DSO William Davidson Neighborhood Concert Series - January 2023

LIFETIME DIRECTORS

Samuel Frankel◊

Stanley Frankel

David Handleman, Sr.◊

Dr. Arthur L. Johnson ◊

James B. Nicholson

Anne Parsons, President Emeritus ◊

Barbara Van Dusen

Clyde Wu, M.D.◊

CHAIRS EMERITI

Peter D. Cummings

Mark A. Davidoff

Phillip Wm. Fisher

Stanley Frankel

Robert S. Miller

James B. Nicholson

DIRECTORS EMERITI

Floy Barthel

Chacona Baugh

Penny B. Blumenstein

Richard A. Brodie

Lois Cohn

Marianne Endicott

Sidney Forbes

Barbara Frankel

Herman H. Frankel Dr. Gloria Heppner

Ronald Horwitz

Bonnie Larson

Arthur C. Liebler

Harold Kulish

David McCammon

David R. Nelson

William F. Pickard, Ph.D. Marilyn Pincus

OFFICERS OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Faye Alexander Nelson Vice Chair

Lloyd E. Reuss

Marjorie S. Saulson

Alan E. Schwartz

Jane Sherman Arthur A. Weiss

Renato Jamett, Trustee Chair

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Renato Jamett, Chair

Trustees are a diverse group of community leaders who infuse creative thinking and innovation into how the DSO strives to achieve both artistic vitality and organizational sustainability.

Maha Freij

Christa Funk

Florine Mark Anthony McCree

Erik Rönmark President & CEO

Laura Trudeau Treasurer

James G. Vella Secretary Ralph J. Gerson Officer at Large

Glenda D. Price, Ph.D. Officer at Large

Shirley Stancato Officer at Large

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Directors are responsible for maintaining a culture of accountability, resource development, and strategic thinking. As fiduciaries, Directors oversee the artistic and cultural health and strategic direction of the DSO.

David

Dave Everson, Orchestra Representative

Richard Huttenlocher

Renato Jamett, Trustee Chair

Stephen Polk

Bernard I. Robertson

Ismael Ahmed Richard Alonzo Hadas Bernard Janice Bernick Elizabeth Boone Gwen Bowlby Dr. Betty Chu Karen Cullen Joanne Danto Stephen D’Arcy Maureen T. D’Avanzo Jasmin DeForrest Afa Sadykhly Dworkin James C. Farber

Abe Feder, Musician Representative Linda Forte Carolynn Frankel

Robert Gillette

Jody Glancy Malik Goodwin Mary Ann Gorlin

Donald Hiruo

Michelle Hodges

Julie Hollinshead Sam Huszczo

John Jullens

Laurel Kalkanis Jay Kapadia David Karp

Joel D. Kellman John Kim

Jennette Smith Kotila

Leonard LaRocca William Lentine Linda Dresner Levy

Kristen McLennan

Tito Melega

Lydia Michael H. Keith Mobley Scott Monty Shari Morgan Sandy Morrison Frederick J. Morsches

Jennifer Muse, NextGen Chair Sean M. Neall Eric Nemeth Maury Okun

Jackie Paige Vivian Pickard Denise Fair Razo Gerrit Reepmeyer

James Rose, Jr.

Laurie Rosen Elana Rugh Marc Schwartz Carlo Serraiocco Lois L. Shaevsky Mary Shafer

Ralph Skiano, Musician Representative Richard Sonenklar Rob Tanner Yoni Torgow Gwen Weiner Donnell White Jennifer Whitteaker R. Jamison Williams Margaret E. Winters

MAESTRO CIRCLE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Michael Bickers

Amanda Blaikie, Orchestra Representative Elena Centeio

Aaron Frankel

Herman B. Gray, M.D., M.B.A.

Laura HernandezRomine

Rev. Nicholas Hood III

Daniel J. Kaufman

Michael J. Keegan

Xavier Mosquet

David Nicholson

Arthur T. O’Reilly

Nancy Tellem

Laura J. Trudeau

David M. Wu, M.D.

