Transformational Support

It is a beautiful thing when a connected community proactively supports one another through triumphs and trials. Time and time again, our supporters have shown up and rallied for the foundational mission of the DSO: to impact lives through the power of unforgettable musical experiences by sustaining a world-class orchestra for our city and global community. DSO President Emeritus Anne Parsons passed away this spring following a courageous battle with cancer, but her memory lives on as we look to the future of the DSO. Anne imagined a community-driven and inspirational orchestra energized to take the magic of The Anne Parsons Leadership Fund serves as a musical connection beyond the concert hall and bring rich melodies and universal themes to promise to honor and build upon local audiences. With tenacious Anne’s legacy. Through this support, the DSO will always drive and through genuine relationship building, the desire for the DSO to be visible and accesremain deeply rooted in the cultural sible throughout Metro Detroit fabric of Detroit—committed and beyond gained substantial to delivering the inspiration of support from the community; and, together, our shared vision music and human connection to all.” has become a flourishing reality. —Erik Rönmark, Through the Anne Parsons

DSO President and CEO Leadership Fund, and avid sup port from DSO donors and leadership contributors including the Mort and Brigitte Harris Foundation, we will unite to carry on Anne’s spirit, resilience, and influence. This endowed fund will ensure that the vision for the DSO as a community-supported as Learn more well as a community-supporting institution about the fund will continue in perpetuity.

The DSO is grateful to the donors who have made extraordinary endowment investments through the DSO Impact Campaign or multi-year, comprehensive gifts to support general operations, capital improvements, or special programs.

Mr. & Mrs. Lee Barthel Julie & Peter CummingsAPLF The Davidson-Gerson Family and the William Davidson Foundation The Richard C. Devereaux Foundation Erb Family and the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation The Fisher Family and the Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation Stanley & Judy Frankel and the Samuel & Jean Frankel Foundation Danialle & Peter Karmanos, Jr. Mort & Brigitte Harris FoundationAPLF Linda Dresner & Ed Levy,

Jr.APLF

James B. & Ann V. Nicholson and PVS Chemicals, Inc.APLF Bernard & Eleanor Robertson Mrs. Richard C. Van Dusen Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation Clyde & Helen Wu◊

Mr. & Mrs. Richard L. AlonzoAPLF Penny & Harold BlumensteinAPLF Mr. & Mrs. Phillip Wm.

FisherAPLF, MM

Alan J. & Sue Kaufman and FamilyMM Shari & Craig MorganAPLF, MM

Mandell & Madeleine Berman FoundationAPLF Mr. & Mrs. Raymond M. Cracchiolo Joanne Danto & Arnold Weingarden Vera & Joseph Dresner Foundation DTE Energy Foundation Ford Motor Company Fund Mr. & Mrs. Morton E. Harris◊ John S. & James L. Knight Foundation The Kresge Foundation Mrs. Bonnie LarsonAPLF The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Ms. Deborah Miesel Dr. William F. Pickard The Polk Family Stephen M. Ross Family of Clyde & Helen WuAPLF

Applebaum Family Philanthropy Charlotte Arkin Estate Marvin & Betty Danto Family FoundationAPLF Adel & Walter DissettMM Herman & Sharon Frankel Ruth & Al◊ Glancy Mary Ann & Robert GorlinAPLF Ronald M. & Carol◊ Horwitz Richard H. & Carola HuttenlocherMM John C. Leyhan Estate Bud & Nancy Liebler Richard & Jane Manoogian Foundation David & Valerie McCammon Mr. & Mrs. Eugene A. Miller Pat & Hank◊ Nickol Jack & Aviva Robinson◊ Martie & Bob Sachs Mr. & Mrs.◊ Alan E. Schwartz Drs. Doris Tong & Teck Soo Paul & Terese Zlotof

Mr.◊ & Mrs. Robert A. Allesee Mr. David Assemany & Mr. Jeffery ZookAPLF, MM W. Harold & Chacona W. BaughAPLF Robert & Lucinda Clement Lois & Avern CohnMM Mary Rita Cuddohy Estate Margie Dunn & Mark DavidoffAPLF, MM DSO MusiciansMM Bette Dyer Estate Marjorie S. Fisher FundMM Dr. Marjorie M. Fisher & Mr. Roy Furman Mr. & Mrs. Aaron FrankelMM Barbara Frankel & Ronald MichalakMM Victor◊ & Gale Girolami Fund The Glancy Foundation, Inc.APLF Herbert & Dorothy Graebner◊ Laurie Lindamulder Harris Richard Sonenklar & Gregory HaynesMM Mr. & Mrs. David Jaffa Renato & Elizabeth JamettMM Allan & Joy NachmanMM Ann & Norman◊ Katz Dr. Melvin A. Lester◊ Florine Mark Michigan Arts & Culture Council Dr. Glenda D. Price Ruth Rattner Mr. & Mrs.◊ Lloyd E. Reuss Mr. & Mrs. Fred Secrest◊ Jane & Larry Sherman Cindy McTee & Leonard Slatkin Marilyn Snodgrass Estate Mr. and Mrs. Arn TellemAPLF Nancy Schlichting & Pamela TheisenAPLF Mr. James G. VellaMM Eva von Voss and FamilyMM

MM: DSO Musicians Fund for Artistic Excellence

APLF: Anne Parsons Leadership Fund

In fall 2021, after a nine-month planning phase, the DSO’s Community and Learning team was delighted to launch Senza: a professional development music program that offers a personalized curriculum of courses, mentorship, cultural experiences, community engagement, practical experience, and networking for selected high school students. Driven by participants’ experiences and goals, the program prioritizes the involvement and participation of students from communities currently underrepresented in classical music.

While the program is individually responsive, there is also a substantial teamwork component. Senza is specifically designed to build a strong cohort of high school students who learn, lead, and grow together over their time in the program, and continue their involvement into their post-graduation years, through peer support and mentorship of new participants.

In the 2021-2022 season, eight Senza students were selected by application and audition from a pool of incoming 8th and 9th grade CYE musicians. In the 20222023 season, the number will increase to 12 students.

Previous Senza activities included CYE ensemble and chamber music participation, individual mentorship, team meetings, workshops with collegiate level educators, group trips to DSO performances, and performances at community engagement events, including the premiere of an original composition, Kaleidoscope, at the Durfee Innovation Event Center.

Additionally, five Senza students attended Interlochen Arts Camp or Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp this summer: Seth Banks (trumpet), Ethan Banks (trumpet), Isaiah Thomason-Redus (horn), and Milan Forrester (violin) attended Interlochen, and Jordan Harris (trumpet) attended Blue Lake. For four out of the five students, it was their first summer music camp experience of this caliber.

“We are tremendously proud of our first group of Senza students,” said DSO Director of Education Debora Kang. “Their artistic progress has been remarkable, and just as much as our students have grown by working with our educators, our educators have grown by working with our students. We are grateful to continue this program in the new season and look forward to positively impacting more lives through Senza.”

Visit dso.org to learn more about Senza.

Senza is made possible by generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and falls under the DSO’s Civic Youth Ensembles (CYE) umbrella. Last season, the DSO celebrated 50 years of CYE, and now proudly continues this rich tradition of music education with expanded Senza offerings in the new season.

