EPISODE ONE OUR LOVE FOR PITTSBURGH A MESSAGE FROM OUR PRESIDENT & CEO Welcome to the first episode of Front Row: The PSO Virtual Experience, the 2020 fall digital season of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. While it is not how we imagined marking the beginning of our 125th season, the curtain—though virtual—will still rise and will salute our love for Pittsburgh. The city has supported this orchestra since a time when few cities had one, and the orchestra has been a source of joy and civic pride for generations that have followed—and, with you, will continue to be one for generations to come. We all desperately miss being together in Heinz Hall with the orchestra and you. Current health guidelines and government restrictions mean that we can’t have the full orchestra on stage together with a live audience. But we have prevailed. Since August, the musicians and staff have come together with Flying Scooter Productions, a Pittsburgh-based creative agency and film studio, and worked relentlessly and imaginatively to create this series of newly-invented digital programs. You will be taken on a journey with breathtaking music that embraces the community with love, and, with special friends and partners. I am grateful to everyone at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for their dedication and optimism. While he could not be here in person because of the pandemic, we are so fortunate to have our Music Director Manfred Honeck provide artistic advice for several episodes. We are also thrilled to welcome Byron Stripling, our new Principal Pops Conductor, whom you’ll see in future episodes. Front Row would simply not be possible without our sponsors, donors and audience members like you. Thank you so much for your continued support of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra—please enjoy Front Row: The PSO Virtual Experience! With warmest best wishes, Melia Tourangeau President and CEO, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra 2 FRONT ROW THE PSO VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE A MESSAGE FROM OUR MUSIC DIRECTOR For the last 12 years, the fall season found me in Pittsburgh together with you and the great musicians of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, making music that spans the centuries, from Brahms to Bates, and collaborating with some of the world’s most renowned performers. While the global pandemic has made it impossible to be together at Heinz Hall at this time, what remains unchanged is that music is essential to our lives, and that we must continue to create and share it to lift our souls and to bring us together as a community. In many ways, I feel that this is more important than ever before. That very essence, together with the need to be creative with assembling our musicians in various combinations, was a driving force in the selection of music for this first episode, which features music that reflects our love for Pittsburgh. We begin with the stirring opening movement of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, a piece written just a decade before the founding of the Pittsburgh Symphony, and reflective of the generous spirit of Pittsburgh and its people. We are so glad to have the exceptional violinist Alexi Kenney with us as Guest Concertmaster and Leader. The episode continues with works from composers as varied as Jessie Montgomery, a leading contemporary composer and violinist whose work we will perform for the very first time, Ennio Morricone, the great film composer, and Billy Strayhorn, the quintessential jazz composer whose musical career began in Pittsburgh. It is a glorious musical exploration of Pittsburgh’s beautiful geographic setting and the multi-cultural people that comprise our city — the innovators, the immigrants, and the trailblazers, all deeply reflective of the heart and soul of Pittsburgh. I am so proud of this great orchestra — and the bold and brilliant playing that comes to life with each performance. I invite you to continue to be a part of the excitement and adventure, and look forward to sharing the journey with you. That very essence, together with the need to be creative with assembling our musicians in various combinations, was a driving force in the selection of music for this first episode, which features music that reflects our love for Pittsburgh. I must acknowledge the creative vision of Mary Persin, the orchestra’s VP for Artistic Planning, for imagining this fantastic program. With my best wishes, Manfred Honeck Music Director, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra 3 FRONT ROW THE PSO VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE THE CURTAIN RISES What are the first sounds to be heard after a nearly seventh month pause, one of the longest in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s nearly 125 year storied history? What is the message to share as the curtain rises to open our fall digital series: Front Row: The PSO Virtual Experience, the stage now set in a very different world than when we were last together in Heinz Hall in March 2020? These questions were front of mind when imagining and designing this