23 Season 2017-2018 Friday, May 4, at 8:00 Saturday, May 5, at 8:00 The Philadelphia Orchestra Nicholas McGegan Conductor Peter Richard Conte Organ Respighi Ancient Airs and Dances for the Lute, Suite No. 1 I. Balletto detto Il Conte Orlando (Simone Molinaro) II. Gagliarda (Vincenzo Galilei) III. Villanella (Unknown) IV. Passo mezzo e mascherada (Unknown) Handel Organ Concerto in F major, Op. 4, No. 4 I. Allegro II. Andante III. Adagio IV. Allegro Locatelli Concerto grosso in F major, Op. 7, No. 4 I. Andante II. Largo III. Cantabile IV. Allegro molto First Philadelphia Orchestra performances Intermission 24 Rossini Overture to La Cenerentola Stravinsky Suite from Pulcinella I. Sinfonia (Overture) II. Serenata— IIIa. Scherzino— b. Allegro— c. Andantino IV. Tarantella— V. Toccata VI. Gavotta con due variazioni VII. Vivo VIIIa. Minuetto: Molto moderato— b. Finale: Allegro assai This program runs approximately 1 hour, 50 minutes. These concerts are part of the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ Experience, supported through a generous grant from the Wyncote Foundation. These concerts are sponsored by the Wyncote Foundation. The May 5 concert is also sponsored by Medcomp. Philadelphia Orchestra concerts are broadcast on WRTI 90.1 FM on Sunday afternoons at 1 PM, and are repeated on Monday evenings at 7 PM on WRTI HD 2. Visit www.wrti.org to listen live or for more details. 25 The Philadelphia Orchestra Jessica Griffin The Philadelphia Orchestra Philadelphia is home and impact through Research. is one of the preeminent the Orchestra continues The Orchestra’s award- orchestras in the world, to discover new and winning Collaborative renowned for its distinctive inventive ways to nurture Learning programs engage sound, desired for its its relationship with its over 50,000 students, keen ability to capture the loyal patrons at its home families, and community hearts and imaginations of in the Kimmel Center, members through programs audiences, and admired for and also with those who such as PlayINs, side-by- a legacy of imagination and enjoy the Orchestra’s area sides, PopUP concerts, innovation on and off the performances at the Mann free Neighborhood concert stage. The Orchestra Center, Penn’s Landing, Concerts, School Concerts, is inspiring the future and and other cultural, civic, and residency work in transforming its rich tradition and learning venues. The Philadelphia and abroad. of achievement, sustaining Orchestra maintains a strong Through concerts, tours, the highest level of artistic commitment to collaborations residencies, presentations, quality, but also challenging— with cultural and community and recordings, The and exceeding—that level, organizations on a regional Philadelphia Orchestra is and national level, all of which by creating powerful musical a global ambassador for create greater access and experiences for audiences at Philadelphia and for the engagement with classical home and around the world. US. Having been the first music as an art form. American orchestra to Music Director Yannick The Philadelphia Orchestra perform in China, in 1973 Nézet-Séguin’s connection serves as a catalyst for at the request of President to the Orchestra’s musicians cultural activity across Nixon, the ensemble today has been praised by Philadelphia’s many boasts new five-year both concertgoers and communities, building an partnerships with Beijing’s critics since his inaugural offstage presence as strong National Centre for the season in 2012. Under his as its onstage one. With Performing Arts and the leadership the Orchestra Nézet-Séguin, a dedicated Shanghai Media Group. In returned to recording, body of musicians, and one 2018 the Orchestra travels with three celebrated of the nation’s richest arts to Europe and Israel. The CDs on the prestigious ecosystems, the Orchestra Orchestra annually performs Deutsche Grammophon has launched its HEAR at Carnegie Hall while also label, continuing its history initiative, a portfolio of enjoying summer residencies of recording success. The integrated initiatives that in Saratoga Springs, NY, and Orchestra also reaches promotes Health, champions Vail, CO. For more information thousands of listeners on the music Education, eliminates on The Philadelphia radio with weekly broadcasts barriers to Accessing the Orchestra, please visit on WRTI-FM and SiriusXM. orchestra, and maximizes www.philorch.org. 26 Conductor Steve J. Sherman Conductor Nicholas McGegan is now in his fifth decade on the podium. The 2017-18 season marks his 32nd as music director of the San Francisco-based Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale, one of the world’s leading period-performance ensembles. He is also principal guest conductor of the Pasadena Symphony. Best known as a Baroque and Classical specialist, his approach has led to appearances with many of the world’s major orchestras. He made his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 2002. Also at home in opera houses, he has shone new light on nearly 20 Handel