Ellen Hill Zeringue

Assemany, Governing Members Chair

David T. Provost Chair

Janet & Norm Ankers, Chairs Cecilia Benner Joanne Danto Gregory Haynes Bonnie Larson Lois Miller Richard Sonenklar

FIRST VIOLIN

Robyn Bollinger

CONCERTMASTER

Katherine Tuck Chair

Kimberly Kaloyanides

Kennedy ASSOCIATE CONCERTMASTER

Schwartz and Shapero Family Chair

Hai-Xin Wu

ASSISTANT CONCERTMASTER

Walker L. Cisler/Detroit Edison Foundation Chair

Jennifer Wey Fang

ASSISTANT CONCERTMASTER

Marguerite Deslippe*

Laurie Goldman*

Rachel Harding Klaus*

Eun Park Lee*

Adrienne Rönmark*

Alexandros Sakarellos* Drs. Doris Tong and Teck Soo Chair

Laura Soto*

Greg Staples* Jiamin Wang* Mingzhao Zhou*

SECOND VIOLIN

Adam Stepniewski

ACTING PRINCIPAL The Devereaux Family Chair

Will Haapaniemi* David and Valerie McCammon Chairs

Hae Jeong Heidi Han* David and Valerie McCammon Chairs

Elizabeth Furuta* Sheryl Hwangbo Yu*

Daniel Kim*

Sujin Lim* Hong-Yi Mo * Marian Tanau*

Alexander Volkov* Jing Zhang*

VIOLA

Eric Nowlin

PRINCIPAL

Julie and Ed Levy, Jr. Chair

James VanValkenburg

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Caroline Coade Henry and Patricia Nickol Chair

Glenn Mellow

Hang Su

Shanda Lowery-Sachs

Hart Hollman

Han Zheng Mike Chen

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

JADER BIGNAMINI , Music Director

CELLO

Wei Yu

PRINCIPAL Abraham Feder ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL Dorothy and Herbert Graebner Chair

Robert Bergman* Jeremy Crosmer* Victor and Gale Girolami Cello Chair

David LeDoux*

Peter McCaffrey* Joanne Deanto and Arnold Weingarden Chair Una O’Riordan* Mary Ann & Robert Gorlin Chair Cole Randolph*

BASS

Kevin Brown PRINCIPAL Van Dusen Family Chair Stephen Molina ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL Christopher Hamlen Brandon Mason Nicholas Myers^

HARP OPEN PRINCIPAL Winifred E. Polk Chair

FLUTE

Hannah Hammel Maser PRINCIPAL Alan J. and Sue Kaufman and Family Chair

Amanda Blaikie Morton and Brigitte Harris Chair

Sharon Sparrow

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL Bernard and Eleanor Robertson Chair

Jeffery Zook Shantanique Moore §

PICCOLO

Jeffery Zook Shari and Craig Morgan Chair

OBOE

Alexander Kinmonth

PRINCIPAL Jack A. and Aviva Robinson Chair

Sarah Lewis ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL Monica Fosnaugh

ENGLISH HORN

Monica Fosnaugh

Shari and Craig Morgan Chair

CLARINET

Ralph Skiano PRINCIPAL Robert B. Semple Chair

Jack Walters PVS Chemicals Inc./ Jim and Ann Nicholson Chair Shannon Orme

E-FLAT CLARINET

OPEN

BASS CLARINET

Shannon Orme Barbara Frankel and Ronald Michalak Chair

BASSOON

Conrad Cornelison PRINCIPAL Byron and Dorothy Gerson Chair Michael Ke Ma ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL Marcus Schoon Jaquain Sloan §

CONTRABASSOON Marcus Schoon

HORN

Karl Pituch PRINCIPAL Johanna Yarbrough Scott Strong Ric and Carola Huttenlocher Chair

David Everson ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL Mark Abbott

TRUMPET

Hunter Eberly PRINCIPAL Lee and Floy Barthel Chair

Stephen Anderson ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL William Lucas

TROMBONE

Kenneth Thompkins PRINCIPAL David Binder

Adam Rainey

BASS TROMBONE

Adam Rainey

TUBA

Dennis Nulty PRINCIPAL

TIMPANI

Jeremy Epp PRINCIPAL

Richard and Mona Alonzo Chair

James Ritchie ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

PERCUSSION

Joseph Becker PRINCIPAL Ruth Roby and Alfred R. Glancy III Chair

Andrés Pichardo-Rosenthal ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL William Cody Knicely Chair

