7 9 Welcome Letter | 13 Patron Services | 14 About Allentown Symphony Orchestra & Chorus | 19 About the Music Director/Conductor | 22 About the Associate & Pops Conductor | 23 Audio and video recording and photography are prohibited in the theatre. Please turn off your cell phone, beeper, watch alarm or anything else that might make a distracting noise during the performance. Unwrap any candies, cough drops or mints before the program begins to avoid disturbing your fellow audience members or the musicians on stage. We appreciate your cooperation. ADVERTISING Onstage Publications 937-424-0529 | 866-503-1966 e-mail: [email protected] www.onstagepublications.com This program is published in association with Onstage Publications, 1612 Prosser Avenue, Kettering, OH 45409. This program may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. JBI Publishing is a division of Onstage Publications, Inc. Contents © 2019-20. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. 11 12 13 Tickets & Patron SERVICES www.MillerSymphonyHall.org Orchestra concert within the current season. Visit our website. It is a convenient way to find Exchanges are subject to availability. Please the latest information on all of Miller Symphony visit or call the box office at least two hours Hall’s events, and to purchase tickets online. prior to the start of an event to request an exchange. BOX OFFICE INFORMATION PHONE You can also give your tickets to a friend. We 610-432-6715 make it easy for you to pass your tickets to your friends. Just call 610-432-6715 at least two HOURS hours before concert time to have the tickets Mon – Fri: 10am – 5pm transferred to your friend’s name and held at Concert days: varied-please call for times will call. Summer Hours are Mon – Fri: 10am – 2pm You may donate your tickets, which qualifies LOCATION as a tax-deductible contribution to the Miller Symphony Hall Allentown Symphony Association. To donate 23 North Sixth Street tickets, please call 610-432-6715. You will Allentown, PA 18101 receive a receipt for tax purposes — and you will give other music lovers an opportunity to ACCEPTABLE PAYMENT hear the Allentown Symphony Orchestra and MasterCard, Visa, American Express, its stellar guest artists in live performances. Discover, Cash There are no refunds of purchased tickets GROUP RATES and subscriptions. Please note that seating Contact the Box Office at 610-432-6715 for choice is limited to availability at time group pricing (not available for all events). of exchange. To avoid lines, we ask that you pick up your tickets at least one hour before STUDENT TICKETS A limited number of free student tickets concert time. (ages 21 & under) are available to each of the PATRONS WITH DISABILITIES 2019 – 2020 Allentown Symphony Orchestra Miller Symphony Hall is accessible to all Concerts thanks to a grant from the Century physically disabled persons. For patrons Fund. Reduced student pricing is also available in wheelchairs, seating is available on the to other select performances with a valid orchestra level. Please call the box office student ID. Student tickets are only available for assistance. through the box office, in person or by calling 610-432-6715. CONCERT ETIQUETTE Our recommended minimum age to attend ASO TICKET EXCHANGE/REFUND Classical or Pops concerts is five years. Tickets are non-refundable. Ticket exchanges are available to our subscribers. Subscribers Please note that every person attending the who cannot use their tickets may exchange concert, regardless of age, must have a ticket them for another Allentown Symphony to enter the concert hall. 1414 Tickets & Patron SERVICES To foster the best experience for all patrons, a CAMERAS, CELL PHONES, AND quiet, focused environment respectful of others RECORDING EQUIPMENT needs to be maintained. The ASO reserves Photography and video or audio recording the right to remove any individuals who are inside Symphony Hall is prohibited without prior disrupting fellow patrons or the concert setting. written consent. Please remember to turn off all cellular devices and electronic pagers. Special RESTROOMS arrangements can be made with the House Restrooms are located on the orchestra level, Manager if you might need to be contacted as well as mezzanine and balcony levels. during the concert. For the safety and comfort Additional ladies’ restrooms are located at the of our patrons, management reserves the right side entrance ramp to the theatre. to open and inspect any bags or packages when entering or leaving this facility. BUILDING EMERGENCY In the event of a building emergency, an PARKING announcement from the stage will notify and Please allow plenty of extra time for traffic and instruct patrons. Should the building need to parking. There are several lots and parking be evacuated, please exit via the nearest door, garages within downtown Allentown. The or as instructed. closest parking available is the Transportation Deck located at 6th & Linden Streets. FIRST AID In case of an emergency, please contact the For your convenience, please visit the Allentown nearest usher. Symphony Hall is equipped Parking Authority website for other parking with an Automatic External Defibrillator in the options at http://allentownparking.com/ 1st floor Lobby. On-call physicians attending the Symphony are requested to please leave ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES their names and seat locations with the Located on the 2nd floor of Miller Symphony House Manager. Hall. Enter on north side ramp. Telephone: 610-432-7961. Fax: 610-432-6735. LATE SEATING If you arrive after the concert begins, you will be seated when appropriate breaks in the program allow. SMOKING Smoking, including e-cigarettes, is prohibited inside the building, as well as restrooms. We are a smoke-free environment. 