Senza students perform Kaleidoscope at Durfee Innovation Center, June 2022

JEFF TYZIK

Principal Pops Conductor A COMMUNITY-SUPPORTED ORCHESTRAJADER BIGNAMINI, Music Director

JADER BIGNAMINI MUSIC DIRECTOR

Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation

TERENCE BLANCHARD

Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair NA’ZIR MCFADDEN

Assistant Conductor Phillip and Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador LEONARD SLATKIN

Music Director Laureate NEEME JÄRVI

Music Director Emeritus

PVS CLASSICAL SERIES

Title Sponsor:

Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45 a.m. Saturday, November 5, 2022 at 8 p.m. in Orchestra Hall

JADER BIGNAMINI, conductor DANIIL TRIFONOV, piano

Florence Price Symphony No. 1 in E Minor (1887 - 1953) I. Allegro non troppo II. Largo, maestoso III. Juba Dance IV. Finale

Intermission

Johannes Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83 (1833 - 1897) I. Allegro non troppo II. Allegro appassionato III. Andante IV. Allegretto grazioso Daniil Trifonov, piano

Saturday’s performance will be webcast via our exclusive Live From Orchestra Hall series, presented by Ford Motor Company Fund and made possible by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Success can present itself in many different ways. William Grant Still and Florence Price are two prominent composers whose works have only begun to reach the level of recognition they have long deserved. Their orchestral pieces are often programmed together based on similarity in compositional influences—Still and Price even attended the same elementary school in Little Rock, Arkansas, a few years apart. Although both composers received awards and a degree of acclaim, they continued to face an abundance of barriers to success as racial injustices made it difficult for their careers to thrive.

Johannes Brahms’s second piano concerto was a success in its own right—it had to be for his ego’s sake. The reception of his first piano concerto was disastrous—the audience hated the concerto so much that some even began hissing after its conclusion. After a nearly 20-year hiatus, Brahms decided to try composing a piano concerto once more, stating that “a second one will sound very different.” He remained true to his word, and this concerto was extremely well-received— allowing Brahms to breathe a great sigh of relief.

Composed 1944 | Premiered 1944 WILLIAM GRANT STILL

B. May 11, 1895, Woodville, MS D. December 3, 1978, Los Angeles, CA Scored for 3 flutes (one doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, english horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings. (Approx. 10 minutes)

In 1944, the Cincinnati Symphony celebrated their 50th anniversary by sponsoring a competition for “Best Overture,” with a prize of a $1,000 War Bond. The submissions were anonymous and the judges, some of America’s top conductors and composers, were unanimous in their choice: William Grant Still’s Festive Overture.

Why an overture, and an overture to what, exactly? The form’s roots lay in Baroque opera, where it was an introductory 3-movement work (fast-slow-fast), also often called a “symphony.” The terms were interchangeable until the Classical era, when the opera overture shed the last two movements, and the multi-movement form developed into the symphony as we now know it. Beethoven and the early Romantics began writing free-standing overtures, not to specific operas, but evoking familiar stories or well-known places—stories that audiences could play out in their own imaginations. Thus, they became single-movement pieces designed to evoke a sense of impending drama, a hint of narrative, and a musical backdrop to imagined scenes. That the Festive Overture sounds like a movie score is not only because Still had extensive experience in Hollywood (arranging music for Lost Horizon and Pennies from Heaven, among others), but also because the style is baked into the overture form itself—and it’s a great way to start a concert.

Still was born in Woodville, Mississippi in 1895 and grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, showing extraordinary musical ability from an early age. He attended Wilberforce University and later the Oberlin Conservatory, but left to pursue the task of making a living. In 1916, he played with W.C. Handy’s band in Memphis. After a stint in the army, he went to New York and found work playing with Fletcher Henderson, Handy, Paul Whiteman, and in the groundbreaking

“Shuffle Along” revue. He also pursued composition studies with George Chadwick (a very conservative composer of the “New England School”) and arch-modernist Edgar Varése—an interesting double influence. He moved to Los Angeles in 1934.

Chadwick had urged him to explore the American musical landscape and this he did, producing a large and impressive body of work in all mediums—symphonies, operas, chamber music—much of which deals with the Black experience in America. He is often referred to by the double-edged sobriquet “Dean of African American Composers”—which points both to the respect he commanded and the subtle (or blatant) othering (one rarely hears Aaron Copland labeled the “Dean of Jewish American Composers,” for example) that Black artists have always faced in American concert music. —Paul Epstein

This performance marks the DSO’s debut of William Grant Still’s Festive Overture.

Composed 1932 | Premiered 1933

Scored for 2 piccolos, 2 flutes, 2 clarinets, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, and strings. (Approx. 38 minutes)

Composer Florence B. Price (1887–1953) was just over forty years old when she began writing her first orchestral works: a tone poem called Ethiopia’s Shadow in America and the Symphony in E Minor. It was a bold endeavor that would become one of the most rewarding of her career.

Born in Little Rock at the dawn of the Jim Crow era, Price displayed extraordinary musical talent at a young age and excelled academically, graduating valedictorian of her high school class in 1903. Later that year, she enrolled at the New England Conservatory—a choice, she once explained, determined by lack of opportunity in the Jim Crow south—and earned diplomas in organ performance and piano pedagogy in just three years. Price returned to Arkansas, where over the next two decades (save for a brief period in Atlanta) she maintained a private piano studio, taught music at segregated academies, composed piano works for her students, and raised two daughters.

Life for Price and her family changed dramatically in the mid-1920s. At that time, she attempted to grow her career by entering some of her piano music into national competitions designed to support African American composers. She ultimately walked away with several prizes, earning a national reputation as a significant voice in the ongoing Black Renaissance. Racist violence in Little Rock escalated to such a degree, however, that in 1927 Price and her family relocated to Chicago, where she would remain for the rest of her life.

Chicago’s South Side offered Price an especially rich cultural environment in which thriving communities of Black writers, dancers, and musicians had developed robust platforms for creative expression. Building on her previous successes, Price drew inspiration from this environment while composing two orchestral compositions for another round of contests and received prizes for both—first prize for the symphony and honorable mention for the tone poem. Without a direct commission, however, securing a performance of either piece posed a significant challenge.

Through the assistance of Maude Roberts George, a leading South Side music critic and benefactor, Price’s symphony caught the attention of Chicago Symphony Orchestra conductor Frederick Stock, who premiered the piece in June

1933. Price thus became the first African American woman to hear her orchestral music performed by a major orchestra. And she would go on to write three more symphonies, three concertos, and over half a dozen other orchestral pieces, all of which are appearing on concert stages around the world today.

Price’s Symphony in E Minor follows the genre’s standard four-movement outline, with two dramatic movements framing a slow, introspective second movement and a dance-inspired third. Price’s musical language across the symphony draws from several stylistic influences, particularly the lush orchestration of the late Romantics, the melodic contours of spirituals, the pious expressivity of hymnody, and, in the third movement, the rhythms of an African-derived dance called the Juba. Price’s integration of these styles into a distinctive compositional language would continue to define her approach to orchestral writing throughout a long and distinguished career—one that began with a leap of faith in a new city and a vigorous determination to achieve personal artistic ideals. —Doug Shadle

The DSO first performed Florence Price’s Symphony No. 1 in February 1993, conducted by Leslie B. Dunner. The DSO most recently performed this work in November 2016, conducted by Michelle Merrill.

Composed 1878–1881 | Premiered 1881

B. May 7, 1833, Hamburg, Germany D. April 3, 1897, Vienna, Austria Scored for solo piano, 2 flutes (one doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings. (Approx. 50 minutes)

As a child, Johannes Brahms chose to focus his piano study on the works of Bach and Beethoven. Later in life, Brahms remarked: “Anything which was dear to me in my youth has remained so ever since.” Evidence of Brahms’s statement can be seen in his compositions, for the composer’s works adhere primarily to classical forms despite being written in the Romantic era. The classical nature of Brahms’s compositions earned him a reputation as a guardian of German tradition.

Despite this status, Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 rejects tradition in several respects. Compared to other concertos, this work requires greater endurance and strength on the part of the soloist. The concerto is much longer than any classical concerto and employs four movements instead of the usual three movement format. In the first movement, Brahms introduces the soloist relatively early on, instead of waiting until after the orchestral exposition, and expands the traditional sonata form. Similarly, the scherzo form of the second movement is enlarged through increased thematic development. The last movement, a rondo, makes full use of the larger Romantic orchestra, creating a sense of weight that is absent in the lighter rondos of classical concertos.

