September & October 2023 Fanfare Magazine

All recitals at 3 PM at Memorial Hall, 1225 Elm Street OTR, except where noted

Sara Daneshpour PIANO

Sunday September 17, 2023

Julian Schwarz CELLO

Marika Bournaki PIANO

Sunday October 29, 2023

Jasmine Choi FLUTE

ChangYong Shin PIANO

Sunday November 19, 2023

NEW VENUE: Westwood First Presbyterian Church

• Winner of a number of major international competitions

• 1st Prize, Gold Medal 2007 Internat’l Russian Music Piano Comp; 1st Prize, Gold Medal, & Audience Award 2007 San Jose Internat’l Piano Comp; 3rd Prize 2017 Arthur Rubinstein Intern’l Piano Comp

• This fall joins the faculty of UC’S CCM

• His powerful tone, effortless virtuosity and extraordinarily large color palette are hallmarks of his style

• Since being awarded 1st Prize at the inaugural Schoenfield International String Competition in 2013, has led an active career as soloist, performing internationally

• One of the most celebrated flutists of our time, known for her virtuosity and refined interpretation

• A former Principal Flute of the Vienna Symphony and Associate Principal of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Tickets: MemorialHallOTR.org or 513-977-8838 MatineeMusicaleCincinnati.org

Feature: Stephen Schwartz + JMR: Opening Doors 19 Spotlight: The Nina Simone Piano Competition

21 Spotlight: CSO and EarShot Collaborate to Nurture

season is Louis Langrée’s last as CSO Music Director, and he’ll open the season in much the same way he did in 2013, with performances of Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, this time with narrator George Takei. In Part I of a series about Langrée’s tenure, “The History of the Future” (pp. 13–15), you’ll learn about his selection process and his early days with the Orchestra.

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26 Artistic Leadership: Louis Langrée, John Morris Russell, Matthias Pintscher, Damon Gupton, Samuel Lee and Daniel Wiley

29 Guest Artist Biographies

43 Concerts and CSO Program Notes:

Sep. 9–10: Pops The Princess Bride Film in Concert |

Sep. 16–17: Pops Heroes: A Video Game Symphony | Sep. 22–24: Pops Defying Gravity: An Evening with Stephen Schwartz and Friends | Sep. 30–Oct. 1: CSO The Rite of Spring | Oct. 4: CSO EarShot | Oct. 6: CSO Nina Simone Piano Competition | Oct. 8: Pops Audra McDonald | Oct. 13–14: CSO Bernstein, Price & Copland |

Oct. 13: Winstead Chamber Series | Oct. 18: Beethoven & Tchaikovsky | Oct. 20–22: Pops Disney in Concert: The Sound of Magic | Oct. 27–28: CSO Ring Without

Words | Oct. 28: Lollipops Halloween Spooktacular 87

Cincinnati Pops conductor John Morris Russell first heard the music of Stephen Schwartz at a production of Godspell he attended in his youth, an experience that opened musical doors for him. In a full circle moment, JMR leads the Pops and pianist/host Stephen Schwartz in “An Evening with Stephen Schwartz and Friends.” Read more on pp. 16–18.

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ON THE COVER: CSO Music Director Louis Langrée.

Credit: Chris Lee

All contents © 2023–24. Contents cannot be reproduced in any manner, whole or in part, without written permission from the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops.

Two extraordinary partnerships in the life of the Orchestra come to the Music Hall stage in October: the Nina Simone Piano Competition Concerto Finals, which shines the spotlight on three gifted African American pianists who are vying for the competition’s grand prize, and the EarShot readings, where the CSO will give the first performances of works by four emerging composers. Read more on pp. 19–22.

STRONGER ARTS FOR A STRONGER REGION

The growth of Cincinnati and its arts is inseparable. Creating a thriving region starts with each of us giving what we can to the arts. Help set the stage for the future of the region we all love.

Give today at artswave.org.

CINCINNATI SYMPHONY

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Randolph L. Wadsworth, Jr.*

*Director Emeritus

 BOARD OF DIRECTORS DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION (DE&I) COMMITTEE and COMMUNITY ADVISORY COUNCIL

In May 2020 the realities of systemic inequity, injustice and racism in America were once again laid bare by the murder of George Floyd. That summer, the CSO created a 10-point DEI Action Plan to prioritize the Orchestra’s work to better represent and serve the entirety of the Cincinnati community. Action items included the continued amplification of BIPOC artists on stage and in education programs; a review of hiring and compensation practices; organization-wide implicit bias training; increased mentorship opportunities; and the creation of a standing CSO Community Advisory Council (CAC) to strengthen ties to the community. We thank our many partners on the CAC and on our standing DE&I committee who are helping us with this important work.

CSO Board of Directors

DE&I Committee

Charla B. Weiss, Lead

Heather Apple

Ralph Brown

Adrian Cunningham

Maria Espinola

Delores Hargrove-Young

Lisa Kelly

David Kirk*

Gerron McKnight

Lisa Lennon Norman

Jack Rouse

Lisa Sampson

Stephanie Smith

*Community Volunteer

Primary Sta Liaison: Harold Brown

Other Sta Members: Ti any Cooper, Kyle Wynk-Sivashankar

Christopher Miller, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

Joele Newman, Peaslee Neighborhood Center

Candra Reeves, Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio

Leslie Rich, Ioby

John P. Scott, Community Engagement Partners

Billy Thomas, Cincy Nice

Sta : Ti any Cooper, Harold Brown

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Andria Carter

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Carlos Garcia Leon

You are welcome to take this copy of Fanfare Magazine home with you as a souvenir of your concert experience. Alternatively, please share it with a friend or leave it with an usher for recycling. Thank you!

Community Advisory Council

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Jaime Sharp

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Alford West

Sta : Ti any Cooper, Harold Brown

Welcome to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s 2023–24 season and welcome to Fanfare Magazine

Welcome to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s 2023–24 season and welcome to Fanfare Magazine

Within these pages, you will find content to help shape your understanding of the music you will experience, stories of the people who work on and off the stage, and information about organization-wide initiatives and developments.

Within these pages, you will find content to help shape your understanding of the music you will experience, stories of the people who work on and off the stage, and information about organization-wide initiatives and developments.

You are welcome to take this copy of Fanfare Magazine home with you as a souvenir of your concert experience. Alternatively, please share it with a friend or leave it with an usher for recycling. Thank you!

You are welcome to take this copy of Fanfare Magazine home with you as a souvenir of your concert experience. Alternatively, please share it with a friend or leave it with an usher for recycling. Thank you!

Please enjoy these stories that have been curated for you in Fanfare Magazine , but also know that the experience is not limited to a print publication available only at concerts. Last season, as part of the CSO’s ongoing commitment to digital storytelling and innovation, we launched a new online platform for our program book content, which contains all the information found in the printed Fanfare Magazine , plus a host of complementary digital-only content, such as videos, links to additional material and articles, up-to-the-minute information, and so much more. The digital program is concert specific and is available for viewing several weeks in advance of a concert. So, you can explore the digital program before coming down to Music Hall. To explore our digital program, we invite you to visit cincinnatisymphony.org/digital-program or text the word PROGRAM to 513.845.3024.*

Please enjoy these stories that have been curated for you in Fanfare Magazine , but also know that the experience is not limited to a print publication available only at concerts. Last season, as part of the CSO’s ongoing commitment to digital storytelling and innovation, we launched a new online platform for our program book content, which contains all the information found in the printed Fanfare Magazine , plus a host of complementary digital-only content, such as videos, links to additional material and articles, up-to-the-minute information, and so much more. The digital program is concert specific and is available for viewing several weeks in advance of a concert. So, you can explore the digital program before coming down to Music Hall. To explore our digital program, we invite you to visit cincinnatisymphony.org/digital-program or text the word PROGRAM to 513.845.3024.*

In addition, you can always explore Fanfare Magazine any time via our website at cincinnatisymphony.org/fanfare-magazine. There you’ll find the editorial content in a digital layout, a flipbook of each full issue, as well as our digital-only stories, which are released during the summer months on social media. We encourage you to follow us on social media to be among the first to read our new releases and like, comment and share with your friends!

In addition, you can always explore Fanfare Magazine any time via our website at cincinnatisymphony.org/fanfare-magazine. There you’ll find the editorial content in a digital layout, a flipbook of each full issue, as well as our digital-only stories, which are released during the summer months on social media. We encourage you to follow us on social media to be among the first to read our new releases and like, comment and share with your friends!

And finally, we hope you find inspiration within these pages and within the music—past, present and future—that reverberates at Music Hall and in the community. It is our honor and privilege to share these stories with you. Thank you for being with us this season!

And finally, we hope you find inspiration within these pages and within the music—past, present and future—that reverberates at Music Hall and in the community. It is our honor and privilege to share these stories with you. Thank you for being with us this season!

*By texting to this number, you may receive messages that pertain to the organization and its performances; msg & data rates may apply. Reply HELP to help, STOP to cancel.

COMING UP AT MUSIC HALL

NOV 2023

TETZLAFF & TCHAIKOVSKY’S FIFTH

NOV 10 & 11 FRI 11 AM; SAT 7:30 PM

Gustavo Gimeno conductor

Christian Tetzlaff violin

Daníel BJARNASON I Want To Be Alive, Part I: Echo/Narcissus (CSO Co-Commission)

SZYMANOWSKI Violin Concerto No. 1

TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5

THOMAS’ HAMLET

NOV 17 & 19 FRI 7:30 PM; SUN 2 PM

Louis Langrée conductor; Jodie Devos Ophélie; Stéphane Degout Hamlet; Béatrice Uria-Monzon Gertrude; Laurent Alvaro Claudius; May Festival Chorus

THOMAS Hamlet

Presented in collaboration with Opéra Comique

SIBELIUS SYMPHONY NO. 5

NOV 25 & 26 SAT 7:30 PM; SUN 2 PM

Dalia Stasevska conductor

Davóne Tines baritone

DVOŘÁK Largo from Symphony No. 9, From the New World

Kaija SAARIAHO True Fire

WALKER Lyric for Strings

SIBELIUS Symphony No. 5

CSO Proof

EL NIÑO: NATIVITY RECONSIDERED

NOV 30 THU 8 PM

Christian Reif conductor; Julia Bullock soprano; Jasmin White mezzo-soprano; Anthony Roth Costanzo countertenor; Davóne Tines baritone

John ADAMS El Niño

CSO Proof is generously made possible by Presenting Sponsors Irwin and Melinda Simon

DEC 2023

MAHLER’S FIFTH

DEC 1 & 2 FRI 11 AM; SAT 7:30 PM

Case Scaglione conductor; Randolph Bowman flute; Henrik Heide flute; Stefani Matsuo violin

BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 4

MAHLER Symphony No. 5

HOLIDAY POPS

DEC 8-10 FRI 11 AM & 7:30 PM; SAT 2 PM & 7:30 PM, SUN 2 PM & 7 PM

John Morris Russell conductor

Capathia Jenkins vocalist

Concert Sponsor: Graeter’s Ice Cream

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Film in Concert

DEC 29 & 30 FRI & SAT 7:30 PM

Anthony Parnther conductor

NEW YEAR’S EVE: ELLINGTON AT 125

DEC 31 SUN 8 PM

John Morris Russell conductor

Denzal Sinclaire vocalist

Presenting Sponsor: Dr. John and Louise Mulford Fund for the CSO

MUSIC TO MOVE YOU

FOR A FULL LIST OF UPCOMING EVENTS AND ADDITIONAL INFO VISIT CINCINNATISYMPHONY.ORG

Louis Langrée Music Director • John Morris Russell Cincinnati Pops Conductor MUSIC HALL 1241 Elm Street Cincinnati OH 45202

WE BELIEVE MUSIC LIVES WITHIN US ALL

regardless of who we are or where we come from. We believe that music is a pathway to igniting our passions, discovering what moves us, deepening our curiosity and connecting us to our world and to each other.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops Orchestra’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion is catalyzed by systemic injustice and inequality perpetuated by individuals and institutions. Our mission is to seek and share inspiration, and at its essence, the CSO exists to serve our community. Our entire community. Reflecting our community and the world around at every level—on stage, behind-thescenes, and in neighborhoods throughout the region—is essential to the CSO’s present and future and makes us a strong ensemble and institution.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops acknowledges that Cincinnati Music Hall occupies land that has been the traditional land of the Hopewell, Adena, Myaamia (Miami), Shawandasse Tula (Shawanwaki/Shawnee), and Wahzhazhe Manzhan (Osage) peoples, who have continuously lived upon this land since time immemorial. We acknowledge that this land was unceded and stolen via methods of genocide and ethnic cleansing by colonizers.

We honor past, present and future Indigenous peoples.

Dear Friends of Music, Welcome to our 2023–24 season and Louis Langrée’s final season as Music Director of our Orchestra. Although we mark the beginning of each subscription season in the fall, our Orchestra maintains a busy schedule all year long and continues to perform throughout the summer.

This summer was no exception. We partnered with Seven Hills Neighborhood Houses, Cincinnati Recreation Commission, Evanston and East Walnut Hills community councils, Learning Through Art/Jazz Alive, ROMAC, Cincinnati Parks, Price Hill Will, and many others to host five Brady Block Parties at locations throughout Greater Cincinnati, including our first Pride concert in June to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community— the Orchestra’s first performance at the ICON Festival Stage at Smale Park. We celebrated Independence Day with John Morris Russell, the Cincinnati Pops, and talented special guests at Riverbend Music Center with Red, White and BOOM!, a beloved Cincinnati tradition that always culminates with a spectacular fireworks display by Rozzi’s. We performed for Cincinnati Opera’s subscription season, including productions of Lucia di Lammermoor, The Knock, The Barber of Seville and Madame Butterfly We reached thousands of people through performances and community engagement, and we are grateful and energized by the reception we receive in each community.

Our gratitude extends into the start of the CSO and Pops subscription season in September. We open our season with the Cincinnati Pops performing the score to the complete screening of The Princess Bride; a Heroes Symphony featuring music and sync-clips to some of the most famous video games of all time; a dazzling tribute to the music of Stephen Schwartz, with Schwartz at the piano; the return of Broadway star Audra McDonald; and Disney in Concert: The Sound of Magic in celebration of 100 years of The Walt Disney Company.

In September, the CSO performs for a special filming and live recording of Justin Morell’s jazz trumpet concerto All Without Words, a tribute to the composer’s non-verbal autistic son. The event will be a large-scale, world premiere production that embraces music, staging, light, color and multiple artistic disciplines. It is a unique concert experience that we will present for free to the Cincinnati community.

We also mark the beginning of Louis Langrée’s final season as Music Director of our Orchestra. In true Louis fashion, his programs beautifully honor the beginning of his time with us in Cincinnati while looking fervently to the future. In October, our Orchestra led by Louis will perform alongside the finalists of the Nina Simone Piano Competition, emerging star pianists who will undoubtedly shape the future of our industry. Through the American Composers Orchestra’s EarShot program, four composers will be mentored by Louis and have their works performed by the CSO in a public performance. In the same month, we invite George Takei to join Louis and the Orchestra for Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, inspired by Louis’ first CSO subscription concert of his tenure in 2013, which featured revered author and poet Dr. Maya Angelou and was subsequently recorded for Hallowed Ground, Louis’ first full commercial recording with the Orchestra. And it’s only the beginning.

Our 2023–24 season is full of moments to cherish with friends and loved ones, and we encourage you to be a part of the energy that is unique to our Orchestra by attending one or more of our performances this season, donating, volunteering, and amplifying your experiences with us through your favorite social networks.

We are grateful to you for your excitement for what we do. Thank you for joining us this season.



 

We reached thousands of people through performances and community engagement, and we are grateful and energized by the reception we receive in each community.

Rephrasing the Familiar

This fall, Christian Reif and James Ga gan explore two juggernauts of the repertoire, with a twist

When El Niño rolls through CIncinnati [CSO Proof Nov. 30], Reif will be making his fourth appearance with the orchestra in half as many years.… So, what was intended as an introduction will actually be a reunion—and a very happy one, says Reif.

If you’ve heard John Adams’ El Niño, last heard in Cincinnati at the 2022 May Festival, you know it’s a work that resists easy summary. The emotional heft of Adams’ multilingual opera-oratorio on the Nativity story is matched by its musical forces, meaning they’re massive: soprano, mezzo-soprano, baritone and a trio of countertenors; a full orchestra with guitars and a sampling keyboard; and both an adult chorus and a children’s chorus.

Those specs alone put El Niño well out of reach for most small, and small-budget, ensembles. Conductor Christian Reif and soprano Julia Bullock want to change that. With Adams’ blessing, the husband and wife team created El Niño: Nativity Reconsidered, an hour-long chamber version of Adams’ original, coming to the CSO Proof Series on November 30.

Reif and Bullock first encountered El Niño at The Juilliard School, where they met. The two listened to it together for the first time and were floored.

“We were sitting there [in my apartment] in tears. Since then, we’ve been in love with the piece,” Reif says.

When El Niño rolls through Cincinnati, Reif will be making his fourth appearance with the orchestra in half as many years. But it wasn’t planned that way. Because symphony seasons are plotted out years in advance, Reif’s CSO concerts on September 30 and October 1 were intended to be

his orchestra debut. He accidentally ticked that box back in February 2022, subbing last-minute in a program anchored by John Adams’ teeming, 35-minute City Noir. He stepped in again in April 2023 to lead Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 and Rachmanino ’s Piano Concerto No. 1, with pianist Stephen Hough.

So, what was intended as an introduction will actually be a reunion—and a very happy one, says Reif.

Rite since his student days at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. Even so, every performance turns up new surprises and nuances.

“It’s a piece that just keeps on giving. Suddenly, you’re like, ‘Oh, that little piccolo entrance there…’ or, ‘Okay, how do I balance the oboe with the trumpet while everyone else is also playing?’ It’s been a real joy to do that.”

Sep. 30–Oct. 1, Reif and the CSO “will tackle a work that thrills even the hardiest symphony veteran: Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.”

Reif’s program also features excerpts from Falla’s La vida breve and Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with violinist Clara-Jumi Kang.

“It’s a dream, making music with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra,” Reif says. “Both times, we were able to tell a story with the pieces we played. I’ve been lucky to have wonderful experiences everywhere, but I would say it’s been one of the highlights both times. They’re so open, enthusiastic and willing to try out things.”

For the September 30/October 1 program, Reif and the CSO will tackle a work that thrills even the hardiest symphony veteran: Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. The ballet, whose 1913 premiere was divisive enough to incite a small riot, has given us one of the most famous concert pieces of all time and become “almost a [box o ce] draw,” to Reif’s amusement. Like so many classically trained musicians, Reif has studied The

Reif’s very terpsichorean program also features excerpts from Falla’s opera La vida breve, which jounces with Spanish dance rhythms, and Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2, a work Reif has been digging into in recent months.

“The throughline of it all is their groundedness, the feeling of being rooted in the earth,” Reif says.

The Prokofi ev will spotlight German violinist Clara-Jumi Kang in a rare stateside appearance. A “dear friend” of Reif’s, Kang lives close to Reif and Bullock in Munich—in fact, in the same building as Reif’s brother, the concertmaster of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and his wife, piano soloist Alice Sara Ott (who will perform with the CSO in May 2024).

With a family of musicians, it goes without saying that Lukas, Reif and Bullock’s infant son, will grow up around plenty of music. The couple took time o after Lukas’ birth last fall and found that parenthood changed their approach to, well, everything. Even their El Niño is sounding in new ears.

“We conceptualized it many years ago, when we did not know that we would be parents. But performing it as a parent…. Yeah, that definitely changed it,” Reif says. “This text, and this music, hits di erently on a deep emotional level.”

really, in size and strength. The possibilities are endless in cities like that,” Ga gan says.

Much like Reif’s twist on El Niño, Ga gan’s CSO appearance turns a hulking titan of the canon on its head: an orchestra-only medley from Wagner’s Ring cycle, arranged by the late conductor Lorin Maazel. Maazel no doubt faced an even more daunting assignment than Reif and Bullock when he abbreviated the four-opera cycle— between 15 to 17 hours of music—into an unbroken 75-minute-long compilation. Other conductors have taken a stab at the concept of a concert Ring, like Otto Klemperer and Leopold Stokowski, but Maazel’s version manages to sound most seamless.

“Maazel cleverly, sometimes even with one bar, transitions from one thing to another in a very gentle way. I think even Wagner would have approved,” Ga gan says.

After a pandemic cancelation, in 2025

Ga gan will finally conduct his first opera in the cycle, Die Walküre, at a to-be-announced major company. In the concert version, however, he’s struck by the evocativeness of the Ring’s leitmotifs, or the musical themes that recur throughout the work like signposts.

“Wagner wasn’t someone I’d like to have dinner with. However, you can’t mistake his genius in crafting a piece of music drama—I mean, he was basically doing movies before there were movies,” Ga gan says. “He plants seeds in your brain, little musical germs, and then he brings them back so you’re comfortable. Because that’s what life is, isn’t it? You go away from home, and then you return nostalgically to things that you’ve loved.”

Connecting with Fanfare from Valencia, where he’s music director of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, James Ga gan is also juggling parenthood with podium appointments. He speaks a notch or two softer than usual so as not to disturb his son sleeping nearby, but his excitement over his return to Cincinnati on October 27 and 28 registers loud and clear.

“I think that there are few magical cities in the United States…and Cincinnati is a perfect example of that. It’s the definition of an American city,

Maybe you’ve been curious about the Ring cycle but cowed by its titanic length. Or maybe, in Ga gan’s words, you’re “intimidated by hearing people scream in German, which I don’t blame [you] for.” The Ring Without Words is a rare opportunity to dip into Wagner’s soundworld without taking a full plunge.

Ga gan adds, “For the public and for the musicians, it’s a real event. If you’ve never heard a Wagner opera, this is the perfect way to whet your appetite for that.” 

Cincinnati is...the definition of an American city...the possibilities are endless.

The History of the Future

Celebrating “the history of the future,” as Langrée calls it, has long been the core of the CSO’s identity, with Lincoln Portrait being a prime example. …Langrée’s first time conducting the work was on the Music Hall stage.

Louis Langrée opens his final season as Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra much as he did his first: with a performance of Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, flanked by pieces showcasing the CSO at its best. Back then, it was Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s On a Wire; this time around, it’s two Bernstein favorites and a rare performance of Florence Price’s Symphony No. 1.

Celebrating “the history of the future,” as Langrée calls it, has long been the core of the CSO’s identity, with Lincoln Portrait being a prime example. Although he later led the piece with the CSO in London, San Sebastian, Edinburgh and Paris (with its narration translated into French), Langrée’s first time conducting the work was on the Music Hall stage. At that performance, the narrator was the celebrated poet Dr. Maya Angelou; this time, Langrée will be working with the legendary actor and activist George Takei, “whose battles for justice and humanity set an example for us all,” Langrée notes.

For Langrée, though, the real star remains the Orchestra itself. “It was thrilling to conduct that piece where it first appeared, with the successors of the musicians who premiered it,” he says.

Like many fruitful relationships, though, this one took time to grow. From the moment previous CSO Music Director Paavo Järvi had announced his departure, Langrée’s name surfaced as a potential successor. But he had not yet conducted the Orchestra, nor was Langrée, happily leading Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Orchestra, particularly looking for a job.

Within a year, however, Langrée made his first appearance with the CSO leading Brahms’ First Symphony in a performance both conductor and musicians still vividly recall. “There was great clarity, an almost vertical conception of the sound,” Langrée says. “But none of that vertical precision sacrificed the horizontal shape or phrasing. At our very first rehearsal, I felt we were speaking the same musical language.”

Patrick “Pat” Schleker, the CSO timpanist during that performance, gives Langrée much of the credit. “Underneath these long solos, the timpani and the violas have maybe six notes to every one of theirs, so we need to pace ourselves,” he says. “Louis conducted the soloists with his right hand and pointed at me or the strings with his left, which made us all listen to each other.”

“There was something about his generosity and respect for the Orchestra that was immediately clear,” says former CSO Concertmaster Tim Lees.

“Whether or not he was on our initial list, he rose pretty quickly after that.”

“We started with at least 75 names,” says Ann Santen, who led the search committee to find Järvi’s successor. “It wasn’t so much choosing as eliminating. Some conductors were interested, but had a family in Europe. Others the Orchestra loved were absolutely hopeless in the administrative side of the job. So as other people dropped o , Louis kept looking stronger and stronger.”

As the dating continued, both sides did due diligence. Search committee members shadowed Langrée at The Metropolitan Opera and the St. Louis and Detroit symphonies, speaking with musicians he’d conducted. Langrée, for his part, turned up in Cincinnati unannounced to get his own feel for the city and the Orchestra. Langrée remained among the final candidates when thenCSO president Trey Devey formally o ered him the position backstage after a performance at Paris’ Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.

“Generally, people choose conductors either because they’re young and promising, or old and experienced,” says Langrée. “Sometimes a conductor has a record label, or other advantages. The only thing we had to talk about was what kind of things we wanted to do together.”

For the Orchestra, the change on the podium was immediately palpable. “Paavo was a very demanding technician, with a vivid idea of what he wanted,” says Lees, whose 20 years as CSO concertmaster overlapped both conductors. “He’d almost micromanage the way every ‘t’ got crossed and every ‘i’ dotted. Then Louis came in and started talking about things like sound and color, and let individual players take charge. By then, the Orchestra was so secure technically that we were yearning for that kind of inspiration.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t know what I want,” says Langrée, explaining his approach, “but I feel the need to include the musicians. For me, the more you know a piece, the more open you can be to what others have to o er. Everyone talks about what the conductor wants, less so about what the musicians want. Music directors come and go, but the musicians are the true owners of an orchestra’s tradition.”

Once past the initial honeymoon, the relationship experienced a few early hiccups. “Orchestras don’t usually like to hear conductors talk,” Santen says of those early rehearsals, “and Louis was also very self-conscious about his accent. I’d tell him, ‘Louis, don’t worry. We’re paying you extra for that.’”

“Early on, he’d rely on those of us in front to translate or help him find the right word,” Lees recalls. “He always knew what he was trying to say, and he’d get about 80 percent of it in English. Over time, he grew more comfortable with the language, and we just became used to this being part of his process.”

Santen also recalls Langrée’s early reticence, trying to maintain professional distance by referring to musicians by their instrument. “I said, ‘Louis, those people have names,’” she says. “But the thing was, he knew absolutely everyone there already.” Langrée takes it a step further: “Whenever I study a new piece for another orchestra, I look at the score and hear the CSO musicians.”

Soon, the Orchestra also became aware that “the Mostly Mozart guy” had many interests outside the standard repertory, which smoothly merged into the CSO’s musical byroads. “I’d conducted new pieces before, of course,” Langrée says. “But the dedication to new music in Cincinnati—not just with musicians but with

audiences—was a true inspiration.”

So, too, did Langrée’s early decision to move his family to Cincinnati reveal a strong commitment to the city. For Santen, the mutual embrace

between conductor and community became clear about a year later when he conducted the Orchestra at Walnut Hills High School, where both of his children were playing in the violin section. “For me,” Langrée says, “I really felt I was part of the community when people stopped saying, ‘Welcome to Cincinnati!’”

“Never once, in dealing with the community, did I see him put on the ‘maestro’ shirt,” Santen claims. Schleker likewise noted Langrée’s nature on the podium. “Louis is the most humble music director I’ve ever known,” he says. “Often, when audiences are clapping at the end of a piece, he’ll hold up the score as if to say, this is the real genius you’re applauding.”

Now, after 10 years, with orchestra and leader in their prime comfort zone, the relationship draws to a close. “A musician once told me that the ideal music director is the exact opposite of the one you have—and there’s a certain truth in that,” Langrée says. “One of the CSO’s greatest attributes was that every music director was di erent from his predecessors. Once musicians completely ingest one conductor’s musical values, they need someone who will infuse them with something completely di erent.

“Basically, when you stop in a rehearsal and the musicians already know what you’re going to say, it’s time to leave,” he maintains. “The CSO now needs someone with a new flavor, a new style. And because they’re strong and healthy, they’ll

absorb that, too, without losing their balance.” 

Stephen Schwartz + JMR: Opening Doors

It seems unthinkable, but the first time Pops conductor John Morris Russell encountered composer Stephen Schwartz, he had no idea who Schwartz was. We can probably forgive JMR, though. It was January of 1973 and he was just 12 years old.

A national tour of Schwartz’s first big musical, Godspell, was performing at Cleveland’s Hanna Theatre, just 20 minutes from JMR’s childhood home in Shaker Heights.

Today, we know of Schwartz as one of the most notable—and successful—composer-lyricists in musical theater history, the creative genius behind Wicked and Pippin, as well as a string of movies that includes Enchanted, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Prince of Egypt

But back in 1973, JMR had no idea of what he was in for.

“It was a Saturday matinee says JMR, “and we all piled into the Plymouth Satellite to go downtown.”

This was completely new territory for Russell—his very first live professional theater performance.

“I had no idea what this whole thing was about,” recalls Russell. “I had never even heard of Godspell. But I had a funny feeling it was going to be about Jesus.”

“The show [Godspell] opened up this huge door that I never knew existed. …it was one of those big moments for me.”

—John Morris Russell

Well, he was right about that much. Godspell, which began as a student project at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University, is structured as a series of parables primarily based on the Gospel of Matthew. It was unlike any other show running at the time. There were no big tap numbers or extravagant sets. Instead, the music was decidedly contemporary, with melodies that could have been lifted from Top 40 radio. And the costumes were purposefully raggedy, leaving the actors looking like recent graduates from Clown College.

Godspell had just 10 characters. And although the storyline inevitably ends with the betrayal and crucifixion of the Christ character, it is a supremely joyful show, reveling in the jubilance of its stories.

“I was just weeping at the end,” says Russell. “The show opened up this huge door that I never knew existed. In terms of emotional content, it was one of those big moments for me. It took these dusty old stories from thousands of years ago and made them into NOW. It was a real awakening for young me.”

Russell stops talking for a moment. The silence stretches on. Clearly, he is moved by the memory of that first Godspell. Finally, he is composed again and continues.

“You can probably tell that I’m getting all choked up about this,” he says. “But the thing is, now I’m coming full circle, getting to meet THE guy—Stephen Schwartz. I’m both thrilled and humbled.”

Schwartz will join Russell and the Cincinnati Pops September 22–24, for a trio of Music Hall concerts opening the 2023–24 season.

Schwartz is not usually known as a performer. He’s supposed to be the guy behind the piano, nudging singers along as they wow audiences with the songs he has written for the stage, for films and choruses—even one opera. Early in his career, he even wrote most of the lyrics for Leonard Bernstein’s MASS. His creative output has been enormous. And enormously successful.

Consider the awards he has collected on his way to becoming one of his generation’s most-lauded composer-lyricists: three Academy Awards, four Grammys and four Drama Desk Awards. He’s a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame, as well as the Songwriters Hall of fame.

And he’s not done.

“I’m working on two new projects right now,” he says. “Both of them have been announced, so I suppose I can say something about them. The first is a musical based on a 2012 documentary called

The Queen of Versailles. We’ve done a couple of workshops already.”

Kristin Chenoweth, who starred as Glinda in the original production of Wicked, is slated to star in the title role.

“The other one is about the painter Pablo Picasso and the creation of the painting Guernica,” he adds. Actor Antonio Banderas is scheduled to star as Picasso.

But those are for the future. At the time we’re speaking by phone, he is sitting in a production trailer in the middle of a huge field on the outskirts of Ivinghoe, UK, a village of 965 people 33 miles northwest of London.

He’s there to help with the filming of Wicked, which stars Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Je Goldblum and Michelle Yeoh.

“We already filmed a lot of it on soundstages closer to London,” explained Schwartz. “But the sets they built here were simply too big for the soundstages. They are immense.”

He peers out a window and starts to describe the sets for Munchkinland and the Emerald City. But trying to capture it all in just a few words proves too much for him. “It is just kind of overwhelming,” he laughs. “I was unprepared for the meticulousness of detail on the part of the

art department. Even the labels on bottles that you will never see are filled with incredible detail. They’re decorated with Ozian things and expressed in Ozian language. I’m pretty flabbergasted. It’s mindboggling.”