James Ritchie

LIBRARIANS

Robert Stiles PRINCIPAL Ethan Allen

LEGACY CHAIRS

Principal Flute Women’s Association for the DSO Principal Cello James C. Gordon

Personnel Managers

Patrick Peterson DIRECTOR OF ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL

Benjamin Tisherman MANAGER OF ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL

Nolan Cardenas AUDITION AND OPERATIONS COORDINATOR

Stage Personnel

Dennis Rottell STAGE MANAGER

William Dailing DEPARTMENT HEAD

Ryan DeMarco DEPARTMENT HEAD

Kurt Henry DEPARTMENT HEAD

Steven Kemp

DEPARTMENT HEAD

Matthew Pons

DEPARTMENT HEAD

LEGEND

* These members may voluntarily revolve seating within the section on a regular basis

^ Extended Leave

§ African American Orchestra Fellow

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

A COMMU N I T Y -SU P P ORT E D ORCHESTRA

JADER BIGNAMINI , Music Director

JA

Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation

WILLIAM DAVIDSON NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERT SERIES

MOZART, MONTGOMERY & MORE

Thursday, January 5, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. at The Berman Center for the Performing Arts Friday, January 6, 2023 at 8 p.m. at Plymouth NorthRidge Church Saturday, January 7, 2023 at 8 p.m. at Kirk in the Hills Presbyterian Church Sunday, January 8, 2023 at 3 p.m. at Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church

JAYCE OGREN, conductor TIMOTHY MCALLISTER , saxophone

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Overture to Don Giovanni, K. 527 (1756 - 1791)

Jessie Montgomery Strum for String Orchestra (b.1981)

Alexander Glazunov Concerto for Saxophone and String Orchestra (1865 - 1936) in E-flat major, Op. 109 Allegro moderato

Timothy McAllister, saxophone

Intermission

Jean Sibelius Valse Triste, Op. 44 No. 1 (1865 - 1957)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550 (1756 - 1791) I. Molto allegro II. Andante III. Menuetto: Allegretto

IV. Allegro assai

The William Davidson Neighborhood Concert Series is made possible by a generous grant from the William Davidson Foundation. WRCJ 90.9 FM also supports the Series.

Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation

TERENCE BLANCHARD Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair

NA’ZIR MCFADDEN Assistant Conductor, Phillip & Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador

NEEME JÄRVI Music Director Emeritus

LEONARD SLATKIN Music Director Laureate

JEFF TYZIK

Principal Pops Conductor

TERENCE BLANCHARD Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair

NA’ZIR MCFADDEN Assistant Conductor, Phillip & Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador

NEEME JÄRVI Music Director Emeritus LEONARD SLATKIN Music Director Laureate

JEFF TYZIK Principal Pops Conductor

PROGRAM NOTES

Overture

to Don Giovanni, K. 527

Composed 1787 | Premiered October 29, 1787

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

B. January 27, 1756, Salzburg, Austria

D. December 5, 1791, Vienna, Austria

Scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings. (Approx. 6 minutes)

directly on to the first recitative and aria by Giovanni’s squire, Leporello. But, anticipating performances of the overture alone, Mozart composed a separate concert ending, with bright brassy chords at its conclusion.

The DSO most recently performed the Overture to Don Giovanni in April 2016, conducted by Peter Oundjian. The DSO first performed the work in February 1917, conducted by Weston Gales.

weave in and out. The strumming pizzicato serves as a texture motive and the primary driving rhythmic underpinning of the piece. Drawing on American folk idioms and the spirit of dance and movement, the piece has a kind of narrative that begins with fleeting nostalgia and transforms into ecstatic celebration.

This performance marks the DSO premiere of Jessie Montgomery’s Strum

Each

of Mozart’s mature operas has drawn a wealth of praise and commentary, but none seems to have fascinated listeners and scholars more than his masterly musico-dramatic portrait of Don Giovanni’s titular character. The psychological nuances so keenly drawn in Mozart’s operatic score are powerfully foretold in the shafts of light and shadow that flicker throughout the opera’s overture.

Relatively few of Mozart’s works are cast in minor keys, and his use of D minor as the tone color for this tale of hellish punishment recalls other works with a sense of fury and reprisal—notably the Requiem. Even in the purely abstract D minor Piano Concerto, there are expressions of urgency in the music that might easily be equated with the unyielding recrimination that serves as Don Giovanni’s thesis.