Brahms completed his second piano concerto in 1881 after three years of composition. Always a deliberate and cautious worker—he worked on his first symphony for more than 20 years—Brahms was hesitant to finish a second concerto after the poor reception of his Piano Concerto No. 1 of 1859. However, the premiere of the second concerto, with the composer as soloist, was a resounding success and the piece soon became part of the standard repertoire.

The DSO most recently performed Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in February 2016, conducted by Leonard Slatkin and featuring pianist Hélène Grimaud. The DSO first performed the piece in March 1920, conducted by Ossip Gabrilowitsch and featuring pianist Arthur Rubinstein.

For Jader Bignamini biography, see page 6.

Grammy Awardwinning Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov (dan-EEL TREE-fon-ov)— Musical America’s 2019 Artist of the Year—has made a spectacular ascent of the classical music world, as a solo artist, champion of the concerto repertoire, chamber and vocal collaborator, and composer. Combining consummate technique with rare sensitivity and depth, his performances are a perpetual source of awe.

With Transcendental, the Liszt collection that marked his third title as an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist, Trifonov won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Solo Album of 2018. Fall 2020 brought the release of Silver Age, an album of Russian solo and orchestral piano music by Scriabin, Prokofiev, and Stravinsky, recorded with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra. This followed 2019’s Destination Rachmaninov: Arrival, for which Trifonov received a 2021 Grammy nomination. Presenting the composer’s First and Third Concertos, Arrival represents the third volume of the Deutsche Grammophon series he recorded with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Nézet-Séguin, following Destination Rachmaninov: Departure, named BBC Music’s 2019 Concerto Recording of the Year, and Rachmaninov: Variations, a 2015 Grammy nominee. Deutsche Grammophon has also issued Chopin Evocations, which pairs the composer’s works with those by the 20th-century composers he influenced, and Trifonov: The Carnegie Recital, the pianist’s first recording as an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist; capturing Trifonov’s sold-out 2013 Carnegie Hall recital debut live, the album scored him his first Grammy nomination.

Highlights of recent seasons include a multi-faceted, season-long tenure as 2019-2020 Artist-in-Residence of the New York Philharmonic, featuring a collaboration with Jaap van Zweden and the New York premiere of Trifonov’s own Piano Quintet, and a seven-concert, season-long Carnegie Hall “Perspectives” series, crowned by a performance of the pianist’s own piano concerto with Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra. As well as curating similar series at the Vienna Konzerthaus and in San Francisco, Trifonov played Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 under Muti in the historic gala finale of the Chicago Symphony’s 125th anniversary celebrations; launched the New York Philharmonic’s 2018-19 season; headlined complete Rachmaninoff concerto cycles at the New York Philharmonic’s Rachmaninoff Festival and with London’s Philharmonia Orchestra and the Munich Philharmonic; undertook season-long residencies with the Berlin Philharmonic and at Vienna’s Musikverein, where he appeared with the Vienna Philharmonic and gave the Austrian premiere of his own Piano Concerto; and headlined the Berlin Philharmonic’s famous New Year’s Eve concert under Sir Simon Rattle.

Born in Nizhny Novgorod in 1991, Trifonov began his musical training at the age of five and went on to attend Moscow’s Gnessin School of Music as a student of Tatiana Zelikman, before pursuing his piano studies with Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has also studied composition, and continues to write for piano, chamber ensemble, and orchestra.

JEFF TYZIK

Principal Pops Conductor A COMMUNITY-SUPPORTED ORCHESTRAJADER BIGNAMINI, Music Director

JADER BIGNAMINI MUSIC DIRECTOR

Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation

TERENCE BLANCHARD

Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair NA’ZIR MCFADDEN

Assistant Conductor Phillip and Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador LEONARD SLATKIN

Music Director Laureate NEEME JÄRVI

Music Director Emeritus

PVS CLASSICAL SERIES

Title Sponsor:

Friday, November 11, 2022 at 8 p.m. Saturday, November 12, 2022 at 8 p.m. Sunday, November 13, 2022 at 3 p.m. in Orchestra Hall

JADER BIGNAMINI, conductor JANAI BRUGGER, soprano J’NAI BRIDGES, mezzo-soprano OPERA MODO AND AUDIVI, choir

Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 2 in C minor, “Resurrection” (1860 - 1911) I. Allegro maestoso II. Andante moderato III. In ruhig fliessender Bewegung IV. Urlicht V. Scherzo Janai Brugger, soprano J’Nai Bridges, mezzo-soprano

Saturday’s performance will be webcast via our exclusive Live From Orchestra Hall series, presented by Ford Motor Company Fund and made possible by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Gustav Mahler wore his emotions on his sleeve. He was in a state of constant existential battle grappling with the concept of fate, so much so that it created an abundance of emotional and physical suffering throughout his life. This made finding joy incredibly difficult for the composer—he wrote two of his famous Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children) shortly after the birth of his second daughter.

Enthralled by existentialist philosophy, the conception of this symphony came to Mahler in a hallucinatory vision of his own funeral as he was surrounded by dozens of floral arrangements following a successful premiere. Mahler viewed resurrection as the destiny of all humankind and an explanation of the pain and suffering of the human experience: life beyond death. The first movement of this symphony represents a fundamental human question: “What now? What is this life—and this death? Do we have an existence beyond it?” This question is answered in the final movement: “He who called you will give you eternal life.” Composing this symphony was therapeutic for Mahler’s anxieties about his own mortality, and it served as a shining beacon of hope that life never truly ends.

Composed 1888-1894 | Premiered 1895

B. July 7, 1860, Kališt, Bohemia D. May 18, 1911, Vienna, Austria Scored for 2 solo voices, mixed chorus, 4 flutes and piccolos, 4 oboes (2 doubling on English horn), 3 clarinets, 2 E-flat clarinets, bass clarinet, 4 bassoons, 2 contrabassoons, 10 horns, 10 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, timpani, 2 harps, organ, and strings. (Approx. 1 hour, 17 minutes)

Mahler completed his Second Symphony, after some six years of labor, in 1894. During the time he was at work on this score, he was under the spell of the anthology of folk poetry known as The Youth’s Magic Horn (Des Knaben Wunderhorn), which he had discovered in 1886. These verses struck a responsive chord in Mahler’s imagination. Almost immediately, he began to compose songs to the poems in the collection, and continued to do so intermittently for the next decade and a half.

The Magic Horn songs form the creative core of Mahler’s early maturity. In striving to capture the particular qualities of the verses—their alternately earthy and delicate tone, their intimations of magic, eroticism and death, and wise innocence—the composer found his own musical voice. It was a voice of nostalgic longing and macabre humor, of shimmering textures and shrill outcries; it spoke the most refined musical language as well as the vernacular dialects of marches and dance tunes. Far from remaining the sole property of the songs, those style traits found their way into the composer’s instrumental works. The same qualities that sound so clearly throughout The Youth’s Magic Horn are heard in Mahler’s Second, Third, and Fourth Symphonies as well.

The Second Symphony, however, derives more from the songs than just its spirit and general style. Its third movement is a symphonic fantasy on music from one of Mahler’s Magic Horn settings, while the fourth movement presents another in a version with an alto soloist.