With some luck, though, Wicked filming will be complete by the time he joins with Maestro Russell and the Pops in September.

Schwartz used to do appearances like the one in Cincinnati more frequently. But as he’s become busier (and older—he’s 75 now), these evenings have become much more rare. “I haven’t done one for quite a while,” he says. “And that’s too bad because I really enjoy them.

Theater is a living, breathing organism. Every time you perform in front of an audience it’s a di erent experience. As a performer, I think it’s a much more profound experience than performing on film. And I think it is for the audience, too. So when Scott Coulter (singer and University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music grad) came to me several months ago and said we have this opportunity in Cincinnati, it sounded like something really enjoyable to do. And so, here we are.”

One of Schwartz’s Godspell songs—“Beautiful City”—unexpectedly became something of an inspirational and optimistic anthem for people in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. He had rewritten the lyrics in the 1990s, but he had no idea that the song would become such a comfort to people at a time of national grieving.

Here are a few of those “Beautiful City” lyrics:

Out оf thе ruins аnd rubblе,

Out оf thе smоkе,

Out оf оur night оf strugglе

Cаn wе sее а rаy оf hоpе?

Onе pаlе thin rаy

Rеасhing fоr thе dаy…

Wе саn build

A bеаutiful сity, Yеs, wе саn (Yes, we can).

Wе саn build

A bеаutiful сity.

Nоt а сity оf аngеls, But wе саn build а сity оf mаn.

“Interestingly, I had rewritten the song after the Los Angeles riots in 1992,” says Schwartz. “I wrote them to be performed as a benefit to raise money to rebuild South Central L.A. It became a very di erent song then. When 9/11 happened and New York was trying to recover from that, people started singing it and…it was an organic thing. I certainly didn’t push it. People just found it. And it gave them solace.”

A few last words from Maestro Russell.

“American musical theater has produced many fine composers and lyricists. But in Stephen Schwartz’s case, it goes beyond the music and the tunes. His songs have so much thoughtfulness and nuanced storytelling. The genius of Godspell is its timelessness.”

“For me, that first time seeing Godspell was lifechanging. Like all of his shows, he takes some very uncomfortable truths about the human condition and helps us all to come to grips with them.”

Listen to Schwartz discussing and performing two versions of “Beautiful City” by searching “Stephen Schwartz—Stephen Schwartz performs ‘Beautiful City’: Evolution of a Song” on YouTube.

As JMR told us when this 2023–24 Pops season was announced, “I guarantee you that this will be one of those performances you’ll tell your children and grandchildren about. This sort of concert is what Cincinnati’s Music Hall has always been about. Look at the people who have performed here— Richard Strauss and Rachmanino , Miles Davis and Ella Fitzgerald, Janis Joplin, Johnny Cash. It’s part of the legacy of our hall—it’s a place where the greatest performers and composers share their music with us.” 

PIANO C OMPETITION

FO R

AFRICAN AMERICAN PIANISTS

The Heart of the Piano: The Nina Simone Piano Competition Concerto Finals

On October 6, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and partner organization The Art of the Piano will present a concert featuring the three finalists of the inaugural Nina Simone Piano Competition. At the conclusion of the evening, prizes and medals will be awarded, with the Gold Medalist and Grand Prize Winner receiving $50,000 and performance opportunities.

Acclaimed pianist Awadagin Pratt—who himself won the Naumburg International Piano Competition at a young age, launching his formidable career—helms The Art of the Piano as well as this new piano competition, which shines the spotlight exclusively on African American pianists. In creating the competition, Pratt was inspired by the inroads laid by the Sphinx Organization, which has been creating opportunities for and fostering the careers of up-and-coming Black and Latine string musicians in classical music since 1997. (The Nina Simone Piano Competition is also supported by a grant from Sphinx.)

“I just felt like somebody needs to have a place to showcase these African American pianists, and to showcase the fact that a lot of them are versatile,” says Pratt. “The competition has allowed the pianists to demonstrate skills in improvisation and arranging that are not generally showcased at all in competitions.”

Pratt has known CSO President and CEO Jonathan Martin since the 1990s, when the two crossed paths at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Says Martin, “I came to know [Pratt’s] energy, his artistry, and his view on the world, and we shared a lot of the things in common about the need to create change in our field.” Martin says it felt like a natural step for the CSO to collaborate with Pratt on the competition, adding that Music Director Louis Langrée also saw the competition’s vision from the beginning. “It just came together very naturally,” he says.

“It’s incredible to have the Cincinnati Symphony as a partner,” adds Pratt, suggesting that the collaboration “elevates the stage that these young people are going to have the opportunity to perform on.”

CSO audiences can expect pyrotechnics at the Finals concert, as the three finalists each perform a piano concerto chosen to showcase their talents—an unconventional but thrilling format for a classical concert. Clayton Stephenson, who has already made a name for himself as a finalist (and the first Black finalist at that) at the esteemed Van Cliburn

International Piano Competition, performs Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1; Joshua Mhoon has chosen Rachmanino ’s Piano Concerto No. 2; and Kayden Kelly will perform Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1. “We’re lucky we didn’t end up with two of the same [concerto], which could have happened,” Pratt points out (it has occurred at other competitions). Instead, the audience on October 6 will be treated to three beloved jewels of Romantic piano repertoire, performed by some of today’s brightest rising stars.

“All three are very di erent in how they address the audience, and very professional, but they just have their own ways of being,” Pratt says of his finalists. He calls Kayden Kelly a “wild card”—while Kelly’s other two competitors came from the Artist Division for entrants ages 18 and up, Kelly was selected from the Senior Division for ages 14–18. Pratt was impressed by Kelly from his first video audition. “He played strongly from the beginning of the competition but really came into his own as the rounds progressed, in terms of how he was projecting himself on stage,” Pratt reports.

And competitors Clayton Stephenson and Joshua Mhoon? They are “the full deal,” according to Pratt. “They have the technical firepower, and their musical artistic profiles and sensibilities are pretty well defined: how they think about things, how they feel things, how they communicate. And it’s great that they’re just so completely di erent, right? So it’s just exciting.”

All three [finalists] are very different in how they address the audience, and very professional, but they just have their own ways of being.

Nina Simone would likely be proud of the competition bearing her name, even if she were frustrated by the societal circumstances that, decades after her passing, still called for this type of ground to be broken for African American musicians. “The power of seeing someone like you [on stage] is an old story,” says Pratt. “While these young people have seen me, they’ve seen André Watts, there hasn’t been su cient volume. Then they’re in school and it’s just one or two of them and they can’t feel comfortable talking about their experiences. And they have experienced racism.”

When Pratt was settling on a name for the nascent competition, he happened across an article about singer, songwriter and pianist Nina Simone. “She was training to be the first Black concert pianist, and that dream just didn’t happen,” Pratt recalls. “That got my attention.” Pratt knew that Simone’s name recognition would bolster the competition, but to him the name signaled more. “Everybody knows Nina Simone, and she was also politically active. So you have this great artist with political experience speaking her mind, and for change.” That aligned with Pratt’s goals for the competition, and Simone’s estate agreed.

The Nina Simone Piano Competition Concerto Finals is more than a showcase for excellent music, it is a unique opportunity for talented but historically marginalized musicians to access a powerful platform for performance, a community of peers, a network of mentorship, and much more.

“Where do we need to light the fuses in our work as an orchestra to become more relevant?” asks Martin. “And not just relevant nationally, but more importantly, relevant in the community?

I think every arts organization, certainly every classical arts organization, ought to be asking themselves that question.”

Awadagin Pratt and the CSO are asking the question, and, on October 6, audiences can hear part of the answer for themselves. 

Expanding the Canon: CSO and EarShot Collaborate

to Nurture

Today’s Composers

One challenge that contemporary orchestral composers face is the near-impossibility of fully workshopping their music before its first performance. Many composers lean on popular tools such as the music notation software Sibelius to synthesize the music they are writing, but most do not have the opportunity to hear their music performed by a full symphony orchestra until the dress rehearsal, at which point there is only time for minor tweaks and revisions.

Enter EarShot, a 25-year-old program of the American Composers Orchestra (ACO), which bills itself as “the first ongoing, systematic program for developing relationships between composers and orchestras on a national level.” ACO Director of Artist Equity Loki Karuna describes the EarShot Readings program as creating a “front door” for composers to engage with orchestras. “Getting this opportunity to really interface with orchestras, to hear their music realized live and in the moment, and also to practice engaging with conductors and musicians for feedback about what does work, what doesn’t work—it’s really a unique aspect of the EarShot Readings,” he says.

On October 4, the CSO will collaborate with EarShot on a public performance of four brand new pieces of music by emerging and early-career composers, selected from roughly 400 entries. “There is no fee to apply, and there’s also no age limit, which is something that we’re very proud of,” says Karuna, explaining that the chief criterion is that selected composers cannot have had more than two previous works performed by professional orchestras. “We’re identifying a lot of really talented composers who just haven’t been given the chance,” he says. ACO narrows the pool to 25–40 finalists, and the partner orchestra—in this case the CSO—participates in selecting the final four.

Karuna is thrilled about October’s composers and their music. Audiences will hear Leyou Wang’s Impressions from Tianqiao, inspired by sounds and aesthetics from his native China; Martin Hebel’s Radiant Pillars, which plays at the intersection of music and astronomy; Giuseppe Gallo-Balma’s Los Huesos de Yayael, which is rooted in Dominican and Haitian folklore and includes traditional voodoo drumming; and Joseph Sowa’s Summer Has Ten Thousand Stars, inspired by what Karuna calls “two skyward-viewing poems.” He adds, “We are extremely excited not only about the diversity of who we

Read more about the composers and their pieces on pp. 53–55.

platform, but also the diversity of thought and approach when it comes to what audiences will ultimately hear from the stage.”

“This, I hope, is a marker that we, as an institution, take our role in the field seriously,” says CSO President and CEO Jonathan Martin about this partnership. “The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has had a long history of nurturing, primarily through commissioning, young composers or composers whose voices have not readily had a place.” He continues, “It’s our obligation to do so, but it also creates exciting programs.”

Martin says he was attracted to EarShot’s work as a result of the “incredible energy” of the President & CEO of American Composers Orchestra, Melissa Ngan. “She and I quickly found that we shared a lot in common,” he says. “We’re both interested in creating change within orchestras and in the industry of classical music.”

Ngan agrees, calling Martin an optimist like herself. “From my perspective, we [ACO] are here to take care of the next 50 years of American orchestral music, and to make sure that it is vibrant and beautiful,” she says. Ngan believes not only in creating career opportunities for composers, but also giving them a healthy platform through which to create their most

authentic work. To do so, she wants not only to invite new composers into the space but also question what happens once they get there, to examine whether the processes are serving both the composers and the orchestras at large. “A lot of what we think about is the continuum of care that has to exist from a composer’s first intersection with an orchestra to when they actually gain momentum in their career,” she explains, pointing out that other programs within EarShot provide support and guidance around public speaking, program design, publishing contracts and beyond. “We want to make sure that composers have everything they need to be great partners to orchestras, and vice versa, because it really is an ecosystem. It’s both ways.”

Programs like EarShot benefit composers tremendously. Martin, who also studied composition in college, notes that composers often lack opportunities to hear their music in real time, receive feedback from conductors and section principals, and make adjustments to their work as a result. “It enriches the whole writing experience,” he confirms. “I wish there had been something like that in my school. It’s a laboratory, and there was probably some version of this a

hundred years ago, but I’d like to see more of this happening in our field.”

Martin believes that the CSO is an ideal orchestra to take on a collaboration such as EarShot, pointing out that the CSO musicians—many of whom are also teachers—fully understand and embrace the importance of this developmental work and create a friendly, supportive environment for the visiting composers. “[EarShot] creates better composers, and I think it creates better orchestras,” he says. “And it creates better [musical] works, because the goal of this is to expand the canon, to expand the palette.”

The CSO’s EarShot Readings take place October 3–4 and culminate with a public concert on October 4 at Music Hall, led by CSO Associate Conductor Samuel Lee and CSO Assistant Conductor Daniel Wiley. According to Karuna, audience members can expect both EarShot sta and the composers themselves to speak from the stage about the music being presented. This EarShot collaboration is an unmissable experience that boldly challenges industry norms by putting the compositional process front and center while providing a showcase for the upcoming voices of the symphonic artform. 

LOUIS LANGRÉE, Music Director

Louise Dieterle Nippert & Louis Nippert Chair

JOHN MORRIS RUSSELL, Cincinnati Pops Conductor

Louise Dieterle Nippert & Louis Nippert Chair

Matthias Pintscher, CSO Creative Partner

Damon Gupton, Pops Principal Guest Conductor

Samuel Lee, Associate Conductor

Ashley and Barbara Ford Chair

Daniel Wiley, Assistant Conductor

Ashley and Barbara Ford Chair

FIRST VIOLINS

Stefani Matsuo

Concertmaster

Anna Sinton Taft Chair

Felicity James

Associate Concertmaster

Tom & Dee Stegman Chair

Philip Marten

First Assistant Concertmaster

James M. Ewell Chair++

Eric Bates

Second Assistant Concertmaster

Serge Shababian Chair

Kathryn Woolley

Nicholas Tsimaras–

Peter G. Courlas Chair++

Anna Reider

Dianne & J. David Rosenberg Chair

Mauricio Aguiar§

Anne G. & Robert W. Dorsey Chair

Minyoung Baik

James Braid

Marc Bohlke Chair given by Katrin & Manfred Bohlke

Rebecca Kruger Fryxell

Cli ord J. Goosmann & Andrea M. Wilson Chair

Gerald Itzko

Jean Ten Have Chair

Charles Morey†

Luo-Jia Wu

[OPEN]

Jo Ann & Paul Ward Chair

SECOND VIOLINS

Gabriel Pegis

Principal

Al Levinson Chair

Yang Liu*

Harold B. & Betty Justice Chair

Scott Mozlin**

Henry Meyer Chair

Kun Dong

Cheryl Benedict

Evin Blomberg§

Rachel Charbel

Ida Ringling North Chair

Chika Kinderman

Hyesun Park

Paul Patterson

Charles Gausmann Chair++

Stacey Woolley

Brenda & Ralph Taylor Chair++

VIOLAS

Christian Colberg

Principal

Louise D. & Louis Nippert Chair [OPEN]*

Grace M. Allen Chair

Julian Wilkison**

Rebecca Barnes§

Christopher Fischer

Stephen Fryxell

Melinda & Irwin Simon Chair

Caterina Longhi

Gabriel Napoli

Denisse Rodriguez-Rivera

Dan Wang

Joanne Wojtowicz

CELLOS

Ilya Finkelshteyn

Principal

Irene & John J. Emery Chair

Daniel Kaler

Acting Associate Principal

Ona Hixson Dater Chair

Norman Johns**

Karl & Roberta Schlachter

Family Chair

Nicholas Mariscal§

Hiro Matsuo

Laura Kimble McLellan Chair++

Theodore Nelson

Peter G. Courlas–

Nicholas Tsimaras Chair++

Alan Ra erty

Ruth F. Rosevear Chair

[OPEN]

Marvin Kolodzik & Linda S. Gallaher

Chair for Cello

BASSES

Owen Lee

Principal

Mary Alice Heekin Burke Chair++

[OPEN]*

Thomas Vanden Eynden Chair

Stephen Jones**

Trish & Rick Bryan Chair

Boris Astafiev§

Luis Arturo Celis Avila

Gerald Torres

Rick Vizachero

HARP

Gillian Benet Sella

Principal

Cynthia & Frank Stewart Chair

FLUTES

Randolph Bowman

Principal

Charles Frederic Goss Chair

Henrik Heide*

Haley Bangs

Jane & David Ellis Chair

PICCOLO

Rebecca Pancner

Patricia Gross Linnemann Chair

OBOES

Dwight Parry

Principal

Josephine I. & David J. Joseph, Jr. Chair

Lon Bussell*

Stephen P. McKean Chair

Emily Beare

ENGLISH HORN

Christopher Philpotts

Principal

Alberta & Dr. Maurice Marsh Chair++

CLARINETS

Christopher Pell

Principal

Emma Margaret & Irving D. Goldman Chair

Joseph Morris*

Associate Principal and E-flat Clarinet

Robert E. & Fay Boeh Chair++

Ixi Chen

Vicky & Rick Reynolds Chair in honor of William A. Friedlander

BASS CLARINET

Ronald Aufmann

BASSOONS

Christopher Sales

Principal

Emalee Schavel Chair++

Martin Garcia*

Hugh Michie

CONTRABASSOON

Jennifer Monroe

FRENCH HORNS

Elizabeth Freimuth

Principal

Mary M. & Charles F. Yeiser Chair [OPEN]*

Ellen A. & Richard C. Berghamer

Chair

Molly Norcross**

Acting Associate Principal

Sweeney Family Chair in memory of Donald C. Sweeney

Lisa Conway

Susanne & Philip O. Geier, Jr. Chair

Duane Dugger

Mary & Joseph S. Stern, Jr. Chair

Charles Bell

Donald & Margaret Robinson Chair

TRUMPETS

Anthony Limoncelli

Principal

Rawson Chair

Douglas Lindsay*

Jackie & Roy Sweeney Family Chair

Alexander Pride†

Otto M. Budig Family

Foundation Chair++

Christopher Kiradjie

TROMBONES

Cristian Ganicenco

Principal

Dorothy & John Hermanies

Chair

Joseph Rodriguez**

Second/Assistant Principal Trombone

Sallie Robinson Wadsworth & Randolph L. Wadsworth Jr. Chair

BASS TROMBONE [OPEN]

TUBA

Christopher Olka

Principal

Ashley & Barbara Ford Chair

TIMPANI

Patrick Schleker

Principal

Matthew & Peg Woodside Chair

Joseph Bricker*

Morleen & Jack Rouse Chair

PERCUSSION

David Fishlock

Principal

Susan S. & William A. Friedlander Chair

Michael Culligan*

Joseph Bricker

Morleen & Jack Rouse Chair

Marc Wolfley+

KEYBOARDS

Michael Chertock

James P. Thornton Chair

Julie Spangler+

James P. Thornton Chair

CSO/CCM DIVERSITY

FELLOWS~

Lucas Braga, violin

Melissa Peraza, violin

Manuel Papale, cello

Caleb Edwards, double bass

Wendell Rodriguez da Rosa, double bass

LIBRARIANS

Christina Eaton

Principal Librarian

Lois Klein Jolson Chair

Elizabeth Dunning

Acting Associate Principal Librarian

Cara Benner

Interim Assistant Librarian

STAGE MANAGERS

Brian P. Schott

Phillip T. Sheridan

Daniel Schultz

Mike Ingram

Andrew Sheridan

§ Begins the alphabetical listing of players who participate in a system of rotated seating within the string section.

* Associate Principal

** Assistant Principal

† One-year appointment

+ Cincinnati Pops rhythm section

++ CSO endowment only

~ Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

LOUIS LANGRÉE, Music Director

In the 2023-24 season, Louis Langrée celebrates his final season with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, where he has been Music Director since 2013, and he continues as Director of Théâtre national de l’Opéra-Comique in Paris, an appointment that began in November 2021.

Langrée ended his 20-year tenure as Music Director of the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center in the summer of 2023. Two of his Cincinnati recordings were Grammy nominated for Best Orchestral Performance: Transatlantic, with works by Varèse, Gershwin and Stravinsky; and Concertos for Orchestra, featuring world premieres by Sebastian Currier, Thierry Escaich and Zhou Tian. On stage, his Pelléas et Mélisande trilogy contrasted settings by Fauré, Debussy and Schoenberg. A multiseason Beethoven [R]evolution cycle paired the symphonies with world premieres, as well as recreation of the legendary 1808 Akademie. During the Covid pandemic, Langrée was a catalyst for the Orchestra’s return to the stage in the fall of 2020 with a series of digitally streamed concerts.

Between the start of his tenure and the conclusion of the CSO’s 2023–24 season, Langrée and the CSO will have commissioned 45 new orchestral works and he will have conducted 31 premieres from a wide range of composers, including Julia Adolphe, Daníel Bjarnason, Jennifer Higdon, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Kinds of Kings, David Lang, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, André Previn, Caroline Shaw and Julia Wolfe, and the world premiere of Christopher Rouse’s Symphony No. 6, Rouse’s final opus.

He has guest conducted the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, NHK Symphony, Orchestre National de France and Leipzig Gewandhaus, as well as Orchestre des Champs-Elysées and Freiburg Baroque. He frequently conducts at the leading opera houses, including more than 50 performances at The Metropolitan Opera, and engagements with Vienna Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Bavarian Staatsoper, and at festivals including Glyndebourne, Aix-enProvence, BBC Proms, Edinburgh International and Hong Kong Arts.

A native of Alsace, France, he is a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur and O cier des Arts et des Lettres, and he is an Honorary Member of the Confrérie Saint-Étienne d’Alsace, an Alsatian winemakers’ brotherhood dating to the 14th century.

JOHN MORRIS RUSSELL Cincinnati Pops Conductor

Louise Dieterle Nippert & Louis Nippert Chair

A master of American musical style, Grammynominated conductor John Morris Russell, a.k.a. “JMR,” has devoted himself to redefining the American orchestral experience. In his 12th year as conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Russell continues to reinvigorate the musical scene throughout Cincinnati and across the continent with the wide range and diversity of his work as a conductor, collaborator and educator. As Music Director of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina Russell leads the prestigious Hilton Head International Piano Competition, and as Principal Pops Conductor of the Bu alo Philharmonic Orchestra he follows in the footsteps of Marvin Hamlisch and Doc Severinsen. Guest conducting engagements have included many of the most distinguished orchestras in North America: the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Boston Pops, National Symphony, and the orchestras of Toronto, Vancouver, Dallas, Detroit and Pittsburgh.

With the Cincinnati Pops, Russell leads sold-out performances at Music Hall, concerts throughout the region, and domestic and international tours— including Florida in 2014 and China/Taiwan in 2017. His visionary leadership at the Pops created the “American Originals Project,” which has garnered both critical and popular acclaim in two landmark recordings: American Originals (the music of Stephen Foster) as well as American Originals: 1918. In 2020, the American Originals Project: The Cincinnati Sound, featuring Late Night with David Letterman musical director Paul Sha er, celebrated the beginnings of bluegrass, country, rockabilly, soul and funk immortalized in recordings produced in the Queen City. Russell’s other recordings with The Pops include Home for the Holidays, Superheroes, Carnival of the Animals and Voyage Recent collaborations with artists around the world include Aretha Franklin, Emanuel Ax, Amy Grant and Vince Gill, Common, Garrick Ohlsson, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jon Kimura Parker, Ann Hampton Callaway, Michael McDonald, Cho-Liang Lin, Sutton Foster, George Takei, Megan Hilty, Ranky Tanky, Steve Martin, Katharine McPhee, Brian Wilson, Cynthia Erivo and Leslie Odom, Jr.

MATTHIAS PINTSCHER

CSO Creative Partner

Matthias Pintscher is the newly appointed Music Director of the Kansas City Symphony, e ective from the 2024–25 season. He has just concluded a successful decadelong tenure as Music Director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain

(EIC), the iconic Parisian contemporary ensemble founded by Pierre Boulez and winner of the 2022 Polar Prize. During his stewardship, Pintscher led this most adventurous institution in the creation of dozens of world premieres by cutting edge composers from all over the world and took the ensemble on tours around the globe—to Asia and North America and throughout Europe to all the major festivals and concert halls

The 2023–24 season is Pintscher’s fourth as Creative Partner at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO), where he will conduct a new work by inti figgis-vizueta, as well as an immersive video-concert of Olivier Messiaen’s Des canyons aux étoiles. He will also tour with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, with which he is artistin-residence. As guest conductor, he returns to the RAI Milano Musica, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, NDR Hamburg, Indianapolis Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Barcelona Symphony, Lahti Symphony, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, La Scala, and Berlin’s Boulez Ensemble. Pintscher has conducted several opera productions for the Berliner Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. He returns to the Berliner Staatsoper in 2024 for Beat Furrer’s Violetter Schnee

Pintscher is also well known as a composer, and his works appear frequently on the programs of major symphony orchestras throughout the world. In August 2021, he was the focus of the Suntory Hall Summer Festival—a week-long celebration of his works with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra— as well as a residency by the EIC with symphonic and chamber music performances. His third violin concerto, Assonanza, written for Leila Josefowicz, was premiered in January 2022 with the CSO. matthiaspintscher.com

DAMON GUPTON Pops Principal Guest Conductor

An accomplished conductor, Damon Gupton is the first-ever Principal Guest Conductor of the Cincinnati Pops. He served as American Conducting Fellow of the Houston Symphony and held the post of assistant conductor of the Kansas City Symphony. His conducting appearances include the Boston Pops, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Detroit Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Toledo Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Florida Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Princeton Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, NHK Orchestra of Tokyo, Orquesta Filarmonica de UNAM, Charlottesville Symphony, Brass Band of Battle Creek, New York University Steinhardt Orchestra, Kinhaven Music School Orchestra, Vermont Music Festival Orchestra, Michigan Youth Arts Festival Honors Orchestra, Brevard Sinfonia, and Sphinx Symphony as part of the 12th annual Sphinx Competition. He led the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra on two national tours with performances at Carnegie Hall, and conducted the finals of the Seventh Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition and the 2021 Classic FM Live at Royal Albert Hall with Chineke!. Other musical collaborations include work with Marcus Miller, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Common, Leslie Odom Jr., Byron Stripling, Tony DeSare, The Midtown Men, Kenn Hicks and Jamie Cullum. Gupton received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Michigan. He studied conducting with David Zinman and Murry Sidlin at the Aspen Music Festival and with Leonard Slatkin at the National Conducting Institute in Washington, D.C. Awards include the Robert J. Harth Conducting Prize and The Aspen Conducting Prize. He is the inaugural recipient of the Emerging Artist Award from the University of Michigan School of Music and Alumni Society and a winner of the Third International Eduardo Mata Conducting Competition.

An accomplished actor and graduate of the Drama Division of The Juilliard School, Gupton has had roles in television, film and on stage, most recently in series regular roles on The Big Door Prize for Apple TV, as well as The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey starring Samuel L. Jackson. damongupton.com

LEE Associate Conductor

Samuel Lee, fi rst prize winner of the BMI International Conducting Competition in Bucharest and the International Conducting Competition in Taipei, was appointed Assistant Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, beginning in the 2022–23 season, and was promoted to Associate Conductor in August 2023.

In addition to several recent guest conducting engagements throughout Europe and Asia, Lee was also a Conducting Fellow with the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in 2021 and 2022, where he worked with conductors Cristian Măcelaru, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Octavio MásArocas and Marin Alsop.

Since 2016 Samuel Lee has been the chief conductor of the C.P.E. Bach Musikgymnasium orchestra Berlin. He and the orchestra have been regularly invited to the Berlin Philharmonie and Konzerthaus Berlin for subscription concerts. He also served as a viola professor at Hochschule für Musik und Theater “Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy” in Leipzig, Germany until 2022.

As a violist, Lee was invited to perform with orchestras throughout Europe and Asia. From 2009 until 2017, he was the violist of Novus String Quartet, and he was the second prize winner of the 61st International Music Competition of ARD Munich and first prize winner of the Salzburg International Mozart Competition.

Lee is an alumnus of Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin, where he studied viola with Prof. Tabea Zimmermann (BM, MM, Konzertexamen), and orchestral conducting with Prof. Christian Ehwald (BM, MM). Lee completed Konzertexamen in orchestral conducting from Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg (Prof. Ulrich Windfuhr).

DANIEL WILEY Assistant Conductor

Daniel Wiley has quickly become a notable young conductor on the rise, having made guest appearances with orchestras, ballet companies and opera productions in the U.S. and Canada. Prior to his tenure with the CSO, Wiley held numerous conducting posts, including Assistant Conductor of the Jacksonville Symphony, Music Director of the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestras, Associate Conductor of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Windsor Symphony Youth Orchestras, Music Director of the Windsor Symphony Community Orchestra, Wind Ensemble Conductor at the School of Creative Arts at the University of Windsor, Education Conductor/ Consultant for London Symphonia, Conductor for the Windsor Abridged Opera Company, Music Director of Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science Youth Orchestra, and Assistant Conductor for the Meridian Symphony Orchestra.

During the pandemic, Wiley was instrumental in expanding the Windsor Symphony’s educational footprint by creating a digital education concert series that includes 12 hours of interactive music curriculum for schools. This program has been recognized by the Ontario Provincial Parliament as an example of how an orchestra can change lives through music, even during a time of unprecedented uncertainty.

In 2019, Wiley was the second prize recipient of both the Smoky Mountain International Conducting Institute and Competition and the Los Angeles International Conducting Competition. Wiley has also spent time conducting new music ensembles, including for the Musicbed Music and Film Corporation based in Fort Worth, Texas, as well as participating in the Composing in the Wilderness program as part of the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival in Fairbanks, Alaska. Through this program, Wiley has conducted numerous world premieres in Denali National Park.

As a former public-school music teacher, Wiley has a unique passion for music education and frequently donates his time as a guest clinician to support students and teachers in music programs across North America.

POPS SEP 9–10:

The Princess Bride in Concert

SARAH HICKS, conductor

Sarah Hicks’ versatile and vibrant musicianship has secured her place as an in-demand conductor across an array of genres, and as an educator, arranger, Emmy-winning producer, writer and speaker committed to creating connections through music. Her career has seen collaborations with diverse artists, from Hilary Hahn and Dmitri Hvorostovsky to Rufus Wainwright, Jennifer Hudson and Smokey Robinson; during the summer of 2011, she toured with Sting as conductor of his Symphonicities Tour. Her passion for cross-genre partnerships led to a 2019 album with rap artist Dessa and the Minnesota Orchestra, with whom she holds a titled position; in 2021, she collaborated with gamer DrLupo for an innovative live-play project for Intel Gaming.

A specialist in film music and the film-inconcert genre, she has premiered Pixar in Concert and Coco in Concert; her live concert recording of A Celebration of the Music of Coco at the Hollywood Bowl can be seen on Disney+, and her work on Little Mermaid Live was broadcast on ABC. Since 2019, she has acted as consultant for Disney Concerts in developing live-to-film products. Her concerts with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra of film music, The Morricone Duel, was released as an album and worldwide broadcast in 2018 and has garnered over 150 million views on YouTube.

Sarah Hicks was born in Tokyo and raised in Honolulu. Trained on both the piano and the viola, she was a prizewinning pianist by her early teens. She received her BA in composition magna cum laude from Harvard University and holds an Artists’ Diploma in conducting from the Curtis Institute of Music. In her spare time, Hicks enjoys running, hiking, her Papillon, cooking (and eating) with her husband, traveling and blogging. sarahhicksconductor.com

MARK KNOPFLER, composer

Mark Knopfler is an acclaimed British singersongwriter, guitarist and record producer who has composed several film scores, including The Princess Bride. He is best known as the lead singer, lead guitarist and songwriter of internationally celebrated rock band, Dire Straits. markknopfler.com

POPS SEP 16–17: Heroes: A Video Game Symphony

KEVIN ZAKRESKY, conductor

Kevin Zakresky is a choral and orchestral conductor living in Vancouver, British Columbia. He has directed international touring productions of The National Geographic Symphony for Our World, The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses, and the Heroes

Video Game Symphony

In Vancouver he is director of the Vancouver Baroque Players and Maddalena’s Descant, a new women’s vocal ensemble.

The National Geographic Symphony for Our World debuted in San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall and continued to venues in San Jose, Chicago, Madison, Minneapolis, Houston, Edmonton, Calgary, Limerick, Monterrey and Columbus.

The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses tour saw him conduct orchestras throughout North America, South America and Europe. Zelda performances include London— to conduct the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra in Wembley Arena—as well as Montreal, Philadelphia, Miami, Los Angeles, Dublin, San Francisco, San Antonio, Charlottesville, Fresno, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Birmingham (UK), Toronto, Seattle, Portland, Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City, Vancouver and Pittsburgh.

