PENSACOLA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRApensacolasymphony.com/assets/2020.21.Program.Book.with... · 2021. 2. 15. · Clarinet Richard Jernigan, Principal Newell Hutchinson Kim Whaley Melissa

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Peter RubardtMusic Director

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cost of university tuition. Scholarships available. For more information Call 850-484-1800 or email [email protected] State College does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, color, gender/sex, age, religion, marital status, pregnancy, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or genetic information in its educational programs, activities, or employment. For inquiries regarding Title IX and the College’s nondiscrimination policies, contact the Executive Director, Institutional Equity and Student Conduct at 850-484-1759, Pensacola State College, 1000 College Blvd., Pensacola, Florida 32504.

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2021 SEASON | 7

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ART • ENTERTAINMENT • LIFESTYLE MAGAZINEART • ENTERTAINMENT • LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE

2021 SEASON | 9


ContentsAbout the PSO Welcome 11

Music Director’s Biography 12

Letter from our Music Director 15

Meet the Musicians 16

The History of the PSO 18

Season Calendar 20

Beyond the Stage 22

Support Board of Directors 26

Past Board Presidents 27

Advisory Council 28

PSO Guild 30

Special Event Sponsors 31

Annual Fund Donors 32

Corporate & Foundation Support 37

Arts Agencies & Government Support 37

In-Kind Donors 38

Stability Fund 39

Transformative Experiences 40

Honorariums & Memorials 41

Lifetime Giving 44

Legacy Society 45

Additional Ways to Give 46

Advertiser Listing 94

Opening Night! • February 20 50

Russian Spectacular • March 6 58

Beethoven & Blue Jeans • March 20 67

Haydn, Symphony No. 94, “Surprise” • April 24 72

Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 3, “Scottish” • May 15 83

Dvořák, Symphony No. 8 • June 26 88

Cover Photo by Meg Burke Photography

2021 SEASON | 11

Welcome to the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra

Our Team

Contact Us

We are glad that you are here! In a season that is unlike any other, we look forward to sharing meaningful musical experiences together. Thank you for adopting the current health precautions to provide the safest possible environment for you, your fellow audience members, and the musicians. Please contact us at 850.435.2533 or [email protected] with any comments or suggestions about enhancing your experience.

Music DirectorPeter Rubardt

Executive DirectorBret Barrow

Advancement & External Relations Jessica Hyche

Community EngagementMolly Hollingsworth

LibrarianEmily Stubblefield

Patron Development & CommunicationsCourtney Dell

Patron Services Emily Varley

Personnel ManagerDale Riegle

Production ManagerRobin Bonta

Phone: 850.435.2533 Email: [email protected] Address: 205 East Zaragoza Street | Pensacola, FL 32502 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 1752 | Pensacola, FL 32591


Peter Rubardt has earned wide acclaim for powerful and insightful performances that inspire passionate responses to symphonic music. In addition to his long-standing position as Music Director of the Pensacola Symphony, he also serves as the Music Director of the Meridian and Gulf Coast Symphonies. Throughout his career he has worked successfully to deepen the relationships between communities and their orchestras, leading to growing audiences and a broad base of support. A gifted speaker about music as well as a

performer, he actively engages audiences and community groups in the appreciation of symphonic music. Also busy as a guest conductor, Rubardt recently debuted with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Alabama Symphony, the Fort Worth Symphony, and the Augusta Symphony, among others.

Now in his 24th season as Music Director of the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra, Rubardt continues to grow the organization through a wide range of classical, pops, and educational programs. He has played a central role in designing the orchestra’s innovative “Beyond the Stage” program, partnering with a range of local organizations to bring music to hospitals, schools, and neighborhoods. Previously he was at the forefront of the effort that successfully renovated the historic Pensacola

Peter Rubardt Music Director

2021 SEASON | 13

Saenger Theatre, giving the orchestra increased visibility and vitality. He also led a significant capital campaign for the orchestra and played a key role in the creation of an hour-long documentary in collaboration with WSRE public television. Since assuming the Music Directorship in Meridian, that community has seen a sharp increase in concert attendance, an acoustical retrofit of the hall, a new symphonic pops event, and the introduction of a newly formed symphony chorus.

Prior to his appointment in Pensacola, Rubardt served four seasons as Associate Conductor of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and three seasons as Resident Conductor of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, conducting numerous classical and pops performances, regional tours, and educational programs with both orchestras. He has also conducted the Utah Symphony, Alabama Symphony, Louisiana, Rochester, and Las Vegas Philharmonic Orchestras, The Louisville Orchestra, the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony, Japan’s Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, Century Orchestra Osaka, Yamagata Symphony, Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra (where he performed for Her Imperial Highness The Princess Hitachi of Japan) and Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra, and Nova Filarmonia Portuguese, with which he toured Portugal several times, as well as the orchestras of Acadiana, Anchorage, Annapolis, Augusta, Bangor, El Paso, Lubbock, Peoria, Portland, Quad Cities, Rogue Valley, South Dakota, Southwest Florida, Spokane, and Youngstown, among others. From 1991 – 96, he served as Music Director of the Rutgers Symphony.