Mozart cast the overture in a fully developed sonata form, with the stern opening chords prophesying the events of the final act, when Giovanni is introduced to his eternal punishment. The tonality then turns to a bright D major for the presentation of several engaging themes during the main body of the exposition, but major and minor keys engage in an uneasy competition for attention during the development section. In staged performances of the opera, the restatement of all the themes moves

Strum

JESSIE MONTGOMERY

B. December 8, 1981, New York, NY

Scored for strings. (Approx. 8 minutes)

Concerto for Saxophone and String Orchestra in E-flat major, Op. 109

Composed 1934 | Premiered November 25, 1934

begins in the key of G minor with a bold and forceful main theme introduced by the orchestra. Soon taken over by the soloist, this theme is developed, and several other musical ideas are introduced. There are numerous changes in tempo present throughout this piece, following a traditional fast-slow-fast structure. The slow, lyrical section begins with a transition into the key of C-flat major and ends in a brilliant cadenza. The piece ends in a quick fugato, signature of Glazunov’s compositional style.

Acclaimed

composer, violinist, and educator Jessie Montgomery interweaves classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, poetry, and social consciousness, making her an acute interpreter of 21st century American sound and experience. Of Strum, Montgomery writes the following: Strum is the culminating result of several versions of a string quintet I wrote in 2006. It was originally written for the Providence String Quartet and guests of Community MusicWorks Players, then arranged for string quartet in 2008 with several small revisions. In 2012 the piece underwent its final revisions with a rewrite of both the introduction and the ending for the Catalyst Quartet in a performance celebrating the 15th annual Sphinx Competition. Originally conceived for the formation of a cello quintet, the voicing is often spread wide over the ensemble, giving the music an expansive quality of sound. Within Strum I utilized texture motives, layers of rhythmic or harmonic ostinati that string together to form a bed of sound for melodies to

ALEXANDER GLAZUNOV

B. August 10, 1865, Saint Petersburg, Russia D. March 21, 1936, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France

Scored for solo saxophone and strings. (Approx. 13 minutes)

In 1934, Alexander Glazunov was commissioned to write a saxophone concerto for Sigurd Rascher, a talented young saxophonist. Rascher’s motivation in commissioning the piece was to promote the saxophone as a concert instrument during a time when it was viewed as a “middle class instrument” and had not yet entered the classical canon.

Glazunov was drawn to the rich and colorful tone of the saxophone and its potential for contrast against string instruments in the orchestra—which prompted the unique scoring of solo saxophone and string orchestra. This commission produced Glazunov’s Saxophone Concerto in Eb Major, which has since become standard classical repertoire for saxophonists and proved to be Glazunov’s last major work.

A single-movement concerto, this piece

Glazunov’s body of works serves as a bridge between romanticism and early modern music, and his incorporation of Russian nationalism, contemporary styles, and lyricism established his works as masterpieces that continue to be celebrated and performed today.

The DSO most recently performed Glazunov’s Saxophone Concerto in December 2011, conducted by Thomas Wilkins and featuring Branford Marsalis.

Valse Triste, Op. 44 No. 1

Composed 1903-1904 | Premiered April 25, 1904

JEAN SIBELIUS

B. December 8, 1865, Hämeenlinna, Finland D. September 20, 1957, Ainola, Finland

Scored for flute, clarinet, 2 horns, timpani, and strings. (Approx. 5 minutes)

Jean

Sibelius was a go-to composer for playwrights and dramatists in the early 20th century, and he could hardly turn down a commission from his own brother-in-law. Said relative, Arvid Jarnefelt, approached Sibelius to write incidental music for a production titled Death, which received a mediocre premiere in Helsinki in 1903. Sibelius wrote six movements for the play, and two

PROGRAM NOTES PROFILES

of them — Scene with Cranes and the present Valse Triste, or “Sad Waltz” — gained new life as standalone pieces for the concert hall.

Indeed, Valse Triste became so popular that it is now one of Sibelius’s most-performed works, and in pre-WWI Europe its melody was as famous as “Ode to Joy.”

Sadly, Sibelius sold the score for the concert version (completed in 1905) for a very meager sum of money, and its publisher made a fortune, none of which ever made its way back to the composer.