1515 16 17 1818 19 20 21 DIANE WITTRY Music Director/Conductor Diane Wittry, named Diane Wittry has also championed the nationally as one of the commissioning of new works. A composer herself, “Top 30 Influencers” Diane’s compositions have been performed in music by Musical and recorded by orchestras in the United States America Worldwide for and Europe and are published by the Theodore her work leading Presser Company, and Subito Music. Her piece orchestras, is one of the “Mist,” premiered by the Allentown Symphony and foremost conductors in recorded by the Slovak State Orchestra, is available the United States today. for download on Spotify and Amazon. Frequently engaged as a guest conductor, she In addition to her work with the ASO, Diane Wittry has led symphonic is the Music Director and Conductor of the Garden performances in more State Philharmonic, NJ, and in the past has served than 11 countries and throughout the U.S. She as the Associate Conductor of the renowned Ojai has worked with conductors Michael Tilson Music Festival (CA); the Artistic Director of the Thomas, Pierre Boulez, Jorge Mester, and Daniel International Music Program with the Sarajevo Lewis, among others, and has been profiled in the Philharmonic, Bosnia; and Music Director and New York Times. Conductor of the Symphony of Southeast Texas, the Norwalk Symphony (CT), and the Ridgewood Under Diane Wittry’s artistic leadership, the Symphony (NJ). Allentown Symphony Orchestra has risen to increasing standards of excellence, performing Wittry is an award-winning author, composer, exciting music with passion and dedication, and teacher. Her two books, Beyond the Baton, winning the prestigious national “American and Baton Basics-Communicating Music through Prize” for artistic quality in both 2014 and 2017, Gestures, have become standards in the field. receiving national NEA Grants, commissioning new Conductors from all over the world have studied pieces of music, and featuring exception soloists with her through conducting seminars nationally like Midori, Emanuel Ax, Garrick Ohlsson, Angela and internationally, and she has given presentations Meade, and Branford Marsalis. at the Juilliard School of Music, the Curtis Institute, the Manhattan School of Music, and for the League During her tenure with the ASO, Diane has built of American Orchestras and the Conductors Guild a well-earned reputation for her innovative style National Conferences. of multi-media programming that uses other art forms to enhance the concert experience. Wittry has received the national Helen M. Thompson She has expanded the concert series and Award from the League of American Orchestras, developed outreach programs such as the the USC Thornton School of Music Outstanding Allentown Symphony Chorus, the Schadt National Alumnus Award, the Gold Crown Award (Pasadena, String Competition, Young Musician Strings CA), the Women of Excellence Award (Beaumont, Festival, the Fantasy Symphony for amateur TX), the Arts Ovation Award, and the Woman of musicians, the Conducting Fellows Program, Distinction Award (Allentown, PA). ASO Annual Youth and Family Concerts, yearly Composer Competitions, Meet the Artist brown bag talks, a Chamber Music Series, and on-going partnerships with arts organizations throughout the Lehigh Valley. 2222 RONALD DEMKEE Associate/Pops Conductor Ronald Demkee has In addition to conducting numerous high school played in the Allentown honor bands and orchestras in Pennsylvania and Symphony Orchestra New Jersey, Demkee has served as guest conductor since 1980 and has for the Army Band, the Army Field Band, the Military served as Associate Academy Band at West Point, the Navy Band, the Conductor since 1983, Coast Guard Band, the Marine Band of Washington, working with conductors the Air Force Heritage of America band from Langley, Donald Voorhees, William Virginia and the Air Force Band, Washington, DC. Smith and Diane Wittry. He has served as Assistant Conductor for Leonard Over the years he has B. Smith’s famous Detroit Concert Band where he conducted ASO Youth conducted the band for Smith’s cornet solos both and Family Concerts, in live performances at Detroit’s Ford Theater and Pops Concerts and Michigan State Fairgrounds as well as the highly Holiday Concerts as well as full performances of praised “Gems of the Concert Band” recordings.