A native of Berkeley, California, Rubardt holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Orchestral Conducting from The Juilliard School, where he was the recipient of the Bruno Walter Fellowship. A Fulbright Scholar, he studied piano and conducting at the famed Vienna Hochschule fur Musik and pursued further studies at the Tanglewood Music Center and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute. He has participated in the masterclasses of Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, André Previn, and Herbert Blomstedt; his major teachers have included Otto-Werner Mueller, Sixten Ehrling, Michael Senturia, and David Lawton. He was selected by the League of American Orchestras to perform in the National Conductor Preview with the Jacksonville Symphony in 2005.

Rubardt has served on the faculties of The Juilliard School, Rutgers University, and the State University of New York at Purchase. In addition to Juilliard he has received awards and degrees in music from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and the University of California at Berkeley. Rubardt has recorded for Pantheon Records International. He resides in Pensacola with his wife Hedi Salanki, a Distinguished University Professor in the Grier Williams School of Music at the University of West Florida, and their two children.

PeterRubardt.com


2021 SEASON | 15

From Our Music DirectorI usually write this letter sometime during the summer, amidst preparing for a season of wide-ranging and ambitious repertoire. This year? Not so much. I’m writing the week before Thanksgiving, and like everybody else, I’m still trying to figure out what the season will look like. There are, of course, huge unknowns, yet there are also things that are getting more clear by the day: the importance of working together, the importance of sharing our humanity, the importance of striving to be part of something bigger than just ourselves. These are pandemic lessons that will shape the post-pandemic world in profound ways, and in a time of such turmoil, the arts can be a common beacon.

I sometimes feel that planning is our superpower, the tool that enables us to achieve the inspiring moments that enrich our lives. Yet this is completely different; detailed planning has been replaced by agility and flexibility. I’ve lost track of how many times we’ve reimagined this season. From guest artists to dates to repertoire, every element has been overhauled repeatedly, and even now there are still variables in play. So it is perhaps no surprise that amidst such upheaval we’ve gravitated back to some basics. The core literature almost feels like comfort food, and we’ll be performing major symphonies by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Dvořák, as well as signature concertos by Tchaikovsky and Brahms. These offerings will be spiced with a gorgeous American classic by Copland, as well as a brand-new piece by rising star James Lee, III (who will be in Pensacola to share his music with us).

Every one of these pieces stirs my soul, and the musicians and I are looking forward to the season with deeply felt excitement.

This is not the season that I originally planned, but it is a season that we can present wisely, guarding the health of both musicians and audience. But more than that, I hope it proves to be the season we need, for if there was ever a time that the arts prove their essential nature, this is surely it. As Beethoven wrote on the score to his Missa Solemnis: “From the heart, may it go to the heart.” It is in that spirit that we share this music with you.

Peter Rubardt, Music Director


First ViolinLeonid Yanovskiy, Concertmaster

Pensacola Symphony Orchestra Guild ChairMinyoung Cho, Associate ConcertmasterChristian AldridgePetra BubanjaEdward CharityKen DavisBurcu GokerNicholas HattMolly HollingsworthEmily JavaroneGosia LeskaNatasha MarsalliTania Moldovan Maeanna NaffeAaron SeilerSarah YenEnen Yu, Concertmaster, Pensacola Opera Productions

Second Violin Grace Kim, Principal Sarah BossaJuliana GaviriaEllen GrantFrances MichaelsJoe OrtigueraAyumi PeekMegan SahelyBarbara WithersNathan Witter

ViolaMichael Fernandez, Principal Marion Viccars ChairVictor AndzulisBrian Brown Rossana Cauti Amaro DuboisCourtney GrantJim LichtenbergerDaniela PardoMelissa PerazaMiriam Tellechea

CelloAleksandra Pereverzeva, Principal Helen N. Williams Chair Jose Sunderland Litvak Family ChairChun-hsin Chang Jordan GalvarinoJuan Jose GutierrezPaul HanceriDaniel MartinezRyan Snapp

BassTaylor Hollyer, PrincipalAndrew Chilcote Samuel DahmerMichael JohnsonJohn Palensky Roberto PinedaErnie SzugyiDoug Therrien

FluteStephanie Riegle, PrincipalBethany Witter Wood Gay and Bruce Burrows ChairSarah Jane Young

Mary Elizabeth Patterson Chair

PiccoloSarah Jane Young

OboeMatt Fossa, PrincipalMargaret Cracchiolo Bobby and Suzanne Kahn ChairRebecca MindockAsher Kelly

English HornMargaret Cracchiolo

Meet the Musicans

2021 SEASON | 17

ClarinetRichard Jernigan, PrincipalNewell HutchinsonKim WhaleyMelissa Turner

Eb ClarinetNewell Hutchinson

Bass ClarinetKim Whaley

BassoonJeff Keesecker, Principal Paul W. Runge and Phyllis G. Runge ChairAbigail WalkerRichard HopkinsJoy HoffmanKristina Nelson

HornJacquelyn Adams, Principal Claudio Torres, Jr. M.D. ChairJodi Graham WoodStuart KinneyTony ChiaritoJames BakerJonathan Gannon

TrumpetDale Riegle, Principal Marea Jo Milner ChairJonathan Martin Ned and Jan Mayo ChairTom SavageMike Huff Timothy Tesh

TromboneBret Barrow, Principal Dona and Milton Usry ChairDon SnowdenJoshua Bledsoe