But the Magic Horn contributions, important as they are, form only part of a larger vision, which the entire symphony reveals. Mahler, like Beethoven and Tchaikovsky before him, wrote several of his symphonies as dramatic portrayals of his own spiritual struggles. A Jewish man who was strongly attracted to the tenets of the Catholic Church (he was baptized, but was never secure in his faith), Mahler was intensely concerned with religious questions. Chief among these was the issue of mortality and death, and its

conquest became the programmatic theme of the Second Symphony. The Magic Horn poems, though frequently dealing with death and the afterlife, did not treat these subjects with the vigor that Mahler required. But at the funeral of the famed conductor Hans von Bülow, Mahler heard The Resurrection, a poem by the German writer Friedrich Klopstock (1724-1802), and it inspired in him a vision of divine compassion and eternal life. Klopstock’s verses became the text for the finale and provided a dramatic focus for the entire symphony.

The opening movement is, by Mahler’s own account, a “Todtenfeier”—a funeral rite. This characterization, however, does not sufficiently convey the tremendous drama of the music, which presents in imaginative terms a desperate struggle with mortality. Mahler’s spine-chilling first subject, made up of several related motives, is opposed by a second theme rising comfortingly in a major tonality in the strings. The development of these contrasting materials is such that the outcome of their apparent struggle is uncertain until the final bars, when a hopeful major triad is pushed cruelly downward to its minor form by a pitiless trumpet. As the symphony’s initial chapter closes, death seems triumphant.

The next two movements present “flashbacks” to the recently ended life. First comes an Andante, offering memories of happiness and innocence. The music is reminiscent of Haydn.

The scherzo-like third movement regards life with a cynical eye for its pleasures. Its flowing melodies have undeniable charm, like the glittering things of this world, but at the same time convey a hint of decadence and the grotesque. Before long, as Mahler once explained, “the bustle of existence becomes horrible...life strikes one as meaningless, a frightful ghost.” The suggestion of a more noble kind of existence, heard in the stirring fanfare that appears suddenly midway through the movement, fails to alter the course of the music. At last, there is a great cry of protest. The music is adapted from the Magic Horn setting of Saint Anthony’s futile sermon to the fish, which, like the pleasure-seekers of Mahler’s world, hear but do not heed calls to virtue.

The final parts of the symphony offer contrasting visions of resurrection. The Urlicht song of the fourth movement, though sung by an alto soloist, expresses the faith of a child, simple and serene. This is a far cry from the apocalyptic representation of the finale, which opens with a tumultuous outburst followed by recollections of earlier movements; an idea derived from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. In broadly arching fanfares the dead are called to life. They stream forth, as Mahler described, “in endless procession. The great and the small, kings and beggars, righteous and godless,” in the long orchestral march that follows.

The march music gives way at last to a comforting motive, symbolic of resurrection, rising sweetly in the strings. And once again there are fanfares—not only for the brass offstage, but also for the more dulcet tones of flute and piccolo. As the chorus enters with the assuring verses of Klopstock’s hymn, we understand that forgiveness; love and eternal life is to be mankind’s final reward. The “resurrection” theme swells in the orchestra, leading to another vocal episode, featuring the soprano and alto soloists. Slowly the hymn grows in power until it reaches its climactic affirmation: “Rise again, my heart. / What you have conquered will bear you to God.” —Paul Schiavo

The DSO most recently performed Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony in December 2015, conducted by Leonard Slatkin and featuring soprano Melissa Citro, mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor, and the Wayne State University Chorus. The DSO first performed the piece in November 1922, conducted by Ossip Gabrilowitsch.

For Jader Bignamini biography, see page 6.

American soprano Janai Brugger’s recent engagements include Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the role of Pamina in Die Zauberflote for performances at Palm Beach Opera’s first Outdoor Opera Festival. She made her US television debut with a Laura Karpman composition for the soundtrack of HBO’s renowned Lovecraft Country, and more recently appeared as Michaëla in Carmen at Cincinnati Opera. In the Netherlands, she appeared at Dutch National Opera in their acclaimed Missa in tempore Belli (Haydn) conducted by Lorenzo Viotti and directed by Barbora Horáková, and returned to the Metropolitan Opera of New York for further performances as Clara in Porgy and Bess. 2021-2022 season engagements included Mahler’s Second Symphony with CBSO under Mirga Gražinyte • -Tyla; Zerlina in Don Giovanni in concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood Festival under Andris Nelsons; Servillia in La Clemenza di Tito at Ravinia Festival under James Conlon; Kaddish (also at Ravinia Festival) with Marin Alsop, and Hayden’s The Creation at Grant Park Music Festival with Carlos Kalmar.

Brugger’s symphonic engagements this season include Elgar’s The Kingdom with American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy and Mass in C with Louis Langree at Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Haydn’s Theresienmesse at Grant Park Music Festival, Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Mirga Gražinyte • -Tyla.

In her native Chicago, she starred in Emmy Award-winning composer Laura Karpman’s multimedia setting of Langston Hughes’s epic 1961 poem, Ask your Mama, with Chicago Sinfonietta. She made her Salzburg Festival debut in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with musicAeterna conducted by Teodor Currentzis, and journeyed to St. Petersburg to record the work. Early in her career, she sang as High Priestess in Aida with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel.

Other roles in Brugger’s repertoire include Juliette in Roméo et Juliette, Norina in Don Pasquale, Nanetta in Falstaff, Musetta in La boheme, and Glauce in Medea. She appeared as Pamina in Barrie Kosky’s celebrated cinematic production of Die Zauberflote at Los Angeles Opera. Brugger obtained a master’s degree from the University of Michigan, where she studied with the late Shirley Verrett. She earned her bachelor’s degree from DePaul University, participated in The Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera, and went onto become a young artist at Los Angeles Opera for two seasons.

American mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, known for her “plushvoiced mezzo-soprano” (The New York Times), and “calmly commanding stage presence” (The New Yorker) has graced the world’s top opera and concert stages.

The 2022-23 season will spotlight Bridges in one of her signature roles as Carmen with debut engagements at the Arena di Verona, Canadian Opera Company, and a return to Dutch National Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. As a

native of Tacoma, Washington, Bridges eagerly anticipates her Seattle Opera debut in a concert performance of Samson et Delilah as Delilah in January 2023. Additional concert engagements include a world premiere by Carlos Simon in April 2023 with the National Symphony Orchestra. Bridges’s recital engagements for the season begin with the performance of a world premiere by Jimmy Lopez at 92NY in December, and continue through 2023 at Washington University, Thomasville Center for the Arts, The Cliburn, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, San Francisco Performances, and the Mondavi Center in Davis, California.

Bridges’s 2021-22 season highlights included numerous world premiere engagements as a guest artist in The Kennedy Center’s 50th Anniversary Season. Bridges’s time in Washington D.C. also included performances with The National Philharmonic in the world premiere of Adolphus Hailstork’s A Knee on the Neck, and Mozart’s Requiem, and her first performance of the Verdi Requiem with the Cathedral Choral Society. She also appeared with the Amarillo Symphony as a guest artist in a world premiere piece by Chris Rogerson entitled Sacred Earth.

During the worldwide pandemic, she emerged as a leading figure in classical music’s shift toward conversations of inclusion and racial justice in the performing arts. In 2022, she was announced as one of the Kennedy Center’s NEXT50 cultural leaders. Bridges led a highly successful panel on race and inequality in opera with the Los Angeles Opera that drew international acclaim. In early 2021, Bridges was featured in the Converse shoe brand’s All Stars Campaign for its Breaking Down Barriers collection. Bridges also performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel for two episodes of the digital SOUND/STAGE series, and as part of the Global Citizen movement’s Global Goal campaign, a program which also included Coldplay, Shakira, and Usher.

Bridges earned her Master of Music degree from Curtis Institute of Music and her Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from the Manhattan School of Music.

Detroit-based Opera MODO is dedicated to creating opportunities for young and emerging artists. Founded in 2011, Opera MODO brings opera to the people through intriguing and modern productions of classical and contemporary operas.

