visual art, dance, language arts and more) of students from the Cleveland School Symphony No. 5, Movement 1, Allegro con brio of the Arts (projected on a large screen behind the Orchestra) The beginning of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 may be the most who were deeply engaged with Orchestra musicians last spring famous orchestral music of all time. Beethoven once referred to the in an interdisciplinary “Prometheus Project” curriculum. first four notes – ta ta ta TUM – as Fate knocking at the door. Two main musical ideas are passed back and forth in this movement; a forceful, menacing theme (fate knocking at the door) and a calm, peaceful theme (usually played by the flute). Where have you heard Overture to Creatures of Prometheus this music before? What kinds of actions or images come to your Creatures of Prometheus marked Beethoven’s introduction to the mind when you hear this music? Viennese stage and is one of only two ballets that Beethoven wrote. It tells the story of Prometheus, a Greek Titan who stole fire from Symphony No. 7 in A major, Movement 1, Poco the gods for the benefit of humankind. How does the music reflect the story of Prometheus and his qualities: daring, rebellious, and sostenuto liberating? What do you imagine Prometheus is doing when the Symphony No. 7 is called by some Beethoven’s best symphony and music changes? When does he succeed in bringing fire to humans? his most cheerfully optimistic. The work as a whole is known for its use of rhythmic devices suggestive of a dance, such as dotted rhythm and repeated rhythmic figures. It begins with a long and profound Symphony No. 5, Movement 4, Allegro introduction, before kicking into kinetically energized music, which The Fifth Symphony of Beethoven is likely his most famous characterizes the entire work and has generated the many allusions composition, and contains one of the most familiar phrases in all of to dance that dominate commentaries on it. The introduction predicts classical music. Beethoven starts this movement with the dark and the harmonic journeys coming in the rest of the Symphony as the menacing tone heard at the beginning of the symphony, then ended main body of the movement foretells its rhythmic obsessions. Its it with an explosive and triumphant celebration. What do you think forceful energy led one critic to think that Beethoven wrote it while Beethoven wanted to share with the audience? What do you think he inebriated (drunk)! Another thought it was proof that Beethoven was wanted the audience to remember? “ripe for the madhouse.” 2 CIVIL RIGHTS: Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. VORTEX (FROM THE RIVER SUITE) February 6-9, 2018 Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (1899-1974) The Cleveland Orchestra African-American composer and bandleader Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was one of the most important Education Concerts for Grades 6-12 figures in the world of jazz. Composer of over 1,000 works, Vinay Parameswaran, conductor he revolutionized the concept of the jazz ensemble by introducing more instruments and expanding the size and Severance Hall scope of the “big band.” Ellington also composed symphonic music, including pieces like “The River” which brought the jazz and classical music genres closer together. Dupré Cortège The Suite from “The River” has seven sections and was originally written as Traditional There is a Balm in Gilead a ballet for the Alvin Ailey dance company. We will hear one section, Vortex, Beethoven Overture to Fidelío on this concert. Ellington combined elements from the European classical Ellington Vortex (from The River Suite) music tradition (form and orchestration) with elements associated with jazz (expanded chord structure, blues inflections, improvisatory-sounding “riffs”, Copland The Promise of Living swing rhythms, and call and response). Percussion and brass instruments are Mendelssohn Finale from Symphony No. 5 (“Reformation”) featured in the high energy, driving rhythms of Vortex. Traditional We Shall Overcome Dvořák Largo from Symphony No. 9, THE PROMISE OF LIVING (“From the New World”) Aaron Copland (1900-1990) Like the Overture to Fidelio, “The Promise of Living” is also Through music and dramatic vignettes, this concert traces the life journey music from an opera – The Tenderland.