He is the past Music Director of the Prince George Symphony Orchestra and has guest conducted the St. Louis Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Columbus Symphony, Vancouver Chamber Choir, Fort Worth Symphony, Sudbury Symphony and West Coast Symphony. He is also

past Conductor of the Pacifica Singers and Music Director of the Players & Singers Ensemble.

Zakresky received a doctorate in Choral Conducting at Yale University in 2012.

MEMBERS OF THE MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS

Robert Porco, Director

Matthew Swanson, Associate Director of Choruses

Heather MacPhail, Accompanist

Sergey Tkachenko, Conducting Fellow

Kathryn Zajac Albertson, Chorus Manager

The May Festival Chorus has earned acclaim locally, nationally and internationally for its musicality, vast range of repertoire, and sheer power of sound. The Chorus of 130 avocational singers is the core artistic element of the Cincinnati May Festival as well as the official chorus of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and the Cincinnati Pops.

The May Festival Chorus has strengthened its national and international presence through numerous PBS broadcasts of live concerts and several award-winning recordings, many in collaboration with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops. Most recently, a live recording of Robert Nathaniel Dett’s The Ordering of Moses featuring Music Director Laureate James Conlon conducting the Chorus and the CSO at Carnegie Hall was released to critical acclaim in 2016 (Bridge Records).

The May Festival Chorus has garnered awards in recognition of its continuing artistic excellence and performances throughout the state, including the Spirit of Cincinnati USA Erich Kunzel Queen City Advocate Award from Cincinnati USA Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Irma Lazarus Award from the Ohio Arts Council’s annual Governor’s Awards for the Arts. mayfestival.com/chorus

ROBERT PORCO has been recognized as one of the leading choral musicians in the U.S., and throughout his career he has been an active preparer and conductor of choral and orchestral works, including most of the major choral repertoire, as well as of opera. In 2011, Porco received Chorus America’s

“Michael Korn Founders Award for Development of the Professional Choral Art.” In 2016, he led the May Festival Chorus and

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah for Chorus America’s National Conference.

Porco’s conducting career has spanned geographic venues and has included performances in the Edinburgh Festival; Taipei, Taiwan; Lucerne, Switzerland; Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel; and Reykjavik, Iceland; and at the May Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival, Berkshire Music Festival, Blossom Festival and Grant Park Festival. He has been a guest conductor at the May Festival and with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and The Cleveland Orchestra, among others.

The 2023–24 season is Robert Porco’s 35th as Director of Choruses.

THE MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS, Heroes

Sopranos

Tracy Bailey

Caitlyn Byers

Renee Cifuentes

Kathy Dietrich

Rachel Dummermuth

Sarah Evans

Anita Marie Greer

Melissa Haas

Carolyn Hill

Lisa Koressel

Judy LaChance

Hilary Landwehr

Julia Lawrence

Regina Rancourt

Mary Ann Sprague

Altos

Edy Dreith

Amanda Gast

Sally Harper

Karolyn Johnsen

Megan Lawson

Melissa Martin

Jennifer Moak

Christie Roediger

Amanda Rosenzweig

Karen Vosseberg

Christine Wands

Robin Wiley

Tenors

Lydia Ball

David Bower

David Gillespie

Eli Lanham

Matthew Leonard

Scott Nesbitt

Larry Reiring

Matthew Swanson

Stephen West

Basses

Richard Becker

Nathan Bettenhausen

Darren Bryant

Matthew Cheek

David Dugan

Kim Icsman

Jim Laskey

Stuart Lohrum

Jim Racster

Joshua Wallace

Tommy Wessendarp

JASON MICHAEL PAUL, producer

A pioneer and leader in the live symphonic concert industry, Jason Michael Paul (JMP) Entertainment, Inc. produces and promotes concerts for leading international artists, including a series of live symphonic concerts that make video game music come to life.

A leader in film orchestra projects, Jason Michael Paul was the first to take video game music to the masses.

In 2004, JMP brought the first concert featuring music and visuals from Final Fantasy to the United States. More recently, Nintendo asked JMP to commemorate the 25th anniversary of their AAA series with a concert featuring the music from The Legend of Zelda. The success of those shows spawned a worldwide touring sensation with The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses

Second Quest and Master Quest

Jason Michael Paul has produced concerts all over the world for artists and companies such as Luciano Pavarotti, The Three Tenors, Elton John, Foo Fighters, Outkast, Michael McDonald, James Ingram, Patti Austin, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Houston Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Utah Symphony, Ft. Worth Symphony, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Nintendo, Sony Computer Entertainment America, Bethesda, Square Enix, Konami, Electronic Arts, Disney, Madison Square Garden Network, PBS, LiveNation, AEG and Nederlander.

POPS SEP 22–24: Defying Gravity: An Evening with Stephen Schwartz & Friends

JOHN MORRIS RUSSELL, conductor

Turn to p. 26 for a biography of Pops Conductor

John Morris Russell.

STEPHEN SCHWARTZ, piano and host

Stephen Schwartz wrote the music and lyrics for the current Broadway hit Wicked, and has also contributed music and/or lyrics to Godspell, Pippin, The Magic Show, The Baker’s Wife, Working (which he also adapted and directed), Rags and Children of Eden He collaborated with Leonard Bernstein on the English texts for Bernstein’s MASS and wrote the title song for the play and movie Butterflies are Free. For children, he has written songs for two musicals, Captain Louie and My Son Pinocchio He has also worked in film, collaborating with Alan Menken on the songs for Disney’s Enchanted as well as the animated features Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame,

and writing the songs for the DreamWorks animated feature The Prince of Egypt. His first opera, Séance on a Wet Afternoon, was produced at Opera Santa Barbara and New York City Opera. A book about his career, Defying Gravity, has been released by Applause Books. Schwartz has been inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame and has been given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Awards include three Academy Awards, four Grammy Awards, and a tiny handful of tennis trophies. stephenschwartz.com

SHALEAH ADKISSON, vocalist

Shaleah Adkisson has been seen on Broadway and on tour in Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical and off-Broadway in the revival of the Pulitzer Prizewinning musical Rent. Her many regional theater credits include Jubilee (Arena Stage), Clybourne Park, Avenue Q (Arkansas Repertory Theatre), The Hot Mikado, Beehive: The 60’s Musical, Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Broward Stage Door Theatre), Grease, Nunsense (Murry’s Dinner Playhouse) and Children of Eden (Arkansas Repertory Theatre). Adkisson regularly performs in New York City and on tour with Soul Picnic Productions (Back to the Garden and August 1969: A Tribute to the Women of Woodstock). shaleahadkisson.com

SCOTT COULTER, vocalist

Scott Coulter is one of New York’s most honored vocalists. For his work in cabaret, Scott has received five MAC Awards (Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs), five Bistro Awards and two Nightlife Awards for Outstanding Vocalist, and he has performed at most of NYC’s top rooms including Birdland, 54 Below, The Oak Room at the Algonquin, and Feinstein’s at The Regency, where he spent a record-setting eight months performing the revue 11 O’Clock Numbers at 11 O’Clock, which he also co-created, directed and musically arranged. His selftitled debut CD won the 2003 MAC Award for Outstanding Recording and was chosen as the best recording of the year by TheaterMania and Cabaret Scenes magazines.

Since 1997, Coulter has performed around the country with award-winning songwriting duo Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich in their many revues. While singing with Goldrich and Heisler, he was discovered by Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer Stephen Schwartz, who then invited him to join the revue Stephen Schwartz & Friends

Coulter regularly performs in concert both as a solo artist and with a variety of legendary performers. He also is creator, arranger and director of several touring shows (symphonic and non) and, along with Dave Gaebler, is a coproducer of the award-winning Jessica Hendy/ Brianna Barnes musical Walking With Bubbles

Coulter is a proud graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), which honored him with the CCM Young Alumni Award in 2010 and CCM’s Distinguished Service Award in 2020.

DEBBIE GRAVITTE, vocalist

Tony Award winner Debbie Gravitte (Jerome Robbins’ Broadway) has found herself in demand from the Broadway stage to the concert stage and beyond. After making her Broadway debut in the original cast of They’re Playing Our Song, she went on to appear in Perfectly Frank (Drama Desk Award nomination), Blues in the Night, Ain’t Broadway Grand, Zorba, Chicago and Les Miserables. Gravitte has been seen in the Encores! series productions of The Boys from Syracuse, Tenderloin and Carnival at New York’s City Center. She has appeared as Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, Love Life at the Walnut St. Theatre, Red, Hot and Blue at the Paper Mill Playhouse, and in the West Coast Premiere of The Goodbye Girl

Gravitte has performed her nightclub act worldwide, and, a favorite with symphony orchestra audiences, she has sung with more than 175 orchestras around the world. On television, Gravitte co-starred on the CBS series Trial and Error, was seen on NBC’s Pursuit of Happiness, and has starred in several specials for PBS

Gravitte has four solo CDs to her credit, including her latest release, Big Band Broadway, along with Defying Gravity, The MGM Album, and Part of Your World: The Music of Alan Menken. Her other recordings include Calamity Jane, Unsung Sondheim, Lucky Stiff, Miss Spectacular, Louisiana Purchase, A Broadway Christmas, as well as Mack and Mabel in Concert, among others.

Gravitte has sung with the New York City Ballet in Peter Martins’ Thou Swell at Lincoln Center, appeared with Bette Midler in the Universal Feature Isn’t She Great?, and can be heard as one of the voices in Disney’s The Little Mermaid debbiegravitte.com or debbietunes.com

MICHAEL McCORRY ROSE, vocalist

Michael McCorry Rose can be seen in Disney’s live action film Disenchanted starring Amy Adams and Maya Rudolph, directed by Adam Shankman. Prior to that, he starred in Daniel Levine’s film adaptation of Snapshots, which recently received a 2021 Grammy nomination for Best Musical Theater Album. On Broadway, he’s appeared in the Tony-winning musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Wicked and the first national tour of Anastasia

In New York, McCorry Rose has appeared in concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Avery Fisher Hall, Symphony Space, Birdland, Green Room 42 and Feinstein’s/54 Below.

He regularly appears in concert with his longtime collaborator Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Godspell, Pippin), and one of their concerts starring Scott Coulter and Debbie Gravitte was filmed for PBS’s Great American Songbook Concert Series at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center; it aired in the summer of 2016 and was nominated for a 2017 Regional Emmy.

McCorry Rose has performed with symphonies and concert orchestras across the United States, and internationally he’s performed in concert at the Adelaide Music Festival in Australia, for the U.S. State Department in Nairobi, Kenya and in São Paulo, Brazil.

His theatrical credits include roles at regional theaters such as the Paper Mill Playhouse, Williamstown Theater Festival, Yale Repertory Theater, Primary Stages, Capital Repertory Theater and Project Shaw in New York City.

Originally from San Diego, he holds a BA in Mass Communication Studies from UCLA, where he appeared in Carol Burnett’s directorial debut of Once Upon a Mattress. He studies at the Jen Waldman Studios and The Actor’s Gym in New York.

JOHN BOSWELL, piano

Pianist John Boswell has served as musical director for Judy Collins, Andy Williams, Bob Newhart, Scott Coulter, Maude Maggart, Faith Prince, Carmen Cusack, Babbie Green, Jason Graae and a host of other fine talents. Boswell played the role of “Moose” in the national tour of Crazy for You and has appeared on The Tonight Show, Today Show, CBS This Morning, Regis and Kathie Lee and General Hospital, and he was the piano playing hands of Nancy McKeon on the sitcom The Facts of Life. Recent concerts with symphonies have included Jerry Herman: The Broadway Legacy Concert, Blockbuster Broadway!, Sheena Easton and Scott Coulter: The Spy Who Loved Me and Music of the Knights Boswell has been heard singing in the shows Three Men and a Baby…Grand, Cinema Toast, Broadway Today, Wiseguys, and the New York cult hit Cashino. Broadway/Off Broadway credits include Crazy for You, The Secret Garden, LIZA! Steppin’ Out at Radio City Music Hall, Back to Bacharach and David and The Kathy and Mo Show: Parallel Lives. His monthly concerts in 2017 at The Gardenia in Los Angeles have been crowd pleasers. Boswell has eight CDs of original piano music and a ninth on the way. While a student at UCLA, Boswell received the Frank Sinatra Award for popular instrumentalists.

CSO SEP 30–OCT 1: The Rite of Spring

CHRISTIAN REIF, conductor

Newly appointed Chief Conductor of the Gävle Symphony Orchestra, Christian Reif has established a reputation for his natural musicality, innovative programming and technical command.

The 2023–24 season marks Reif’s inaugural season as Chief Conductor of the Gävle Symphony Orchestra, a position he will hold through the 2025–26 season. Since 2022, Reif has served as Music Director of the Lakes Area Music Festival in Minnesota.

Reif’s 2023–24 season also includes subscription appearances with the Cincinnati Symphony

Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony and Brno Philharmonic Orchestra plus summer festival appearances at the Grand Teton Music Festival and at Interlochen. Reif will conduct his own arrangement of John Adams’ El Niño: Nativity Reconsidered with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (Nov. 30 for the CSO Proof series) and on tour with the American Modern Opera Company.

With an equal footing in North America and Europe, Reif has conducted the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, Colorado, Indianapolis, Kansas City and Louisville, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Orchestra of St. Luke’s.

Reif enjoys conducting opera and has led productions at Juilliard Opera of The Merry Wives of Windsor, Opera San Jose of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci and the Lakes Area Music Festival of Ariadne auf Naxos

Reif is featured on classical singer Julia Bullock’s debut solo Nonesuch Records album Walking in the Dark, where he leads London’s Philharmonia Orchestra as well as accompanies Bullock on the piano. In 2020 during the pandemic, Reif and Bullock recorded a series of at-home virtual “Songs of Comfort,” and NPR Music featured the duo in a “Tiny Desk Concert” for their special quarantine edition of the series.

Reif studied conducting at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and at The Juilliard School in New York City. He resides in Munich with his wife, Julia Bullock, and their son. christianreif.eu

CLARA-JUMI KANG, violin

Violinist Clara-Jumi Kang is an artist of supreme musicality, impeccable refinement and poise, as borne out by the many awards and accolades she has received since she won first prize at the Indianapolis International Violin Competition (2010), Sendai Violin Competition (2010), and the Seoul Violin Competition (2009). Her cycle of Beethoven

Violin Sonatas with pianist Sunwook Kim, which was released on Accentus in 2021, has received outstanding reviews and award nominations.

Highlights of the 2023–24 season include her Edinburgh Festival solo recital debut, as well as debuts with the Israel Philharmonic as part of the Côte-Saint-André Festival under Music

Director Lahav Shani, with whom she also makes her Budapest Festival Orchestra debut, the LA Philharmonic as part of the Hollywood Bowl Festival, and the Cincinnati and Detroit symphony orchestras. Kang will also return to the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Auckland Philharmonia and tour South Korea with the Munich Philharmonic. As a recitalist, Kang regularly performs at the world’s most prestigious halls; she makes her Wigmore Hall debut this season and returns to the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées for two concerts.

She made her concerto debut with the Hamburg Symphony at the age of five and has since performed with orchestras across Europe, the U.S. and Asia. A devoted chamber musician, she regularly visits chamber music festivals and collaborates with renowned musicians including Janine Jansen, Gidon Kremer and Mischa Maisky.

Clara-Jumi Kang has made two recordings for Decca: Modern Solo featuring works by Schubert, Ysaÿe and others, and a Brahms/Schumann album with Yeol-Eum Son.

Born in Germany to a musical family, ClaraJumi Kang took up the violin at the age of three and, a year later, enrolled as the youngest ever student at the Mannheim Musikhochschule.

She went on to study with Zakhar Bron at the Lübeck Musikhochschule and, at age seven, was awarded a full scholarship to The Juilliard School to study with Dorothy Delay. She took her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Korean National University of Arts under NamYun Kim before completing studies at the Munich Musikhochschule with Christoph Poppen. clarajumikang.com

CSO OCT 4: EarShot

Samuel Lee, conductor

Daniel Wiley, conductor

Turn to p. 28 for biographies of CSO Associate Conductor Samuel Lee and CSO Assistant Conductor Daniel Wiley.

composer biographies are on pp. 54–55.

The Rite of Spring is generously supported by Presenting Sponsor, The Ladislas and Vilma Segoe Family Foundation.

CSO OCT 6: Nina Simone Piano Competition Concerto Finals

LOUIS LANGRÉE, conductor

Turn to p. 26 for a biography of CSO Music Director Louis Langrée.

KAYDEN KELLY, piano

Kayden Kelly is the first place Senior Division winner of the inaugural Nina Simone Competition and a 2023 Junior Cliburn Festival Artist. He has been playing piano since he was five and gave his recital debut at age 11 at the National Theater of Costa Rica for the Costa Rican Vice President and his orchestral debut three years later in Italy. He has subsequently had three performances at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe, NM as well as played with orchestras in Vanemuise Concert Hall in Estonia, Teatro Das Figuras in Portugal, and the Berlin Admiralspalast, Germany. Kayden has been part of the Mozarteum

International “Young Excellence” Academy in Austria, Curtis Summerfest, PianoTexas, Amalfi Coast Festival, Algarve Music Series, Perugia MusicFest and Aspen Music Festival. He has participated in masterclasses with renowned musicians such as Piotr Paleczny, Olga Kern, Anne McDermott, Dmitri Alexeev, Boris Slutsky, Jerome Lowelthal, Hung-Kuan Chen, Jacques Rouvier, Christopher Elton and Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

Kayden has had over 25 solo public performances in festivals in the US, Germany, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Austria, Portugal, Costa Rica and Italy. He has been interviewed and performed on local television and NPR’s From the Top. Kayden, who is originally from Santa Fe, received an award for his musical talent and dedication from the Secretary for the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. He is currently studying with Fabio Bidini at the Precollege Music Academy of The Colburn School in Los Angeles.

JOSHUA MHOON, piano

Joshua Mhoon won first place in the Grandquist Music Competition (Illinois) in 2011, 2012 and 2014. Mhoon has also won honors awards at the National Federation of

Music’s Junior Music Festival and first place in the Emilio del Rosario Concerto Competition, Savler Competition and CAMTA Sonata Festival.

Mhoon has been covered in such publications as The Chicago Sun Times, Jet Magazine, The Daily Herald and Musical America, and he has appeared on PBS’s Chicago Tonight and CBS’s Someone You Should Know

He has studied jazz and spontaneous creation/ composition with Willie Pickens and Steve Million, has been mentored by pianist Lang Lang and clarinetist Anthony McGill, and has studied chamber music with the Lincoln Trio. He has played alongside Yo-Yo Ma, Lang Lang, Anthony McGill and Gil Shaham at such venues as Jazz at Lincoln Center, Stern Hall at Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, Chicago Symphony Hall, New World Symphony Center and Vienna’s Musikverein.

Mhoon has studied with Dr. Harry Steckman, Mio Isoda-Hagle at Chicago’s Merit School of Music, Alexander Djordjevic and Brenda Huang at the Music Institute of Chicago, and Dr. James Giles at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. He currently studies at Juilliard with Emmanuel Ax.

CLAYTON STEPHENSON, piano

Hailed for “extraordinary narrative and poetic gifts” and interpretations that are “fresh, incisive and characterfully alive” (Gramophone), Clayton Stephenson was named 2022 Gilmore Young Artist, 2017 United States Presidential Scholar in the Arts and a Young Scholar of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation. In 2022, Stephenson became the first Black finalist at the 16th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Highlights of Stephenson’s burgeoning career include appearances with the Calgary Philharmonic, Chicago Sinfonietta and the Fort Worth, Louisville, Lansing and North Carolina symphony orchestras, as well as recitals at the Phillips Collection Concert Series in Washington, D.C., Foundation Louis Vuitton Auditorium in Paris, Festival Bad Kissingen and Beethovenfest in Germany, Colour of Music Festival, Ravinia Festival and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

Stephenson was accepted into the Juilliard Outreach Music Advancement Program for underprivileged children and advanced to Juilliard’s Pre-College Program at age 10. He now

studies in the Harvard-NEC Dual Degree Program, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in economics at Harvard and a master’s degree in piano performance at the New England Conservatory under Wha Kyung Byun.

POPS OCT 8: Audra McDonald

AUDRA McDONALD, guest artist

Audra McDonald is unparalleled in the breadth and versatility of her artistry as both a singer and an actor. The winner of a recordbreaking six Tony Awards, two Grammy Awards and an Emmy, in 2015 she was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people and received a National Medal of Arts— America’s highest honor for achievement in the field—from President Barack Obama. In addition to her Tony-winning performances in Carousel, Master Class, Ragtime, A Raisin in the Sun, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess and Lady Day at

Emerson’s Bar & Grill—the role that also served as the vehicle for her Olivier Award-nominated 2017 debut in London’s West End—she has appeared on Broadway in The Secret Garden; Marie Christine (Tony nomination); Henry IV; 110 in the Shade (Tony nomination); Shu e Along, or, The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (Tony nomination); and Ohio State Murders

On television, she was seen by millions as the Mother Abbess in NBC’s The Sound of Music Live! and played Dr. Naomi Bennett on ABC’s Private Practice. She won an Emmy Award for her role as host of PBS’s Live From Lincoln Center and has received nominations for Wit, A Raisin in the Sun, and Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. Having first appeared on CBS’s The Good Wife, she plays Liz Reddick in The Good Fight on Paramount+ and Dorothy Scott in Julian Fellowes’ historical drama The Gilded Age on HBO and HBO Max. Her film credits include Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast and MGM’s Aretha Franklin biopic, Respect. A Juilliard-trained soprano, her opera credits include La voix humaine and Send at Houston Grand Opera, and Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at Los Angeles Opera, where the resulting recording earned her two Grammy Awards. McDonald has issued five solo albums on the Nonesuch label as well as Sing Happy with the New York Philharmonic on Decca Gold. She also maintains a major career as a concert artist, regularly appearing on the great stages of the world and with leading international orchestras. A founding member of Black Theatre United, board member of Covenant House International, and prominent advocate for LGBTQAI+ rights, her favorite roles are those performed o stage, as an activist, wife to actor Will Swenson, and mother. audramcdonald.com

ANDY EINHORN, conductor

Leading Broadway music director and conductor Andy Einhorn most recently served as the music supervisor and musical director for the Broadway productions of Hello, Dolly! starring Bette Midler (Grammy nomination, original Broadway cast recording) and Carousel starring Renée Fleming (Grammy nomination, original Broadway cast recording). Einhorn’s previous

Broadway music directing and conducting credits include Holiday Inn, Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Brief Encounter and Sondheim on Sondheim. Other Broadway work includes Evita and The Light in the Piazza.

Since 2011, Einhorn has served as music director and pianist for six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald, performing with her at prestigious orchestras and venues across the U.S., as well as a series of recorded concerts with the Sydney Symphony at the Sydney Opera House in Australia. He most recently made his debut at New York City Center. McDonald and Einhorn have recorded two albums together: Sing Happy: Live with the New York Philharmonic and Go Back Home

He served as the music director for HBO’s Peabody Award-winning documentary Six by Sondheim and music supervisor for the Great Performances Peabody Award-winning special Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy on PBS. In 2019, Einhorn conducted Bette Midler and Marc Shaiman at the 2019 Academy Awards. He also music supervised and appeared on camera for the Emmy-winning performance of Eat Sh*t Bob for HBO’s Last Week Tonight starring John Oliver. Upcoming film and TV projects include

the AppleTV+ series Extrapolations and Cabrini (producer Jonathan Sanger).

Recently, he has conducted concerts with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra and Aspen Music Festival. He is a guest faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival and is a regular music director and pianist for the 92nd Street Y’s Lyrics and Lyricists series. Andy Einhorn is an honors graduate of Rice University in Houston.

CSO OCT 13–14: Bernstein, Copland & Price

LOUIS LANGRÉE, conductor

Turn to p. 26 for a biography of CSO Music Director Louis Langrée.

GEORGE TAKEI, narrator

George Takei is known around the world for his role in the acclaimed original TV series Star Trek, in which he played Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the starship Enterprise. But Takei’s story, which includes an acting career that spans six decades, goes where few have gone before. From a childhood spent with his family wrongfully imprisoned in Japanese American internment camps during World War II to becoming one of the country’s leading figures in the fight for social justice, LGBTQ+ rights and marriage equality, Takei remains a powerful voice on issues ranging from politics to pop culture.

Takei hosts the AARP-produced YouTube series Takei’s Take, and he is the subject of the documentary To Be Takei. On his own YouTube channel, Takei and his husband Brad Takei bring viewers into their personal lives in the web series It Takeis Two. He was a series regular in the second season of Ridley Scott’s anthology drama The Terror: Infamy.

His rich baritone has provided narration for the PBS series The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, the Peabody Award-winning radio documentary Crossing East, and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, which garnered Takei a Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word Album. He has also done voiceover work for hundreds of video games, commercials, films and TV series.

Takei’s acting credits include co-starring in five Star Trek movies and appearances on numerous television series.

In 2015, Takei made his Broadway debut in the musical Allegiance, which was inspired by his true-life experiences during World War II. In 2017, he starred in a revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures in New York City.

Takei is the author of four books, including his autobiography To the Stars. His fifth book, New York Times bestselling graphic memoir They Called Us Enemy, was released in July 2019.

Takei has served as the spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign’s Coming Out Project and was Cultural Affairs Chairman of the Japanese American Citizens League. He is also chairman emeritus and a trustee of the Japanese American National Museum. He was appointed to the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission by former President Clinton, and the government of Japan awarded Takei the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, for his contributions to U.S.Japanese relations.

Takei received both Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from UCLA. In June 2019, Takei received the Distinguished Alumni Award in Theater from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. georgetakei.com

CSO OCT 18: Beethoven & Tchaikovsky

RAMÓN TEBAR, conductor

Spanish Conductor Ramón

Tebar is currently Principal Conductor in Association with the Orquesta de Valencia, as well as Artistic Director of Opera Naples. He was previously Artistic Director of the Florida Grand Opera and Principal Guest Conductor of Valencia’s Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia.

Alongside his work in Valencia, the 2022–23 season saw Ramón Tebar make debuts with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Norrlandsoperans symfoniorkester and the Würth Philharmoniker, as well as at Frankfurt Opera with a new production of Saverio Mercadante’s Francesca da Rimini. He also returned to the Teatro Colón to conduct Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles, and to the Szczecin Philharmonic and the Basque National Orchestra in Bilbao for concerts.

In addition to his operatic career and his role as Music Director of the Orquestra de València, Tebar is sought after as a guest conductor with orchestras around the world. He has conducted the Spanish National Orchestra several times, and he further guested with many of Spain’s other orchestras. Beyond Spain, Tebar has guest conducted such orchestras as the Philharmonia in London, Prague Philharmonia, Het Gelders Orkest, Malaysian Philharmonic, Armenian Philharmonic, Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen Normandie, Szczecin Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Symphony, San Antonio Symphony and the Orquestra

Sinfónica Nacional de Perú. Tebar was also previously Artistic Director of the Santo Domingo Music Festival in Puerto Rico.

Tebar’s work can also be heard on recordings with Joseph Calleja and the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana on the DECCA label, and with Gregory Kunde and the Orquesta Sinfonica de Navarra on Universal. ramon-tebar.com

JONATHAN BISS, piano

Jonathan Biss is a worldrenowned pianist who, in addition to performing with today’s leading orchestras, continues to expand his reputation as a teacher, musical thinker and one of the great Beethoven interpreters of our time. He is Co-Artistic Director alongside Mitsuko Uchida at the Marlboro Music Festival. He also recently led a massive open online course (MOOC) via Coursera, reaching an international audience of over 150,000. Biss writes extensively on his repertoire and has authored four audio- and e-books, including UNQUIET: My Life with Beethoven (2020).

During the 2022–23 season, Biss gave solo recitals in cities including Cologne, New York and Philadelphia; performed Beethoven trios with Midori and cellist Antoine Lederlin in Cologne, Engardin, Hamburg, London and Tokyo; and appeared as soloist with the Atlanta Symphony, Budapest Symphony and Rochester Philharmonic, as well as with the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.

Throughout his career, Biss has advocated for new music. In 2015, he began his Beethoven/5 commissioning project, in association with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, pairing each Beethoven concerto with a new concerto composed in response. Among the Beethoven/5

commissions are Brett Dean’s Gneixendorfer

Musik—Eine Winterreise, Caroline Shaw’s Watermark, Timo Andres’s The Blind Banister (a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music), Sally Beamish’s City Stanzas, and Salvatore Sciarrino’s Il sogno di Stradella. Prior to the Beethoven/5 project, Biss commissioned Lunaire Variations by David Ludwig, Interlude II by Leon Kirchner, Wonderer by Lewis Spratlan, and Three Pieces for Piano and a concerto by Bernard Rands.

Biss has been recognized with numerous honors, including the Leonard Bernstein Award presented at the 2005 Schleswig- Holstein Festival, Wolf Trap’s Shouse Debut Artist Award, the Andrew Wolf Memorial Chamber Music Award, Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the 2003 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, and a 2002 Gilmore Young Artist Award. His albums for EMI won the Diapason d’or de l’année and Edison awards. He was an artist-in-residence on American Public Media’s Performance Today and was the first American chosen to participate in the BBC’s New Generation Artist program. He is also on the piano faculty of the New England Conservatory. jonathanbiss.com

POPS OCT 20–22: Disney in Concert: The Sound of Magic DAMON GUPTON, conductor

Turn to p. 27 for a biography of Pops Principal Guest Conductor Damon Gupton.

CSO OCT 27–28: Ring Without Words

JAMES GAFFIGAN, conductor

Recognized worldwide for his natural ease and extraordinary collaborative spirit, American conductor James Ga gan has attracted international attention for his equitable prowess as both a conductor of symphony orchestras and opera. He is the General Music Director of Komische Oper Berlin and the Music Director of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, and he is Music Director of the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra. Ga gan previously served as Principal

Guest Conductor of both the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra & Opera.

Recent orchestral appearances include London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Wiener Symphoniker, Münchner Philharmoniker, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Norske Opera and Ballet, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Berlin, Czech Philharmonic and Luzerner Symphonieorchester. In North America, Ga gan regularly works with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Toronto Symphony Orchestra, among others.

A regular at The Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper and Opéra National de Paris, Ga gan has also conducted the Zürich Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, Staatsoper Hamburg, Dutch National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Santa Fe Opera.

Passionate about music education and a product of the New York City public school

STRATEGIC PLAN Investors

The Orchestra launched a dynamic 10-year strategic plan in September of 2019. The plan guides us toward achieving our new vision: to be the most relevant orchestra in America. To thrive, we must inspire, innovate, and include, going above and beyond our current offerings to ensure our relevancy for future generations.

As we continue to implement this strategic plan, we would like to recognize those who have joined us in the early stages of this work by investing in the Orchestra’s innovative initiatives.

system, Ga gan believes that access to music education is the method by which America’s concert halls will finally begin to reflect our community and shrink the racial and gender gaps that currently exist in performing arts today. jamesga gan.com

LOLLIPOPS OCT 28: Halloween Spooktacular

DANIEL WILEY, conductor

Turn to p. 28 for a biography of CSO Assistant Conductor Daniel Wiley. 

For more information about our guest artists, please text PROGRAM to 513.845.3024*.

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Dr. Lesley Gilbertson & Dr. William Hurford

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Carol & Scott Kosarko

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Whitney & Phillip Long

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Mrs. Susan M. McPartlin

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Jo Anne & Joe Orndorff

Marilyn J.* & Jack D. Osborn

Vicky & Rick Reynolds

Dianne & J. David Rosenberg

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Ann & Harry Santen

Mark & Rosemary Schlachter

Harold C. Schott Foundation, Francie & Tom Hiltz, trustees

Irwin & Melinda Simon

Tom & Dee Stegman

Mrs. Theodore Striker

Mr. & Mrs. Jonathan Ullman

Thomas Vanden Eynden & Judith Beiting

Christopher & Nancy Virgulak

Mr. Randolph L. Wadsworth Jr.