Collaborating with local performers and businesses in Detroit, Opera MODO offers an intimate experience to engage audiences through storytelling, musical integrity, and innovative process. They support the future of opera by giving young, non-managed, professional singers an opportunity to gain experience. They present opera in an intimate setting, allowing the audience to engage with the performers, and specialize in setting standard repertoire in new and imaginative settings, bringing new life to favorite stories.

Audivi is a professional vocal ensemble based in Detroit, Michigan. Founded in 2013, Audivi sings music of all eras, with a special emphasis on new and early music, and has premiered works by many composers. Its members have sung and recorded with a panoply of Grammywinning vocal ensembles, and Audivi has performed around the country.

Audivi has given the Detroit metro area premieres of Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers and a historically informed version of Bach’s Mass in B minor. Audivi has performed at regional ACDA and AGO conventions and serves as a professional chorus for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, including recent performances of Puccini’s Turandot, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Handel’s Messiah.

JEFF TYZIK

Principal Pops Conductor A COMMUNITY-SUPP JORTED ORCHESTRAJADER BIGNAMINI, Music Director ADER BIGNAMINI MUSIC DIRECTOR

Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation

TERENCE BLANCHARD

Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair NA’ZIR MCFADDEN

Assistant Conductor Phillip and Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador LEONARD SLATKIN

Music Director Laureate NEEME JÄRVI

Music Director Emeritus

SCI-FI SPECTACULAR: STAR WARS, STAR TREK, & BEYOND! Friday, November 18, 2022 at 10:45 a.m. Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 8 p.m. Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 3 p.m. in Orchestra Hall

JEFF TYZIK, conductor

Jerry Goldsmith (1929 - 2004) Star Trek Through the Years

Sir Arthur Bliss Music from Things To Come (1891 - 1975) IV. Attack on the Moon Gun arr. Christopher Palmer V. Epilogue

John Williams “The Imperial March” from Star Wars (b. 1932) Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Alan Silvestri (b. 1950) Back to the Future — Suite for Orchestra

John Williams “Princess Leia’s Theme” from (b. 1932) Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

“Adventures on Earth” from E.T.

Intermission

Richard Strauss Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 from (1864 - 1949) 2001: A Space Odyssey

Johann Strauss II (1825 - 1899) On the Beautiful Blue Danube, Op. 314

John Williams “Across the Stars” from Star Wars (b. 1932) Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Danny Elfman (b. 1953) Batman Theme

John Williams (b. 1932) “Yoda’s Theme” from Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Main Title from Star Wars

Science fiction has long influenced popular culture—with references appearing in songs by Daft Punk, The Killers, Blondie, Radiohead, Sufjan Stevens, and Elton John’s famous “Rocket Man.” The first recorded science fiction film was French filmmaker Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon in 1902, exhibiting revolutionary special effects and editing techniques for its time. This film heavily influenced the future of sci-fi films, including 2001: Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes, and the infamous Star Wars and Star Trek sagas.

Not only have these films helped shape the science fiction genre in popular culture, but they also had a transformational effect in the world of music. Renowned composers John Williams (Star Wars) and Jerry Goldsmith (Star Trek) have set a strong precedent for film scoring, with their expansive orchestration and memorable themes defining the popular sagas across generations. Classical music has also had an impact on science fiction—the ever-popular 2001: Space Odyssey theme is borrowed from an excerpt of Richard Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra, a beloved piece that the DSO has performed more than 30 times. Science fiction allows artists of all mediums to explore the unknown, delve into fantasies, and go “where no man has gone before.”

JEFF TYZIK

Principal Pops Conductor A COMMUNITY-SUPPORTED ORCHESTRAJADER BIGNAMINI, Music Director

JADER BIGNAMINI MUSIC DIRECTOR

Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation

TERENCE BLANCHARD

Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair NA’ZIR MCFADDEN

Assistant Conductor Phillip and Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador LEONARD SLATKIN

Music Director Laureate NEEME JÄRVI

Music Director Emeritus

PVS CLASSICAL SERIES

Title Sponsor:

Thursday, December 1, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. Friday, December 2, 2022 at 8 p.m. Saturday, December 3, 2022 at 8 p.m. in Orchestra Hall

ENRIQUE MAZZOLA, conductor BAIBA SKRIDE, violin

Robert Schumann Overture to Genoveva, Op. 81 (1810 - 1856)

Dmitri Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 2 in C-sharp minor, Op. 129 (1906 - 1975) I. Moderato II. Adagio III. Adagio-Allegro Baiba Skride, violin

Robert Schumann Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 97, “Rhenish” (1810 - 1856) I. Lebhaft II. Scherzo: Sehr mässig III. Nicht schnell IV. Feierlich V. Lebhaft

Saturday’s performance will be webcast via our exclusive Live From Orchestra Hall series, presented by Ford Motor Company Fund and made possible by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Both Robert Schumann and Dmitri Shostakovich had to overcome many obstacles throughout their careers. Schumann, a celebrated pianist, was repeatedly criticized for his lack of understanding of orchestration and failing to utilize the orchestra’s full potential in his works. Shostakovich suffered many personal hardships including a battle with alcoholism, self-doubt, compositional blocks, a heart attack, and living in constant fear of the civil unrest of his country. Combined, this prevented him from playing the piano, which once served as a proving ground of his many compositional masterpieces.

Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 2 served as a revival of sorts and represented the composer’s emotional journey. The fourth movement is said to represent a triumph over tragedy, with undertones of “forced rejoicing” and a musical statement that Shostakovich had prevailed over his many hardships. Schumann’s Symphony No. 3—nicknamed the “Rhenish” symphony as an homage to the Rhine River—proved critics wrong in one fell swoop, demonstrating his mastery of orchestral writing across each movement. Despite the doubts he battled throughout his career, this symphony begins and ends with an unshakeable sense of self-confidence, establishing him as a titan of orchestration.

Composed 1849 | Premiered June 25, 1850

Schumann flirted briefly with the notion of writing an opera on the folk tale of Mazeppa, which later inspired a tone poem from Liszt and an opera from Tchaikovsky. In search of something more Germanic, he hit on the legend of St. Genevieve, a popular tale at the time. The composer asked his friend Robert Reinick to provide a libretto, but they had a falling out. Next, he approached the poet Friedrich Hebbel, but he found working with Schumann so exasperating that the composer finally had to write his own text.

The story involves Siegfried, who departs on crusade, leaving his friend Golo to look after his wife Genoveva. The two stay-at-homes almost have a love affair, but Genoveva repels Golo’s advances, and he, in revenge, finds Siegfried and tells him that his wife has been unfaithful. In the original version of the tale, Genoveva is banished to the forest, but Schumann provides a happy ending in which she is exonerated and Golo is sent into exile.

The opera drew some applause at its premiere in Leipzig in 1850, but the reviews were mixed, and critics have spent 150 years adding their clods of earth to its coffin. The Overture, which Schumann dashed off in five days, is an exception to the criticism that the opera is not dramatic. It is full of gloom and muffled thunder, and the slow introduction gives a sharp miniature portrait of Genoveva’s sufferings.

The DSO most recently performed Schumann’s Overture to Genoveva in May 2000, conducted by Neeme Järvi. The DSO first performed the piece in December 1919, conducted by Ossip Gabrilowitsch.

B. September 26, 1906 in St. Petersburg, Russia D. August 9, 1975 in Moscow, Soviet Union Scored for solo violin, flute, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, timpani, percussion, and strings. (Approx. 31 minutes)

Few composers in history have been argued about with the intensity that has been given to Shostakovich since his death. The remarkable diversity of opinions about him seems to come from a lot of uncertainties about just what lies at the heart of his music. Many people feel that when they listen to most of his prodigious output there is a sense that there are messages hidden in the music, and are frustrated because there is a suspicion that those messages may never be entirely decoded. His music shows influences of composers he most admired, among them Bach in his fugues and passacaglias, Beethoven in the late quartets, Mahler in the symphonies, and Berg in his use of musical codes and quotations. Among Russian composers he particularly admired Mussorgsky, whose operas Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina he re-orchestrated.