Bass TromboneWess Hillman

TubaMike Mason, Principal

TimpaniLaura Noah, Principal

PercussionJordan Wood, PrincipalAdam BlackstockMatt GreenwoodPete Krostag

HarpKatie Ott, PrincipalRebekah Atkinson

KeyboardTina Buran, PrincipalBlake Riley

HarpsichordHedi Salanki

Artistic StaffRobin Bonta, Production ManagerMolly Hollingsworth, Community EngagementDale Riegle, Personnel ManagerEmily Stubblefield, Librarian


Instrumental music performances and music study clubs began to appear in Pensacola during the late 1800s and early 1900s. By 1919, the Pensacola Music Study Club formed and in 1925, John and Louise Northup began hosting regular music gatherings with friends in their home on the southwest corner of Spring and Gregory Streets (today the Pensacola Victorian Bed & Breakfast). In 1926, representatives of the Civic Music Association of America came to Pensacola to sell memberships that gave exclusive access to performances of classical music through a series of concerts featuring national talent. In their initial campaign, they were able to sell 800 memberships for the traveling series at $5 each. The Pensacola Philharmonic Orchestra was first formed in 1926 by

The History of the PSO

Symphony Hall, Pictured In The 1950s

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German immigrant John W. Borjes as a reaction to the visiting concert series. Professor Borjes, who studied music at the storied conservatory Leipzig, recognized the need for Pensacola to have an institution of its own that could develop local talent and also provide access to symphonic music for the entire community. We know from Borjes’ comments that he formed the ensemble with a hope “to demonstrate to this city that it is not necessary to go out of town to get good music.” Having been music director of orchestras in New York’s Shubert Theatre and Memphis’ Orpheum Theatre no doubt gave Borjes the requisite experience and credibility this new venture would need. Members of this early ensemble included many members of the 20-piece Saenger Theatre Concert Orchestra, among others. Their debut performance, a free concert that took place at Pensacola High School, was well received as documented in the local newspaper.

From those early years, the Pensacola Philharmonic Orchestra transitioned through a few name changes. Under the baton of Dr. John Venetozzi in the 1950s, the organization emerged as the Greater Pensacola Symphony Orchestra, its legal name to this day. The Ladies Auxiliary of the Orchestra formed in 1956, and later the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra Guild formed in 1973. After a major renovation effort in 1982, the Saenger Theatre became the concert home of the Orchestra while under the direction of Dr. Grier Williams. Dr. Williams led the PSO until 1996. During that

time he was also the founder of the Music Department at the University of West Florida, music director of First Presbyterian Church, and also brought together a group of singers that later became the Pensacola Children’s Chorus. In 1997, the Pensacola Symphony welcomed Peter Rubardt as its new music director. Since that time, Dr. Rubardt has played a central role in increasing the organization’s impact through a wide range of classical, pops, and community engagement programs. In 2003, Rubardt assisted the orchestra in launching a capital campaign that grew PSO’s endowment, provided percussion equipment, added chamber orchestra concerts, boosted musician compensation, and expanded community engagement opportunities.

Now in its 95th season, the PSO continues to seek ways to fulfill its mission of promoting the well-being of the Greater Pensacola community through excellence in live symphonic music and lifelong learning through engaging musical activities. From the stage, PSO’s goal is to provide the Pensacola community with transformative musical experiences through performances with world-renowned artists. In addition to enlivened performances, PSO’s “Beyond the Stage” program brings musical experiences to the Pensacola community in virtual and in-person settings that include schools, retirement communities, health care facilities, and galleries.

SEASON CALENDARFebruary 20, 2021 Masterworks – Opening Night!

March 6, 2021 Add-On Concert – Russian Spectacular

March 20, 2021 Masterworks – Beethoven & Blue Jeans

April 24, 2021 Masterworks – Haydn, Symphony No. 94, “Surprise”

May 15, 2021Masterworks – Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 3, “Scottish”

June 26, 2021Masterworks – Dvořák, Symphony No. 8


2021 SEASON | 21

Cox is a proud supporterof the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra.

Good luck on this season.


VIRTUALLY TOGETHERAs the world began to shut down in response to the pandemic, and our musicians were unable to share their talent from the stage, they quickly adjusted and began sharing music from their homes. Through short videos posted online, they presented pieces that they enjoyed and were turning to during a challenging time. You can enjoy the full archive of these videos on our YouTube page.

MOZART MADNESSIn October, we gathered 31 musicians, masked and distanced, on the stage of the Saenger to perform for the first time since March 2020. Filmed without audience, this virtual concert featured Mozart’s “Posthorn” Serenade and Stephanie Riegle as the soloist on Mozart’s Flute Concerto.

VIRTUAL FIFTH GRADE CONCERTSFor more than 40 years, Escambia and Santa Rosa County fifth graders have

Since 1926, musicians in our community have been performing, teaching, and sharing music under the auspices of this orchestra. The legacy of this work creates a solid foundation on which we continue to build. During the past several years, your involvement and generosity have made it possible for the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra to move beyond the stage and join with key community partners in providing meaningful musical experiences during every stage of life. During the pandemic, it became critically important to find new ways to experience music, fostering encouragement, joy, and connections. We look forward to resuming on-site activities with our valued community partners as it is safe to do so, but we gratefully embrace these new opportunities to serve.