Nancy C. Wagner & Patricia M. Wagner

Ginger & David W. Warner

Scott & Charla Weiss

DeeDee & Gary West

Celebrating the arts and the joy they bring to life every day.

PNC is proud to be the Pops Season Sponsor and to support the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops. Thank you for helping to make the Greater Cincinnati region a beautiful place to call home.

SAT SEP 9, 7:30 pm

SUN SEP 10, 2 pm

Music Hall

THE PRINCESS BRIDE IN CONCERT SARAH HICKS, conductor

ACT III COMMUNICATIONS Presents A REINER/SCHEINMAN Production

WILLIAM GOLDMAN’S

CARY ELWES • MANDY PATINKIN • CHRIS SARANDON CHRISTOPHER GUEST • WALLACE SHAWN • ANDRE THE GIANT

Introducing ROBIN WRIGHT

Special Appearances by PETER FALK and BILLY CRYSTAL

Production Designed by NORMAN GARWOOD

Director of Photography

ADRIAN BIDDLE

Music by MARK

Executive Producer NORMAN LEAR

Screenplay by WILLIAM GOLDMAN

Produced by ANDREW SCHEINMAN and ROB REINER

Directed by ROB REINER

Today’s performance lasts approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes, including a 20-minute intermission. The performance is a presentation of the complete film The Princess Bride with a live performance of the movie’s entire score, including music played by the orchestra during the end credits. Out of respect for the musicians and your fellow audience members, please remain seated until the conclusion of the performance. ©Princess Bride, Ltd. All rights reserved.

Original musical score composed by Mark Knopfler ©1987 Straitjacket Songs Ltd. Used by permission. All rights reserved. “Storybook Love” written by Willy DeVille ©1987 Jockamo Music. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra is grateful to Pops Season Sponsor PNC

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is grateful for the support of the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation and the Nina Browne Parker Trust, and for the thousands of people who give generously to the ArtsWave Community Campaign, the region’s primary source for arts funding. This project was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust

A Note From the Composer

To have been a part of The Princess Bride gives me enormous pride and joy. To me, the picture has never lost an ounce of its freshness and charm. I couldn’t be more delighted to see it finding more devotees around the world with every passing year.

Now, to hear the score in the hands of a brilliant orchestral arranger, conductor and players, is an added privilege. I hope you have a wonderful evening in their company along with the many memories the film has created.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

The Princess Bride in Concert is produced by Film Concerts Live!, a joint venture of IMG Artists, LLC and The Gorfaine/Schwartz Agency, Inc.

Producers: Steven A. Linder and Jamie Richardson

Director of Operations: Rob Stogsdill

Production Manager: Sophie Greaves

Production Assistant: Katherine Miron

Worldwide Representation: IMG Artists, LLC

Technical Director: Mike Runice

Music Composed by Mark Knopfler

“Storybook Love” written by Willy DeVille

Musical Score Adapted and Orchestrated for Live Performance by Mark Graham

Music Preparation: Jo Ann Kane Music Service

Film Preparation for Concert Performance: Epilogue Media

Technical Consultant: Laura Gibson

Sound Remixing for Concert Performance: Chace Audio by Deluxe

The score for The Princess Bride has been specially adapted for live concert performance.

With special thanks to: Norman Lear, Mark Knopfler, Julie Dyer, David Nochimson, Paul Crockford, Sherry Elbe, James Harman, Peter Raleigh, Trevor Motycka, Bethany Brinton, Matt Voogt, Adam Michalak, Alex Levy, Adam Witt, and the musicians and sta of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra.

SAT SEP 16, 8 pm

SUN SEP 17, 2 pm

Music Hall

MEMBERS

ACT I

KEVIN ZAKRESKY, conductor

OF THE MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS, Robert Porco, director

Produced by JASON MICHAEL PAUL and RYAN HAMLYN

Opening from The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion 2007 Suite

Introduction and the Call to Adventure

Journey

Refusal of the Call

Mass E ect

Supernatural Aid

Guild Wars 2 Suite

The Crossing of the First Threshold

BioShock

The Belly of the Whale

The Elder Scrolls: Blades

The Road of Trials

God of War: Ascension Main Theme

The Meeting with the Goddess

Final Fantasy: Terra’s Theme

The Temptress

Portal 2 Variations

Composer/Arranger

Jeremy Soule, orch. Robert Pu

Austin Wintory, orch. Andy Brick

Jack Wall, orch. Robert Pu

Leif Chappelle, Maclaine Diemer, Stan LePard and Jeremy Soule, orch. Stan LePard

Gary Schyman, orch. Robert Pu

Inon Zur, orch. Paul D. Taylor

Tyler Bates, orch. Robert Pu

Nobuo Uematsu, orch. Shota Nakama

Mike Morasky & J.S. Bach, orch. Geo Knorr & Andy Brick

INTERMISSION

The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra is grateful to Pops Season Sponsor PNC

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is grateful for the support of the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation and the Nina Browne Parker Trust, and for the thousands of people who give generously to the ArtsWave Community Campaign, the region’s primary source for arts funding. This project was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust

ACT II

Atonement with the Father

Metal Gear Solid IV Harry Gregson-Williams & Nobuko Toda, orch. Shota Nakama

Apotheosis

Chrono Suite Yasunori Mitsuda, orch. Adam Klemens

The Ultimate Boon

Starfield Suite Inon Zur, orch. Paul D. Taylor

Refusal of the Return

Dragon Age Inon Zur, orch. Paul D. Taylor

The Magic Flight

Castlevania Medley Kinuyo Yamashita, Masahiro Ikariko, Michiru Yamane & Oscar Araujo, orch. C. Seiter

Rescue from Without Shadow of the Colossus Kow Otani, orch. Nic Raine

Crossing the Return Threshold

Fallout Suite Inon Zur, orch. Paul D. Taylor

Master of Two Worlds

Halo Medley Marty O’Donnell & Michael Salvatori, orch. Andy Brick and Arnie Roth

Music for the Narrations is from the game Dear Esther Jessica Curry, orch. Andy Brick

Narrations spoken by Nigel Carrington

Soloists from the Chorus: Christin Sears, soprano; Megan Lawson, mezzo-soprano

— Choose ANY 4 OR MORE POPS CONCERTS AND SAVE!

John Morris Russell, conductor

Stephen Schwartz, piano and host

Shaleah Adkisson, vocalist

Scott Coulter, vocalist

Debbie Gravitte, vocalist

Michael McCorry Rose, vocalist

John Boswell, piano

Grammy and Oscar-winning composer and musical icon Stephen Schwartz joins conductor John Morris Russell and the Pops for performances of his exquisite songs, featuring selections from Pippin, Godspell, Pochahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Children of Eden, Wicked, and more.

Selections will be announced from the stage.

There will be one 20-minute intermission.

FRI SEP 22, 7:30 pm

SAT SEP 23, 7:30 pm

SUN SEP 24, 2 pm

Music Hall

For more information about this program, please text PROGRAM to 513.845.3024*.

The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra is grateful to Pops Season Sponsor PNC

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is grateful for the support of the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation and the Nina Browne Parker Trust, and for the thousands of people who give generously to the ArtsWave Community Campaign, the region’s primary source for arts funding. This project was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust

*By texting to this number, you may receive messages that pertain to the organization and its performances; msg & data rates may apply. Reply HELP to help, STOP to cancel.

SAT SEP 30, 7:30 pm

SUN OCT 1, 2 pm

Music Hall

CHRISTIAN REIF, conductor CLARA-JUMI KANG, violin

Manuel de FALLA Interlude and Spanish Dance (1876–1946) from La vida breve (“The Brief Life”)

Sergei PROKOFIEV Concerto No. 2 in G Minor for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 62 (1891–1953) Allegro moderato Andante assai Allegro, ben marcato

INTERMISSION

Igor STRAVINSKY Le Sacre du printemps (“The Rite of Spring”) (1882–1971) Part I: The Adoration of the Earth Part II: The Sacrifice

These performances are approximately 110 minutes long, including intermission.

The CSO is grateful to CSO Season Sponsor Western & Southern Financial Group and Presenting Sponsor The Ladislas & Vilma Segoe Family Foundation

The Ladislas & Vilma Segoe Family Foundation

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is grateful for the support of the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation and the Nina Browne Parker Trust, and for the thousands of people who give generously to the ArtsWave Community Campaign, the region’s primary source for arts funding. This project was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts

Pre-Concert Talks are made possible by an endowed gift from Melody Sawyer Richardson

WGUC is the Media Partner for these concerts.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust

n Composed: 1904–05

n Premiere: April 1, 1913 in Nice, France

n Instrumentation:

2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, castanets, crash cymbals, glockenspiel, triangle, 2 harps, celeste, strings

n CSO notable performances: First: January 1987, Jesús López Cobos conducting. Most Recent: February 2008 for a special concert (Fine Arts Fund Weekend Sampler), Eric Dudley conducting.

Recording: Falla: The ThreeCornered Hat (1987), Jesús López Cobos conducting

n Duration: approx.

8 minutes

MANUEL de FALLA

Born: November 23, 1876, Cádiz, Spain

Died: November 14, 1946, Alta Gracia, Argentina

Interlude and Spanish Dance from La vida breve (“The Brief Life”)

Between 1900 and 1902, while he was still a student at the Barcelona Conservatory, Falla wrote a series of five zarzuelas, the traditional form of popular Spanish musical theater mixing music and spoken dialogue whose origins trace back to the 17th century, but the works excited little interest, and only Los amores de la Inés (“Sweethearts of Inés”) was staged (Madrid, April 12, 1902). In 1904, the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid announced a competition for a new “Spanish lyrical drama,” and Falla eagerly applied. Performance of the winning entry was implied by the publicity materials, and Falla hoped that the receipts, should his opera be chosen, would fund his long-standing desire to study in Paris. He chose a successful writer of zarzuela librettos (and a fellow native of Cádiz), Carlos Fernández-Shaw, to supply the text. As the scores had to be submitted “before sunset” on March 31, 1905, Falla set quickly to work, but his schedule became complicated when José Tragó, his old Conservatory teacher, convinced him to enter a piano contest sponsored by the instrument manufacturers Ortiz y Cussó—planned to begin the day after the deadline for the opera submissions! Falla decided that he had little chance in the piano competition, and he concentrated instead during the following months on the new opera, titled La vida breve (“The Brief Life”). He finished the work just in time, and then returned to his piano practice, grateful that he would be among the last to perform at the two-week competition. He worked furiously on the required pieces—a Bach fugue, a Beethoven sonata, and compositions by Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Saint-Saëns—and played with such emotion and intensity at his recital that one of the judges was moved to tears. He placed first in that competition and, a few months later, learned that La vida breve had been chosen as the winning entry in the Academy contest. His elation turned to frustration, however, when he was informed that, owing to some illdefined administrative problem, the new opera would not be staged. He reluctantly went back to teaching piano lessons and saved enough money during the following months to finance his trip to Paris. In the summer of 1907, he set out for the French capital with the score of La vida breve tucked into his luggage, planning to stay a week. He did not return to Spain for seven years. La vida breve was finally premiered on April 1, 1913, when it was successfully staged at the Casino at Nice.

Suzanne Demarquez outlined the stark plot of La vida breve in her biography of Falla:

A Gypsy girl, Salud, lives with her grandmother and her aunt in the Albaïcin quarter of Granada. She has been seduced by Paco, a fashionable young man. Both have sworn eternal love, but Paco has deserted Salud for a rich novia [i.e., fiancée], Carmela, whom he plans to marry. On the day of the wedding, Salud, followed by her relations, appears in the middle of the wedding feast, reproaches her lover for his unscrupulous conduct, and falls dead at his feet.

The Interlude and Dance from La vida breve not only suggest the opera’s Andalusian setting but also distill the essence of Falla’s Spanish musical nationalism.

SERGEI PROKOFIEV

Born: April 23, 1891, Sontsovka, Ekaterinoslav, Russia

Died: March 5, 1953, Moscow

Concerto No. 2 in G Minor for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 63

1934 was a year of indecision for Prokofiev. He spent a large part of it visiting Russia, yet respect for his work was becoming especially high in the West. He was, for example, elected to honorary membership in the Academy of Music in Rome. And, as a result of his growing fame, he was asked by a group of French musicians to compose a violin concerto for the famous virtuoso Robert Soetens. The composer was torn between remaining in the West to take advantage of his rising fame and returning to the homeland he had left 16 years earlier.

He knew full well that to move back to Russia would affect his musical style, because the brilliant, hard driving, powerful works he had been writing while living in Paris would never satisfy the official Soviet requirements for art. Russian music was supposed to be readily accessible, melodic and consonant.

The Second Violin Concerto became a transitional work. The first movement was composed in Paris, while the remaining movements were written after Prokofiev’s return to Russia. Stylistically, however, the concerto is typical of his Soviet period, in that it is lyrical, tonal, relatively consonant, and simplified.

Despite returning to Russia, the composer was still able to make extensive concert tours. Consequently, the concerto was composed in hotel rooms in a variety of European cities. The premiere took place on Prokofiev’s and Soetens’ tour of Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

When Soetens premiered the concerto in Madrid, Prokofiev was accorded a standing ovation by both audience and orchestra. Later a special delegation was sent to the composer to express appreciation for his having allowed the work to be played first in Spain.

The first movement is cast in a traditional sonata form, except that the usual opposition between a dramatic first theme and a lyrical second theme is not evident. Both themes are lyrical. Nonetheless, there is drama, as well as excitement and virtuosity, in the transitional and developmental passages. As the development section is remarkably straightforward, it is easy to follow the two themes through their various transformations. Prokofiev’s concern with accessibility is clear throughout the concerto.

The second movement, like the first, is predominantly lyrical, with the solo instrument seldom silent. Again, Prokofiev makes the main theme’s transformations easy to follow. Many of the textures derive from the opening opposition of staccato (short note) accompaniment and legato (smoothly connected) solo line. At the very end these roles are reversed, as the violin plays a pizzicato accompaniment to the lyrical tune in the cellos, horns and clarinets.

In contrast to the earlier movements, the finale is brash, a bit sarcastic, almost demonic—certainly not lyrical. As earlier, the solo instrument plays nearly constantly. There are no cadenzas. Despite the lack of outright lyricism, the music is melodic, as befits a concerto by a proper Soviet composer. Dance rhythms abound, and several times the music almost becomes a waltz. There are also exciting rhythmic and metric asymmetries, such as the passage in 7/4 time that is heard twice.

Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto was written nearly 20 years after his First. Comparisons are instructive. What is surprising is that the two works are not more different, considering the avant-garde music the composer was creating in the intervening years. Although there are certain stylistic differences, they share the idea of lyricism contrasted with harshness.

n Composed: 1935

n Premiere: December 1, 1935, Madrid, Enrique Arbós conducting; Robert Soetens, violin

n Instrumentation: solo violin, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, bass drum, castanets, snare drum, suspended cymbals, triangle, strings

n CSO notable performances: First: December 1938 Eugene Goossens conducting with violinist Jascha Heifetz.

Most Recent: March 2019 Louis Langrée conducting with violinist Esther Yoo.

n Duration: approx. 27 minutes

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 Composed: 1910–13, revised in 1921 and 1943

 Premiere: May 29, 1913 in Paris, Pierre Monteux conducting

 Instrumentation: 3 flutes (incl. piccolo), piccolo, alto flute, 4 oboes (incl. English horn), English horn, 3 clarinets (incl. bass clarinet), bass clarinet, E-flat clarinet, 4 bassoons (incl. contrabassoon), contrabassoon, 8 horns (incl. 2 Wagner tubas), piccolo trumpet in D, 4 trumpets in C (incl. E-flat bass trumpet), 3 trombones, 2 tubas, 2 timpani, antique cymbals, bass drum, crash cymbals, guiro, tam-tam, tambourine, triangle, strings,

 CSO notable performances: First: April 1936, Eugene Goossens conducting. Most Recent: September 2018, Louis Langrée conducting. Other: November 1940, Igor Stravinsky conducting; November 1987, Iván Fischer conducting.

 Duration: approx. 33 minutes

The First Concerto was composed while Prokofiev was preparing to leave Russia, the Second upon his return. Thus the two works form an appropriate frame around the composer’s Parisian period.

IGOR STRAVINSKY

Born: June 17, 1882, Oranienbaum, near St. Petersburg

Died: April 6, 1971, New York City

Le Sacre du printemps (“The Rite of Spring”)

Stravinsky’s conception for the epochal The Rite of Spring came to him as he was finishing The Firebird in 1910. He had a vision of “a solemn pagan rite; wise elders, seated in a circle, watching a young girl dance herself to death. They were sacrificing her to propitiate the god of spring.” Stravinsky knew that his friend Nicholas Roerich, an archeologist and an authority on the ancient Slavs, would be interested in his idea. Stravinsky also shared the vision with Serge Diaghilev, impresario of the Ballets Russes, the company that had commissioned The Firebird. All three men were excited by the possibilities of the project—Diaghilev promised a production and encouraged Stravinsky to begin work immediately. Having just nearly exhausted himself with the rigors of completing and staging The Firebird, however, Stravinsky decided to compose a Konzertstück for piano and orchestra as relaxation before undertaking his pagan ballet. This little “concert piece,” however, grew into the ballet Petrushka, and he could not return to The Rite until the summer of 1911.

“What I was trying to convey in The Rite,” said Stravinsky, “was the surge of spring, the magnificent upsurge of nature reborn.” Inspired by childhood memories of the coming of spring to Russia (“which seemed to begin in an hour and was like the whole earth cracking,” he remembered), he worked with Roerich to devise a libretto that would, in Roerich’s words, “present a number of scenes of earthly joy and celestial triumph as understood by the ancient Slavs.” Stravinsky labored feverishly on the score through the winter of 1911–1912, and Diaghilev scheduled the premiere for May 1913. The performance created a sensation (and a nearriot), and The Rite’s position in the repertory was soon secured.

Robert Lawrence, in The Victor Book of Ballet, provided the following summary of the stage action:

The plot deals with archaic Russian tribes and their worship of the gods of the harvest and fertility. These primitive peoples assemble for their yearly ceremonies, play their traditional games, and finally select a virgin to be sacrificed to the gods of Spring so that the crops and tribes may flourish. There is a prelude in which the composer evokes the primitive past. Insistent, barbaric rhythms are heard, shifting accent with almost every bar. The first rites of Spring are being celebrated, and a group of adolescents appears. They dance until other members of the tribe enter. Then the full round of ceremonies gets under way: a mock abduction, games of the rival tribes, the procession of the Sage, and the thunderous dance of the Earth. The curtain falls, and there is a soft interlude representing the pagan night. Soon the tribal meeting place is seen again. It is dark and the adolescents circle mysteriously in preparation for the choice of the virgin to be sacrificed to the gods. Their dance is interrupted, and one of the girls is marked for the tribal o ering. The others begin a wild orgy glorifying the Chosen One and— in a barbaric ritual—call on the shades of their ancestors. Finally the supreme moment of the ceremony arrives: the ordeal of the Chosen One. It is the maiden’s duty to dance until she perishes from exhaustion. Throughout the dance, the music gathers power until it ends with a crash as the Maiden dies.

WED OCT 4, 7:30 pm Music

SAMUEL LEE, conductor DANIEL WILEY, conductor

Giuseppe Los Huesos de Yayael (“The Bones of Yayael”) GALLO-BALMA (b. 1994)

Joseph SOWA Summer Has Ten Thousand Stars (b. 1984)

Martin HEBEL Radiant Pillars (b. 1990)

Leyou WANG Impressions from Tianqiao (b. 1992)

ABOUT EARSHOT

EarShot is the nation’s first systemic program for building relationships between orchestras and emerging composers, and is facilitated through Readings, CoLABoratory Fellowships, Commissions and Professional Development. EarShot expands the definition of American orchestral music to ensure a vibrant and inclusive future, and is a program of the American Composers Orchestra completed in partnership with American Composers Forum, the League of American Orchestras, and New Music USA. Composers for EarShot Readings are selected through an open call with no fee or age limit; more information on EarShot Readings and all of ACO’s EarShot programs can be found at americancomposers.org

Read more about the EarShot program on pp. 21–23.

This performance is approximately 60 minutes long.

The CSO is grateful to CSO Season Sponsor Western & Southern Financial Group EarShot is made possible by a generous gift from Irwin & Melinda Simon

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is grateful for the support of the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation and the Nina Browne Parker Trust, and for the thousands of people who give generously to the ArtsWave Community Campaign, the region’s primary source for arts funding. This project was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust

GIUSEPPE GALLO-BALMA

Born: 1994, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Los Huesos de Yayael (“The Bones of Yayael”)

Giuseppe Gallo-Balma has been commissioned by the CSU Philharmonic, hornist Lucas Testin, the CSU Flute Choir and Percussion Ensemble, and bassoonist Traian Sturza. His music has been performed by JACK Quartet, Transient Canvas, Re(a)d Trio and newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, and has been featured on the radio show Sound Currents (KCUR/NPR). As the son of Haitian and Italian immigrants raised in the Dominican Republic, Gallo-Balma seeks to bring an amalgamation of these three distinct cultures to the foreground of his music; he also takes special interest in the musical aspects of Indigenous and Afro-Caribbean communities.

Composer’s Note: The Bones of Yayael for Orchestra uses elements from Dominican and Haitian folklore, such as rhythms taken directly from the Afro-Latiné communities (mainly from Haitian voodoo drumming), combined with melodic lines that imitate the Taíno way of singing and playing.

In the Caribbean Taíno culture there is a tale that describes the formation of the seas. The tale talks about a man named Yaya, whose son, Yayael, plots to kill him. In order to avoid his demise at the hands of his son, Yaya kills Yayael instead. Yaya places the remains of his son in a gourd, where the bones turn into fish. One day, a zemi (a Taíno ancestral spirit) named Deminán and his three brothers walk into Yaya’s house with the intention of stealing and eating the fish. Deminán accidentally drops the gourd and breaks it. The water and the fish that come out of the gourd fill up the earth, leading to the creation of the seas.

This piece is a depiction of the moments right before, during and after the gourd breaks. Through a cumulative process using a set of numbers derived from a Fibonacci sequence, the ensemble gradually grows in intensity. It builds up to a climax right at the moment where the gourd is dropped and breaks, leading to a resolution of the piece that depicts the earth being filled with water and life.

JOSEPH SOWA

Born: 1984, Provo, Utah

Summer Has Ten Thousand Stars

Joseph Sowa draws on diverse influences—from linguistics to plainchant to American football—to create music focused on detailed textures and vivid colors. His music has been performed by professionals and amateurs alike, including groups such as Hub New Music, Collage New Music, Ensemble Dal Niente, the Genesis Chamber Singers, the Ludovico Ensemble the PRISM Quartet, and middle schools and high schools across North America. The founder of the Wizarding School for Composers, Sowa has received awards from ASCAP, the American Prize and the Barlow Endowment, and he holds a doctorate in Music Composition and Theory from Brandeis University.

Composer’s Note: Summer Has Ten Thousand Stars was inspired by two poems. The first, “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” by Walt Whitman, expresses how experience can be so much more stirring than facts:

When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

The second, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth, fleshed out that image from Whitman and inspired my piece’s title: “Continuous as the stars that shine / And twinkle on the milky way, / …Ten thousand saw I at a glance.”

The piece seeks to capture the wonder of staring into the star-filled sky on a dark summer night: the adventure of driving up into the canyon, the stillness of watching the stars come out in silence, and the excitement of being connected to nature.

MARTIN HEBEL

Born: 1990, New Haven, Connecticut Radiant

Pillars

Six-time American Prize winner and 2020 recipient of the Presser Foundation’s Graduate Music Award, composer Martin Hebel works at the intersection of music, advocacy and interdisciplinary collaboration. He responds to challenges of today’s global community with socially conscious compositions exploring the common ground of shared experiences—such as inequity and conflict—to spark positive change through music. Hebel’s current project, Uplifting Unheard Voices, amplifies the voices of migrants and refugees he interviewed by setting their words to music. Hebel’s portfolio includes orchestral and wind ensemble works, instrumental and vocal chamber music, and multi-media compositions involving video projection and electronics, as well as collaborations with a diverse range of other artists.

Composer’s Note: Radiant Pillars is an abstract reflection on two scientific observations that expanded our understanding of the universe: the Hubble telescope image, “Pillars of Creation,” showing stars forming from massive clouds of gas and dust, and the discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background, the edge of the universe still expanding from the Big Bang.

Radiant Pillars begins with light, gently reverberating motives and delicate fragments that contrast with darker, colossal columns, illuminated by cascades of vivid, intense color. Bright, vibrant flourishes follow, building a torrent of energy as Radiant Pillars culminates in an immense explosion. Finally, clear, gentle fragments return, echoing as they fade away.

LEYOU WANG

Born: 1992, Beijing, China Impressions

from Tianqiao

In 2020, Leyou Wang was accepted on full scholarship into the DMA program of the University of Missouri Kansas City and, during his study, several of his orchestral pieces have been performed, under his baton, by professional orchestras including the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. His symphonic piece The Battle of Shantsuguan won the 2015 Winter Kompolize Award for composition, and he led the premiere given by the Lietze Orchestra in the Linden Church, the Berlin Broadcasting House (Große Sall des BBR). Since then, multiple orchestral pieces of his have been performed by professional orchestras in Germany, mostly under his direction, and recent awards include the Lei Cine Film Scoring Competition (2021) and the Dr. Gerald Kemner Prize for orchestra composition (2022).

Composer’s Note: With Impressions from Tianqiao, the composer tries to paint a picture of Beijing Tianqiao marketplace in the olden days, where street artists and buskers would present a wide variety of performances, from singing and talking (quyi shuochang) to acrobatics.

The piece is in traditional sonata form. The primary theme is melodious and was inspired by the singing of Chinese quyi. The secondary theme is a dance movement and imitates the acrobatic performances. The exposition ends in a fiery Allegro that demonstrates the lively atmosphere at Tianqiao. The three themes presented in the exposition are then freely developed. The recapitulation begins with the secondary theme and the primary theme, which appears later, becomes the climax of the entire piece. The recap of the Allegro brings the piece to a sudden and violent stop.

FRI OCT 6, 7:30 pm |

LOUIS LANGRÉE, conductor

CLAYTON STEPHENSON, piano

KAYDEN KELLY, piano

JOSHUA MHOON, piano

Piotr Ilyich

Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 23

Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso. Allegro con spirito (1840–1893)

TCHAIKOVSKY

Andantino semplice. Prestissimo. Andante semplice

Allegro con fuoco

Clayton Stephenson, pianist

Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major for Piano and Orchestra (1811–1886)

Franz LISZT

Allegro maestoso

Quasi adagio. Allegretto vivace. Allegro animato—

Allegro marziale animato

Kayden Kelly, pianist

INTERMISSION

Concerto No. 2 in C Minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 18 RACHMANINOFF Moderato (1873–1943)

Sergei

Adagio sostenuto

Allegro scherzando

Joshua Mhoon, pianist

This performance is approximately 125 minutes long, including intermission.

The CSO is grateful to CSO Season Sponsor Western & Southern Financial Group

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is grateful for the support of the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation and the Nina Browne Parker Trust, and for the thousands of people who give generously to the ArtsWave Community Campaign, the region’s primary source for arts funding. This project was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust

PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY

Born: May 7, 1840, Votkinsk, Russia

Died: November 6, 1893, St. Petersburg

Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 23

At the end of 1874, Tchaikovsky began a piano concerto with the hope of having a success great enough to allow him to leave his irksome teaching post at the Moscow Conservatory. By late December, he had largely sketched out the work, and he sought the advice of Nikolai Rubinstein, Director of the Moscow Conservatory and an excellent pianist. Tchaikovsky reported the interview in a letter:

On Christmas Eve 1874, Nikolai asked me to play the Concerto in a classroom of the Conservatory. We agreed to it. I played through the work. There burst forth from Rubinstein’s mouth a mighty torrent of words. It appeared that my Concerto was utterly worthless, absolutely unplayable; the piece as a whole was bad, trivial, vulgar.

Tchaikovsky was furious, and he stormed out of the classroom. He made only one change in the score: he obliterated the name of the original dedicatee—Nikolai Rubinstein—and substituted that of the virtuoso pianist Hans von Bülow, who was performing Tchaikovsky’s piano pieces across Europe. Bülow gladly accepted the dedication and asked to program the premiere on his upcoming American tour. The Concerto created such a sensation when it was first heard, in Boston on October 25, 1875, that Bülow played it on 139 of his 172 concerts that season. (Remarkably, Tchaikovsky’s Second Piano Concerto was also premiered in this country, by Madeleine Schiller and the New York Philharmonic Society conducted by Theodore Thomas on November 12, 1881.)

Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto opens with the familiar theme of the introduction, a sweeping melody nobly sung by violins and cellos above thunderous chords from the piano. Following a decrescendo and a pause, the piano presents the snapping main theme. (Tchaikovsky said that this curious melody was inspired by a tune he heard sung by a blind beggar at a street fair.) The clarinet announces the lyrical, bittersweet second theme. The simplicity of the second movement’s three-part structure (A–B–A) is augured by the purity of its opening—a languid melody in the solo flute. The center of the movement is of very di erent character, with a quick tempo and a swift, balletic melody. The languid theme and moonlit mood of the first section return to round out the movement. The crisp rhythmic motive presented immediately at the beginning of the finale and then spun into a complete theme by the soloist dominates much of the movement. In the theme’s vigorous full-orchestra guise, it has much of the spirit of a robust Cossack dance. To balance the vigor of this music, Tchaikovsky introduced a romantic melody first entrusted to the violins. The dancing Cossacks repeatedly advance upon this bit of tenderness, which shows a hardy determination. The two themes contend, but the flying Cossacks have the last word.

 Composed: 1874–75; revised in 1889

 Premiere: October 25, 1875 in Boston, Benjamin Johnson Lang conducting a freelance orchestra; Hans von Bülow, piano

 Instrumentation: solo piano, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, strings

 Duration: approx. 32 minutes

n Composed: He began the First Concerto in 1839 and revised it continually for the next several years.

n Premiere: February 17, 1855 at Weimar Castle, Hector Berlioz conducting; Franz Liszt, piano

n Instrumentation: solo piano, 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, crash cymbals, triangle, strings

n Duration: approx. 19 minutes

FRANZ LISZT

Born: October 22, 1811, Raiding Austria, not far from Vienna

Died: July 31, 1886, Bayreuth, Germany

Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major for Piano and Orchestra

Liszt was a man of contradictions, many of which long served to obscure his true significance. He was an extraordinarily original artist, yet he composed outright potboilers as well as pieces of great beauty and sensitivity. That some of his more obvious works have frequently been heard on pops concerts has assured him a following today, but such compositions represent only one side of his art. Many of his works are sophisticated, subtle, subjective statements by a composer far ahead of his time. His two piano concertos, composed virtually simultaneously over a period of some 20 years, exemplify this contrast. The First Concerto, an overt work, full of bravura and virtuosity, has been a traditional favorite with audiences as well as pianists. The less frequently performed Second is more intimate and more personal. It shows the subjective side of Liszt’s complex personality.

Liszt was the greatest pianist of his age. He virtually invented the kind of pianistic virtuosity that is still with us today. He thought up and perfected any number of dazzling keyboard techniques. As he had no models among pianists, he based his craft on that of the great violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini. Paganini showed Liszt how to hold an audience spellbound by sheer technique and how to cultivate a stage presence and a public personality that guaranteed an enraptured following. Like Paganini, Liszt had to write his own display pieces, because there was no previous music that called for the soloist to use his instrument in the way Liszt had taught himself to do. His early compositions are vehicles of virtuosity, and his early career was that of a traveling virtuoso performing keyboard acrobatics before enthralled crowds. It mattered little that these compositions were often musically shallow: their purpose was to display a new technique, and they succeeded completely in doing just that.