In the latter part of his life, he suffered from chronic ill health, but refused to give up vodka and cigarettes. In 1958, he began to feel bothered by a debilitating situation which greatly affected his right hand, and which eventually forced him to stop playing the piano. It was not until 1965 that this was diagnosed as polio. He had two serious heart attacks, one in 1966 and another in 1971, and on several occasions, suffered falls in which he broke both of his legs. With his usual trenchant and sardonic wit, he wrote to a friend in 1967: “Target achieved so far: 75% (right leg broken, left leg broken, right hand defective). All I need to do now is wreck the left hand and then 100% of my extremities will be out of order.” Although he continued to write marvelous and witty lighter music scores, in the last 20 or so years of his life his music became increasingly occupied with death.

As was the case with its predecessor, the Second Violin Concerto was inspired by and dedicated to the great Russian violinist David Oistrakh, written as a 60th birthday present in 1967. When Shostakovich presented it to Oistrakh in September of that year, he was chagrined to find out that he had made a mistake, and that it was actually the violinist’s 59th birthday, Oistrakh having been born in 1908! Shostakovich was so apologetic that it brought out of him his First Violin Sonata, finished the following year and first performed by Oistrakh in early 1969. This concerto, written almost 20 years after the First, and just a year after his first heart attack, was the beginning of the aforementioned series of late works in which the composer seemed to be obsessed with his own mortality, exhibiting here a very dark, introspective mood, spare and stark textures, sudden and almost frightening outbursts, repeating rhythmic cells, obscure thematic material, and an almost painful lyricism in the solo part. Like both of his Cello Concertos, this concerto features an unusually prominent horn part, often playing with very little accompaniment. The key of C-sharp minor is not a natural one for the violin, and might have been intended to recall Beethoven’s Op. 131 String Quartet, Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, or Prokofiev’s Seventh Symphony, a work which Shostakovich had always been very fond of. The first movement has a degree of inscrutability to it, something common to many of his late scores, and after beginning rather gently, reaches an agonized and dissonant climax. After a development section in which the main themes are distorted, there ensues a long cadenza based on the movement’s principal thematic

material. The slow middle movement offers no relief from the confusion, tension, and sadness of the first, as if the violin was searching for something but can never find it. There is another cadenza here, quite anguished and wild, after which the solo horn presents a very somber theme. This is interrupted brutally by the beginning of the last movement, a complex rondo in which the repeated sections have a decidedly bitter undertone, while the contrasting sections are frenetic and uncomfortable. There is now a third cadenza in which the opening material is distorted and broken into fragments. The concerto ends with a contest between major and minor, the major mode winning the argument, but more inconclusive than satisfying.

The DSO most recently performed Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in April 2016, conducted by Peter Oundjian and featuring violinist Vadim Gluzman. The DSO first performed the piece in September 1987, conducted by Günther Herbig and featuring violinist William de Pasquale.

Composed 1850 | Premiered 1851

As a newly installed municipal music director, Robert Schumann wrote this symphony two months after settling with his wife Clara in Düsseldorf on the Rhine River—a picturesque setting that accounts for the work’s nickname. The composer, who took just five weeks to complete the symphony, originally labeled its second movement “morning on the Rhine.”

The piece begins without an introduction, the only one of Schumann’s four symphonies to be launched so abruptly. The principal theme has an irresistible momentum, created by the conflict between three-beat and six-beat meter. The oboe and clarinet present a second theme in G minor before being overtaken by the violins. Despite the heavy orchestration, the first movement is a single outburst of joy, reaching its peak near the end as the horns join in chorus to reiterate a tune that never grows stale, however often it recurs.

The second and third movements offer relief from these high spirits, like similarly placed interludes in the symphonies of Johannes Brahms—an example of how Schumann influenced his younger associate. The slow second movement is followed by a songlike intermezzo with a warm glow—a style of orchestration that we can, in retrospect, label “Brahmsian.”

Movements four and five form a unit. Voices are hushed in contemplation in the former, which was inspired by the elevation of Cologne’s archbishop to cardinal—a ceremony the Schumann’s attended. His manuscript note designated this section to be played “in the manner of an accompaniment to a solemn ceremony.”

Voices no longer are muted in the robust final movement, where they burst forth with a shout. Schumann was a devoted student of Bach, and here he pays homage in a credible recreation of Baroque textures and motifs. The trombones have so far been held in reserve, and as soon as they are heard listeners are transported into a higher realm. A timeless rite is enacted, with trumpets breaking the stillness as it draws to a close, ushering in a joyful dance in which earth and heaven are joined. —Michael Fleming

The DSO most recently performed Schumann’s Symphony No. 3 in January 2013, conducted by Leonard Slatkin. The DSO first performed the piece in February 1923, conducted by Ossip Gabrilowitsch.

Renowned as an expert interpreter and champion of bel canto opera, and a specialist in French repertoire and early Verdi, Italian conductor Enrique Mazzola is in demand worldwide as both an operatic and symphonic conductor. He is Music Director at Lyric Opera of Chicago and Principal Guest Conductor at Deutsche Oper Berlin. In May 2022, Mazzolla was named the first ever Conductor in Residence at the Bregenzer Festspiele, underlining his close relationship with the Festival, having made his Bregenz debut in 2016 for an orchestral concert. From 2012 to 2019, Mazzola served as Artistic & Music Director of the Orchestre National d’Île de France. Reflecting his significant contribution to musical life in France, he was made a Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres in October 2018.

Plans for the 2022-23 season with Lyric Opera of Chicago include productions of Verdi’s Ernani and Don Carlos, Rossini’s Le comte Ory ,and a gala performance for the Chicago premiere of Kevin Puts’s The Brightness of Light with Renée Fleming and Rod Gilfry. This season will also see return engagements with the Orchestre National de France, Detroit Symphony, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. On the operatic stage, Mazzolla will return to Opernhaus Zurich (Roberto Devereux), Dutch National Opera (Maria Stuarda), Deutsche Oper Berlin (Massenet’s Hérodiade in concert), and the Bregenzer Festival (Madama Butterfly & Ernani).

An accomplished interpreter of contemporary music, he has commissioned and premiered several works with Orchestre National d’Ile de France and has led many other premieres with major European orchestras.

Baiba Skride’s natural approach to music-making has endeared her to many of today’s most important conductors and orchestras. She performs regularly with orchestras including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Concertgebouworkest, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Orchestre de Paris, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and NHK Symphony Orchestra.

Highlights of the 2022-23 season include Shostakovich’s violin concerto No. 2, which she will perform and record on the Deutsche Grammophon label with Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the UK premiere of Victoria Borisova-Ollas’s violin concerto A Portrait of a Lady by Swan Lake with Cristian Măcelaru and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and Gubaidulina’s Offertorium with the NHK Symphony Orchestra.

Skride is an internationally sought-after chamber musician and commits to the long-established duo with her sister, Lauma Skride. She is one of the founding members of the Skride Quartet.

Skride’s latest album, Violin Unlimited, was released in May 2022. She plays the Yfrah Neaman Stradivarius, kindly on loan by the Neaman family through the Beare’s International Violin Society.

JEFF TYZIK

Principal Pops Conductor A COMMUNITY-SUPP JORTED ORCHESTRAJADER BIGNAMINI, Music Director ADER BIGNAMINI MUSIC DIRECTOR

Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation

TERENCE BLANCHARD

Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair NA’ZIR MCFADDEN

Assistant Conductor Phillip and Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador LEONARD SLATKIN

Music Director Laureate NEEME JÄRVI

Music Director Emeritus

PVS CLASSICAL SERIES

Title Sponsor:

Friday, December 9, 2022 at 10:45 a.m. Saturday, December 10, 2022 at 8 p.m.