Beyond the StageStudents at Gulf Breeze Elementary dressed up for the Virtual Education Concert

Photo by Lindsey Friar

enjoyed a field trip to the Saenger Theatre to experience a symphony performance. When it became apparent that this beloved tradition might not be possible this year, your local teachers and administrators made it a priority for this generation of fifth graders to experience orchestral music in a new way. Through a compilation of archival and new footage, we put together a virtual education concert that was streamed in classrooms across both counties and enjoyed by students learning virtually. Through interviews with musicians along with a selection of music, local students were still able to enjoy their day “with” the symphony.

PSO IN THE PARKIn the fall, hundreds joined us for a series of free, outdoor performances at Museum Plaza in Downtown Pensacola. Featuring small ensembles of Pensacola Symphony Orchestra musicians, these concerts were a wonderful way to experience live music in a socially distanced setting.

SPECIAL THANKSThese special opportunities would not have been possible without the assistance of the following people and groups:

Escambia County School DistrictThe Musicians of the PSO Dale RiegleSaenger TheatreSanta Rosa County School DistrictThe Southern CreativeUniversity of West Florida Historic TrustWUWF Public Media, 88.1 FM

Community

Artel Gallery

Azalea Trace

Health Care

Covenant Care

Nemours Children’s Specialty Care

The Studer Family Children’s Hospital at Ascension Sacred Heart

Schools

Escambia County School District

Santa Rosa County School District

University of West Florida Strings

PARTNERSHIPS

2021 SEASON | 23

Photo by Bill Mertins


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Board of Directors

Charles Beall President

Jack ZoeschVice President

Kevin Nelson Treasurer

Diane Appleyard Secretary

Ex officioPeter RubardtMusic Director

Bret BarrowExecutive Director

Trisha WoodburnGuild President

Sonya DavisAdvisory Council Co-Chair

The board of directors plays an active role in strategic thinking, financial and legal oversight, and relationship building for the organization. Their vast experience and passion for serving our community through music are essential in addressing the PSO’s challenges and opportunities. Members serve a three-year, renewable term and meet regularly to discuss the direction of the PSO, ensuring that our resources are most effectively allocated toward the fulfillment of our mission.

Tom BaileyBarbara O. BruckmannDr. F. Terry BryanVenesulia Carr Margaret CouchNan DeStafneyKC GartmanA. Newell HutchinsonTad IhnsRon JacksonCheryl KnowlesTeri Levin

Jock MobleyPeter MougeyWillis MulletEd ParkMarte PickerTrey PoirierStephanie RiegleBetty RobertsJeff RogersTodd H. SnyderRobert W. Turner

From Left: Kevin Nelson, Charles Beall, Jack Zoesch, and Diane Appleyard

2021 SEASON | 27

1953–54 Mr. Gene Trader

1954–58 Mr. George Narber

1958–60 Mr. Theo Baars, Jr.

1960–61 Mr. James Lay

1961–62 Mr. J. McCarthy Miller

1962 Mr. Paul Emerson (May–Dec)

1962–63 Mr. Howard Rein (Dec)

1963–64 Mr. W. W. Miller, Jr.

1964–66 Mr. Harry E. Newkirk

1966–67 Mrs. Marjorie Brown

1967–68 Dr. W. W. Miller, Jr.

1968–69 Mrs. Philomena Marshall

1969–70 Mrs. Marjorie Brown

1970–71 Mr. Earl Newton

1971–72 Mrs. Erica Wooley

1972–73 Mr. Ed Lake

1973–74 Dr. Allen Litvak

1974–75 Dr. John Brayton

1975–76 Dr. Frank Dobinson

1976–77 Dr. Ken Lea

1977–78 Dr. James Potter

1978–79 Dr. Newton Allebach

1979–80 RADM Dean Axene, USN (Ret)

1980–81 Dr. James Potter

1981–82 Dr. Philip Payne

1982–83 Mr. Sam Smith

1983–84 Mr. Arden Anderson

1984–85 CAPT J.H.O’Donnell, Jr.,

JAGC, USN (Ret)

1985–86 Mr. Robert Emmanuel

1986–87 Mrs. Gail Torres

1987–88 CAPT Edward Boywid,

JAGC, USN (Ret)

1988–89 Mrs. Muriel Shugart

1989–90 Mr. Rand Spiwak

1990–91 Mrs. Suzanne Scoggins Riley

1991–92 RADM Richard A. Paddock,

USN (Ret)

1992–93 Dr. Philip Payne

1993–95 Mrs. Dona Usry

1995–96 Mrs. Joyce Porras

1996–97 Mrs. Anne Hart

1997–98 Mr. Nelson Johnson

1998–99 Mr. Robert A. Moore, Jr.

1999–00 Mr. David Sjoberg

2000–01 RADM William Gureck,

USN (Ret)

2001–02 Mrs. Gay M. Burrows

2002–03 Mrs. Suzanne Kahn

2003–04 Mr. Ken Cole

2004–05 Dr. Elizabeth L. Smith

2005–06 Mr. Robert de Varona

2006–08 Mr. Thomas Bailey

2008–10 Mr. William Dollarhide

2010–12 Mr. Tad Ihns

2012–14 Mr. Roger Webb

2014–16 Mr. Mark Lee

2016–17 Mrs. Bentina Terry

2017–19 Ms. Jessica Lee

Past Board Presidents


Nora BaileyCo-Chair

Sonya DavisCo-Chair

Lucy Belk

William Belk

Carol Cooper

Dawn Cooper

Bradley “Beej” Davis, Jr.