First Episode in our Digital Series: Our Love for Pittsburgh And it is in exactly that spirit, with deep love, generosity and the desire to give and reconnect with our beloved community that our musicians took the stage and this episode came to life. The appassionato, stirring sounds of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings came to me immediately for the opening sounds: those generous, heart-on-sleeve notes that yearn and strive, played here magnificently by our PSO string section, and serving as the perfect frame for this program. As Tchaikovsky himself wrote, “This piece is from the heart,” and so begins our love letter to Pittsburgh. The restrictions of the pandemic (requiring social distancing on stage, and one player on a stand) lent itself to the exploration of new and different corners of the repertoire and a pair of Pittsburgh firsts: the PSO premiere of Geminiani’s “La Follia” Variations scored brilliantly by the exceptional violinist and composer Michi Wiancko, and Jessie Montgomery’s radiant Starburst. We’re excited to present Jessie Montgomery for the very first time and her kinetic work shines brightly and is perfectly reflective of this starburst moment in time for Pittsburgh as we continue to leap forward with invention and progress across the city. Our traversal of the city that we love continues with a tip of the hat to the founder of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Carnegie, with a traditional Scottish melody, “Woofin’ the Cat,” played here brilliantly by our Principal Flute Lorna McGhee together with Principal Harp Gretchen van Hoesen. The celebration of the stunning natural beauty of our city and the kaleidoscopic array of multi-cultural people and ethnic diversity that has defined Pittsburgh is showcased in a dynamic series of mini-portraits: Holst’s St. Paul Suite Jig (Mt. Washington), Ravel’s Kaddish (Squirrel Hill), Chopin’s Mazurka (Polish Hill), Morricone’s “Gabriel’s Oboe” featuring Principal Oboe Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida (Bloomfield) and Billy Strayhorn’s Take The A Train, reflective of the rich jazz history of the Hill District. The people of Pittsburgh and the city’s spiritual and deep soul is brought to life with the stunning slow movement of Elgar’s Serenade for Strings, juxtaposed here with Pittsburgh-born composer Henry Mancini’s beloved and nostalgic “Moon River.” The vitality and virtuosity of the Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings final movement brings this episode to a rousing close with the return of the opening theme wrapping the program in a generous embrace. As the great American composer Aaron Copland once said, “A great symphony is a man-made Mississippi down which we irresistibly flow from the instant of our leave-taking to a long forseen destination.” We thank you for joining us and look forward to sharing the journey with you. With my best wishes, Mary Persin Vice President of Artistic Planning 4 FRONT ROW THE PSO VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE Yeokyung Kim HARP TRUMPET j Claudia Mahave Gretchen Micah Wilkinson j MARTHA BROOKS ROBINSON CHAIR ALICEYeokyung VICTORIA GELORMINO Kim CHAIR VanHARP Hoesen TRUMPET VIRGINIA CAMPBELL CHAIR h Cecee Pantikian CharlesMicah Wilkinson Lirette j Claudia Mahave Gretchen EDWARD D. LOUGHNEY CHAIR FLUTE j MARTHA BROOKS ROBINSON CHAIR JeremíasALICE VICTORIA GELORMINO CHAIR Van Hoesen VIRGINIA CAMPBELL CHAIR j Neal Berntsen Sergiani-VelázquezCecee Pantikian Lorna McGhee Charles Lirette h JACKMAN PFOUTS CHAIR Albert Tan FLUTE ChadEDWARD D. WinklerLOUGHNEY CHAIR Jeremías Jennifer Steele SUSAN S. GREER MEMORIAL CHAIR Lorna McGhee j Neal Berntsen Sergiani-Velázquez HILDA M. WILLIS FOUNDATION CHAIR VIOLA JACKMAN PFOUTS CHAIR Chad Winkler Albert Tan TROMBONE MUSIC DIRECTOR ShantaniqueJennifer Steele Moore SUSAN S. GREER MEMORIAL CHAIR Tatjana Mead EQT OTPAAM FELLOW HILDA M. WILLIS FOUNDATION CHAIR Peter Sullivan j Manfred Honeck ChamisVIOLA Q TOMTROMBONE & JAMEE TODD CHAIR ENDOWEDMUSIC BY THEDIRECTOR VIRA I. HEINZ ENDOWMENT JON & CAROL WALTON CHAIR Shantanique Moore Tatjana Mead PICCOLOEQT OTPAAM FELLOW h Joen Vasquez E RebeccaPeter Sullivan Cherian j Manfred Honeck Chamis Q j Rhian Kenny JamesTOM & JAMEE Nova TODD CHAIR RESIDENTENDOWED BY THE VIRACONDUCTOR I. HEINZ ENDOWMENT JON & CAROL WALTON CHAIR FRANK & LOTI GAFFNEY CHAIR Marylène PICCOLO ANN MCGUINN CHAIR h Andrés Franco Gingras-RoyJoen Vasquez L E Rebecca Cherian Rhian Kenny j RESIDENT CONDUCTOR OBOEFRANK & LOTI GAFFNEY CHAIR James Nova PennyMarylène BASSANN MCGUINN TROMBONE CHAIR ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR Anderson BrillL p Andrés Franco Gingras-Roy Cynthia Koledo j MICHAEL & CAROL BLEIER CHAIR j Jeffrey Dee Earl Lee DeAlmeidaOBOE WILLIAM & JACQUELINE HERBEIN CHAIR FORDPenny MUSICIAN AWARDEE DR. WILLIAM LARIMER MELLON JR. CHAIR BASS TROMBONE ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR Anderson Brill p Cynthia Koledo Laura Fuller Max Blair d Jeffrey Dee j FIRST VIOLIN MICHAEL & CAROL BLEIER CHAIR DeAlmeida j TUBA Earl Lee FORD MUSICIAN AWARDEE p WILLIAM & JACQUELINE HERBEIN CHAIR Meredith Kufchak DR. WILLIAM LARIMER MELLON JR.