Sunday, December 11, 2022 at 3 p.m. in Orchestra Hall

JONATHON HEYWARD, conductor YEOL EUM SUN, piano

Felix Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 (1809 - 1847) I. Molto allegro con fuoco II. Andante III. Presto - Molto allegro e vivace Yeol Eum Sun, piano

Antonín Dvorˇák Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88 (1841 - 1904) I. Allegro con brio II. Adagio III. Allegretto grazioso IV. Allegro ma non troppo

Tania León’s Pasajes was commissioned with support by New Music USA’s Amplifying Voices program, which is powered by the Sphinx Ventures Fund, with additional support from ASCAP and the Sorel Organization.

Saturday’s performance will be webcast via our exclusive Live From Orchestra Hall series, presented by Ford Motor Company Fund and made possible by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

PROGRAM AT-A-GLANCE – MENDELSSOHN’S FIRST PIANO CONCERTO & DVOŘÁK’S EIGHTH SYMPHONY

Premiering a piece serves as an opportunity for both the composer and the performers to tell a new story. Tania León’s Pasajes (Spanish for “passages”) was commissioned with support by New Music USA’s Amplifying Voices program, which fosters collaboration toward racial and gender equity in new orchestral music. In respect of the artistic process, León left much to the imagination and a very brief semblance of program notes, stating that “each passage in the piece is a fresh idea.”

Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 is an unconventional meta-concerto that stretches musical expectations—the composer once described it as “quite wild” in a letter to his father following the Munich premiere. It was so ferocious that one Erard piano on which the work was performed 30 times in a row allegedly became “possessed by the music,” unable to stop playing it even without a pianist. According to an anecdote by Hector Berlioz, it had to be chopped up and burned.

Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 has been described by critics as “the most intimate and original” of all his symphonies. Dvořák’s Czech heritage is embodied within the orchestral simplicity and lack of intricate counterpoint contributing to a rustic air. This composition served as Dvořák’s rebellion against the German oppression of the Czech people during the Hapsburg Dynasty; a beautifully bold portrayal of Dvořák’s cultural pride; and statement that change is coming, and change is good.

Composed 2022 | Premiered 2022

B. May 14, 1943, Havana, Cuba Scored for 3 flutes (one doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (one doubling english horn), 3 clarinets (one doubling bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (one doubling contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, keyboard, and strings. (Approx. 15 minutes)

Tania León’s Pasajes recalls scenes from her life growing up, including a song reminiscent of the melodies of Latin American cultures, rhythms indicating the pulse of Caribbean culture, and the dances of carnaval. This piece was co-commissioned by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra as the lead commissioner. The premiere of this piece was given by the ASO in Little Rock, Arkansas on April 9 and 10, 2022, conducted by Akiko Fujimoto.

Born in Havana, Cuba, composer and conductor Tania León settled in New York in 1967. She has played important roles at Dance Theater of Harlem, Brooklyn Philharmonic, American Composers Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic (as New Music Advisor). León is the founder and artistic director of Composers Now. Notable commissions include works for the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the International Contemporary Ensemble. Her orchestral work Stride, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, was awarded the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Music. In July 2022, she was named a recipient of the 45th Annual Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime artistic achievements. León’s other honors include induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters; recognition from the Fromm, Koussevitzky, and Guggenheim Foundations; ASCAP’s Victor Herbert Award; and a 2018 United States Artists Fellowship. Her works have received Grammy and Latin Grammy nominations for Best Contemporary

Classical Composition. Pasajes was commissioned with support by New Music USA’s Amplifying Voices program, which fosters collaboration toward racial and gender equity in new orchestral music, and has over thirty orchestras from across the United States signed up to premiere new works co-commissioned from nine of today’s leading composers: Valerie Coleman, Juan Pablo Contreras, Vijay Iyer, Tania León, Jessie Montgomery, Brian Raphael Nabors, Nina Shekhar, Tyshawn Sorey, and Shelley Washington. Each of the composer’s pieces will be performed by a minimum of four orchestras. This performance marks the DSO premiere of Pasajes by Tania León.

Composed 1830-1831 | Premiered 1831

B. February 3, 1809, Hamburg, Germany

D. November 4, 1847, Leipzig, Germany Scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings. (Approx. 20 minutes)

In 1829, the 19-year-old Felix Mendelssohn embarked on a six-year tour that would establish his reputation as one of Europe’s finest musicians. Prodigy, polymath, and child of privilege, Mendelssohn not only composed some of his finest pieces during these travels—among them the “Scottish” and “Italian” symphonies, the Hebrides Overture, and the Piano Concerto No. 1—he also produced a witty and entertaining travel memoir and many beautifully accomplished watercolors. On the way, he totally won over the British musical establishment, increased his visibility in German cities outside his native Berlin, and spent a lengthy and productive stretch in Italy. In Paris, Mendelssohn met the 25-year-old Berlioz and his slightly younger colleagues Liszt and Chopin. Together, along with their contemporary Robert Schumann, their work would set the trajectory of music’s development from the death of Beethoven (1827) to the end of the century.

In 1829, Mendelssohn played Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto, the “Emperor,” in Edinburgh, on the Scottish leg of his journey. Within the year, he had begun to sketch out his own concerto, which is filled with echoes of the older work, especially in its sonority—the complex, shiny piano colors against a powerful orchestral sound emphasizing winds and brass. It also follows Beethoven’s lead in the attempt to break the frame that had enclosed the concerto since its earliest development. In contrast to traditional concerto procedure, in which the soloist’s entrance is preceded by a long orchestral “pre-exposition” of all the movement’s basic material, Beethoven, radically, begins the “Emperor” with an explosive confrontation between the piano and the orchestra— though the concerto then proceeds through a rather lengthy pre-exposition before the piano is heard again. Mendelssohn dispenses with this preexpo completely: instead, the orchestra provides a short, impulsive lead-in after which the piano and orchestra proceed directly—in tandem and in opposition—to the dramatic unfolding of themes, counter-themes, and triumphant conclusions. Modern audiences can hardly be expected to feel the shock that the first listeners to the piece must have felt, but we can certainly pick up the dramatic vibe. Mendelssohn further tightens up the drama by condensing the events within the first movement so it ends a little sooner than one might expect, with a sense of a drama yet unresolved; he then provides compelling transitions between the movements, and a flashback to the first movement right before the finale’s brilliant conclusion. —Paul Epstein

The DSO most recently performed

Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in October 2015, conducted by Hans Graf and featuring pianist Ingrid Fliter. The DSO first performed the piece in November 1921, conducted by Ossip Gabrilowitsch and featuring pianist Ernest Hutchison.

Composed 1889 | Premiered February 1890

B. September 8, 1841, Nelahozeves, Bohemia (Now Czech Republic) D. May 1, 1904, Prague, Bohemia (Now Czech Republic) Scored for 2 flutes (one doubling on piccolo), 2 oboes (one doubling on English horn), 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, and strings. (Approx. 36 minutes)

Antonín Dvořák spent the first two decades of his career working in relative obscurity, but by the 1880s he had found a champion: Johannes Brahms, who promoted Dvořák throughout Europe and earned him steady commissions and a fine reputation. The 1889 Symphony No. 8 mirrors both Dvořák’s content state of mind and the tranquil Czech countryside where he composed it. It is one of the composer’s sunniest works, characteristically blending symphonic technique and local Bohemian color.

The first movement is in the bright key of G major, but Dvořák breaks with convention by beginning in the minor mode, with a melody that exploits the rich timbre of the cellos. This passage serves as a prelude to the movement’s principal theme (announced by the flute), but without being a distinctly separate section, as in the typical classical symphony. A long, energetic transition leads to the second subject, which emerges from the dying tone of a brief horn solo. A heroic third theme completes the exposition of the movement’s material, which Dvořák proceeds to develop with energy and imagination.