Bet Ellis

Lee Ellis

Jim George

Judi George

Leslie Ginn

Warren Ginn

Betsy Greer

Suellen Hudson

Maryette Huntinghouse

Janet Kahn

Suzanne Kahn

Cathy Kress

Patsy Langhorne

Ann Litvak

Don Mason

Mary Mason

Kathy Miller

Katrina Mougey

Anne Patterson

Suzanne Riley

Larry Schuffman

Marcia Schuffman

Bob Stumpf

Susie Stumpf

Jonathan Thompson

Dona Usry

Bradley Vinson

Joe Vinson

Trisha Woodburn

Advisory CouncilFormed in 2017, this group of creative thought partners meets quarterly to provide input about our artistic imperatives, audience development, and community engagement. With open discussions and opportunities to engage with our musicians, partners, and staff, Advisory Council meetings provide an important space to evaluate the effectiveness of current programs and influence the future direction of the orchestra.

If you are interested in learning about how you can become more involved with the Pensacola Symphony, contact Jessica Hyche, Advancement and External Relations, at [email protected] or 850.435.2533 ext. 102.

2021 SEASON | 29


Pensacola Symphony Orchestra Guild

Trisha WoodburnPresident

Lyndi KesslerFirst Vice President

Sooz CobbSecond Vice President

Ann MitchellSecretary

Janet PuskarTreasurer

Dona UsryParliamentarian

The Pensacola Symphony Orchestra Guild is a group of dynamic individuals who are passionate about the Orchestra and its mission. With activities that include the annual Magnolias and White Linen benefit event and monthly luncheons, the Guild has been one of the biggest supporters of the Pensacola Symphony for the last 45 years. Operating as a separate non-profit organization from the PSO, the Guild’s mission is to educate and enrich the community by supporting the Orchestra through volunteer and fundraising efforts such as musician hospitality and music in education support.

2021 SEASON | 31

Speaker SponsorTeri Levin

Event SponsorJ. Howell Tiller, M.D., Pensacola Cosmetic Surgery

BenefactorRobert W. and Gloria B. Turner

Grand Honorary SponsorsBaptist Health CareHelen Long IhnsThe Robert H. Kahn Jr.

Family FoundationMonette Kelly PayneDrs. Jim and Nell Potter

Gold SponsorsCAPT Linda (and CDR Philip, dec) Balink-White USN (ret)Constance Crosby Interiors, Inc.Becky and Terry Cusick and

Jo and Bill JonesEd and Judy GalbavyPatsy Langhorne and Anne LitvakLazy Daisy Garden ClubNan Harper, Island RealtyPast Presidents of the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra GuildPensacola Museum of Art

Silver SponsorsFrontier Motors, Inc.Jodee HartRosilan LeahyLesley LucasPete Moore Automotive TeamCarolyn Pfeiffer

Sylvia Ronayne/August Pereira, Jr. Valerie and Ray RussenbergerCheryl P. SaiterTruist Financial Corp.

Event ChairSue-Sue Sherrill

Event Co-ChairsSuzanne Pfeffle, Gloria Turner

Chair Emeritus of Magnolias and White LinenConstance Crosby

Event CommitteeBonnie Bedics, Richard Bedics, Sooz Cobb, Sue Flanders, Jo Jones, Jane Merrill, Rita Meyer, Marte Picker, Linda Pallin, Janet Puskar, Helen Robson, Melinda Saunders, Lynne Tobin, Robert Turner, Dona Usry, Ellen Vinson, Trisha Woodburn, Robin Zimmern

Additional SupportBodacious BookstoreBuick GMC Cadillac PensacolaClassic City CateringCulinary ProductionsGreat Southern RestaurantsBenjamin HauptPatsy LanghorneHannah MascaroPensacola Little TheatreSkopelos at New World LandingTodd SnyderV Pauls

As the Guild’s largest fundraising event, the annual Magnolias and White Linen Luncheon features entertaining speakers at Skopelos at New World Landing. Last year’s event featured Hutton Wilkinson, visionary designer, author, and president of Tony Duquette, Inc. We appreciate the sponsors, listed below, who helped make this event successful.

2020 Magnolias and White Linen Sponsors


$20,000+ Drs. Jim and Nell Potter And one who wishes to remain anonymous

$10,000+ Diane AppleyardMr. and Mrs. Robert Byrnes Tad and Lisa Ihns Jessica Lee Mr. Jock Mobley Mrs. Garlan Sisco Robert W. and Gloria B. Turner

And one who wishes to remain anonymous

$5,000+ Tom and Nora Bailey Charles Beall Lewis and Belle Bear Carol and Dawn Cooper Sandra S. Holman The Robert H. Kahn, Jr. Family Foundation Teri Levin

$2,500+ Dr. and Mrs. Gordon T. Couch Scott and Maryette Huntinghouse A. Newell Hutchinson and H. Dean Brown Charles and Janet Kahn Dr. and Mrs. W.H. Langhorne, II Mark E. Lee and Gary Michaels Mark and Lesley Lucas Marte Picker