At the height of his career as a concert pianist, he retired suddenly from public life. He was 37. Ironically, his retirement came at just the time when railroads began to make the life of a touring artist far easier. Nonetheless, Liszt never again performed in public. He continued to teach piano students, particularly enjoying the young women who came to learn from him, but he no longer accepted any fees for teaching. He devoted himself to composition, which he had neglected during the preceding decade.

The late compositions of Liszt are forward-looking. While Wagner had consciously striven for a “music of the future” that turned out to be very much a music of the present, Liszt actually anticipated several important features of 20th-century music. Some of his late piano pieces display an almost Debussyan impressionism: they often contain unresolved dissonances that function as pure sonorities rather than as participants in harmonic progressions. He even abandoned tonality. One of his late works is called Bagatelle without Tonality (this work was first published in 1956). He anticipated Schoenberg in the opening of his Faust Symphony, which is virtually a 12-tone row. And, in many of his larger works, he developed a technique that nurtured the majority of composers of the early part of our century—thematic transformation.

This procedure, which is beautifully realized in the First Piano Concerto, involves the derivation of many different themes from one or two basic melodies. The result may be called a self-generating form—the possibilities

for transformation of a given theme determine the character of subsequent sections. Thematic transformation lies between the traditional approaches of development and variation. It is akin to what Schoenberg called “developing variation.” Composer Humphrey Searle describes the process of thematic transformation as follows:

A basic theme recurs throughout a work, but it undergoes constant transformations and disguises, and is made to appear in several contrasting roles; it may even be in augmentation or diminution, or in a different rhythm, or even with different harmonies; but it will always serve the structural purpose of unity within variety. The technique was of supreme importance to Liszt, interested as he was in the “cyclic” forms and the problem of rolling together several movements into one.

SERGEI RACHMANINOFF

Born: April 1, 1873, Oneg (near Novgorod), Russia

Died: March 28, 1943, Beverly Hills, California

Concerto No. 2 in C Minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 18

When he was old and as mellow as he would ever get, Rachmaninoff wrote these words about his early years: “Although I had to fight for recognition, as most younger men must, although I have experienced all the troubles and sorrow which precede success, and although I know how important it is for an artist to be spared such troubles, I realize, when I look back on my early life, that it was enjoyable, in spite of all its vexations and bitterness.” The greatest “bitterness” of Rachmaninoff’s career was the total failure of the Symphony No. 1 at its premiere in 1897, a traumatic disappointment that thrust him into such a mental depression that he suffered a complete nervous collapse.

An aunt of Rachmaninoff, Varvara Satina, had recently been successfully treated for an emotional disturbance by a certain Dr. Nicholas Dahl, a Moscow physician who was familiar with the latest psychiatric discoveries in France and Vienna, and it was arranged that Rachmaninoff should visit him. Years later, in his memoirs, the composer recalled the malady and the treatment:

[Following the performance of the First Symphony,] something within me snapped. A paralyzing apathy possessed me. I did nothing at all and found no pleasure in anything. Half my days were spent on a couch sighing over my ruined life. My only occupation consisted in giving a few piano lessons to keep myself alive.

For more than a year, Rachmaninoff’s condition persisted. He began his daily visits to Dr. Dahl in January 1900.

My relatives had informed Dr. Dahl that he must by all means cure me of my apathetic condition and bring about such results that I would again be able to compose. Dahl had inquired what kind of composition was desired of me, and he was informed “a concerto for pianoforte.”

In consequence, I heard repeated, day after day, the same hypnotic formula, as I lay half somnolent in an armchair in Dr. Dahl’s consulting room: “You will start to compose a concerto—You will work with the greatest of ease—The composition will be of excellent quality.” Always it was the same, without interruption.... Although it may seem impossible to believe, this treatment really helped me. I started to compose again at the beginning of the summer.

n Composed: 1900–01

n Premiere: October 14, 1901 in Moscow, Alexander Siloti conducting; Sergei Rachmaninoff, piano

n Instrumentation: solo piano, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, crash cymbals, strings

n Duration: approx. 35 minutes

For more information about this program, please text PROGRAM to 513.845.3024*.

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In gratitude, he dedicated the new Concerto to Dr. Dahl.

The C Minor Concerto begins with eight bell-tone chords from the solo piano that herald the surging main theme, announced by the strings. A climax is achieved before a sudden drop in intensity makes way for the arching second theme, initiated by the soloist. The development, concerned largely with the first theme, is propelled by a martial rhythm that continues with undiminished energy into the recapitulation. The second theme returns in the horn before the martial mood is reestablished to close the movement. The Adagio is a long-limbed nocturne with a running commentary of sweeping figurations from the piano. The finale resumes the marching rhythmic motion of the first movement with its introduction and bold main theme. Standing in bold relief to this vigorous music is the lyrical second theme, one of the best-loved melodies in the entire orchestral literature, a grand inspiration in the ripest Romantic tradition. (Years ago, this melody was lifted from the Concerto by the tunesmiths of Tin Pan Alley and fitted with su ciently maudlin phrases to become the popular hit “Full Moon and Empty Arms.”) These two themes, the martial and the romantic, alternate for the remainder of the movement. The coda rises through a finely crafted line of mounting tension to bring the work to an electrifying close.

AUDRA McDONALD ANDY EINHORN, conductor

SUN OCT 8, 7:30 pm

Music Hall

Audra McDonald returns to the Music Hall stage, after her sold-out performance with the Pops in 2018! The winner of a record-breaking six Tony Awards, two Grammys, an Emmy and the National Medal of Arts, Audra is unparalleled in her versatility as both a singer and actor. Audra has appeared on the Broadway stage in Carousel, Ragtime and Sweeney Todd, and film and television credits include The Good Fight, Respect and The Gilded Age

Selections will be announced from the stage. There will be one 20-minute intermission.

The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra is grateful to Pops Season Sponsor PNC and Show Sponsor Pyro-Technical Investigations, Inc.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is grateful for the support of the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation and the Nina Browne Parker Trust, and for the thousands of people who give generously to the ArtsWave Community Campaign, the region’s primary source for arts funding. This project was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust

FRI OCT 13, 11 am SAT OCT 14, 7:30 pm Music Hall

LOUIS LANGRÉE, conductor GEORGE TAKEI, narrator

Leonard BERNSTEIN Overture to Candide (1918–1990)

Florence PRICE Symphony No. 1 (1888–1953) Allegro, ma non troppo Largo, maestoso Juba Dance Finale

INTERMISSION

Aaron COPLAND Lincoln Portrait (1900–1990)

Leonard BERNSTEIN Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront

These performances are approximately 125 minutes long, including intermission.

The CSO is grateful to CSO Season Sponsor Western & Southern Financial Group

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is grateful for the support of the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation and the Nina Browne Parker Trust, and for the thousands of people who give generously to the ArtsWave Community Campaign, the region’s primary source for arts funding. This project was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts

Pre-Concert Talks are made possible by an endowed gift from Melody Sawyer Richardson

WGUC is the Media Partner for these concerts.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust

LEONARD BERNSTEIN

Born: August 25, 1918, Lawrence, Massachusetts

Died: October 14, 1990, New York City

Overture to Candide

The story of Leonard Bernstein’s musical comedy—or operetta, or opera—Candide is convoluted and, in the end, not altogether happy—an unfortunate situation for an ebullient, madcap work whose Overture positively sparkles. Voltaire is ultimately to blame for the whole a air, since it was his novella Candide, ou l’Optimisme (1759) that inspired Bernstein to struggle for more than three decades to find the perfect way to translate it for the musical stage.

To Voltaire we owe the tale of the wide-eyed hero Candide, whose trips to distant points of the globe invariably turn into dismal misadventures, much though he may be assured by his idealistic tutor, Doctor Pangloss, that everything is for the best. He wrote his novella as a charming but persuasive rebuttal to the German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz’s metaphysical assertion that “All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.” This struck Voltaire as palpably absurd. What about blatant violence? What about shipwrecks? What about the Spanish Inquisition? Candide has to deal with them all in the course of this tale, and by the time he gets back to his native Westphalia he has become a wiser, if more cynical, young man, intent on finding happiness where he can, come what may, and content in just making his garden grow.

In the fall of 1953, Lillian Hellman suggested teaming up with Bernstein to develop a stage work based on Candide, after an earlier collaboration they had flirted with, on the subject of Eva Perón, had failed to take root. By January 1954, Bernstein was firmly committed to the project, which he initially envisioned as a full-scale three-act opera. Hellman began fashioning Voltaire’s volume into a book for the show, and John Latouche and Richard Wilbur were enlisted to pen the lyrics, although Hellman, Dorothy Parker and Bernstein himself all added further contributions to the script. Candide opened in New York on December 1, 1956 and played for 73 performances at the Martin Beck Theatre—which is to say, long enough to have proved in some measure respectable (and certainly long enough to pique the interest of many sophisticated music lovers), but not long enough to be considered a success by any stretch of Broadway’s imagination.

In the course of later emendations, Candide was transformed considerably, incorporating new material by figures including Hugh Wheeler and Stephen Sondheim. Bernstein was directly involved in at least seven versions of Candide, none of which proved definitive, although each had his blessing at least provisionally.

Through all the turmoil, the Candide Overture remained essentially untouched and,

 Composed: Completed in August 1956

 Premiere: October 29, 1956, in its first preview at the Colonial Theatre in Boston; the show reached Broadway on December 1 of that year, at the Martin Beck Theatre.

 Instrumentation (symphonic version played here): 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drums, crash cymbals, glockenspiel, snare drum, tenor drum, triangle, xylophone, harp, strings

 CSO notable performances: First: January 1962, Haig Yaghjian conducting. Most Recent: October 2017, Louis Langrée conducting. Other: European Tour in 2017, Louis Langrée conducting; Asian Tour in 2009, Paavo Järvi conducting; European Tour in 2001, Jesús López Cobos conducting; European Tour in 1969, Erich Kunzel conducting.

 Duration: approx. 5 minutes

n Composed: 1931–32

n Premiere: June 15, 1933, Frederick Stock conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Chicago World’s Fair.

n Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 piccolos, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, African drums, bass drum, chimes, crash cymbals, snare drum, suspended cymbals, triangle, wind whistle, celeste, strings

n CSO notable performances: These performances are the CSO premiere for the full symphony; mvt. 3 performed in fall of 2019 as part of a Young People’s Concert (conducted by François López-Ferrer) and at the Bond Hill Brady Block Party in 2023 (conducted by Jeri Lynne Johnson); mvt. 4 performed on the 2019 Classical Roots concert, John Morris Russell conducting.

n Duration: approx. 40 minutes

in 1956, Bernstein scaled up its instrumentation for a full symphony orchestra, for concert-hall use.

The Candide Overture draws principally on two vocal melodies prominent in the stage work. Following some can-can material and a theme that, in the show, occurs at the destruction of Candide’s native Westphalia, we hear a tender (though swiftly flowing) tune that will later resurface as the love duet “Oh, Happy We,” sung by Candide and his girlfriend, Cunegonde. Curiously, Bernstein had originally intended “Oh, Happy We” as a duet for the characters of Tony and Maria to sing in another show/operetta/opera that was gestating at the same time—but West Side Story is a different matter altogether, and the considerable trading off of material between those two very different works is a topic best saved for another time. Near the Overture’s end, after many a musical joke, Bernstein tips his hat to Rossini and has the orchestra repeat over and over, louder and louder, a little tune extracted from Cunegonde’s aria “Glitter and be Gay.”

FLORENCE PRICE

Born: April 9, 1888, Little Rock, Arkansas

Died: June 3, 1953, Chicago, Illinois

Symphony No. 1

“It is a faultless work,” observed Chicago music critic Eugene Stinson after the premiere of Florence Price’s Symphony in E Minor in June 1933, “a work that speaks its own message with restraint and yet with passion. Miss Price’s symphony is worthy of a place in the regular symphonic repertory.” Today, audiences around the world are rapidly discovering the truth of Stinson’s observations.

Florence Beatrice Price was just over 40 years old when she began writing her first orchestral music. Born into a prominent Black family in Little Rock, Arkansas, and educated at Boston’s New England Conservatory, she spent the first two decades of her professional career as a music educator at segregated academies in Arkansas and Georgia. Some of her earliest compositions were written with these students in mind. At the encouragement of her husband in the mid-1920s, Price submitted more ambitious works for solo piano to national competitions designed to support African American composers. Much to her delight, she took home several prizes.

Outside of this professional success, however, Price’s domestic life entered a period of sharp turmoil. Racist violence in Little Rock prompted the Prices and their two daughters to relocate to Chicago in 1927, while her husband’s threatening outbursts caused Florence to seek a divorce only a few years later. Fortunately, Price’s prizewinning reputation had preceded her, and a group of prominent African American musicians, including Maude Roberts George and Estella Bonds, offered professional, artistic and social support—a gesture scholar Samantha Ege has described as “extending the hand of Black women’s fellowship.” It was in this moment of profound transformation that Price began writing for orchestral forces.

Without strong contacts in the orchestra business, she composed two pieces—a tone poem called Ethiopia’s Shadow in America (1929) and the E Minor Symphony (1931–32)—on the gamble that she might eventually find a willing conductor. To that end, she chose to enter both pieces in a 1932 contest named after the department store magnate Rodman Wanamaker. The gamble paid off: the symphony won first prize, gaining the attention of Frederick Stock, longtime conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, who chose to premiere the symphony at a performance designed to highlight the achievements of African American

musicians. Extending the hand of fellowship once again, Maude Roberts George personally underwrote the concert.

The symphony itself follows the genre’s standard four-part outline, with two dramatic movements sandwiching a slow, introspective second movement and a dance-inspired third. Within this conventional frame, Price’s musical language pulls from diverse stylistic strands. The expansive first movement begins with an open-ended, questioning melody stated in the bassoons, which becomes the basis of a brief section that burns with the high drama of lush orchestral Romanticism in the strings and brass. A gentler melody in the French horn, appearing just before the three-minute mark, offers a sharp contrast. The rest of the movement moves between these two poles, with the searing heat of the opening taking the lead throughout.

The second and third movements are also a study in contrasts, but both share distinct roots in the folk music of the African diaspora. The contours of the brass chorale that opens the second movement resemble a spiritual, while distinctly evoking the sounds of a church organ, Price’s primary instrument. Underpinned by a pulse given by an “African drum,” this hymn-like music recurs in a structure that scholar Rae Linda Brown has connected to call-and-response practices found throughout the African diaspora. The quick third movement, on the other hand, is an orchestral portrait of the Juba, a rhythmically complex African-derived dance common in the antebellum South that involved percussive movements like hand clapping and foot tapping.

A whirlwind finale once again whips up the energy and drama of the first movement, bringing the symphony to a thrilling conclusion. Reporting on the June 1933 premiere, Robert Abbott, editor of the Chicago Defender, the city’s largest Black newspaper, remarked, “After the number was completed, the large auditorium, filled to the brim with music lovers of all races, rang out in applause for both the composer and the orchestral rendition.”

Abbott closed his remarks by adding, “As we listened to that concert, we took hope again that there may yet be real brotherhood in this land of ours.” Historian Kira Thurman has shown, however, that the racial harmony coalescing in this performance—an all-white orchestra performing music written by an African American woman to broad audience acclaim—did not extend beyond the concert hall doors during Price’s lifetime.

Despite Price’s prominence in several musical arenas, from the great contralto Marian Anderson’s international vocal performances to student piano recitals and university pep band concerts throughout the United States, her music did not find a place in the “regular repertory” that critic Eugene Stinson had envisioned. Orchestral opportunities dried up in the 1940s as conductors like Boston’s Serge Koussevitzky rebuffed Price’s requests for performances. When Price died suddenly of cardiac arrest in 1953, most of her manuscripts remained unpublished, leaving them relatively inaccessible for future performances.

One of Price’s daughters, Florence Louise Robinson, nevertheless worked tirelessly to preserve her mother’s legacy by seeking new performances, but she ran into the same discriminatory roadblocks that had affected Price herself. When Florence Louise died in 1975, the location of Price’s handwritten scores became a mystery outside her family—that is, except for the Symphony in E Minor and a handful of others, which Robinson had sent to an enterprising musicologist at the University of Arkansas in the months preceding her death.

Barbara Garvey Jackson (1929–2022), a specialist in music written by women, quickly became Price’s advocate and champion as she pursued further biographical research and even secured performances of the available orchestral music in the 1970s and 1980s. In April 1986, for example, the Northwest Arkansas Symphony Orchestra became perhaps the first ensemble to perform Price’s E Minor Symphony in the half-

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n Composed: 1942, on commission from conductor André Kostelanetz; text arranged by Copland from words by Abraham Lincoln.

n Premiere: May 14, 1942 by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Andre Kostelanetz conducting; William Adams, narrator

n Instrumentation: narrator, 2 flutes (incl. 2 piccolos), 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, crash cymbals, glockenspiel, sleigh bells, snare drum, suspended cymbals, tam-tam, xylophone, harp, celeste, strings

n CSO notable performances: First: World premiere, May 1942, Andre Kostelanetz conducting; William Adams, narrator (part of the Pension Fund Benefit Concert). First Subscription: February 1948, Thor Johnson conducting; Peter Grant, narrator. Most Recent: Fall 2017 European Tour, Louis Langrée conducting and Leilani Barrett, narrator; April 1976, Aaron Copland conducting and Ray Middleton narrator. Recording: Hallowed Ground (2014), Louis Langrée conducting; Dr. Maya Angelou, narrator.

n Duration: approx. 14 minutes

century after its premiere. Jackson was soon joined by another profoundly influential scholar, Rae Linda Brown (1953–2017), who became a singular authority on Price during her distinguished career.

Miraculously, in 2009, two northern Illinois property hunters named Vicki and Darrell Gatwood stumbled upon a weather-damaged property that contained dozens of pristine handwritten copies of Price’s scores. As it turns out, this property was once Price’s summer home and had fallen into disuse after her daughter’s death. These manuscripts were eventually acquired by the University of Arkansas, where they became available for further use and performance in 2015. From that moment on, scholars and performers have enjoyed access to Price’s scores—a situation bolstered by international publishing giant G. Schirmer’s acquisition of worldwide rights to her catalog.

Through nearly five decades of concerted effort by scholars and performers, Price’s E Minor Symphony—indeed, her entire catalog—is finally entering the “regular repertory” as audiences around the world have come to know and enjoy her distinct compositional voice.

AARON COPLAND

Born: November 14, 1900, Brooklyn, New York

Died: December 2, 1990, North Tarrytown, New York

Lincoln Portrait

“This Gallery of Musical Portraits is a direct result of the momentous events of December, 1941. In the weeks that followed our entrance into the war I gave a great deal of thought to the manner in which music could be employed to mirror the magnificent spirit of our country.” Andre

Just as the United States became actively involved in World War II, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra gave auspicious premieres of two consequential works by the “Dean of American Music,” Aaron Copland. One is among Copland’s most familiar and frequently performed, the Fanfare for the Common Man (1943). The other is Lincoln Portrait (1942), a patriotic meditation on American ideals embodied by the country’s 16th president, Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln Portrait premiered May 14, 1942 on a benefit program for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s pension fund given by Andre Kostelanetz, the piece’s commissioner and dedicatee, and his wife, soprano Lily Pons. The concert, dubbed a “Gallery of Musical Portraits,” included the world premieres of Lincoln Portrait alongside Jerome Kern’s Mark Twain: Portrait for Orchestra and Virgil Thomson’s The Mayor LaGuardia Waltzes. Copland devised his text himself, comprising texts by Lincoln from years spanning his election campaign into the Civil War, most prominently the Gettysburg Address. Descriptions of Lincoln’s appearance, persona and background interleave the quotations, making an explicit connection between the man and the principles for which he stood, as full a portrait as one can give in a short time.

The piece begins with a slow introduction, delicately coaxing out single members of the orchestra who pass to one another the same longshort-long, three-note musical idea. The full orchestra soon joins for a full-throated fanfare built on the same fragment. The way clears and a solo clarinet brings out the elegiac ballad tune, “Springfield Mountain,” which is immediately echoed by other woodwinds and a solo trumpet. But staid moods reflecting Lincoln’s restrained image do not last long. The full orchestra breaks through with variations on Stephen Foster’s “Camptown Races,” although only in snippets. Copland intended the ensuing cacophonous layering of “Springfield” and “Camptown” to convey

a wide range of human experience, a setup for the nuances of the narrated texts that follow. A slowing recall of “Springfield” ushers in the narrator, whose words the orchestra underscores and underlines in tone and intensity—weightier music complements quotations of Lincoln’s orations, simpler textures carry the biographical report. Perhaps the most poignant moment of the entire piece is that which brings about the piece’s climactic ending: a solo trumpet deferentially summons “Springfield” once more for the august words of the Gettysburg Address.

Lincoln Portrait most strongly represents what many think of as Copland’s mid-career Americanist style. This style is identified closely with Fanfare for the Common Man and Lincoln Portrait, but also the famous ballets Billy the Kid (1938), Rodeo (1942) and Appalachian Spring (1943–44), the film score for Of Mice and Men (1939), as well as the later midwestern Gothic opera, The Tender Land (1952–54). But a variety of moods that reflect Copland’s versatility ring out in Lincoln Portrait, intended to resonate the piece’s nuanced themes. As musicologist Elizabeth Crist has written, Copland’s compositions from the 1930s and 40s reflect his embrace of cultural pan-Americanism. The use of folk song quotation in Lincoln Portrait recalls similar uses in El Salón México (1932–36), for instance, and is at the heart of the utopian ethos of Appalachian Spring. In all cases, Copland found inspiration in an association of folk music with everyday people, an enduring interest that guided a compositional strategy he hoped would invite wide listenership.

Today, Lincoln Portrait is as much a staple with American orchestras as any of Copland’s music, popular in part due to its practicality and accessibility for musicians and non-musicians alike to perform the narration. Narrators for the piece have included luminaries like Coretta Scott King, American contralto Marian Anderson, Henry Fonda, General Norman Schwarzkopf, and many others in addition to Copland himself. In Cincinnati, conductor Erich Kunzel regularly brought the work to audiences, often as part of the Cincinnati Pops’ Independence Day festivities. Narrators in the Queen City have included Katharine Hepburn, Bryant Gumbel, Dr. Maya Angelou (for Louis Langrée’s 2013 inaugural concert), a spate of local and state politicians, and even members of the Cincinnati Bengals.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront

Although other of Leonard Bernstein’s dramatic scores were used in film adaptations, the 1954 Elia Kazan film On the Waterfront represented the only time he composed expressly for cinema. The film’s scenario is a gritty tale of corruption and exploitation on the docks of New Jersey. Kazan had already finished filming (with an all-star cast of serious actors that included Marlon Brando, Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden, Rod Steiger and Eva Marie Saint) before he started worrying about the music. When the producer Sam Spiegel first approached Bernstein about the project, the composer demurred. He was no fan of Kazan, who had gained notoriety in 1952 as an informant to Senator Joseph McCarthy’s House Committee on Un-American Activities, the rabid anti-Communist political incentive that exiled many performing-arts luminaries to the ranks of the unemployable. Bernstein was among the 50 arts celebrities who, in 1947, had signed a manifesto condemning those very hearings. At least Kazan seemed sincere about ruing his participation in that circus. He took out an advertisement in The New York Times rationalizing that he had cooperated with the dark forces in the spirit of patriotism, and On the Waterfront, which trains its unforgiving eye on the ethical dilemma that can pit loyalty to family and friends against the greater good, was a further step in his process of personal redemption.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront

 Composed: 1954

 Premiere: The Columbia Pictures film On the Waterfront was released July 28, 1954 with the soundtrack conducted by Morris Stolo ; the Symphonic Suite was premiered August 11, 1955 at the Berkshire Music Festival (Tanglewood) in Massachusetts, with the composer conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

 Instrumentation:

2 flutes (incl. piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani (two players), bass drum, chimes, crash cymbals, glockenspiel, tam-tams, snare drum, suspended cymbals, triangle, 3 tuned drums, vibraphone, wood block, xylophone, harp, piano, strings

 CSO notable performances: First: November 1965 on a Pops concert, Skitch Henderson conducting. Most Recent: Fall 2017 European tour, Louis Langrée conducting.

 Duration: approx. 22 minutes

Even on a strictly professional level, Bernstein did not harbor warmth for Kazan. He may have admired Kazan’s socially conscious film achievements, such as Gentleman’s Agreement (1947, which tackled the subject of anti-Semitism in America) and Pinky (1949, which blazed into the topic of racism), not to mention A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), but there was the unavoidable fact that when Kazan was approached about directing Bernstein’s On the Town back in 1944, he had flatly turned down the opportunity. One might not have predicted that the collaboration of these two creative powerhouses would yield happy results.

Nonetheless, Bernstein consented to screen the film in its scoreless, rough-cut state and was immediately won over. “I heard music as I watched,” he later reported. “That was enough. And the atmosphere of talent that this film gave o was exactly the atmosphere in which I love to work and collaborate.… Day after day I sat at a movieola [sic], running the print back and forth, measuring in feet the sequences I had chosen for the music, converting feet into seconds by mathematical formula, making homemade cue sheets.”

Bernstein’s music accompanies about 35 minutes of the film, which reflects the propensity of all Kazan films to use music sparingly but with terrific impact. On the Waterfront was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, including for best score, and it won eight. Bernstein’s score was passed over in favor of Dimitri Tiomkin’s music for The High and the Mighty, a slight that may account for why On the Waterfront remained Bernstein’s one and only film score.

The following year he recast his music into a concert suite that runs nearly two-thirds the length of the complete film score. Prior to its premiere he explained: “The main materials from the suite undergo numerous metamorphoses, following as much as possible the chronological flow of the film score itself.” The Symphonic Suite unrolls in five chapters. It opens with the broad, main-title theme (“Andante, with dignity”) and proceeds from there to a Presto barbaro, a tense section that escalates from music for percussion alone to a set of variations. The lyrical central section (“More flowing”) is the film’s love music, alluding to the romance between protagonist Terry and Edie, the girl who stirs him to stand up for the side of morality and human decency. The ensuing scherzo (Allegro non troppo, molto marcato) relates to the climactic fight between Terry and Johnny Friendly, an ironically named union boss who is in the pocket of the mobsters; and the opening music returns to close the Suite (as it had in the film), now with a subtle overlay of the love music and a sense of grim ambivalence about whether or not Terry’s act of moral defiance really leads to a better world.

* Portions of the Bernstein notes appeared previously in the programs of the New York Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony and are used with permission. James M. Keller is in his 24th year as Program Annotator of the San Francisco Symphony and was formerly Program Annotator of the New York Philharmonic and a sta writer-editor at The New Yorker. The author of Chamber Music: A Listener’s Guide (Oxford University Press), he is writing a sequel volume about piano music.

FRI

OCT

String Quartet in F Major, Op. 96, American (1841–1904)

Antonín DVOŘÁK

Allegro ma non troppo

Lento

Molto vivace

Finale: Vivace ma no troppo

Stefani Matsuo, violin

Gabriel Pegis, violin

Christian Colberg, viola

Ilya Finkelshteyn, cello

Corker for Clarinet and Percussion (b. 1950)

Libby LARSEN

Ronald Aufmann, clarinet

Michael Culligan, percussion

INTERMISSION

John HARBISON Quintet for Winds (b. 1938) Intrada

Intermezzo

Romanza

Scherzo

Finale

Haley Bangs, flute

Dwight Parry, oboe

Joseph Morris, clarinet

Christopher Sales, bassoon

Molly Norcross, horn

String Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 51 (1833–1897)

Johannes BRAHMS

Allegro

Romanza: Poco adagio

Allegretto molto moderato e comodo

Allegro

Anna Reider, violin

Cheryl Benedict, violin

Christopher Fischer, viola

Daniel Kaler, cello

YOU’RE INVITED to greet the musicians after the concert.

n Composed: 1893

n Premiere: January 1, 1894 in Boston by the Kneisel Quartet.

n Duration: approx. 26 minutes

ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK

Born: September 8, 1841, Nelahozeves (near Prague), Czechia (Austrian Empire)

Died: May 1, 1904, Prague, Czechia

String Quartet in F Major, Op. 96, American

It was the summer of 1893, and Czech composer Antonín Dvořák was vacationing in Spillville, Iowa. He was only two years into his tenure as director of the National Conservatory in New York, and a severe economic depression known as The Panic of 1893 had just depleted the financial assets upon which the conservatory operated. Dvořák had been brought to New York with the explicit mission of founding a national school of composition, one that would serve as a medium for the expression of American identity in the same way that his own musical idiom had come to represent the Czech national character. Although he wrote of his conviction that the music of African Americans and Indigenous Americans should form the backbone of the national style, the seeds of the idiom that would eventually be known as jazz were only barely in their germinal stage. Thus, for Dvořák, creating Americanness meant adhering to certain general principles, such as tunefulness and clarity of formal design, while capitalizing on specific compositional devices, including pentatonicism, Dorian mode, dotted rhythms and rhythmic displacement.

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The composition of the string quartet followed immediately after Dvořák’s Symphony in E Minor, From the New World, with which it shares superficial characteristics. But while the symphony was the product of urban 1890s New York, the quartet displays an intimacy and emotional simplicity appropriate to the sleepy Iowan town of 350 inhabitants.

The quartet opens with a confident viola tune built over the five notes of the F major pentatonic scale, which is quickly followed by a second theme, a tranquil hymn-like tune in A major. In the development of the movement, Dvořák opts for the more learned style—a fugato in F minor, again over a pentatonic framework—before settling back into the hymn tune. He brings the movement to a concise close with a coda extracted from the opening theme.

The second movement is reminiscent of the nature that surrounded Dvořák in Spillville. The melody flows against the backdrop of an ostinato figure in the lower strings, punctuated with woodland noises, and is suggestive of the composer’s description of Iowa to friends at home: “A farmer might be separated from his neighbor by perhaps four miles… You won’t cross paths with anyone and you’re just glad to see the infinite numbers of cattle in the meadows and woods that graze here all year round.”

In the third movement, the character of the music changes abruptly to one of celebration. Constructed from a single musical fragment of 12 notes, it calls to mind the parallel scherzo movement of Dvořák’s New World Symphony. The composer intended the tune to evoke the call of the summer tanager, a songbird indigenous to North America. He offsets its cheerfulness with a tongue-in-cheek minor tune that immediately gives way to the F major theme again.

Dvořák’s final movement bursts with joy and playfulness. The composer constructed it around a sonata-rondo form, linking the sections by means of a bouncing staccato rhythm in the accompanying voices. The rondo episodes contrast in character: the first is a contrapuntal and highly chromatic chorale, while the second is yet another pentatonic melody,

evocative of a harmonica tune. The main theme returns for the last time with a newfound air of triumph and unrestrained merrymaking.

Of the pervasive tunefulness and simplicity of the work, Dvořák later observed, “When I wrote the quartet in 1893 in the Bohemian village of Spillville, I had wanted to write something for once that would be very melodious and simple. I always saw Papa Haydn in front of my eyes, that’s why it came so easily. And good thing that it did.”

LIBBY LARSEN

Born: December 24, 1950, Wilmington, Delaware

Corker for Clarinet and Percussion

American composer Libby Larsen is known for music that reflects both the language and the spirit of contemporary America. Corker reflects Larsen’s love of jazz, especially the swing style of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. She writes:

“My inspiration for the work is drawn from 1940s popular musical language, which I love, because the performers are spectacular musicians and because it speaks the rhythms and harmonic language of contemporary American English.”

Corker was part of a trio of pieces composed for solo wind instruments and percussion. The first, Bronze Veil (1979) is for trombone and two percussionists. The second, Xibalba (1989) is for bassoon and two percussionists. Corker was commissioned by clarinetist Robert Spring and premiered in November of 1989.

On Larsen’s website, Corker is listed under the theme of “energy.” It begins with fast rhythmic cymbals and articulated, syncopated playing by the clarinet. This is contrasted by more relaxed sections featuring the vibraphone, before returning to the initial theme to end the piece. It’s an exciting piece to play and, I believe, captures the spirit of the early Swing Era.