The DSO most recently performed Sibelius’s Valse Triste in June 2010, conducted by Leonard Slatkin. The DSO first performed the piece in February 1916, conducted by Weston Gales.

Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550 Composed 1788

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

B. January 27, 1756, Salzburg, Austria D. December 5, 1791, Vienna, Austria

Scored for flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, and strings. (Approx. 35 minutes)

Of all of Mozart’s symphonies, the Symphony No. 40 is the one which most fascinated musicians and scholars in the 19th century. It is generally regarded as one of the towering masterpieces of the Classical era, as well as a portent of the Romantic era, which was just around the corner. Many modern listeners tend to regard the key of a work as almost irrelevant, but composers of the Baroque and Classical eras felt that certain keys possessed specific emotive qualities. Minor keys in particular were replete with emotional significance, mostly of a tragic nature, and few symphonies in this period were

written in minor keys. For Mozart, the key of G minor was one of extreme pathos, and he used it sparingly for some of his most heart-wrenching music, including the turbulent so-called “Little G minor” Symphony (No. 25), written when he was 17.

The Symphony No. 40 begins with an “inner voice” from the violas that prepares the way for the main theme in the violins. After the storm and stress of the first movement, the second movement is somewhat more bright, gentle, and relaxed. It is the only movement which is nominally in a major key, but it turns dark and more intense in the midsection, visiting some very strange and unsettling places before the light atmosphere of the beginning returns. The third movement is bold, rugged, even aggressive, and is a long way from the stylish ballroom dances of the time. The quiet and gracious Trio section brings music of repose, as if to escape from the restlessness and turmoil that infuse so much of the work. And the last movement is perhaps the most original in the symphony, seeking to vehemently answer the questions posed by the first movement. Its mood, like the first, is one of anger, accentuated by sudden strong contrasts of soft and loud, and it travels through remote harmonic regions with both stable and unstable harmony. The symphony is then brilliantly driven to its conclusion with grand and boundless energy.

The DSO most recently performed Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 during an Educational Concert Series performance in May 2022, conducted by Erin Freeman. The DSO first performed the piece in November 1919, conducted by Ossip Gabrilowitsch.

JAYCE OGREN

TIMOTHY MCALLISTER

Jayce

Ogren is the Music Director of the Monterey Symphony in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, and was recently appointed Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Michigan, where he conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra, Contemporary Directions Ensemble, and the Michigan Youth Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, he serves as Principal Guest Conductor of Philadelphia’s new music ensemble Orchestra 2001.

In the 2022-2023 season, Ogren will lead the Dallas, Detroit, and Oregon symphonies, the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Symphony San Jose, and Westchester Philharmonic, among others. In January 2023 he will conduct a two-concert tribute to the life, work, and influence of George Crumb, to be presented by the University of Michigan Contemporary Directions Ensemble and Philharmonia Orchestra.

Ogren began his career as Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, an appointment he held from 2006-2009. In the years since, he has conducted many of the world’s most prominent orchestras and enjoys close association with the Leonard Bernstein Office and Rufus Wainwright.

Ogren holds degrees from St. Olaf College, the New England Conservatory, and the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, where he studied as a Fulbright Scholar with Alan Gilbert and Jorma Panula.

Timothy McAllister is one of today’s premier saxophonists, a member of the renowned PRISM Quartet, and a champion of contemporary music credited with dozens of recordings and over 150 premieres of new compositions by eminent and emerging composers worldwide. His 2022 premiere of John Corgiliano’s Triathlon: Concerto for Saxophonist and Orchestra, which employs soprano, alto, and baritone saxes, was a tour de force “he gave the piece the knockout performance it deserved” (San Francisco Chronicle).

McAllister has recently been featured as a soloist with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Elgin Symphony, Albany Symphony Orchestra, Reno Philharmonic, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Royal Band of the Belgian Air Force, United States Navy Band, Hong Kong Wind Philharmonia, Tokyo Wind Symphony, Pacific Symphony, and the Nashville Symphony, among others. An in-demand orchestral saxophonist, he has toured in the US and abroad with both the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, among others.