William and Cherrie Rankin David Richbourg and Norman Ricks Edwin W. and Teresa H. Rogers Dr. and Mrs. Daniel Ross

$1,000+ CAPT Linda J. Balink-White, USN (Ret) Dr. and Mrs. William W. Belk Dr. F. Terry Bryan Barbara O. Bruckmann Venesulia Carr Franklyn Cutrone Bradley “Beej” Davis, Jr. Jim and Nan DeStafney Joseph Gilchrist Jim and Judi George Dr. Jerome E. Gurst Nan Harper Dr. Rick Harper and Dr. Ruth Orth Chris Petro Horak Hal and Suellen Hudson Ron and Margaret Jackson Renata Jankauskas Carl and Ann Jeffcoat The Sid and Jeannie Kamerman Arts Fund Richard and Shirley Knight Catherine Kress Dr. Carol Law LtCol Walter R. Limbach and RADM Joan M. Engel Mrs. Ann Litvak Dr. and Mrs. Don Mason Michael and Annie Mazenko William A. “Tony” McDonald, M.D. Marcia D. Moritz Peter and Katrina Mougey Kevin and Amy Nelson Christa O’Harrow Gene Nell Olsen

Annual Fund DonorsWe are deeply grateful to the following individuals who support our concert season and services to the community through their generous contributions to the Annual Fund. The following is a list of donors through December 15, 2020.

2021 SEASON | 33

Mr. and Mrs. P. Michael Patterson Diane Peterson Trey and Claire Poirier Dr. WIlliam Ribelin Charles and Suzanne Riley Ms. Betty Roberts Maestro Rubardt and Dr. Hedi Salanki Ben and Anne Riddles Dr. and Mrs. Larry Sauls Larry and Marcia Schuffman Dan and Beth Shugart Dr. Edward Siegel Justine Simoni Joel and Wendy Smith Todd H. Snyder Nancy and William Stafford William and Karin Streetman Mr. and Mrs. Clark Thompson Paul and Lynne Tobin Sally and Henry Trimble The Honorable and Mrs. C. Roger Vinson Dr. William and Beverly Zimmern Jack and Amy Zoesch

And six who wish to remain anonymous

$500+ Jeff and Lydia Abram LT John and Britany AustinTyler Barrett Frank and Sylvia Beall Richard L. and Judy Cannon Melvyn and Ruth Carson Mr. Anthony Chiarito Dr. and Mrs. Alfred G. Cuzan Jim and Sonya Davis Mrs. Patricia R. Dyehouse Darlene Duffie Bet Ellis Nancy Fetterman and McGuire MartinFerdinand and Elsbeth de la Fontaine KC and Mike Gartman Leslie and Warren Ginn

Mr. Daniel GraceDonald and Betsy Greer Lt Col Dave and Lyndi Kessler Thad L. Kopec Rosilan Leahy Michael LewisJohn and Romana Lopez Michael and Kathryn McGurk Don and Rita Meyer Ron and Jan (Cavanaugh) MillerDonald and Marny Needle Alva and Linford Niemeyer CAPT and Mrs. J. H. O’Donnell, Jr., JAGC, USN (Ret) LCDR and Mrs. Paul Orr Denny and Betty Gail PetersMartha and Tom Richard Jimbo and Boo Rogers Gene Rosenbaum Tony and Rosalie RouchonStephen Simpson and Tina Tortomase CAPT and Mrs. Robert E. Stumpf, USN (Ret) Jonathan E. Thompson Gordon and Rose Marie Tyrrell Joe and Bradley Vinson Ken and Karen Wilder Dr. and Mrs. Frank E. Witter Trisha Woodburn Ken and Elizabeth Woolf Mr. Peter Young

And two who wish to remain anonymous $250+ Mr. Paul Blakeburn Elmer Brestan Mr. and Mrs. George H. Brinkman Linda Buehler Randle and Suzanne Carpenter Charlotte Cheney and Thomas E. Roberts, Jr. Dr. Jeffrey Comitalo James Cox


Norma S. Crooke and Bernard E. Crooke Bill and Margaret Dollarhide Rob and Christina Doss Carl and Linda Ennis Howard and Betty Gage David and Dottie Galloway Ellen Givens Richard and Diane Hahner Claire Hammett Ron and Emily Hedgecock Mr. Leon B. Hirsh Frederick Hoeschler Dr. and Mrs. Finley C. Holmes Lynn Howe Thomas W. HuttonCheryl Jackson Jon Johnston Bill and Jo Jones Cheryl S. Jones, M.D.Laura Ericson and Stephanie Karous Sharon Kelly Mr. and Mrs. Mark King Stanley Knauff Jacqueline Lane Peter and Mary Lee Sue and Joel Levin Michael Lewis Janet Lloyd Mrs. Donald C. Long Ella Manziek Rex McKinney Donald McPheron Dr. and Mrs. James S. Miller James Mosko Dr. Nan H. Mullins Mr. Donald H. Partington Mr. and Mrs. P. Lloyd Paul, III Monette Kelly Payne Mr. and Mrs. Bruce M. Phillips Dr. J. Michael Plunkett Allen and Susan Pote Megan and Jerry Pratt Pat and Donna Quinn