JOHN HARBISON

Born: December 20, 1938, City of Orange, New Jersey

Quintet for Winds

“I regarded the writing of a quintet for woodwinds as challenging. It is not a naturally felicitous combination of instruments, such as a string quartet.”—John

With his 1979 Quintet, John Harbison clearly overcame the obstacles to the merging of five instruments distinct in their timbres, their ranges, their expressive possibilities, and their limitations. The resulting work is extremely challenging to play—its classical transparency notwithstanding.

The piece opens with an Intrada structured on modulations of timbre and harmony. The upper registers of horn and bassoon give way to a melody in the upper winds, joined by the bassoon before the full quintet takes the movement to its conclusion. The Intermezzo second movement contains an asymmetrical, lilting tune that brings to mind the Intermezzo interrotto of Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. The Romanza alternates lush, cantabile lines with an ironic, playful motive before winding down to a placid state of equilibrium. The structure of the Scherzo reveals its

n Composed: 1989

n Premiere: November 1989

n Duration: approx. 6 minutes

n Composed: 1979

n Premiere: April 15, 1979 in Boston’s Jordan Hall by the Aulos Wind Quintet

n Duration: approx. 22 minutes

n Composed: 1873

n Premiere: December 11, 1873 in Vienna

n Duration: approx.

34 minutes

kinship to the symphonic scherzo of the 19th century: the only remaining vestige of its minuet origins are its two similar outer sections encasing a slower, contrasting middle trio. The Finale is a kaleidoscope of everchanging texture and character that invokes associations with a full range of musical idioms, from the wind quintets of Anton Reicha to George Gershwin’s An American in Paris

The composer writes:

I was determined to deal in mixtures rather than counterpoints, and to strive for a classical simplicity of surface—to maximize what I felt to be the great strength of the combination, the ability to present things clearly. The piece especially emphasizes mixtures and doublings and maintains a classically simple surface. It is extremely challenging to play, and one of the principal rewards of the piece has been the opportunity to work with a number of resourceful, inquisitive, and fearless wind players in the mutually beneficial expansion of their repertory.

JOHANNES BRAHMS

Born: May 7, 1833, Hamburg, Germany

Died: April 3, 1897, Vienna, Austria

String Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 51

“It is not hard to compose, but it is fantastically difficult to leave the superfluous notes under the table,” Johannes Brahms famously complained to his friend, Theodor Billroth, while working on his string quartets Opus 51. Previous generations of musicians had usually composed specific works for specific occasions under tight deadlines; Brahms felt no such pressure. Thus, he took nearly 20 years to publish his first, the String Quartet No. 1 in C Minor. The genre had become a psychological hurdle for him—in part because of the high bar set by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven—resulting in his destroying at least 20 false starts before finally publishing his first two quartets in 1873. According to the composer’s friend, Max Kalbeck, Brahms had even insisted on hearing a full play-through in private before he was willing to submit them to public scrutiny.

Later musicians saw these quartets as central to understanding Brahms’ musical language. They are the cornerstone of Arnold Schönberg’s famous essay, Brahms, the Progressive, in which Schönberg identifies a single short motif in the opening movement. From this motif Brahms generated all of the other themes through augmentation and inversion, techniques which, ironically, are more popularly associated with Schönberg than Brahms. Such intellectual exercise may not be necessary for the listener to enjoy the works, but as musicologist Heinrich Reimann asserted, “Brahms’s quartets have often been criticized for going beyond what four individual instruments can achieve in terms of power and sonority…yet he offers rich rewards to those who follow him along this arduous path, whether they be practicing artists or listening laymen.”

The opening movement of the C minor quartet seems to anticipate two other great C minor openings: those of his First Symphony and Third Piano Quartet. Indeed, all three works were completed between 1873 and 1876, and all three were the result of the composer’s internal struggle for perfection. The Allegro of the quartet is held together by a meticulous sonata form, perhaps to camouflage its tonal and metric

instability. The development passes through several related key areas, arrives at the remote destination of A major, and then pivots back to C minor, where it changes from triple to duple meter before ultimately coming to rest in C major.

Although the second movement is titled “Romanze,” it is more melancholy than amorous. When the gently dotted rhythms shift in an upward dolce gesture from A-flat major to C major, they prepare the listener for the halting triplet “sigh” motive that follows, at once both yearning and agitated. After a harmonic twist into E major, the music winds down, first to pizzicato chords and then to silence, before taking up the sighing theme once again. The movement closes on an afterthought: a fading chord simultaneously plucked and bowed.

The third movement is a scherzo more in form than in character. Its pulsating opening motive in F minor would be suitable as a processional were it not for the occasional bursts of playfulness with the triplet motive that follows. The trio introduces a change not only of meter and key, but of geography: the Teutonic opening theme is supplanted by a thoroughly Austrian Ländler before the return of the processional.

The opening accusation of the final movement ignites a contentious argument of counterpoint that, as with the opening movement, takes the listener into metrical conflict and harmonic uncertainty. Brief moments of reconciliation are short lived before passions flair again. The tempo accelerates, and the music churns to an explosive climax, punctuated with three ponderous final chords.

In its warmth and beauty, in its fire and passion, Brahms’ first quartet seems a quintessential reflection of the self-proclaimed romantic of the 19th-century literary world. It a rms rather than refutes the image of the composer as a misunderstood artist, volatile and vulnerable to all that is subjective, irrational, spontaneous and emotional in his search for the transcendental.

RAMÓN TEBAR, conductor JONATHAN BISS, piano

John ADAMS Short Ride in a Fast Machine (b. 1947)

Ludwig van

Concerto No. 4 in G Major for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 58

Allegro moderato (1770–1827) Andante con moto Rondo: Vivace

BEETHOVEN

INTERMISSION

Piotr Ilyich

Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36

TCHAIKOVSKY Andante sostenuto. Moderato con anima (1840–1893) Andantino in modo di canzona. Più mosso. Tempo I Allegro. Meno mosso. Tempo I Allegro con fuoco. Andante. Tempo I

These performances are approximately 125 minutes long, including intermission.

The CSO is grateful to CSO Season Sponsor Western & Southern Financial Group

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is grateful for the support of the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation and the Nina Browne Parker Trust, and for the thousands of people who give generously to the ArtsWave Community Campaign, the region’s primary source for arts funding. This project was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts

Pre-Concert Talks are made possible by an endowed gift from Melody Sawyer Richardson

WGUC is the Media Partner for these concerts.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust

Born: February 15, 1947, Worcester, Massachusetts

Short Ride in a Fast Machine

John Adams is one of today’s most acclaimed composers. His works spanning more than three decades are among the most performed of all contemporary classical music, among them Nixon in China, Harmonielehre, Doctor Atomic, Shaker Loops, El Niño, Short Ride in a Fast Machine and The Dharma at Big Sur. His stage works, many in collaboration with director Peter Sellars, have transformed the genre of contemporary music theater. Of Adams’ best-known opera, the New Yorker magazine wrote “Not since ‘Porgy and Bess’ has an American opera won such universal acclaim as ‘Nixon in China’.” A 2023 New York Times Arts & Leisure cover story called Adams “arguably our greatest living composer.”

Adams (earbox.com) has received numerous Grammy awards, many of them for his over 30 releases on Nonesuch Records. To celebrate his 75th birthday Nonesuch Records released its John Adams Collected Works, a 40-CD box covering his entire output since 1973.

Both Harvard and Yale universities have conferred honorary doctorates on Adams, as have Northwestern University, The Juilliard School, the San Francisco Conservatory and Cambridge University. His Violin Concerto won the 1993 Grawemeyer Award, and On the Transmigration of Souls, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to commemorate the first anniversary of 9/11, received the 2003 Pulitzer Prize in Music.

Rather than following the expected route for a budding composer, which led through Europe, Adams chose to stay in America. In 1972, he settled in California to join the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where his duties included directing the New Music Ensemble, leading the student orchestra, teaching composition, and administering a graduate program in analysis and history. In 1978, he became associated with the San Francisco Symphony and conductor Edo de Waart in an evaluation of that ensemble’s involvement with contemporary music. Two years later, he helped to institute the Symphony’s “New and Unusual Music” series, which subsequently served as the model for the “Meet the Composer” program, sponsored by the Exxon Corporation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, which placed composers-in-residence with several major American orchestras; Adams served as resident composer with the San Francisco Symphony from 1979 to 1985. He has served as Creative Chair with the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 2009, a tenure that began with the premiere of his City Noir

In his compositions through the early 1990s, Adams was closely allied with the style known as “Minimalism,” which uses repetitive melodic patterns, consonant harmonies, motoric rhythms and a deliberate striving for aural beauty. Unlike some other Minimalist music, however, which can be static and intentionally uneventful, the best of Adams’ early works (Grand Pianola Music, Shaker Loops, Harmonium, the brilliant Harmonielehre, and the acclaimed operas Nixon in China [1987] and The Death of Klingho er [1991]) are marked by a sense of determined forward motion and inexorable formal growth, and by frequent allusions to a wide range of 20th-century idioms, both popular and serious. His links with traditional music are further strengthened by consistent use of conventional instruments and predominantly consonant harmony, this latter technique producing what he calls “sustained resonance,” the quality possessed by the acoustical overtone series of common chords to reinforce

 Composed: 1986

 Premiere: June 13, 1986, Mansfield, Massachusetts, Michael Tilson Thomas conducting

 Instrumentation

2 flutes, 2 piccolos, 2 oboes, English horn, 4 clarinets, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, bass drum with pedal, crotales, glockenspiel, sizzle cymbal, snare drum, suspended cymbals, 2 tamtams, triangle, 2 tambour de Basque, 3 wood blocks, xylophone, 2 synthesizers, strings

 CSO notable performances: First: February 1992 Iván Fischer conducting. Most Recent Subscription: October 2017, Louis Langrée conducting. Most Recent: November 2022 Lollipops Concert, Daniel Wiley conducting.

 Duration: approx. 4 minutes

n Composed: 1804–06

n Premiere: Beethoven included the Concerto No. 4 in his Akademie program of December 22, 1808, but it had first been heard at a private concert on March 5, 1807 at the palace of Prince Franz Joseph von Lobkowitz in Vienna, with the composer as soloist.

n Instrumentation solo piano, flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings

n CSO notable performances: First: January 1905, conducted by Frank Van der Stucken with pianist Josef Hofmann. Most Recent: September 2021 as part of MusicNOW, Louis Langrée conducting and Daniil Trifonov, pianist. Other: February/ March 2020 as part of the Beethoven Akademie concert with Louis Langrée conducting and pianist Inon Barnatan. Notable pianists: Artur Schnable, Arthur Rubinstein, Claudio Arrau, Glenn Gould, Emil Gilels, André Watts, Awadagin Pratt and Hélène Grimaud.

n Duration: approx.

34 minutes

and amplify each other to create an enveloping mass of sound. Adams’ recent compositions incorporate more aggressive harmonic idioms and more elaborate contrapuntal textures to create an idiom he distinguishes from that of his earlier music as “more dangerous, but also more fertile, more capable of expressive depth and emotional flexibility.”

For the recording of this work by the San Francisco Symphony (Nonesuch), Michael Steinberg wrote:

Short Ride in a Fast Machine is a joyfully exuberant piece, brilliantly scored for a large orchestra including two synthesizers. Commissioned for the opening of the Great Woods Festival in Mansfield, Massachusetts, it was first played on that occasion, 13 June 1986, by the Pittsburgh Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas. The steady marking of a beat is typical of Adams’ music. Short Ride begins with a marking of quarters (woodblock, soon joined by the four trumpets) and eighths (clarinets and synthesizers), but the woodblock is fortissimo and the other instruments play forte. Adams describes the woodblock’s persistence as “almost sadistic” and thinks of the rest of the orchestra as running the gauntlet through that rhythmic tunnel. About the title: “You know how it is when someone asks you to ride in a terrific sports car, and then you wish you hadn’t?” It is, in any event, a wonderful opening music for a new American outdoor festival.

LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN

Born: December 16, 1770, Bonn, Germany

Died: March 26, 1827, Vienna, Austria

Concerto No. 4 in G Major for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 58

The Fourth Concerto was one of the projects of the Napoleonic years, and it seems to have been composed simultaneously with the Fifth Symphony. The two are even related in their use of a basic rhythmic motive—three short notes followed by an accented note—and may have germinated from the same conceptual seed, though with vastly different results. While almost nothing is known of the composition of the Concerto, its early performance history is well documented. Beethoven first played it “before a very select audience which had subscribed considerable amounts for the benefit of the author,” according to one contemporary report. The private event took place at the Viennese palace of Prince Lobkowitz, who returned to the city shortly after Napoleon evacuated in 1805. He promoted two private concerts in March 1806 of music exclusively by Beethoven, and presented the composer with all the proceeds, a refutation of the myth that Beethoven was not appreciated in his own time. An account of the elegant event in the appropriately titled Journal des Luxus was typical of many reviews Beethoven received during his life. The writer noted his “wealth of ideas, bold originality, and abundance of power, the special merits of his muse, which were clearly present in these concerts. But some hearers blamed the neglect of a noble simplicity and a too fertile profusion of ideas, which, because of their quantity, are not always sufficiently fused and elaborated; hence their effect is frequently that of an unpolished diamond.”

Because opportunities for public concerts were so few during those troubled times, Beethoven was unable to perform the Concerto in public until the Akademie concert December 22, 1808, nearly two years after its private premiere. Reports on the quality of Beethoven’s playing at the time differed. J.F. Reichardt wrote, “He truly sang on his instrument with a profound feeling of melancholy that pervaded me, too.” The composer

and violinist Ludwig Spohr, however, commented, “It was by no means an enjoyment [to hear him], for, in the first place, the piano was woefully out of tune, which, however, troubled Beethoven little for he could hear nothing of it; and, secondly, of the former so-much-admired excellence of the virtuoso scarcely anything was left, in consequence of his total deafness.... I felt moved with the deepest sorrow at so hard a destiny.”

The Fourth Concerto was consistently neglected in the years following its creation in favor of the Third and Fifth Concertos. After Beethoven’s two performances, it was not heard again until Felix Mendelssohn played and conducted the work with his Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra on November 3, 1836. Robert Schumann, who was at that revival, wrote, “I have received a pleasure from it such as I have never enjoyed, and I sat in my place without moving a muscle or even breathing—afraid of making the least noise.”

Of the nature of the Fourth Concerto, Milton Cross wrote, “[Here] the piano concerto once and for all shakes itself loose from the 18th century. Virtuosity no longer concerns Beethoven at all; his artistic aim here, as in his symphonies and quartets, is the expression of deeply poetic and introspective thoughts.” The mood is established immediately at the outset of the work by a hushed, prefatory phrase for the soloist. The form of the movement, vast yet intimate, begins to unfold with the ensuing orchestral introduction, which presents the rich thematic material: the pregnant main theme, with its small intervals and repeated notes; the secondary themes—a melancholy strain with an arch shape and a grand melody with wide leaps; and a closing theme of descending scales. The soloist re-enters to enrich the themes with elaborate figurations. The central development section is haunted by the rhythmic figuration of the main theme (three short notes and an accented note). The recapitulation returns the themes, and allows an opportunity for a cadenza (Beethoven composed two for this movement) before the coda, a series of glistening scales and chords that bring the movement to a joyous close.

The second movement, “one of the most original and imaginative things that ever fell from the pen of Beethoven or any other musician,” according to Sir George Grove, starkly opposes two musical forces—the stern, unison summons of the strings and the gentle, touching replies of the piano. Franz Liszt compared this music to Orpheus taming the Furies, and the simile is warranted, since both Liszt and Beethoven traced their visions to the magnificent scene in Gluck’s Orfeo where Orpheus’ music charms the very fiends of Hell. In the Concerto, the strings are eventually subdued by the entreaties of the piano, which then gives forth a wistful little song filled with quivering trills. After only the briefest pause, a high-spirited and longlimbed rondo-finale is launched by the strings to bring this Concerto, one of Beethoven’s greatest compositions, to a stirring close.

PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY

Born: May 7, 1840, Votkinsk, Russia

Died: November 6, 1893, St. Petersburg

Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36

The Fourth Symphony was a product of the most crucial and turbulent time of Tchaikovsky’s life—1877, when he met two women who forced him to evaluate himself as he never had before. The first was Nadezhda von Meck, the sensitive, music-loving widow of a wealthy Russian railroad baron. Mme. von Meck had been enthralled by Tchaikovsky’s music, and she first contacted him at the end of 1876 to commission a work. She

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 Composed: 1877–78

 Premiere: February 22, 1878 in Moscow, Nikolai Rubinstein conducting

 Instrumentation

2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, crash cymbals, triangle, bass drum, strings

 CSO notable

performances: First: November 1896, Frank Van der Stucken conducting.

Most Recent: November 2018, Kirill Karabits conducting. Other: Carnegie Hall, March 1992, Jesús López Cobos conducting.

 Duration: approx. 44 minutes

paid him extravagantly, and soon an almost constant stream of notes and letters passed between them: hers contained money and e usive praise; his, thanks and an increasingly greater revelation of his thoughts and feelings. She became not only the financial backer who allowed him to quit his irksome teaching job at the Moscow Conservatory to devote himself to composition, but also the sympathetic sounding-board for reports on the whole range of his activities—emotional, musical, personal. Though they never met, her place in Tchaikovsky’s life was enormous and beneficial.

The second woman to enter Tchaikovsky’s life in 1877 was Antonina Miliukova, an unnoticed student in one of his large lecture classes at the Conservatory who had worked herself into a passion over her young professor. Tchaikovsky paid her no special attention, and he had quite forgotten her when he received an ardent love letter professing her flaming and unquenchable desire to meet him. Tchaikovsky (age 37), who should have burned the thing, answered the letter of the 28-year-old Antonina in a polite, cool fashion, but did not include an outright rejection of her advances. He had been considering marriage for almost a year in the hope that it would give him both the stable home life he had not enjoyed in the 20 years since his mother died, as well as to help dispel the all-too-true rumors of his homosexuality. He believed he might achieve both these goals with Antonina. He could not see the situation clearly enough to realize that what he hoped for was impossible—a pure, platonic marriage without its physical and emotional realities. Further letters from Antonina implored Tchaikovsky to meet her, and she threatened suicide out of desperation if he refused. What a welter of emotions must have gripped his heart when, just a few weeks later, he proposed marriage to her! Inevitably, the marriage crumbled within days of the wedding amid Tchaikovsky’s searing self-deprecation.

It was during May and June that Tchaikovsky sketched the Fourth Symphony, finishing the first three movements before Antonina began her siege. The finale was completed by the time he proposed. Because of this chronology, the program of the Symphony was not a direct result of his marital disaster. All that—the July wedding, the mere 18 days of bitter conjugal farce, the two separations—postdated the actual composition of the Symphony by a few months, though the orchestration took place during the painful time from September to January when the composer was seeking respite in a half dozen European cities from St. Petersburg to San Remo. What Tchaikovsky found in his relationship with this woman (who by 1877 already showed signs of approaching the door of the mental ward in which, still legally married to him, she died in 1917) was a confirmation of his belief in the inexorable workings of Fate in human destiny. He later wrote to Mme. von Meck, “We cannot escape our Fate, and there was something fatalistic about my meeting with this girl.” The relationships with the two women of 1877, Mme. von Meck and Antonina, occupy important places in the composition of this Symphony: one made it possible, the other made it inevitable, but the vision and its fulfillment were Tchaikovsky’s alone.

To read what Tchaikvosky wrote of this symphony, visit the digital program at cincinnatisymphony.org/digital-program.

FRI OCT 20, 7:30 pm

SAT OCT 21, 7:30 pm

SUN OCT 22, 2 pm

Music Hall

DAMON GUPTON, conductor

Join the Cincinnati Pops for Disney in Concert: The Sound of Magic, a symphonic celebration of Disney music, animation and memories—a century in the making!

Your favorite characters and soundtracks from the Walt Disney Animation Studios and more come to life on the concert hall stage and big screen in a live-to-film concert like never before. Performed by a live symphony orchestra, this newly imagined concert takes you on a magic carpet ride through the most memorable song, score and movie moments of The Walt Disney Company, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Moana,  Alice in Wonderland, Aladdin, The Jungle Book, Frozen,  The Lion King, Fantasia, Encanto, Beauty and the Beast, and more.

Become part of the journey to discover The Sound of Magic.

Today’s performance lasts approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes, including a 20-minute intermission. Out of respect for the musicians and your fellow audience members, please remain seated until the conclusion of the concert.

Licensed by Disney Concerts © All rights reserved.

The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra is grateful to Pops Season Sponsor PNC

For more information about this program, please text PROGRAM to 513.845.3024*.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is grateful for the support of the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation and the Nina Browne Parker Trust, and for the thousands of people who give generously to the ArtsWave Community Campaign, the region’s primary source for arts funding. This project was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts

*By texting to this number, you may receive messages that pertain to the organization and its performances; msg & data rates may apply. Reply HELP to help, STOP to cancel.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust

FRI OCT 27, 7:30 pm

SAT OCT 28, 7:30 pm

Music Hall

Grażyna BACEWICZ Uwertura (“Overture”) (1909–1969)

Wolfgang Amadeus Serenade in G Major, K. 525, Eine kleine Nachtmusik MOZART Allegro (1756–1791)

Romance: Andante

Menuetto: Allegretto. Trio. Menuetto

Rondo: Allegro

INTERMISSION

Richard WAGNER Der Ring ohne Worte (“The Ring Without Words”) (1813–1883) for Orchestra

arr. Maazel

These performances are approximately 130 minutes long.

The CSO is grateful to CSO Season Sponsor Western & Southern Financial Group

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is grateful for the support of the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation and the Nina Browne Parker Trust, and for the thousands of people who give generously to the ArtsWave Community Campaign, the region’s primary source for arts funding. This project was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts

Pre-Concert Talks are made possible by an endowed gift from Melody Sawyer Richardson

WGUC is the Media Partner for these concerts.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust

GRAŻYNA BACEWICZ

Born: February 5, 1909, Łódź, Poland

Died: January 17, 1969, Warsaw, Poland

Uwertura (“Overture”)

Composer, violinist, pianist and writer Grażyna Bacewicz (Grah-ZHEEnah baht-SEV-ich) was among Poland’s leading musicians during the early 20th century and the country’s first female musician to gain international prominence since Maria Szymanowska (1789-1831), who toured widely throughout Europe as a virtuoso before being engaged as pianist at the Russian court and whose compositions influenced those of Frédéric Chopin. Bacewicz was born in 1909 into a musical family in Łódź, 75 miles southwest of Warsaw, and her father gave Grażyna her first instruction in piano, violin and music theory. She had her early professional training at the local music school before entering the Warsaw Conservatory in 1928, where her talents as violinist, composer and pianist developed in parallel. After graduating in 1932, she received a grant to study composition with Nadia Boulanger at the École Normale de Musique in Paris; the grant was given by Ignacy Jan Paderewski, the famed composer, pianist and Poland’s Prime Minister in 1919, who used his fortune to aid, among many other causes, the country’s most promising young musicians. Bacewicz also studied violin in Paris with the Hungarian virtuoso and teacher Carl Flesch, and she gained her first notice as a soloist in 1935 at the Wieniawski International Violin Competition in Warsaw. The following year she was appointed principal violinist of the Polish Radio Orchestra in Warsaw and began touring as soloist in Europe, occasionally appearing with her brother Kiejstut, a concert pianist. (The University of Music in Łódź is named jointly in their honor.) Bacewicz composed and gave clandestine concerts during World War II, after which she resumed her touring career and joined the faculty of the Academy of Music in Łódź. In 1953, she retired as a violinist to devote herself to composition and teaching. For the three years before her death from a heart attack in 1969, three weeks short of her 60th birthday, Bacewicz taught composition at the Academy of Music in Warsaw. She received numerous honors throughout her career, including awards for lifetime achievement from the City of Warsaw, Polish Composers’ Union and People’s Republic of Poland; served twice as Vice-Chair of the Polish Composers’ Union; and was an accomplished writer of short stories, novels and autobiographical anecdotes.

“The premise of Bacewicz’s Overture for Orchestra,” wrote Polish composer and conductor Artur Malawski, “is rhythm and motoric movement.” Bacewicz composed the Overture seemingly in defiance of the time of its creation—1943, at the depth of the Nazi occupation and the year of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising that presaged the final transport of the city’s Jews to the extermination camps. The Overture begins with four soft, quick strokes on the timpani that may have been borrowed from the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony—short–short–short–long—which the BBC broadcast throughout the war as a hopeful symbol for Allied victory (i.e., Morse code for the letter “V”: dot–dot–dot–dash). The Overture, whose muscularity and orchestral brilliance are cast into relief by a lyrical central episode, was perfectly suited to the time of its premiere, at a Contemporary Polish Music Festival in Kraków on September 1, 1945, four months after Germany had surrendered.

 Composed: 1943

 Premiere: September 1, 1945 in Kraków by the Kraków Philharmonic, conducted by Mieczysław Mierzejewski

 Instrumentation: 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, glockenspiel, suspended cymbals, triangle, strings

 CSO notable performances: These performances are the work’s CSO premiere.

 Duration: approx. 6 minutes

For more information about this program, please text PROGRAM to 513.845.3024*.

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 Composed: 1787

 Instrumentation: strings

 CSO notable performances: First: April 1916, Ernst Kunwald conducting. Most Recent: May 2000, Jesús López Cobos conducting. Other: June 1992, Riverbend Pops conducted by Bobby McFerrin.

 Duration: approx. 16 minutes

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

Born: January 27, 1756, Salzburg, Austria

Died: December 5, 1791, Vienna, Austria

Serenade in G Major, K. 525, Eine kleine Nachtmusik

Eine kleine Nachtmusik is at once one of the most familiar yet one of the most mysterious of Mozart’s works. He dated the completed manuscript August 10, 1787, the day he entered it into his catalog of compositions as “Eine kleine Nachtmusik, bestehend in einem [consisting of an] Allegro, Menuett und Trio—Romance, Menuett und Trio, Finale. 2 Violini, Viola e Bassi.” (The first Menuett is lost.) There is no other contemporary record of the work’s provenance, composition or performance. It was the first piece of the serenade type that he had written since the magnificent C Minor Wind Octet (K. 388) of 1782, and it seems unlikely that, at a time when he was increasingly mired in debt, he would have returned to the genre without some promise of payment. Indeed, he had to set aside his furious preparations for the October premiere of Don Giovanni in Prague to compose the piece. The simple, transparent style of Eine kleine Nachtmusik, reminiscent of the music of Mozart’s Salzburg years and so di erent from the heightened expression of his later music, except for the dances he wrote for the Habsburg court balls, suggests that it was designed for amateur performance, perhaps at the request of some aristocratic Viennese player of limited musical ability.

Eine kleine Nachtmusik is an enigma, a wonderful, isolated chronological and stylistic aberration of Mozart’s mature years that raises to perfection the simple musical gestures of his boyhood. Though sunny and cheerful

throughout, when seen in the light of its immediate musical companions of 1787—Don Giovanni, the A Major Violin Sonata (K. 526) and the C Major and G Minor String Quintets (K. 515 and 516)—Eine kleine Nachtmusik takes on an added depth of expression as much for what it eschews as for what it contains.

RICHARD WAGNER, arr. Maazel (1930–2014)

Born: May 22, 1813, Leipzig, Germany

Died: February 13, 1883, Venice, Italy

Der Ring ohne Worte (“The Ring Without Words”) for Orchestra

Wagner’s cycle of “music-dramas,” The Ring of the Nibelungen, is unique in the history of art: an ancient mythological tale spread over four interdependent operas; the capstone of Romantic orchestration, harmony and emotional expression; a nodal point in the history of music; and a profound influence on Western thought, art, drama, culture, society and politics.

The vast and complex story of The Ring is told by the singers on stage, but their underlying motivations as well as the cycle’s dramatic and musical continuity are entrusted to the orchestra, whose unprecedented scale, power and importance created a sensation throughout the music world when the operas were new and set a precedent that has continued unabated since. Wagner himself, an excellent and pioneering conductor, began the practice of performing orchestral excerpts from The Ring in concert, and instrumental selections from all four of the operas comprising the cycle have remained standard concert fare. These pieces were programmed as separate selections until 1987, when Cleveland-based record company Telarc International asked Lorin Maazel, a dedicated Wagnerian who had been the first American to conduct the complete Ring at the Festspielhaus (the theater Wagner had specially built in Bayreuth, Germany to stage the cycle), to weave them into a continuous work for a recording with the Berlin Philharmonic.

Maazel set himself some rules in arranging his 70 minutes of orchestraonly excerpts from The Ring’s 17 hours of music:

ONE: The synthesis must be free-flowing (no stops) and chronological, beginning with the first note of Rheingold and finishing with the last chord of Götterdämmerung

TWO: The transitions must be harmonically and formally justifiable, the pacing contrasts commensurate with the length of the work.

THREE: Most all of the music originally written for orchestra without voice must be used, adding those sections with a vocal line essential to a synthesis but only where the line is either doubled by an orchestral instrument or when it can be reproduced by an instrument.

FOUR: Every note must be Wagner’s own.

The recording of Maazel’s The Ring Without Words was praised upon its release in 1987 and at its public premiere with the Berlin Philharmonic that December, and his arrangement has since been performed frequently across Europe and America.

 Composed: 1853–57 and 1869–74

 Premiere: Complete four-opera cycle premiered August 13–17, 1876 at Wagner’s purpose-built Festspielhaus in Bayreuth, Germany, conducted by Hans Richter. Arranged in 1987 by Lorin Maazel and premiered in December 1987 by the Berlin Philharmonic, Lorin Maazel conducting.

 Instrumentation: 3 flutes (incl. piccolo), piccolo, 3 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, 8 horns (incl. 4 Wagner tubas, 3 o stage horns), 3 trumpets, bass trumpet, 4 trombones (incl. contrabass trombone), tuba, 2 timpani, 3 anvils, bass drum, cow horn, crash cymbals, glockenspiel, snare drum, tam-tam, triangle, 2 harps, strings

 CSO notable performances: These are the first CSO performances of The Ring Without Words

 Duration: approx. 70 minutes

For more about Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen visit our digital program at cincinnatisymphony.org/ digital-program

Overture to The Flying Dutchman

Sensemayá

Waltz from Masquerade

Finale from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

SAT OCT 28, 10:30 am

Music Hall

Silvestre Revueltas

Aram Khachaturian

Paul Dukas

John Williams from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

“Hedwig’s Theme” and “Harry’s Wondrous World”

“In the Hall of the Mountain King” from Peer Gynt

The Cincinnati Pops is grateful to Series Sponsor United Dairy Farmers & Homemade Brand Ice Cream Lollipops Family Concerts are supported in part through the Vicki & Rick Reynolds Endowment Fund and through the George & Anne Heldman Endowment Fund

Edvard Grieg

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For over 120 years, Willis Music and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Have been serving the greater Cincinnati area with music, culture, and music education

INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT

Local and national foundations, businesses, and government agencies are integral to the Orchestra’s vibrant performances, community engagement work, and education activities. We are proud to partner with the following funders.

SEASON AND SERIES SPONSORS

PLATINUM BATON CIRCLE ($50,000+)

ArtsWave

Charles H. Dater Foundation

The Thomas J. Emery Memorial Trust

The Fifth Third Foundation

The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation

David C. Herriman Fund of Greater Cincinnati Foundation

Carl Jacobs Foundation

H.B., E.W., F.R. Luther Charitable Foundation

The Mellon Foundation

Dr. John & Louise Mulford Fund for the CSO

National Endowment for the Arts

Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation

Ohio Arts Council

PNC Bank

Margaret McWilliams Rentschler Fund of Greater Cincinnati Foundation

Nina Browne Parker Trust

Harold C. Schott Foundation / Francie and Tom Hiltz, Trustees

Marge and Charles J. Schott Foundation

The Louise Taft Semple Foundation

Skyler Foundation

Western & Southern Financial Group Anonymous

GOLD BATON CIRCLE ($25,000–$49,999)

Coney Island

The Cincinnati Symphony Club

The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati

George and Margaret McLane Foundation

The Ladislas & Vilma Segoe Family Foundation

United Dairy Farmers & Homemade Brand Ice Cream

The Wohlgemuth Herschede Foundation

SILVER BATON CIRCLE ($15,000–$24,999)

Graeter’s Ice Cream

HORAN

Johnson Investment Counsel

League Of American Orchestras

Oliver Family Foundation

The Rendigs Foundation

Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP

Scott and Charla Weiss

Wodecroft Foundation

2023 ARTSWAVE PARTNERS

CONDUCTOR’S CIRCLE ($10,000–$14,999)

Bartlett Wealth Management

Chemed Corporation

The Crosset Family Fund of Greater Cincinnati Foundation

CVG Airport Authority

Kelly Dehan and Rick Staudigel

Peter E. Landgren and Judith Schonbach Landgren

Messer Construction Co.