A renowned teacher of his instrument, he has served as the Professor of Saxophone at Northwestern University in Illinois, a Valade Artist Fellow for the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan, and is a clinician for the Conn-Selmer and D’Addario companies. In September 2014 he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan School of Music, succeeding his legendary mentor, Donald Sinta. McAllister’s work can be heard on the Nonesuch, Deutsche Grammphon, Naxos, OMM, Stradivarius, Centaur, AUR, Albany, Parma, New Dynamic, Equilibrium, New Focus, and innova record labels.

WILLIAM DAVIDSON NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERT

I

JA

DER

PROGRAM NOTES

JADER BIGNAMINI , Music Director Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation

WILLIAM DAVIDSON NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERT SERIES

REINECKE’S FLUTE CONCERTO

Thursday, January 12, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. at Congregation Shaarey Zedek

Friday, January 13, 2023 at 8 p.m. at Meyer Theater, Monroe Community College Sunday, January 15, 2023 at 3 p.m. at Seligman Performing Arts Center

Selections from “The Montgomery Variations

MARGARET BONDS

B. March 3, 1913, Chicago, Illinois D. April 26, 1972, Los Angeles, California

Scored for 3 flutes (one doubling alto flute and piccolo), 2 oboes, english horn, 3 clarinets (one doubling bass clarinet), 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, percussion, timpani, harp, and strings. (Approx. 28 minutes)

bold statement of the theme, followed by the variations of the theme in the same key—major and minor.

Margaret Bonds Selections from “The Montgomery Variations” (1913 - 1972)

I. Decision III. March V. One Sunday in the South VI. Lament VII. Benediction

Carl Reinecke Flute Concerto, Op. 283 (1824 - 1910) I. Allegro molto moderato II. Lento e mesto

III. Mo derato – In tempo animato – Tempo I –Più mosso – Più lento maestoso

Hannah Hammel Maser, flute

Intermission

Antonín Dvorˇák Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, [old No. 5] (1841 - 1904) “From the New World”

I. Adagio - Allegro molto II. Largo III. Molto vivace

The William Davidson Neighborhood Concert Series is made possible by a generous grant from the William Davidson Foundation. WRCJ 90.9 FM also supports the Series.

Margaret Bonds is fondly remembered today for her popular arrangements of African American spirituals and her frequent musical collaborations with Langston Hughes. Born in Chicago, Illinois, to a mother who was a musician and a father who was a doctor, Bonds enjoyed a remarkable career as a composer, pianist, arranger, and teacher. She began taking piano lessons and composing at the age of eight years old and went on to study piano at Northwestern University where she received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees under the mentorship of Theodore Taylor and, reportedly, Florence Price. However, her education did not come without adversity. Because of her race, Bonds had to study in the library’s basement, and was not allowed to live on campus or use the school’s facilities. This was her first direct experience with racism, and she turned to the poetry of Langston Hughes to cope. Langston Hughes later became her close friend and longtime collaborator, and “The Montgomery Variations” are a musical adaptation of his poems.

“The Montgomery Variations” is a group of freestyle variations based on the Negro Spiritual theme “I want Jesus to Walk with Me.” The treatment suggests the manner in which Bach constructed his partitas—a

Because of the personal meanings of the Negro spiritual themes, Margaret Bonds always avoids overdevelopment of the melodies. “The Montgomery Variations” were written after the composer’s visit to Montgomery, Alabama, and the surrounding area in 1963 (on tour with Eugene Brice and the Manhattan Melodaires). In December 1960, “The Ballad of the Brown King” was dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and presented at Clark Center, YWCA in New York, by the Church of the Master and Clark Center as benefit to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Langston Hughes, the author of the text, was present on this occasion.

Of “The Montgomery Variations” featured on this program, Bonds wrote the following:

I. Decision

Under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And SCLC, Negroes in Montgomery decided to boycott the bus company and to fight for their right as citizens.

III.

March

The Spirit of the Nazarene marching with them, the Negroes of Montgomery walked to their work rather than be segregated on the buses. The entire world, symbolically with them, marches.

V. One Sunday in the South

Children were in Sunday School learning about Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

Southern “die-hards” planted a bomb, and several children were killed.

VI. Lament

The world was shaken by the cruelty of the Sunday School bombing. Negroes, as usual, leaned on their Jesus to carry them through this crisis of grief and humiliation.

VII.