Dr. Wilson Radding and Dr. Terrie C. Reeves Dr. and Mrs. Scott Rickoff Mrs. Dorothy RobideauxMr. and Mrs. Alan Robinson Edward G. Rodgers Robert Ruth Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Schuster Margaret A. Shimmin Daniel and Dottie Sluka Cathy and Mike Stephenson Gene Strickland Dr. and Mrs. Charles Terrell John and Marilyn ThorpeBob Tyler Jill Warren Dan and Connie Wendleton Mr. and Mrs. Sy White And two who wish to remain anonymous

$100+ K W Adkisson Mrs. J.W. Andress Brad Austerman Chalita BaehrMr. and Mrs. Steven J. Baker Linda Barrow Gayle Baugh Thomas and Kathleen Beckman Mr. George Belin Johnny H. Bell and Sue Tate Bell Patricia Bennett CAPT George Bingham Mary Anne Boutin Richard and Betty Braddock James Brady William and Sheryl Bragwell Wayne Brouillette Amanda Brown Carol Brown Barbara Borik

Annual Fund DonorsContinued

2021 SEASON | 35

Karen Burke Anna W. Campbell Karl Castro and Jeff Benoit Ms. Rose F. Castro Dr. and Mrs. Carmen Ciardello John and Pat Chason Mr. and Mrs. William H. Clark Harry and Gayle Cramer Mr. and Mrs. William W. Danner Martha Deen Beverly DeJarnette Bertrun Delli Dr. and Mrs. Richard Doelker Lewis and Joann Doman Mrs. Patricia Drlicka William Earnhart Donna Edwards Mr. and Mrs. William Elebash Roger and Marilyn Emblen Marcia Dean Enquist and Eric Enquist David and Jody Falvey Pete and Maryann Federovich Mr. Paul Fernandez and Ms. Hunter May Scott and Elly Fisher Dr. and Mrs. Douglas Friedrich Kimberly Forret Preston and Kaitlin Forshee Dean-o and Susan Fournier Dr. and Mrs. Matthew B. Ganz Shanna Garbarino Karen Goldschmidt Howard and Angie Goodpaster Dr. and Mrs. Richard Grayson Helen and Mark Gup Roy and Cheryl Hall Jean Hamilton Ms. Josephine Hart Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Hart, Jr. Mary Herron Dr. Rovena L. Hillsman Carolyn Hinton Dr. and Mrs. Andrew Hinton F. Brooks Hodnette, Jr. M.D. David Hoffman

Lola and Wylie B. Hogeman Virginia Holland Sarah Holt Mr. and Mrs. R. B. Hooper CAPT and Mrs. F. P. Hopkins Suzanne K. Horton Ann and Kermit Housh Neil Howard D. Pat Howe Bob Hutchison Joe and Barbara Jackson Ruth N. Jackson Rozanne James David R. Johnstone Richard Joiner Hilda and Ray Jones Dorothy KassisStephanie Knight Vivian Krumel Charles Krupnick Sarah Kuhl Sara B. Langston Ms. Paula Ellen Launtz Jayme Leclaire Chuck Guinn Lewis Mary Lewis John and Gail LeRoy Russell Lipoff David LorenzoDanny Lyons Margaret McGranahan James and Leah McCreary Mike and Jeannie McGrath Dr. and Mrs. Huey McDaniel Robert McDonald Randy Jo McKenzie Olevia McNally Nancy McNelis Neil E. McWilliams, Jr. Daniel P. MentelJohn and Linda Merting Jeanne Meyer and Bill Clancy Bob and Mary Kay Miller John Miller Nancy and Guy Miller


Ann and Pat Mitchell Mr. Phillip Mortimer and Ms. Leila Hobbs Charles J. Moshell Shauna Muhl Rosemarie Mullen Tyler and Caitlen Murrell Tim Neller Crissy Nettles Stephen B. Newsome, D.M.D. Renee and Lawrence Nichols Bill and Elaine Norman Clayton Oelkuct Chris and Maureen Orrantia Dr. and Mrs. Brett L. Parra Dian Parsley Alice S. Patterson Gene and Chung-Chin Pennello Robert Penrose Alfred and Holly Picardi Mary Powell Vernalda Powell Mr and Mrs. Amos Lee Prevatt Drs. Henry Pruett and Donna Jacobi-Pruett Timothy Purcell Karin Ransdell Sarah Randolph Mr. and Mrs. John W. Renfroe, Jr. DeWayne Robideaux Bob and Faye Robinson Donald Robinson Joe and Faye Rosenbaum Ellen Roston Dr. and Mrs. Robert Rubey Cindy Gup Rudolph and Joe Rudolph Valerie and Ray RussenbergerTodd Sanders John Sarachene Scott Schneidewind and Mary Bourdier Pam Schwartz James Sexton Dr. Patrick Shannon Harold Shelby Pauli M. Skomp

William Sloan Ralph Smith Marilyn Sonderman Carl and Pam Speer Mary A. Long Startz George and Pat StephensonStephen and Barbara Tanner Mrs. Glenna Taylor Dr. Leonard A. TemmeGeorge Thau Daniel Thomas Dr. and Mrs. Daniel J. Thomas Sue and Charles Thomas Dr. and Mrs. Donald Todd Dr. Louise Tolbert Phyllis Townley Mailande V. Turner Dona and Milton Usry Dr. and Mrs. F. Norman Vickers Ms. Tatyana Vlasova Gisela R. Vogentanz Tom and Deb Wachs Sarah Wagner Gregory Watson Joseph and Dona Wcislo The Webber Family Virginia C. Wells Doug and Paula Werber Patricia and Carl Wernicke Lester Westerman Tom and Patti Wheeler Helen WigersmaMike Williams Barbara Williamson Sue Wilson John Wimberly Barbara Wright Meredith Jones Wolf Robert Yates Cole and Erin Yuknis