The Daniel & Susan Pfau Foundation

CONCERTMASTER’S CIRCLE ($5,000–$9,999)

Levin Family Foundation

The Willard & Jean Mulford Charitable Fund

Pyro-Technical Investigations, Inc.

Queen City (OH) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated

Thompson Hine LLP

ARTIST’S CIRCLE ($2,500–$4,999)

d.e. Foxx and Associates, Inc.

Richard Freshwater

L. Timothy Giglio

Ohio CAT

Charles Scott Riley III Foundation

Kyle Wynk-Sivashankar and Siva Shankar

BUSINESS & FOUNDATION PARTNERS (up to $2,499)

African American Chamber of Commerce

Albert B. Cord Charitable Foundation

D’Addario Foundation

Earthward Bound Foundation

Hixson Architecture Engineering Interiors

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Robert A. & Marian K. Kennedy Charitable Trust

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Frances L. P. Ricketts Sullivan Memorial Fund

The Voice of Your Customer

Toi and Jay Wagsta

Visit Cincy

Join this distinguished group! Contact Sean Baker at 513.744.3363 or sbaker@cincinnatisymphony.org to learn how you can become a supporter of the CSO and Pops. This list is updated quarterly.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops acknowledge the following partner companies, foundations and their employees who generously participate in the Annual ArtsWave Community Campaign at the $100,000+ level.

$2 million+

P&G

$1 million to $1,999,999

Fifth Third Bank and Fifth Third Foundation

$500,000 to $999,999

altafiber

GE Aerospace

$250,000 to 499,999

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

The Cincinnati Insurance Companies

Western & Southern Financial Group

$100,000–$299,999

Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation

Cincinnati Business Courier

Cincinnati Reds

Duke Energy

The E.W. Scripps Company and Scripps Howard Foundation

The Enquirer | Cincinnati.com

Great American Insurance Group

Greater Cincinnati Foundation

The H.B., E.W. and F.R. Luther Charitable Foundation, Fifth Third Bank, N.A., Trustee

The Kroger Co.

Messer Construction Co.

PNC

U.S. Bank

PERMANENT ENDOWMENTS

Endowment gifts perpetuate your values and create a sustainable future for the Orchestra. We extend our deep gratitude to the donors who have provided permanent endowments in support of our programs that are important to them. For more information about endowment gifts, contact Kate Farinacci, Director of Special Campaigns & Legacy Giving, at 513.744.3202.

ENDOWED CHAIRS

Grace M. Allen Chair

Ellen A. & Richard C. Berghamer Chair

Robert E. & Fay Boeh Chair

The Marc Bohlke Chair given by Katrin & Manfred Bohlke

Trish & Rick Bryan Chair

Otto M. Budig Family Foundation Chair

Mary Alice Heekin Burke Chair

Michael L. Cio & Rachael Rowe—

the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones Chief Diversity & Inclusion O cer

Peter G. Courlas–Nicholas Tsimaras Chair

Ona Hixson Dater Chair

The Anne G. & Robert W. Dorsey Chair+

Jane & David Ellis Chair

Irene & John J. Emery Chair

James M. Ewell Chair

Ashley & Barbara Ford Chair for Assistant Conductor

Ashley & Barbara Ford Chair for Assistant Conductor

Ashley & Barbara Ford Chair for Principal Tuba

Susan S. & William A. Friedlander Chair+

Charles Gausmann Chair

Susanne & Philip O. Geier, Jr. Chair+

Emma Margaret & Irving D. Goldman Chair

Cli ord J. Goosmann & Andrea M. Wilson Chair

Charles Frederic Goss Chair

Jean Ten Have Chair

Dorothy & John Hermanies Chair

Lois Klein Jolson Chair

Josephine I. & David J. Joseph, Jr. Chair

Harold B. & Betty Justice Chair

Marvin Kolodzik & Linda S. Gallaher Chair+

Al Levinson Chair

Patricia Gross Linnemann Chair+

Alberta & Dr. Maurice Marsh Chair

Stephen P. McKean Chair

Laura Kimble McLellan Chair

The Henry Meyer Chair

The Louise Dieterle Nippert & Louis Nippert Chairs

Rawson Chair

The Vicky & Rick Reynolds Chair in honor of William A. Friedlander+

Ida Ringling North Chair

Donald & Margaret Robinson Chair

Dianne & J. David Rosenberg Chair+

Ruth F. Rosevear Chair

The Morleen & Jack Rouse Chair+

Emalee Schavel Chair

Karl & Roberta Schlachter Family Chair

Serge Shababian Chair

Melinda & Irwin Simon Chair+

Tom & Dee Stegman Chair+

Mary & Joseph S. Stern, Jr. Chair+

Cynthia & Frank Stewart Chair

The Jackie & Roy Sweeney Family Chair

The Sweeney Family Chair in memory of Donald C. Sweeney

Anna Sinton Taft Chair

Brenda & Ralph Taylor Chair

James P. Thornton Chair

Nicholas Tsimaras–Peter G. Courlas Chair

Thomas Vanden Eynden Chair

Sallie Robinson Wadsworth & Randolph L. Wadsworth Jr. Chair

Jo Ann & Paul Ward Chair

Matthew & Peg Woodside Chair

Mary M. & Charles F. Yeiser Chair

ENDOWED PERFORMANCES &

PROJECTS

Eleanora C. U. Alms Trust, Fifth Third Bank, Trustee

Rosemary and Frank Bloom Endowment Fund*+

Cincinnati Bell Foundation Inc.

Mr. & Mrs. Val Cook

Nancy & Steve Donovan*

Sue and Bill Friedlander Endowment Fund*+

Mrs. Charles Wm Anness*, Mrs. Frederick D. Ha ner, Mrs. Gerald Skidmore and the La Vaughn Scholl Garrison Fund

Fred L. & Katherine H. Groll Fund for Musical Excellence

Fred L. & Katherine H. Groll Fund for Great Artists

Fred L. & Katherine H. Groll Trust Pianist Fund

The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation Endowment Fund

Anne Heldman Endowment Fund**

Mr. and Mrs. Lorrence T. Kellar+

Lawrence A. & Anne J. Leser*

Mr. & Mrs. Carl H. Lindner**

Janice W. & Gary R. Lubin Fund for Black Artists

PNC Financial Services Group

The Procter & Gamble Fund

Vicky & Rick Reynolds Fund for Diverse Artists+

Melody Sawyer Richardson*

Rosemary and Mark Schlachter Endowment Fund*+

The Harold C. Schott Foundation, Francie and Tom Hiltz Endowment Fund+

Peggy Selonick Fund for Great Artists

Dee and Tom Stegman

Endowment Fund*+

Mr. & Mrs. Joseph S. Stern, Jr. Fund for Great Artists

U. S. Bank Foundation*

Sallie and Randolph Wadsworth Endowment Fund+

Educational Concerts

Rosemary & Frank Bloom *

Cincinnati Financial Corporation & The Cincinnati Insurance Companies

The Margaret Embsho

Educational Fund

Kate Foreman Young Peoples Fund

George & Anne Heldman+

Macy’s Foundation

Vicky & Rick Reynolds*+

William R. Schott Family**

Western-Southern Foundation, Inc. Anonymous (3)+

OTHER NAMED FUNDS

Ruth Meacham Bell Memorial Fund

Frank & Mary Bergstein Fund for Musical Excellence+

Jean K. Bloch Music Library Fund

Cora Dow Endowment Fund

Corbett Educational Endowment**

Belmon U. Duvall Fund

Ewell Fund for Riverbend Maintenance

Linda & Harry Fath

Endowment Fund

Ford Foundation Fund

Natalie Wurlitzer & William Ernest Griess Cello Fund

William Hurford and Lesley

Gilbertson Family Fund for Guest Pianists

The Mary Ellyn Hutton Fund for Excellence in Music Education

Josephine I. & David J. Joseph, Jr. Scholarship Fund

Richard & Jean Jubelirer & Family Fund*

The Kosarko Family Innovation Fund

Elma Margaret Lapp Trust

Jésus López-Cobos Fund for Excellence

Mellon Foundation Fund

Nina Browne Parker Trust

Dorothy Robb Perin & Harold F. Poe Trust

Rieveschl Fund

Thomas Schippers Fund

Martha, Max & Alfred M. Stern

Ticket Fund

Mr. & Mrs. John R. Strauss

Student Ticket Fund

Anna Sinton & Charles P. Taft Fund

Lucien Wulsin Fund

Wurlitzer Season Ticket Fund

CSO Pooled Income Fund

CSO Musicians Emergency Fund

*Denotes support for Annual Music Program Fund

**Denotes support for the 2nd Century Campaign

+Denotes support for the Fund for Musical Excellence

HONOR ROLL OF CONTRIBUTORS

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops are grateful to the following individuals that support our efforts by making a gift to the Orchestra Fund. We extend our heartfelt thanks to each and every one and pay tribute to them here. You can join our family of donors online at cincinnatisymphony.org/donate or by contacting the Philanthropy Department at 513.744.3271.

PLATINUM BATON CIRCLE

Gifts of $50,000 and above

Mr. and Mrs. Frederick E. Bryan, III

Michael L. Cioffi & Rachael Rowe

Robert W. Dorsey §

Healey Liddle Family Foundation, Mel & Bruce Healey

George L. and Anne P. Heldman Fund* §

Harold C. Schott Foundation, Francie & Tom Hiltz

Florence Koetters

Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Maloney

Jo Anne and Joe Orndorff

Marilyn J.* and Jack D. Osborn §

In Memory of Laura Gamble Thompson

Vicky and Rick Reynolds

Ann and Harry Santen §

Irwin and Melinda Simon

Tom and Dee Stegman

Jackie and Roy Sweeney Family Fund*

Mr. Randolph L. Wadsworth Jr. §

Scott and Charla Weiss

Anonymous (1)

GOLD BATON CIRCLE

Gifts of $25,000–$49,999

Dr. and Mrs. John and Suzanne Bossert §

Sheila and Christopher C. Cole

Dr. and Mrs. Carl G. Fischer

Ashley and Bobbie Ford §

Dr. Lesley Gilbertson and Dr. William Hurford

Patti and Fred Heldman

Mrs. Andrea Kaplan

Edyth B. Lindner

Calvin and Patricia Linnemann

Whitney and Phillip Long

Mark and Tia Luegering

Mrs. Susan M. McPartlin

G. Franklin Miller and Carolyn Baker Miller

Dianne and J. David Rosenberg

Moe and Jack Rouse §

Mrs. Theodore Striker

Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Ullman

Nancy C. Wagner and Patricia M. Wagner §

SILVER BATON CIRCLE

Gifts of $15,000–$24,999

Mr. and Mrs. Larry Brueshaber

CCI Design, Molly and Tom Garber

Mr. Gregory D. Buckley and Ms. Susan Berry-Buckley

Robert and Debra Chavez

Stephen J Daush

Kelly Dehan and Rick Staudigel

Dianne Dunkelman and Clever Crazes for Kids

Tom and Jan Hardy §

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph W. Hirschhorn §

Marvin P. Kolodzik and Linda S. Gallaher §

Mrs. Erich Kunzel

Alan Margulies and Gale Snoddy

In memory of Bettie Rehfeld

Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. McDonald

Joseph A. and Susan E. Pichler Fund*

Mrs. Anne Drackett Thomas

Christopher and Nancy Virgulak

DeeDee and Gary West §

Mrs. James W. Wilson, Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. James M. Zimmerman §

Anonymous (1)

CONDUCTOR’S CIRCLE

Gifts of $10,000–$14,999

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Akers

Michael P Bergan and Tiffany Hanisch

Ms. Melanie M. Chavez

Mrs. Thomas E. Davidson §

Emory P. Zimmer Insurance Agency

Dr. and Mrs. Alberto Espay

Mr. and Mrs. Tom Evans

Mrs. Charles Fleischmann

Anne E. Mulder and Rebecca M. Gibbs

William and Jo Ann Harvey

Patrick and Mary Kirk

John and Ramsey Lanni

The Lewis and Marjorie Daniel Foundation

Holly and Louis Mazzocca

Mr. Bradford Phillips III

Bill and Lisa Sampson

Mark S. and Rosemary K. Schlachter §

Mr. Lawrence Schumacher

In memory of Mary and Joseph S. Stern, Jr

Ralph C. Taylor §

Sarah Thorburn

Mr. and Mrs. JD Vance

Anonymous (2)

CONCERTMASTER’S CIRCLE

Gifts of $5,000–$9,999

Dr. Charles Abbottsmith

Thomas P. Atkins

Mrs. Thomas B. Avril

Joe and Patricia Baker

Kathleen and Michael Ball

Robert and Janet Banks

Robert L. Bogenschutz

Thomas A. Braun, III §

The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Sally and Rick Coomes

Bedouin and Randall Dennison

Dennis W. and Cathy Dern

Laura Doerger-Roberts & Peter Roberts

Mrs. John C. Dupree

Mrs. Diana T. Dwight

In Loving Memory of Diane Zent

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Fencl

Mr. and Mrs. James T. Fitzgerald

Marlena and Walter Frank

Dr. and Mrs. Harry F. Fry

L. Timothy Giglio

Kathy Grote in loving memory of Robert Howes §

Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Hamby

John B. and Judith O. Hansen

Ms. Delores Hargrove-Young

Mr. and Mrs. Brian E. Heekin

Dr. James and Mrs. Susan Herman

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Hicks

Karlee L. Hilliard §

Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey Keenan

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Kovarsky

Michael and Marilyn Kremzar

Peter E. Landgren and Judith Schonbach Landgren

Richard and Susan Lauf

Will and Lee Lindner

Elizabeth and Brian Mannion

David L. Martin

Mr. Jonathan Martin

Barbara and Kim McCracken §

Linda and James Miller

James and Margo Minutolo

Mr. Arthur Norman and Mrs. Lisa Lennon Norman

Alice Perlman

David and Jenny Powell

Ellen Rieveschl

Elizabeth and Karl Ronn §

James and Mary Russell

Dr. E. Don Nelson and Ms. Julia Sawyer-Nelson

Martha and Lee Schimberg

Mr. Dennis Schoff and Ms. Nina Sorensen

Mike and Digi Schueler

Brent & Valerie Sheppard

Sue and Glenn Showers §

Rennie and David Siebenhar

Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Skidmore §

Michael and Donnalyn Smith

Dr. Jean and Mrs. Anne Steichen

Brett Stover §

Mr. and Mrs. David R. Valz

Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Wachter

Mrs. Paul H. Ward §

Donna A. Welsch

Cathy S. Willis

Andrea K. Wiot

Irene A. Zigoris Anonymous (3)

ARTIST’S CIRCLE

Gifts of $3,000–$4,999

Mr. and Mrs. Richard N. Adams

Mr. Roger Ames

Mr. Nicholas Apanius

Heather Apple and Mary Kay Koehler

Mr. and Mrs. Gérard Baillely

Glenn and Donna Boutilier

Peter and Kate Brown

Dr. Ralph P. Brown

Janet and Bruce Byrnes

Gordon Christenson

Susan and Burton Closson

Lois Cohen §

Marjorie Craft

George Deepe and Kris Orsborn

Jim and Elizabeth Dodd

Dr. and Mrs. Stewart B. Dunsker

David and Kari Ellis Fund*

Ann A. Ellison

Hardy and Barbara Eshbaugh

Yan Fridman

Frank and Tara Gardner

Dr. and Mrs. Ralph A. Giannella

Lesha and Samuel Greengus

Dr. and Mrs. Jack Hahn

Dr. Donald and Laura Harrison

Mr. and Mrs. Robert R. Heidenreich

Donald and Susan Henson

Ruth C. Holthaus

In Memory of Benjamin C. Hubbard

Mr. and Mrs. Bradley G. Hughes

Mr. and Mrs. Michael C. Hughes

Karolyn Johnsen

Dr. Richard and Lisa Kagan

Dr. Robert W. Keith and Ms. Kathleen Thornton

Don and Kathy King

Lynn Keniston Klahm

Marie and Sam Kocoshis

Mr. Frank P. Kromer

Mr. Shannon Lawson

Mrs. Jean E. Lemon §

Mrs. Robert Lippert

Merlanne Louney

Mr. and Mrs. Donald Marshall

Glen and Lynn Mayfield

Allen-McCarren

Ms. Amy McDiffett

Mrs. Patricia Misrach

Mr. and Mrs. David E. Moccia §

George and Sarah Morrison III

Ms. Mary Lou Motl

Phyllis Myers and Danny Gray

Poul D. and JoAnne Pedersen

Mark and Kim Pomeroy

Mr. Aftab Pureval

Michael and Katherine Rademacher

James Rubenstein and Bernadette Unger

Mr. & Mrs. Peter A. Schmid

Rev. Dr. David V. Schwab

Mr. Rick Sherrer and Dr. Lisa D. Kelly

Elizabeth C. B. Sittenfeld §

Doug and Laura Skidmore

Elizabeth A. Stone

Margaret and Steven Story

Mr. and Mrs. J. Dwight Thompson

Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Tinklenberg

Neil Tollas and Janet Moore

Dr. and Mrs. Galen R. Warren

Jonathan and Janet Weaver

Jo Ann Wieghaus

Ronna and James Willis

Steve and Katie Wolnitzek

Carol and Don Wuebbling

Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Zierolf

Anonymous (3)

SYMPHONY CIRCLE

Gifts of $1,500–$2,999

Jeff and Keiko Alexander §

Lisa Allgood

Beth and Bob Baer

Mrs. Gail Bain

William and Barbara Banks

David and Elaine Billmire

Towne Properties

Dr. and Mrs. William Bramlage

Mrs. Jo Ann C. Brown

Ms. Jaqui Brumm

Chris and Tom Buchert

Dr. Leanne Budde

Daniel A. Burr

Ms. Barbara Caramanian

Tom Carpenter and Lynne Lancaster

Dr. Alan Chambers

Randy K. and Nancy R. Cooper

Ms. Andrea Costa

Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Curran, III §

Mr. Louis M. Dauner and Ms. Geraldine N. Wu

Mrs. Shirley Duff

Mr. and Mrs. John G. Earls §

Ross Charitable Trust

Dr. Thomas and Geneva Cook

Gail F. Forberg §

Dr. Charles E. Frank and Ms. Jan Goldstein

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Fricke

Linda P. Fulton §

Dudley Fulton

Kathleen Gibboney

Mrs. Jay N. Gibbs

Donn Goebel and Cathy McLeod

Dr. and Mrs. Glenn S. Gollobin

Drew Gores and George Warrington

Bill and Christy Griesser

John and Elizabeth Grover

Esther B. Grubbs

Mr. and Mrs. Byron Gustin

Mr. Tom Helmick

Mr. Fred Heyse

Melissa Huber

Mr. Bradley Hunkler

Heidi Jark and Steve Kenat

Linda Busken and Andrew M. Jergens §

Barbara M. Johnson

Ms. Sylvia Johnson

Holly H. Keeler

Arleene Keller

Mr. and Mrs. Woodrow Keown, Jr.

John and Molly Kerman

Bill and Penny Kincaid

In Memory of Jeff Knoop

Juri Kolts

Carol Louise Kruse

Evelyn and Fred Lang

Charles and Jean Lauterbach

Mary Mc and Kevin Lawson

Elizabeth Lilly*

Dr. and Mrs. Lynn Y. Lin

Mr. and Mrs. Clement H. Luken, Jr.

Edmund D. Lyon

Mr. Gerron McKnight

Becky Miars

John and Roberta Michelman

Mr. and Mrs. David A. Millett

Susan E. Noelcke

Nan L. Oscherwitz

Rick Pescovitz and Kelly Mahan

Sandy Pike §

James W. Rauth §

Beverly and Dan Reigle

Stephen and Betty Robinson

Marianne Rowe §

Nancy Ruchhoft

Frederick R. Schneider

James P. Schubert

Stephanie A. Smith

Albert and Liza Smitherman

Bill and Lee Steenken

Mrs. Donald C. Stouffer

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Stradling, Jr.

Susan and John Tew

In Memory of Mr. William T. Bahlman, Jr. §

Janet Todd §

Mr. William Trach

Barbie Wagner

Michael L. Walton, Esq

Ted and Mary Ann Weiss

David F. and Sara K. Weston Fund

Virginia Wilhelm

Rev. Anne Warrington Wilson

Robert and Judy Wilson

Jeff Yang

David and Sharon Youmans

Ms. Nancy Zimpher

Anonymous (8)

CONCERTO CLUB

Gifts of $500–$1,499

Christine O. Adams

Romola N. Allen

In memory of Carol Allgood & Ester Stevens

Mr. Thomas Alloy & Dr. Evaline Alessandrini

Paul and Dolores Anderson

Dr. Victor and Dolores Angel

Nancy J. Apfel

Judy Aronoff and Marshall Ruchman

Ms. Laura E. Atkinson

Mr. David H. Axt and Ms. Susan L. Wilkinson

Dr. Diane S. Babcock §

Nate and Greta Bachhuber

Mrs. Mary M. Baer

Todd and Ann Bailey

Jerry and Martha Bain

Mr. and Mrs. Carroll R. Baker

Jack and Diane Baldwin

Peggy Barrett §

Mrs. Polly M. Bassett

Ms. Glenda Bates

Michael and Amy Battoclette

Ms. Bianca Gallagher

Fred Berger

Dr. Allen W. Bernard

Dr. David and Cheryl Bernstein

Glenda and Malcolm Bernstein

Ms. Henryka Bialkowska-Nagy

Sharon Ann Kerns and Mike Birck

Randal and Peter Bloch

Dr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Bloomer

Ms. Sandra Bolek

Ron and Betty Bollinger

Clay and Emily Bond

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Borisch

Dr. Carol Brandon

Marilyn and John Braun

Briggs Creative Services, LLC

Robert and Joan Broersma

Marian H. Brown

Rachelle Bruno and Stephen Bondurant

Jacklyn and Gary Bryson

Bob and Angela Buechner

Jack and Marti Butz

Ms. Deborah Campbell §

Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Canarie

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Carothers

Susan L. Carson

Dr. Julia H. Carter

The Castellini Company

Mike and Shirley Chaney

Catharine W. Chapman §

Ichun Chiao

Dee and Frank Cianciolo Fund*

James Civille

Beverly Kinney and Edward Cloughessy

Dr. George I. Colombel

Fred W. Colucci

Mr. and Mrs. Philip K. Cone

Marilyn Cones

Dr. Margaret Conradi

Thomas and Barbara Conroy

Janet Conway

Jack and Janice Cook §

Robin Cotton and Cindi Fitton

Martha Crafts

Dr. James Creech

Tim and Katie Crowley

Susan and John Cummings

Adrian and Takiyah Cunningham

Jacqueline Cutshall

Mr. Joseph and Mrs. Lori Dattilo

Mr. and Mrs. Jerry E. Davis

Loren and Polly DeFilippo

Stephen and Cynthia DeHoff

Robert B. Dick, Ph.D.

Ms. Rhonda Dickerscheid

Jean and Rick Donaldson

George Dostie

Mrs. John Doviak

David and Kelley Downing

Meredith and Chuck Downton

Ms. Andrea Dubroff

Tom and Leslie Ducey

Tom and Dale Due

David and Linda Dugan

Mr. Corwin R. Dunn

Michael D. and Carolyn Camillo Eagen

Edgar J. and Elaine J. Mack Fund

Mr. Daniel Epstein

Barbara Esposito-Ilacqua

Dr. and Mrs. William J. Faulkner

Ms. Barbara A. Feldmann

Richard and Elizabeth Findlay

Anne and Alan Fleischer

Ms. Nancy B. Forbriger

Janice and Dr. Tom Forte

Mr. and Ms. Bernard Foster

Susan L. Fremont

Mr. Gregrick A. Frey

In memory of Eugene and Cavell Frey

Lynne Friedlander

Michael and Katherine Frisco

Mr. and Mrs. James Fryman

Marjorie Fryxell

Christophe Galopin

Melanie Garner and Michael Berry

Ms. Jane Garvey

Ms. Christina Gearhart

Drs. Michael and Janelle J. Gelfand

Dr. and Mrs. Freidoon Ghazi

David J. Gilner

Mr. and Mrs. James Gingrich

The Glenny Glass Company

Dr. and Mrs. Charles J. Glueck

Mr. Ken Goldhoff

Mr. and Mrs. Jim Goldschmidt

Ms. Arlene Golembiewski

Carl and Joyce Greber

Jim and Jann Greenberg

Mary Grooms

Dr. Anthony and Ann Guanciale

Alison and Charles Haas

Ms. Sarah Habib

Mary and Phil Hagner

Peter Hames

Ham and Ellie Hamilton

Walter and Karen Hand

In memory of Dr. Stuart Handwerger

Catherine K. Hart

Mariana Belvedere and Samer Hasan

Mr. John A. Headley

Amy and Dennis Healy

Kenneth and Rachel Heberling

Mrs. Betty H. Heldman §

Herman & Margaret Wasserman Music Fund*

Michelle and Don Hershey

Janet & Craig Higgins

Mr. and Mrs. William A. Hillebrand

Kyle and Robert Hodgkins

Benjamin & Naomi Hoffman

Ms. Leslie M. Hoggatt

Richard and Marcia Holmes

Stanley A. Hooker, III

Sean and Katie Hubbard

Karen and David Huelsman

Mrs. Carol H. Huether

Dr. G. Edward & Sarah Hughes

Ms. Idit Isaacsohn

Dr. Maralyn M. Itzkowitz

Mrs. Charles H. Jackson, Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. Fred Jebens

Marcia Jelus

David & Penny Jester

John Byrd

Mr. and Mrs. Paul H. Johnson

Mrs. Marilyn P. Johnston

In Honor of Lois Jolson

Elizabeth A. Jones

Scott and Patricia Joseph

Jay and Shirley Joyce

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Judd

Ms. Mary Judge

Dr. and Mrs. Richard Kerstine

Mr. and Mrs. Dave Kitzmiller

Pamela Koester-Hackman

Carol and Scott Kosarko

Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Kregor

Mr. and Mrs. Bruce A. Krone

Kathleen B. and Michael C. Krug Fund*

Matt & Diane Krumanaker

Mark & Elisabeth Kuhlman

Mrs. John H. Kuhn §

Jo Ann and George Kurz

Patricia Lambeck

Everett and Barbara Landen

Asher Lanier

Karen Larsen

Ms. Sally L. Larson

Mrs. Julie Laskey

Mrs. Judith A. Leege in memory of Philip B. Leege

Betsy Leigh and David Holliday

Dr. Carol P. Leslie

Mr. and Mrs. Lance A. Lewis

Mrs. Maxine F. Lewis

Paula and Nick Link

Mr. Ajene Lomax

Mr. Steven Kent Loveless

Luke and Nita Lovell

David and Katja Lundgren

Mrs. Mary Reed Lyon

Marshall and Nancy Macks

Mr. and Mrs. Julian A. Magnus

Jenea Malarik

Dr. and Ms. Mark Mandell-Brown

Ms. Cheryl Manning

Andrew and Jean Martin

Mr. and Mrs. Warren L. Mason

Mr. and Mrs. Dean Matz

Ms. Mary Jane Mayer

Stephanie McNeill

Charles and JoAnn Mead

Ms. Nancy Menne

Ms. Mary Ann Meyer

Michael V. Middleton

Terence G. Milligan

Sonia R. Milrod

Dr. Stanley R. Milstein §

Ms. Laura Mitchell

Mr. Steven Monder

Eileen W. and James R. Moon

Regeana and Al Morgan

Mr. William J. Morgan

Alan Flaherty and Patti Myers §

Mr. and Mrs. Norman Neal

Mr. Scott Nelson and Dr. Susan Kindel

Mr. Ted Nelson and Ms. Ixi Chen

Ms. Helen Neumann

Mr. Gerald Newfarmer

Mrs. Alfred K. Nippert

Jane Oberschmidt §

Ms. Sylvia Osterday

John A. Pape

The Pavelka Family

Ann and Marty Pinales

Mrs. Stewart Proctor

Dr. Aik Khai Pung

Marjorie and Louis Rauh

Ms. Mary Redington

Dr. and Mrs. Robert Reed

Dr. Robert Rhoad and Kitsa Tassian Rhoad

Stephanie Richardson

Mr. David Robertson

Laurie and Dan Roche

Mr. and Mrs. Ian Rodway

Dr. Anna Roetker

Ms. Jeanne C. Rolfes

Catherine Calko

Dr. and Mrs. Gary Roselle

Ellen and Louis Ross

Mr. and Mrs. G. Roger Ross

Dr. Deborah K. Rufner

J. Gregory and Judith B. Rust

Mr. Joseph A. Schilling

Ms. Carol Schleker

Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Schleker

Jane and Wayne Schleutker

Dr. and Mrs. Michael Schmerler

Mrs. Donna Schnicke

George Palmer Schober

Glenda C. Schorr Fund*

Carol J. Schroeder §

Mary D. Schweitzer

Dr. Joseph Segal and Ms. Debbie Friedman

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas P. Semancik

Drs. Mick and Nancy Shaughnessy

Jerry and Donna Shell

The Shepherd Chemical Company

Alfred and Carol Shikany

Ms. Joycee Simendinger

Kristin and David Skidmore

Ms. Martha Slager

Susan and David Smith

Ms. Margaret Smith

Mark M. Smith

(In memory of Terri C. Smith)

Stephen and Lyle Smith

Phillip and Karen Sparkes

Ms. Ruth M. Stechschulte

Mark and Anne Stepaniak

Mr. Jason V. Stitt

Stephanie and Joseph Stitt

Nancy and Gary Strassel

Ms. Susan R. Strick

Mr. George Stricker, Jr.