Benediction

A benign God, Father, and Mother to all

LIDIYA YANKOVSKAYA , conductor HANNAH HAMMEL MASER, flute

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

TERENCE BLANCHARD Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair

NA’ZIR MCFADDEN Assistant Conductor, Phillip & Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador

NEEME JÄRVI Music Director Emeritus LEONARD SLATKIN Music Director Laureate

WILLIAM DAVIDSON NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERT SERIES PROGRAM 11 10 WILLIAM DAVIDSON NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERT SERIES PROGRAM JANUARY 2023 dso.org | #IAMDSO

PROGRAM NOTES

people, pours forth Love to His children— the good and the bad alike.

This performance marks the DSO’s premiere of selections from “The Montgomery Variations” by Margaret Bonds.

Flute Concerto, Op. 283

Composed 1908 | Premiered March 15, 1909

CARL REINECKE

B. June 23, 1824, Altona, Germany

D. March 10, 1910, Frankfurt, Germany

Scored for solo flute, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, percussion, timpani, and strings. (Approx. 21 minutes)

particularly apparent in this piece that Reinecke was heavily influenced by the work of his friends in Leipzig.

Reinecke’s Flute Concerto was written in 1908—two years before his death—and follows a rather standard German romantic style form in three movements.

and an ultimate happy ending with a modulation to the parallel major key.

The third and final movement of this concerto is presented in a rondo form, with a cheerful and energetic main theme carrying the energy throughout. Broken up by a lyrical “B” section, the main theme returns once more at the end of this movement showered with contrasting episodes and a brilliant dash to the piece’s conclusion.

This performance marks the DSO premiere of Carl Reinecke’s Flute Concerto.

Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, “From the New World”

Reinecke was no stranger to composing masterful works for the flute. Like many composers of his time, he was inspired by the music of J.S. Bach, yet his compositions reflected a more romantic style similar to Schumann. His Flute Concerto emulates Mendelssohn’s melodic lines, and there are homages to Schumann’s orchestral tone throughout the work. It is

Carl

Reinecke indulged in the rich language of romanticism through the harmonic expression and warm, imaginative orchestration throughout this piece. This concerto is not just a virtuosic solo for the flute, but a conversation between the solo flute and the orchestra. The first movement emulates a call and response between the flute and the brass section, as well as in the obbligato pairings between the flute and various members of the orchestra. This movement is marked allegro but is largely unhurried, beginning leisurely and sustained by interesting harmonies.

The second movement, marked con dolore, is the typical “slow movement” written as a funeral march. The solo flute laments over a pulsating bass line, interrupted by stormy outbursts from the brass. The solo flute returns in a form of recitative, with the funeral dirge resuming

Composed 1893 | Premiered December 16, 1893

ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK

B. September 8, 1841, Nelahozeves, Czech Republic

D. May 1, 1904, Prague, 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, percussion, and strings. (Approx. 40 minutes)

composing the symphony, at least one element of the work is very easy to trace: the celebrated English horn solo in the slow movement, which is consistently likened to an African American spiritual. Meanwhile, a literary source informs ideas in the middle movements—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem The Song of Hiawatha

Overall, the symphony sees Dvořák taking up certain formal experiments that had been developing in symphonic form since the time of Beethoven. One is the cyclic reappearance of themes in successive movements of a symphony—a prominent feature of Beethoven’s Ninth, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, Schumann’s Fourth, and César Franck’s D Minor Symphony. In the “New World,” Dvořák interrupts the peaceful mood of the Largo movement with an interjection of the main broken-chord theme of the first movement. And instead of developing the themes of the last movement, he combines and re-works the themes of the first three movements in the central development section of the last.

Antonín

Dvořák’s interest in folk music wound itself through the composer’s entire career, beginning with works inspired and informed by the traditions of his native Bohemia. By 1893, Dvořák’s interest had turned to the other side of the Atlantic— and focused on the ethnic music of Native Americans and African Americans. His understanding of these musical traditions was rather clunky, but the resulting piece of music is now one of his best-known and most well-liked.

Though Dvořák claims that no specific melodies were lifted from Native American or African American songs in

The DSO most recently performed Dvořák’s “From the New World” Symphony in October 2021, conducted by Eric Jacobsen. The DSO first performed the work at a “demonstration concert” for potential financial backers in February 1914, the year the orchestra was reconstituted after four years of inactivity. That performance was conducted by Weston Gales.