operas as artistic director and conductor at the Göttingen Handel Festival from 1991 to 2001, and the Mozart canon as principal guest conductor at Scottish Opera in the 1990s. He was also principal conductor of the Drottningholm Opera in Sweden. Mr. McGegan’s prolific discography includes more than 100 releases spanning five decades. Having recorded over 50 albums of works by Handel, he has explored the depths of the composer’s output with a dozen oratorios and close to 20 of his operas. Under its own label, Philharmonia Baroque Productions (PBP), Philharmonia Baroque has released almost a dozen acclaimed albums of Handel, Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Brahms, Haydn, Beethoven, and more. Since the 1980s Mr. McGegan has released more than 20 recordings with Hungary’s Capella Savaria on the Hungaroton label, the latest a 2-CD set of the complete Mozart violin concertos. Born in England, Mr. McGegan was educated at Cambridge and Oxford. He is an honorary professor at the Georg-August University in Göttingen and was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Music by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In 2010 he was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) “for services to music overseas.” In 2016 he was the Christoph Wolff Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Harvard. He is also a frequent visitor to Yale. Other awards include the Halle Handel Prize, Germany’s Order of Merit of the State of Lower Saxony, the Medal of Honor of the City of Göttingen, and a declaration of “Nicholas McGegan Day” by the mayor of San Francisco in recognition of his work with the Philharmonia Baroque. For more information visit www.nicholasmcgegan.com. 27 Soloist For nearly 30 years Peter Richard Conte has been Grand Court Organist of the Wanamaker Organ in Macy’s, Center City, where he presides over the world’s largest fully functional musical instrument and its 29,000 pipes. The organ is heard in recital twice daily, six days per week, with Mr. Conte playing a majority of those recitals. He was appointed Grand Court Organist in 1989 and is only the fourth person to hold that title since the organ was first played in 1911. He is also principal organist of Longwood Gardens. Since 1991 he has served as choirmaster and organist of Saint Clement’s Church in Philadelphia, where he directs a professional choir in an extensive music program firmly rooted in the Anglo-Catholic tradition. Mr. Conte is highly regarded as a skillful performer of the standard organ repertoire, arranger of orchestral and popular transcriptions, and silent film accompanist. He has been featured several times on NPR and on ABC television’s Good Morning America and World News Tonight. He has two radio shows: The Wanamaker Organ Hour airs on the first Sunday of each month at 5 PM and can be heard at WRTI.org, and on each Wednesday evening at 7 PM his Grand Court concert is streamed live on YesterdayUSA.com. He has appeared as a featured artist at numerous conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Organ Historical Society and performed with the Philly Pops as well as numerous orchestras around the country. He performs frequently with The Philadelphia Orchestra and in September 2008 was soloist for a historic collaboration of the Orchestra and the Wanamaker Organ, performing Jongen’s Symphonie concertante in the Wanamaker Grand Court. Mr. Conte has served as an adjunct assistant professor of organ at Rider University’s Westminster Choir College, where he taught organ improvisation. He is the 2008 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Indiana University School of Music. In 2013 the Philadelphia Music Alliance honored him with a bronze plaque on the Avenue of the Arts’s Walk of Fame. His numerous recordings appear on the Gothic, JAV, ProOrgano, Dorian, Raven, and DTR labels. His most recent CD, Virgil Fox Remembered, was released in 2016 by Raven. 28 Framing the Program The concert tonight explores music of past centuries Parallel Events together with later re-imaginings of that past, stretching 1735 Music from the Renaissance through the Baroque, to the Handel Rameau Classical era. Organ Concerto, Les Indes Op. 4, No. 4 galantes The great 20th-century Italian composer Ottorino Respighi Literature wrote many works that transformed the past, from the Prévost Gregorian chant of the Middle Ages to charming keyboard Le Doyen de music by Gioachino Rossini. He wrote three suites called Killerine Ancient Airs and Dances that drew upon 16th-century lute Art music, the first of which we hear tonight. Hogarth The Rake’s There follow two concertos from the 1730s. George Progress Frideric Handel invented the genre of the organ concerto History and composed the one we hear tonight to perform himself End of Turko- in connection with one of his oratorios. Although far less Persian War celebrated, the Italian composer Pietro Locatelli was a founding father of modern violin technique and his works 1817 Music proved to be very influential.