Mr. Mark Stroud

Patricia Strunk §

Dr. Alan and Shelley Tarshis

Maureen Taylor

Mr. Fred Tegarden

Carlos and Roberta Teran

Rich and Nancy Tereba

Joyce and Howard Thompson

Mr. Stuart Tobin

Torey and Tom Torre

Mrs. Esthela Urriquia

Mr. D. R. Van Lokeren

Dr. Judith Vermillion

Dr. Barbara R. Voelkel

Jim and Rachel Votaw §

Ms. Barbara Wagner

Mr. and Mrs. James L. Wainscott

Jane A. Walker

Sarella Walton

Mrs. Louise Watts

Maryhelen West

Ms. Bonnie White

Ms. Elizabeth White

Ms. Diana Willen

Mr. Dean Windgassen and Ms. Susan Stanton Windgassen

Don and Karen Wolnik

Rebecca Seeman and David Wood

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Wylly III

Mr. John M. Yacher

Mrs. Darleen Young

Judy and Martin Young

Mr. David Youngblood and Ms. Ellen Rosenman

Dr. and Mrs. Daryl Zeigler

Ms. Joan Zellner

Moritz and Barbara Ziegler

Mr. Richard K. Zinicola and Ms. Linda R. Holthaus

Anonymous (17)

OVERTURE CLUB

Gifts of $125–$499

Mr. and Mrs. Fred H. Abel

Mr. Robert Abrahams

Hiro Adachi

Anthony Adams

Donald and Susan Adick

Dr. Steven and Teresa Ahrenholz

Dr. and Mrs. John Aiken III

Drs. Gordon and Dorothy Air

Kenneth and Lois Allen

Ms. Ruth Alpers

Dr. F. Javier Alvarez-Leefmans

AmazonSmile

R. Bruce and Patricia A. Anderson

Theresa M. Anderson

Larry and Sandy Andrzejewski

Don and Julie Anglim

Dr. Jean S. Anthony

Pheruza Tarapore and Jimmy Antia

Mr. and Mrs. Keith Apple

Alejandro Aragaki

Dr. Michael and Lynne Archdeacon

Stefan Athanasiadis

Karen Averbeck

Mr. and Mrs. Gerald R. Ayer

Ms. Patricia Baas

Karen Bachhuber

Fred & Mary Sue Bahr

Ken and Kathy Baier

Lesley Bailey

Mr. Nathan Bailey

Jodie Baker

Ruth Bamberger

Mary Banner

ILSCO Corporation

Gail Barker

Rebecca and Doug Barnaclo

Mr. and Mrs. Paul S. Barnhart

Dr. and Mrs. Robert Barnhorn

Al Barrow

In memory of Ruth Mary Sullivan

Mr. Bruce Batts

Ms. Doris Bax

Michael E. Beall

Ms. Janet C Beckemeyer

NL Becker

Mr. and Mrs. Herbert J. Beigel

In honor of Joe Morris

Dr. and Mrs. Daniel D. Beineke

Ms. Bobbie Bell

Dr. and Mrs. Thomas E. Bell

Mr. David Bella

Joyce M. Benge

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew R. Berger

Mr. Jeffrey Berry

Ms. Marianna Bettman

Mr. and Mrs. Robert T. Betz

Ms. Barbara Bibbee

Lisa Biedenbach and Robert Wuerth

Walter B. Blair §

Mr. Norman Jeffrey Blankenship

Ms. Lauren Blauvelt-Copelin

Milt and Berdie Blersch

Diann and Tony Blizniak

Richard and Susan Bloss

Michael and Pamela Boehm

Perry Kent Bohanon

Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Bolduc

Richard Bollman, S.J.

Ron Bona Hatem

Mary and Bill Bonansinga

Laurence and Hildy Bonhaus

Mr. Guillaume Bonniol

Jane and Gary Booth

Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Born

Brenda Bowden

Bruce Bowdon and Robin Bratt

Mr. Larry Bowling

David & Madonna Bowman

Mr. Cliff Brahm

Jerome and Linda Brainard

Ms. Chyrl Brandt

Mr. and Mrs. Herb Brass

Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Brewster

Mr. Gene Breyer

Ms. Elizabeth Brice

Ms. Lori Bridgers

Ms. Arlene J. Brill

Ms. Kimberly Brindley

Brian Brockman

Bob and Sharon Brodbeck

Jim Bronstrup

Ms. Kathleen Albers

Eric Brown

Ms. Sheila J. Brown

Mr. and Mrs. R. Richard Broxon

Ralph and Diane Brueggemann

Mrs. Maureen Bruns

William Bryan

Anna H. Bunker

Mrs. Nancy Bunnell

Ms. Mary K. Burden

Dr. Andrew and Dr. Mary Burger

Ms. Susan Buring

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Burkhart

Ms. Lisa A. Burns

Ms. Elyn Buscani

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Cahill

Mr. Jon Calderas and Dr. Corinne Lehmann

Ms. Cindy Callicoat

Bernie Calonge

Ms. Vicki Calonge

Mr. Eric Campbell

Vince and Mary Capasso

Michael Carnes

Erin Carpenter

Mr. and Mrs. Chris Carr

Bob and Lucy Carroll

Mr. Patrick Carrothers

Mr. James E. Cartledge

Mr. John Castaldi and Mr. Terry Bazeley

Gary R. Catt

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth L. Cheever

Edmund Choi and Kieran Daly

Mr. Mark Christian

Cinefro Family

Joseph Clemans

Alan & Vivian Cochrane

Dr. and Mrs. John S. Cohen

Barbara Colburn

Elizabeth Coley

Dr. John and Barbara Collins

Ms. Karen Collins

Mr. and Ms. Stephen Collins

Mr. and Mrs. Tom Collins

Ms. Ashley Colmenero

Ms. Jan Conversano Besl

Ms. Lois Conyers

Deacon and Mrs. John Corson

Mr. and Mrs. James F. Cory, Jr.

Dr. and Mrs. Phillip D. Crabtree

Nancy Creaghead

Michelle, Marty & Anna Cristo

Mrs. Carol Schradin

Mrs. Linda D. Crozier

Jim and Susan Crumpler

Leo & Janet Culligan

Mr. James Curell

Mr. Arthur D. Dahlberg

Neil Danielson & Kami Park

Mr. Michael Dapper

Valerie Dauwe

Gabriel A. and Princess J. Davis

Mr. John A. Davis

John A. Deaver

Ronda Deel

Trevor R. DeJarnett

Joan & Dick DeLon

Red and Jo Deluse

Ms. Mary DeMaria

Dr. and Mrs. Charles Demirjian

Rozelia Park and Christopher Dendy

Mr. and Mrs. Gregory Dennis

Dr. Kimberly G. Deringer

Mr. and Mrs. Michael DeWeirdt

Dietz Family

Philip & Linda Diller

Robert and Gretchen Dinerman

Dr. Karen E. Dinsmore

Rev. and Mrs. Donald Dixon

Joanna Doerner

Susan Dolph

Mary Beth Donica & Carl Fichtenbaum

James H. Donnelly

Marianne Donohue

Carolyn M. Donovan

Elizabeth Doriott

Mark Dornoff

Douglas Dougherty

Roger and Julie Doughty

Karen H. Dowling

Mr. James Doyle

Jim and Karen Draut

Emilie and David Dressler

Charles and Shelley Dumoulin

Royal Duncan

Ms. Deborah D. Dunning

Mr. Dennis Dunwoodie

Mr. David Dupee

Freeman Durham and Dean Clevenger

Richard and Deirdre Dyson

Mr. and Mrs. Donald L. Earnhart

Kay Eby

Dave and Kathy Eby

Joseph and Kristi Echler

Ken Eckert

Charles and Harriet Edwards

Larry and Barbara Elleman

Dale B. Elliott

Ms. Kathryn Ellis

Ramona and Steve Englender

Gary and Hiba Ernst

Ms. Maria Espinola

Ms. Alison Estes

Ms. Amanda Evans-Stephens

Ruth Everman

Paul and Dr. Tsila Evers

Mr. Douglas Fagaly

Mrs. Jerome D. Fagel

Barbara R. Fallis

James Farrell

Jenn J. Farrington

James Fecher

Mr. Robert Ferrell

Mrs. Diana Ficke

Mr. and Mrs. Harold Fischer

Mr. and Mrs. J. Michael Fischer

Michael and Bonnie Fishel

Mr. and Mrs. Roger Fisher

Mrs. Sarah A. Fitzhugh

Mr. David B. Fleming

Mr. Mark A. Fleming

Mrs. Cheryl L. Flurer

Ms. Nancy E. Fogelson

Sean and Amy Beth Foley

Winston Folkers

Janet and Robert Ford

Mrs. Cindy Foster

Marjorie Fox

Forest Frank

John and Susan Frank

Schulzinger-Frankel Family Foundation

Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Franzen

Guy and Marilyn Frederick §

Harriet and Bill Freedman

Ed Freeman and Maralynn Martin

Ms. Melanie Frew

Mary and Kent Friel

Mr. Arthur Ftacnik

Richard and Karen Fuchs

Vinnie Fuggetta

Bella Funk and Kara Funk

John and Miriam Gallagher

S. Gallagher

Mr. Andrew Galloway

Glynnis & Barry Gangwer

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Gard

Marti Gardner

Mr. Brian Gartner

Cynthia Reinhart and Ernst Gebhardt

Mr. Darryl Geiman

Frank A. Geiser II

John and Pat Geller

Mr. Genther

M. Douglas Gerrard

Dr. and Mrs. Stephen F. Gerstner

Ms. E. Avis Geygan

Mr. and Mrs. Ted Gibboney

Ms. Kathryn Gibbons

Mr. Stephen Gibbs

Paul & Nancy Gibson

Mrs. Patricia Gibson

Ms. Maggie Gieseke

Mr. and Mrs. Donald R. Gilb

Ms. Dana Glasgo

Dr. Seymour I. Glick

Edna M. Godsey

Dr. and Mrs. Richard Goetz

Mr. Bruce E. Goetzman

Steven and Shelley Goldstein

Dr. Michael Gordon

Margot and Harry Gotoff

Dr. Allyson Graf & Mr. Gerard Nielsen

Mr. James Graham

Peter and Mary Ellen Graham

Ms. Dallas Grant

John and Carolyn Grant

Anita J. and Thomas G. Grau

Robert and Cynthia Gray

Elsie and Gary Grebe

Mark Greenberg

Mr. and Mrs. David C. Greulich

Ms. Joan Griggs

Mr. and Mrs. James Grimes

Edward Grossman and Rochelle Stanfield

Mr. Joseph Schen

Mr. and Mrs. William C. Schmidter, III §

Ronald & Ruth Schmiedeker

Jacqueline K. Schneider

Ann and Jerry Schoen

Mr. Jeffrey Schoenberger

Mr. Stephen Schroer

Mr. Arthur and Donna Schuler

Marcia Schulte

Cynthia A. Schultz

Janet R. Schultz

Christine Schumacher and Hal Hess

Mrs. Arlene K. Schwerin

Joseph Schwering

Ruth A. Schwieterman

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Sciamanna

Ms. Jane Sebree

Scott and Rachel Sedmak

Ms. Barbara Seiver

Mary Sells

Steven L. Selss

Donald and Nancy Seltz

David and Diane Senseman

Saira Shahani and Rick Warm

Ms. Kay Shaner

Barbara Shepard

James and Margaret Sherlock

Jack Sherman, Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Shotten

Dr. and Mrs. Donald E. Shrey

Richard and Kathy Siconolfi

Lise and Kevin Sigward

Jacqueline M. Mack and Dr. Edward B. Silberstein

Stephanie Simpson

Mu Sinclaire & Sinclaire Family Foundation

Dr. Leonard Singer

Robert & Linda Singer

Nancy McGaughey and Sally Skillman

Mr. Ron Slageter

John P Slattery

Mrs. Joanne Slovisky

Mr. William Slutz and Ms. Linda A. Rooman

Tracy Jo and David Small

Jay and Michele Smith

Jennifer S. Smith

Mr. John Smith

Mr. Timothy L. Smith and Ms. Penny Poirier

Wanda J. Smith

Drake Snarski

David Snyder §

Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Sorg

Ms. Patricia Spalding

Mr. C. Gregory Spangler

Mr. and Mrs. Willis R. Sparks

Sue and Andrew Speno

Paula Spitzmiller

Mr. Lee T. Spitznagel

St. John’s Reformed

Episcopal Church Fund*

Elizabeth Rabkin

Joe and Linda Staneck

Dana A. Stang

Kenneth Stang

Ms. Jane T. Stanton

Barry and Sharlyn Stare §

Mr. John Stein

Mary M. Stein

Frank and Alice Stephenson

Frank and Rose Stertz

Susan M. and Joseph Eric Stevens

Ms. Sarah Stevenson

Mr. and Ms. David Stikeleather

Sarah Stirsman

Gary and Leslie Stoelting

Joe and Gladys Stolz

James Howard Storm

Ms. Dolores Stover

Mr. and Mrs. Emmett Stubbs

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Sugerman

Dennis and Helen Sullivan

Theresa and Peter Suranyi

Ms. Donna Tabb

William & Diana Taggart

Mr. and Mrs. William R. Talbot, Jr.

Ginger Tannenbaum

Tarzinski Family

Mr. and Mrs. Alexander W. Teass

Karl and Marilyn Technow

Ms. Paige Tedesco

Tom and Sue Terwilliger

Robert and Rosa Martha Thaler

Mr. Michael J. Thomas

John M. and Elsie A. Thompson

David and Christine Thornbury

Mr. Robert W. Thurston and Ms. Margaret Ziolkowski

Samuel P Todd III

Marcia and Bob Togneri

Paul and Diana Trenkamp

Ms. Valerie Trentman

Timothy Troendle

Mr. and Mrs. Turner

Mr. James Uber

Mr. Randy Ulses and Mr. Michael Smith

Thomas Urban

Mr. Tom Valashinas

Edward Valentine

Dr. Nicolette van der Klaauw

Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Verney

Mr. Eric Vespierre

Mr. Robert von Gerds

Mr. and Mrs. Wm. VonStrohe

Ms. Joan Voorhees

Jacob Wachtman

Gary Wagner

Mr. George Wagner

Mrs. Anne Marie Wagner

Mr. Nick Wagner

Ms. Priscilla S. Walford

Ms. Barbara Walkenhorst Derby

Cynthia and Garret Walker

Rosemary Waller

Mr. and Mrs. Chris Wallhausser

Dr. George and Norma Walter

Rabbi and Mrs. Gerry Walter

Mr. Joseph Walton

Ping Wang

Mr. T. C. Wanstrath

Ms. Anita Ward

Carole and Ed Warfel

Ms. Fran Warm

Dr. and Mrs. Jerry W. Warner

Frederick and Jo Anne Warren §

Chad and Betsy Warwick

C. Watson

Ms. Barbara G. Watts

James and Carol Waugh

Mark and Jennifer Weaver

Dr. and Mrs. Barry Webb

Dr. and Mrs. Robert Weber

Mary Webster

Mrs. William N. Weed

Glenn & Desiree Wegryn

Dr. and Mrs. Alan Weinstein

Mr. Gerard Weller

Justin Weller

Ms. Amy Wertheimer

Mr. Ed Wertheimer

Jeff & Arlene Werts

Gerald and Joann Wess

Anne and John Westenkirchner

Ms. Joan Wham

Ms. Susan Wheatley and Mr. Anthony Becker

Stephen and Amy Whitlatch

Mrs. Constance C. Widmer

Ms. Serah Wiedenhoefer

Janice T. Wieland

Ann Wierwille, M.D.

Mr. Brian Wildman

Mr. and Mrs. George Wilkinson

Ms. Beverly P. Williams

Marsha Williams

Michael George Williams

Mr. Bruce Williamson

Robert and Jean Willis

Mr. Ted Wills

Robert Willson

Ms. Julie Wilson

GIFT OF MUSIC: March 2–July 10, 2023

Ms. Laura Wilson

Mr. James Wise

EJ Wohlgemuth

Craig and Barbara Wolf

Mr. Guy Wolf and Ms. Jane Misiewicz

Louise Wolf

Mr. and Mrs. Matt Wolfgang

Charles Wood

Gary and Marilyn P. Wooddell

John and Nancy Woodin

Kelley Galloway Smith Goolsby, PSC

Judith R Workman

Susan and William Wortman

Ms. Christine Wright

Dr. and Mrs. Robert E. Wubbolding

Betty A. Wuest

Linda Wulff

Mr. and Mrs. Daniel R. Wurtzler

Leo & Edie Yakutis

Jim & Debbie Young

Carol J. Yungbluth

David A. and Martha R. Yutzey

Mr. and Mrs. Michel Zalzal

Meg Zeller and Alan Weinstein

Dr. Herbert Zeman

Mary and Steve Ziller, Jr.

David and Cynthia Zink

John and Jeanie Zoller

Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Zuck

Mrs. Beth Zwergel

Anonymous (95)

GIFTS IN-KIND

Anonymous

Ms. Melanie M. Chavez

Drive Media House

William & Anna Fluke

Graeter’s Ice Cream

Harris Media Co.

Jones Day

The Voice of Your Customer Wegman Company, Inc.

List as of July 13, 2023

* Denotes a fund of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation.

§ Denotes members of The Thomas Schippers Legacy Society. Individuals who have made a planned gift to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Pops Orchestra are eligible for membership in the Society. For more information, please contact Kate Farinacci at 513.744.3202.

The following people provided gifts to the Gift of Music Fund to celebrate an occasion, to mark a life of service to the Orchestra, or to commemorate a special date. Their contributions are added to the Orchestra’s endowment. For more information on how to contribute to this fund, please call 513.744.3271.

In Honor of Anne Heldman’s 95th Birthday

The Greater Cincinnati Foundation

Madeleine Heldman

In Honor of Joe and Marilyn Hirschhorn on the birth of their great-granddaughters

Judith Aronoff and Marshall D. Ruchman

In Honor of Norman Johns

Dr. and Mrs. Michael J. Gelfand

In Honor of Richard Kovarsky

Ms. Marsha Schofield

In Honor of Steve Pride’s Retirement

Gary and Dee Dee West

In Honor of Joyce Salinger’s Birthday

Mrs. Florette B. Hoffheimer

In Honor of Mary Schubert

Andy Janig

In Memory of Martha Garrison Anness

Ms. Donna Parker

In Memory of Frank Bloom

Mr. Alfred M. Cohen

Nancy Dorn

Ms. Nancy Gladstone

Joseph W. and Marilyn Hirschhorn

J. David and Dianne M. Rosenberg

Gary and Dee Dee West

In Memory of Frank Burdick

Thomas A. Braun III

Mrs. Caroline H. Davidson

Mrs. Veronica M. Mitchell

Mrs. William J. O’Connor

In Memory of Myra and Lou Chabut

John and Virginia Cover

Pat and Walter Timperman

In Memory of Gail Forberg

Stewart B. and Ellen T. Dunsker

In Memory of Sue Friedlander

Bartlett Wealth Management

Nancy C. and Patricia M. Wagner

In Memory of Barbara “Bobbie”

Carson Givens

Anonymous

Mr. and Mrs. Donald Bush

Ms. Megan Gulau

Johnson Investment Counsel

Michael McCutchan

In Memory of Margaret Halberstadt

Dr. and Mrs. T. Richard Halberstadt

In Memory of Louis H. Jacobs

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Cowen

In Memory of Mary L. Jordan

Mr. and Mrs. David Brown

In Memory of Mary Kelton

Ellen and Robert Downey

In Memory of Jeffrey L. Knoop

Duane V. and Anne Keller

In Memory of Nancy Kollier

John and Virginia Cover

In Memory of Charles J. LeBlond

Mrs. Carol C. Cole

Mrs. Nancy King

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth J. McWhorter

In Memory of Marilyn J. Osborn

Bartlett Wealth Management

Mr. and Mrs. John S. Domaschko

Jack and Barbara Hahn

Mrs. Carl Kalnow

Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence H. Kyte Jr.

Joseph T. and Kathleen F. Luttmer

Timothy and Leslie Maloney

Mr. and Mrs. John J. McLaughlin

J. David and Dianne Rosenberg

Mr. John M. Shepherd

Dr. and Mrs. Walter S. Smitson

Pat ad Walter Timperman

Nancy C. and Patricia M. Wagner

Andrew and Julie Webster

Gary and Dee Dee West

In Memory of Mattie “Ruth” Phillips

Jeff and Lindsay Berding

In Memory of Yvonne Schrotel

Ms. Carol L. Kruse

In Memory of Mary Pamperin Schubert

Ms. Ellen Florentino

In Memory of Kathryn W. Shahani

David and Steven Birch

Mrs. Esther B. Grubbs

Jane Robinson

In Memory of Adele Wolf

Joseph W. and Marilyn Hirschhorn

THE THOMAS SCHIPPERS LEGACY SOCIETY

Thomas Schippers was Music Director from 1970 to 1977. He left not only wonderful musical memories, but also a financial legacy with a personal bequest to the Orchestra. The Thomas Schippers Legacy Society recognizes those who contribute to the Orchestra with a planned gift. We thank these members for their foresight and generosity. For more information on leaving your own legacy, contact Kate Farinacci at 513.744.3202.

Mr. & Mrs. James R. Adams

Je & Keiko Alexander

Mrs. Robert H. Allen

Paul R. Anderson

Carole J. Arend

Donald C. Auberger, Jr.

Dr. Diane Schwemlein Babcock

Henrietta Barlag

Peggy Barrett

Jane* & Ed Bavaria

David & Elaine Billmire

Walter Blair

Lucille* & Dutro Blocksom

Rosemary & Frank Bloom*

Dr. John & Suzanne Bossert

Dr. Mollie H. Bowers-Hollon

Ronald Bozicevich

Thomas A. Braun, III

Joseph Brinkmeyer

Mr. & Mrs. Frederick Bryan, III

Harold & Dorothy Byers

Deborah Campbell & Eunice M. Wolf

Myra Chabut*

Catharine W. Chapman

Michael L. Cio & Rachael Rowe

Mrs. Jackson L. Clagett III

Lois & Phil* Cohen

Leland M.* & Carol C. Cole

Grace A. Cook

Jack & Janice Cook

Mr. & Mrs. Charles Cordes

Andrea Costa

Peter G. Courlas & Nick Tsimaras*

Mr. & Mrs. Charles E. Curran III

Amy & Scott Darrah, Meredith & Will Darrah, & children

Caroline H. Davidson

Harrison R.T. Davis

Ms. Kelly M. Dehan

Amy & Trey Devey

Robert W. Dorsey

Jon & Susan Doucle

Ms. Judith A. Doyle

Mr. & Mrs. John Earls

Barry & Judy Evans

Linda & Harry Fath

Alan Flaherty

Mrs. Richard A. Forberg*

Ashley & Barbara Ford

Guy & Marilyn Frederick

Rich Freshwater & Family

Susan Friedlander*

Mr. Nicholas L. Fry

Linda P. Fulton

H. Jane Gavin

Kenneth A. Goode

Cli ord J. Goosmann & Andrea M. Wilson

Mrs. Madeleine H. Gordon

J. Frederick & Cynthia Gossman

Kathy Grote

Esther B. Grubbs, Marci Bein & Mindi Hamby

William Hackman

Vincent C. Hand & Ann E. Hagerman

Tom & Jan Hardy

William L. Harmon

Mrs. Morton L. Harshman*

Mary J. Healy

Frank G. Heitker

Anne P. Heldman

Betty & John* Heldman

Ms. Roberta Hermesch*

Karlee L. Hilliard

Michael H. Hirsch

Mr. & Mrs. Joseph W. Hirschhorn

Daniel J. Ho heimer

Kenneth L. Holford

Mr. George R. Hood

Mr. & Mrs. Terence L. Horan

Mrs. Benjamin C. Hubbard

Susan & Tom Hughes

Carolyn R. Hunt*

Dr. William Hurford & Dr. Lesley Gilbertson

Mr. & Mrs. Paul Isaacs

Julia M. F. B. Jackson

Michael & Kathleen Janson

Andrew MacAoidh Jergens

Jean C. Jett

Margaret H. Jung

Mace C. Justice

Karen Kapella

Dr. & Mrs.* Steven Katkin

Rachel Kirley & Joseph Jaquette

Carolyn Koehl

Marvin Kolodzik & Linda Gallaher

Carol & Scott Kosarko

Randolph & Patricia Krumm

Theresa M. Kuhn

Warren & Patricia Lambeck

Peter E. Landgren & Judith Schonbach Landgren

Owen & Cici Lee

Steve Lee

M. Drue Lehmann

Mrs. Jean E. Lemon

Mr. Peter F. Levin

George & Barbara Lott

Janice* & Gary Lubin

Mr.* & Mrs. Ronald Lyons

Marilyn J. Maag

Margot Marples

David L. Martin

Allen* & Judy Martin

David Mason

Mrs. Barbara Witte McCracken

Laura Kimble McLellan

Dr. Stanley R. Milstein

Mrs. William K. Minor

Mr. & Mrs. D. E. Moccia

Kristin & Stephen Mullin

Christopher & Susan Muth

Patti Myers

Susan & Kenneth Newmark

Dr. & Mrs. Theodore Nicholas

Jane Oberschmidt

Marja-Liisa Ogden

Julie & Dick* Okenfuss

Jack & Marilyn* Osborn

Dr. & Mrs. Richard E. Park, MD

Mr. & Mrs. Charles Pease

Poul D. & JoAnne Pedersen

Sandy & Larry* Pike

Mrs. Harold F. Poe

Anne M. Pohl

Irene & Daniel Randolph

James W. Rauth

Barbara S. Reckseit

Melody Sawyer Richardson

Ellen Rieveschl

Elizabeth & Karl Ronn

Moe & Jack Rouse

Marianne Rowe

Ann & Harry Santen

Rosemary & Mark Schlachter

Carol J. Schroeder

Mrs. William R. Seaman

Dr. Brian Sebastian

Mrs. Mildred J. Selonick*

Mrs. Robert B. Shott

Sue & Glenn Showers

Irwin & Melinda Simon

Betsy & Paul* Sittenfeld

Sarah Garrison Skidmore

Adrienne A. Smith

David & Sonja* Snyder

Marie Speziale

Mr. & Mrs. Christopher L. Sprenkle

Michael M. Spresser

Barry & Sharlyn Stare

Cynthia Starr

Bill & Lee Steenken

Tom & Dee Stegman

Barry Steinberg

Nancy M. Steman

John & Helen Stevenson

Mary* & Bob Stewart

Brett Stover

Dr. Robert & Jill Strub

Patricia M. Strunk

Ralph & Brenda* Taylor

Conrad F. Thiede

Minda F. Thompson

Carrie & Peter Throm

Dr. & Mrs. Thomas Todd

Nydia Tranter

Dick & Jane Tuten

Thomas Vanden Eynden & Judith Beiting

Mr. & Mrs. Robert Varley

Mr. & Mrs. James K. Votaw

Mr. & Mrs.* Randolph L. Wadsworth Jr.

Jack K. & Mary V. Wagner*

Nancy C. Wagner

Patricia M. Wagner

Mr.* & Mrs. Paul Ward

Jo Anne & Fred Warren

Mr. Scott Weiss & Dr. Charla Weiss

Anne M. Werner

Gary & Diane West

Charles A. Wilkinson

Ms. Diana Willen

Susan Stanton Windgassen

Mrs. Joan R. Wood

Alison & Jim Zimmerman

* Deceased

New Schippers members are in bold

Pops Princess Bride: Sep. 9–10

Denham Family and Friends

Dunn Family and Friends

Girl Scout Troop 2136

Hemmer Family and Friends

Pops Defying Gravity: Sep 22–24

Anderson Senior Center

Berkeley Square

Matthew Stegall Family and Friends

Seasons Retirement Community

CSO The Rite of Spring: Sep. 30–Oct. 1

Kristin Lee & Students

Pops Audra McDonald: Oct. 8

Ms. Thelma Thomas and Friends

Provident Travel

CSO Bernstein, Price & Copland: Oct. 13–14

Barrington of Oakley

Kenwood by Senior Star

Knolls of Oxford

Maple Knoll Village

Otterbein Retirement Community

Pops Disney: Sound of Magic: Oct. 20–22

Berkeley Square

Dylan Williams and Friends

Jasmine Artikova Family & Friends

Seasons Retirement Community

ENJOY THE MUSIC, TOGETHER!

• Groups of 10+ save 25% on most concerts and seniors and students save even more!

• Curate your own event with a private reception, guided tour or meet and greet— the possibilities are endless.

Contact CSO Group Sales: 513.864.0196 or groupsales@cincinnatisymphony.org cincinnatisymphony.org/groups

ADMINISTRATION

SHARED SERVICES & SUBSIDIARIES. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s business model is unique within the orchestral industry because it provides administrative services for other nonprofits and operates two subsidiary companies—Music & Event Management, Inc. and EVT Management LLC. With the consolidation of resources and expertise, sharing administrative services allows for all organizations within the model to thrive. Under this arrangement, the CSO produces hundreds of events in the Greater Cincinnati and Dayton regions and employs hundreds of people annually.

SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM

Jonathan Martin President and CEO

Laura Bordner Adams

Acting Vice President of Orchestra & Personnel

Harold Brown

The Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones Chief Diversity & Inclusion O cer

Rich Freshwater Chief Financial O cer

Michael Frisco

Vice President of Marketing

Felecia Tchen Kanney

Vice President of Communications

Mary McFadden Lawson Chief Philanthropy O cer

Robert McGrath

Chief Operating O cer

Anthony Paggett

Acting Vice President of Artistic Planning

Kyle Wynk-Sivashankar

Vice President of Human Resources

EXECUTIVE OFFICE

Jonathan Martin President and CEO

Andrea Maisonpierre Hessel

Executive Assistant to the President & CEO

Robert McGrath

Chief Operating O cer

Shannon Faith Assistant to the Chief Operating O cer

ARTISTIC PLANNING

Anthony Paggett

Acting Vice President of Artistic Planning

Nick Minion Artist Liaison

Laura Ruple

Assistant to the Music Director & Artistic Planning

Sam Strater

Senior Advisor for Cincinnati Pops Planning

COMMUNICATIONS

Felecia Tchen Kanney

Vice President of Communications

Charlie Balcom

Social Media Manager

Tyler Secor Director of Publications & Content Development

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION

Harold Brown

The Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones Chief Diversity & Inclusion O cer

Ti any Cooper Director of Community Engagement & Diversity

Pamela Jayne Volunteer & Community Engagement Coordinator

DIGITAL CONTENT & INNOVATION

KC Commander Director of Digital Content & Innovation

Kaitlyn Driesen Digital Production Manager

Lee Snow

Digital Content Technology Manager

Corinne Wiseman

Digital Content Manager

FINANCE, IT & DATA SERVICES

Rich Freshwater Chief Financial O cer

Deborah Benjamin Accounting Clerk

Kathleen Curry Data Entry Clerk

Elizabeth Engwall Accounting Manager

Matt Grady Accounting Manager

Sharon Grayton

Data Services Manager

Marijane Klug Accounting Manager

Shannon May Accounting Clerk

Kristina Pfei er Director of Finance

Elizabeth Salmons Accounting Clerk

Judy Simpson

Director of Finance

Tara Williams Data Services Manager

HUMAN RESOURCES & PAYROLL

Kyle Wynk-Sivashankar Vice President of Human Resources

Megan Inderbitzin-Tsai Payroll Manager

Natalia Lerzundi Payroll Specialist

Jenny Ryan Human Resources Manager

LEARNING

Carol Dary Dunevant Director of Learning

Holly Greenwood Learning Coordinator

Emily Jordan

Sound Discoveries Technology Assistant

Kyle Lamb

Learning Programs Manager

Ian McIntyre Sound Discoveries

Teaching Artist

MARKETING

Michael Frisco Vice President of Marketing

Leon Barton Web Manger

Nic Bizub

Group Sales Manager

Jon Dellinger Copywriter & Marketing Manager

Carmen Granger Subscriptions Marketing Manager

Elaine Hudson Assistant Box O ce Manger

Hannah Kaiser Assistant Box O ce Manger

Abigail Karr

Audience Engagement Manager

Stephanie Lazorchak Graphic Designer

Michelle Lewandowski Director of Marketing

Tina Marshall Director of Ticketing & Audience Services

Amber Ostaszewski Director of Audience Engagement

Alexis Shambley Marketing & Audience Insight Coordinator

Patron Services Representatives

Rebecca Ammerman, Lead

Ellison Blair, Lead

Drew Dolan, Lead

Wendy Marshall, Lead

Erik Nordstrom, Lead

Benjamin Connelly

Craig Doolin

Mary Duplantier

Ebony Jackson

Grace Kim

Gracie Lustenberg

Marian Mayen

PHILANTHROPY

Mary McFadden Lawson

Chief Philanthropy O cer

Sean Baker

Director of Institutional Giving

Bhaya Nayna Channan

Corporate Giving Manager

Ashley Co ey

Foundation & Grants Manager

Kate Farinacci

Director of Special Campaigns & Legacy Giving

Penny Hamilton

Philanthropy Assistant

Catherine Hann

Assistant Director of Individual Giving

Leslie Hoggatt

Director of Individual Giving & Donor Services

Quinton Je erson Research & Grants Administrator

D’Anté McNeal

Special Projects Coordinator

Jenna Montes

Individual Giving Manager

Emma Steward

Donor Engagement Coordinator

PRODUCTION

Laura Bordner Adams

Acting Vice President of Orchestra & Personnel

Naomi Bennett

Orchestra Personnel & Operations Manager

Carlos Javier

Production Manager

Alex Magg

Production Manager

Brenda Tullos

Director of Orchestra Personnel

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