PROFILES

LIDIYA YANKOVSKAYA

Lidiya Yankovskaya is a fiercely committed advocate for Slavic masterpieces, operatic rarities, and contemporary works on the leading edge of classical music. She has conducted more than 40 world premieres, including 17 operas, and her strength as a visionary collaborator has guided new perspectives on staged and symphonic repertoire from Carmen and Queen of Spades to Price and Prokofiev. Since her appointment as Elizabeth Morse and Genius Music Director of Chicago Opera Theater in 2017, Yankovskaya has led the Chicago premieres of Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick, Rachmaninoff’s Aleko, Joby Talbot’s Everest, Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta, and Adamo’s Becoming Santa Claus, as well as the world premiere of Dan Shore’s Freedom Ride. Her daring performances before and amid the pandemic earned recognition from the Chicago Tribune, which praised her as “the very model of how to survive adversity, and also how to thrive in it,” while naming her 2020 Chicagoan of the Year.

In the 2022-2023 season, Yankovskaya makes a series of major orchestral debuts including performances with Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Sacramento Philharmonic, Knoxville Symphony, and Richmond Symphony. She returns to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for their MusicNOW series, conducting a work by CSO Composer-in-Residence Jessie Montgomery. She also debuts at Santa Fe Opera in a new production of Dvořák’s Rusalka, at Staatsoper Hamburg with Eugene Onegin, and at English National Opera, conducting a new staged production of Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful

Songs. She leads the long-awaited world premieres of Edward Tulane at Minnesota Opera and The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing at Chicago Opera Theater, where she also conducts the Chicago premiere of Szymanowski’s Król Roger Yankovskaya is Founder and Artistic Director of the Refugee Orchestra Project (ROP), which proclaims the cultural and societal relevance of refugees through music and has brought that message to hundreds of thousands of listeners around the world. In addition to a National Sawdust residency in Brooklyn, ROP has performed in London, Boston, Washington, D.C., and the United Nations. She has also served as Artistic Director of the Boston New Music Festival and Juventas New Music Ensemble, which was the recipient of multiple NEA grants and National Opera Association Awards under her leadership.

HANNAH HAMMEL MASER

Hannah Hammel Maser joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as Principal Flute in January 2020. She also plays regularly with Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings and New Music Detroit. Before joining the DSO, Hammel Maser held the position of Principal Flute of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra from 2017-2019.

As an orchestral musician, Hammel Maser has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, Richmond Symphony, and New World Symphony. She has attended summer festivals including Tanglewood Music Center, Music Academy of the West, Pacific Music Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, and Round Top Music Festival.

Hammel Maser is a sought-after teacher and orchestral excerpt coach and has been invited to teach for the Cleveland Institute of Music, Oberlin Conservatory, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, University of North Texas, University of Alabama, University of Michigan, and Michigan State University, and was a coach for Sphinx’s 2022 Audition Intensive at New World Symphony. She has an active private studio in Detroit and also enjoys coaching flutists virtually.

As a soloist, Hammel Maser has won first place in the 2016 National Flute Association’s Young Artist Competition, 2016 Houston Flute Club Byron Hester Competition, the 2015 Atlanta Flute Association Young Artist Competition, the 2014 National Flute Association Orchestral Excerpt & Masterclass Competition, 2013 Central Ohio Flute

Association Collegiate Division Competition, and second place in the 2013 Mid-South Flute Society’s Young Artist Competition. Hammel Maser now serves as the Competition Coordinator for the NFA’s Orchestral Excerpt & Masterclass Competition.

A native of Richmond, Virginia, Hammel Maser began studying the flute with her mother, Alice Hammel. She holds a Bachelor of Music in flute performance and a minor in music theory from The Oberlin Conservatory where she studied with Alexa Still. She graduated with her master’s degree in flute performance in 2017 from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music as a student of Leone Buyse.

Hammel Maser plays on an 18K gold Muramatsu flute and a Keefe piccolo.

The Community Foundation is dedicated to supporting and enhancing the arts in Southeast Michigan.

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We have helped hundreds of donors who want to support local arts and culture find the best way to make a lasting impact.

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When you are ready to make a lasting impact on arts and culture, the Community Foundation is here to help. Visit: cfsem.org/arts-culture or call 313.961.6675

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