The ensuing Adagio is exceptionally rich in moods and ideas. Moving fluidly between minor and major harmonies, as well as between intimate and grandiose expression, it is by turns grave and playful. Although the 3/4 meter and broad A-B-A format of the following movement indicate a scherzo, its relaxed pace and wistful sadness are more in character with the intermezzo movements that Brahms favored for his symphonies.

An arresting trumpet fanfare heralds the finale. Once again, Dvořák enlists the cellos, which present a broad theme related not only to the preceding trumpet call, but also to the flute melody of the first movement. Several variations of this melody follow, but Dvořák breaks the conventional pattern of strophic variations to inject a cheerful little march in a minor key, as well as a frenzied sonata-formstyle development section. A rousing coda brings the work to a tumultuous close. —Paul Schiavo

The DSO most recently performed Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 on the William Davidson Neighborhood Concert Series in June 2015, conducted by Marcelo Lehninger. The DSO first performed the piece in December 1937, conducted by Victor Kolar.

Jonathon Heyward currently serves as Music Director Designate of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and will begin his five-year contract in the 2023-24 season. Heyward’s selection was unanimous from the Baltimore Symphony Music Director Search Committee, comprised of BSO musicians, staff, and community members. In March 2022, Heyward made his debut with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in three performances that included the first-ever performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15. Quickly re-engaged, he returned in April to lead a Benefit Concert for Ukraine at the Meyerhoff.

Currently in his second year as a Chief Conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, in summer 2021, Heyward took part in an intense, two-week residency with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, which led to a highly acclaimed BBC Proms debut. He made his DSO debut in July 2022 on the William Davidson Neighborhood Concert Series.

Heyward’s recent symphonic guest conducting highlights in the United Kingdom include debuts and re-invitations with the London Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. In continental Europe, amongst Heyward’s recent debuts are collaborations with the Castilla y León in Spain; Basel Symphony, and Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne in Switzerland; Brussels Philharmonic, SymfonieOrkest Vlaanderen and Antwerp Symphony in Belgium; Philharmonie Zuidnederland in the Netherlands; and Kristiansand Symphony in Norway.

Multi-award-winning South Korean pianist Yeol Eum Son is highly regarded as a brilliant virtuoso whose playing has a rare balance between enormous kinetic energy and substantial gravity. An avid chamber musician, Son was appointed Artistic Director of Music in PyeongChang in 2018, programming music for both summer and winter Olympic events.

As soloist, Son has collaborated with major ensembles worldwide including the New York Philharmonic, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Dresdner Philharmoniker, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken, Tonkunstler Orchestra at the Grafenegg Festival, Bergen Philharmonic, CBSO, Aurora Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, KBS Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, St. Petersburg, Belgrade, Zagreb, Sofia Philharmonic, and RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, among others.

Across the 2022-2023 season, Son will feature as Artist in Residence with the Residentie Orchestra in the Hague. Other season highlights include debuts with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hanover, Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, and Musikkollegium Winterthur. Beyond Europe, this year Australian and Asian audiences will have the opportunity to hear Son live for her concerti debuts with the Melbourne, Sydney, Tasmanian, and Singapore Symphony Orchestras.

JEFF TYZIK

Principal Pops Conductor A COMMUNITY-SUPP JORTED ORCHESTRAJADER BIGNAMINI, Music Director ADER BIGNAMINI MUSIC DIRECTOR

Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation

TERENCE BLANCHARD

Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair NA’ZIR MCFADDEN

Assistant Conductor Phillip and Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador LEONARD SLATKIN

Music Director Laureate NEEME JÄRVI

Music Director Emeritus

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS Friday, December 16, 2022 at 10:45 a.m. & 8 p.m. Saturday, December 17, 2022 at 3 p.m. & 8 p.m. Sunday, December 18, 2022 at 3 p.m. & 7 p.m. in Orchestra Hall

MICHELLE MERRILL, conductor • NIKKI RENÉE DANIELS, soprano

director Nigel Hess A Christmas Overture Irving Berlin I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm arr. Jim Gray Nikki Renée Daniels Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky / Peanut Brittle Brigade

Lucas Richman Hanukkah Festival Overture Richard Rodgers / My Favorite Things Oscar Hammerstein Nikki Renée Daniels Mykola Leontovich / Carol of the Bells

Pietro Yon Gésu Bambino arr. David Itkin Nikki Renée Daniels Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky In the Pine Forest Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy Georges Bizet Farandole from L’Arlésienne Suite No. 2 INTERMISSION John Williams Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas

Bloomfield Hills High School Bloomfield Chorale & The Jills arr. Jack Gold & Marty Paich Jingle Bells Nikki Renée Daniels Albert Hague / Theodor Geisel You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch arr. Gary Fry Nikki Renée Daniels John Debney Suite from Elf

arr. Victor Pesavento Bloomfield Hills High School Bloomfield Chorale & The Jills

Leroy Anderson Sleigh Ride arr. John Rutter The Twelve Days of Christmas

Bloomfield Hills High School Bloomfield Chorale & The Jills arr. Matthew Jackfert I Saw Three Ships Donald Fraser This Christmastide (Jessye’s Carol) Nikki Renée Daniels

Bloomfield Hills High School Bloomfield Chorale & The Jills arr. David T. Clydesdale O Holy Night Nikki Renée Daniels

PROGRAM AT-A-GLANCE – HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

The holiday season represents a period of warmth, togetherness, good spirits...and the occasional chestnut roasting on an open fire. Many artists have released holiday albums, and the number of holiday songs grows exponentially with each passing year. From Bing Crosby to Boyz II Men, holiday music transcends genres, contributing to the joy of the season and serving as the soundtrack to many fond memories. It plays in the background of holiday movies and holiday parties, and as friends and families gather to celebrate beloved traditions. Music enhances the magic of the season, an unbridled time that so many of us look forward to all year.

Michelle Merrill inspires audiences throughout the country with her sharply detailed and vibrant performances. A passionate and dynamic artist, she served four years as the Assistant and then Associate Conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, where she also carried the title of Phillip and Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador. In addition to her growing guest conducting schedule, Merrill currently serves as the Music Director of the Coastal Symphony of Georgia, where she has ignited the growth and expansion of the orchestra’s offerings both on and off the stage.

Merrill’s most recent and upcoming engagements include the National Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Opera, National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa), Minnesota Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, and others.

Merrill is a proud recipient of a 2016 Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award as well as the prestigious 2013 Ansbacher Conducting Fellowship, as awarded by members of the Vienna Philharmonic and the American Austrian Foundation, which enabled her to be in residence at the world-renowned Salzburg Festival.

Nikki Renée Daniels recently starred in the Tony Award winning revival of Company, on Broadway. Other recent credits include Hamilton (Angelica Schuyler) at the CIBC Center in Chicago and The Book of Mormon (Nabulungi) on Broadway. Nikki has also been seen on Broadway as Clara in the 2012 Tony Award winning revival of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, Fantine in Les Miserablés and in Nine, Aida, Little Shop of Horrors, The Look of Love, Promises, Promises, Anything Goes, and Lestat. She made her New York City Opera debut as Clara in Porgy and Bess.

Other New York credits include Martha Jefferson in 1776 at City Center Encores! and Rose Lennox in The Secret Garden at David Geffen Hall. Her film and television credits include The Other Woman, Chappelle’s Show, Madam Secretary, and The Sound of Music: Live.

Nikki has performed as a soloist with many symphony orchestras across the country and Canada.

Nikki has performed as a soloist with many symphony orchestras across the United States and Canada. She holds a BFA from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. Her debut CD, Home, is available on iTunes. For more information, please visit nikkireneedaniels.com and follow her on social media at @nikkireneesings.