And four who wish to remain anonymous

Annual Fund DonorsContinued

2021 SEASON | 37

$20,000+Pensacola Symphony Orchestra GuildWind Creek Hospitality

$10,000+Avalex TechnologiesCentennial ImportsKia AutoSport of Pensacola Regions Bank

$5,000+Appleyard Family FoundationThe Bear Family FoundationLevin, Papantonio, Rafferty, Proctor, Buchanan, O’Brien, Barr and Mougey PAMelba B. Meyer Charitable TrustMoore, Hill and Westmoreland PAThe Robert H. Kahn, Jr. Family Foundation

$2,500+Azalea TraceBaptist Health CareBeggs and Lane RLLP Cox CommunicationsHancock WhitneySaltmarsh, Cleaveland and Gund

$1,000+Drug Free WorkplacesJewelers Trade Shop

$999 and BelowFisher Cabinet Company LLCFrank Brown International Foundation for MusicNAI Pensacola Commerical Real EstateRotary Club of Pensacola Foundation

Corporate & Foundation Support

Arts Agencies & Government SupportThe Pensacola Symphony Orchestra is funded in part by:

The State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture

Arts, Culture, and Entertainment Inc.

National Endowment for the Arts


Artel Gallery

Ballinger Publishing

Blues Angel Music

Cat Country 98.7 and NewsRadio 92.3 FM and 1620 AM and ESPN Pensacola 99.1 FM and 1330 AM

CPC Office Technologies

Cox Communications

Cox Media

Culinary Productions | Mike DeSorbo

Engaged Audiences

Evergreen Marketing Solutions

Fioré of Pensacola

Fusion Fine Wine and Spirits

Great Southern Restaurants

Hilton Garden Inn – Pensacola Airport/

Medical Center

Independent News

Jeff Jordan Audio Services

Pensacola News Journal

Marte Picker

Saltmarsh, Cleaveland and Gund

Schmidt’s Music

Solé Inn and Suites

The Southern Creative

The University of West Florida

University of West Florida Historic Trust

Roger and Ellen Vinson

WEAR ABC 3

WKRG News 5

WUWF Public Media, 88.1 FM

In-Kind Donors

2021 SEASON | 39

Stability FundAs the potential scope of COVID-19’s financial impact became apparent, PSO’s board of directors moved to establish a Stability Fund to steady the operations of the Pensacola Symphony and the programs of Beyond the Stage during an uncertain time. With a goal of raising $200,000 this season, the fund ensures that we will continue to create and share music in new ways while simultaneously allowing for the necessary planning to emerge from this period on strong footing.

We are grateful to the following donors who have contributed to the Stability Fund as of January 25, 2021:

Appleyard Family Foundation

Tom and Nora Bailey

Charles Beall

Dr. F. Terry Bryan

Venesulia Carr

Cox Communications

Carl and Linda Ennis

Bill and Connie Greenhut

Charles and Janet Kahn

Kia AutoSport of Pensacola

Thad L. Kopec

Catherine Kress

Mark E. Lee and Gary Michaels

John and Romana Lopez

Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Mazenko

Ron and Jan (Cavanaugh) Miller

Diane Peterson

Marte Picker

David Richbourg

Maestro Rubardt and Dr. Hedi Salanki

The Sansing Foundation

Mrs. Garlan Sisco

The Studer Foundation

VADM and Mrs. Jerry Unruh in honor of Pensacola Children’s Chorus and Mr. and Mrs. Alex Gartner

And three who wish to remain anonymous

For more information about the Stability Fund and how you can contribute, contact Jessica Hyche, Advancement and External Relations, at [email protected] or 850.435.2533 ext. 102.


Transformative ExperiencesGifts to the Annual Fund are an invaluable part of the continuation of the organization’s mission, but there are certain gifts that elevate the experience that the orchestra can bring to our community. With a visionary spirit, donors can support the appearance of world-class guest artists on the Saenger stage and special events that expand the reach of the orchestra.

We would like to recognize and thank the following donors who have invested in transformational artistic experiences as of November 30, 2020:

Ovation: A Fund for Historic ArtistsTom and Nora BaileyCarol and Dawn CooperDr. Jean-Ellen Giblin and Mr. Jerome GordonThe Robert H. Kahn, Jr. Family FoundationMarte Picker

And one who wishes to remain anonymous

Robert and Gloria Turner Fund for Special MusicRobert W. and Gloria B. Turner

For information about how you can become involved, contact Jessica Hyche, Advancement and External Relations, at [email protected] or 850.435.2533 ext. 102.

2021 SEASON | 41

In memory of Admiral Mom andAdmiral Dad

Dan and Beth Shugart

In memory of Commander Philip A.Balink-White, MBE, Royal Navy

CAPT Linda J. Balink-White, USN (Ret)

In memory of David Barrow Linda Barrow

In memory of Joann Bingham CAPT George Bingham

In memory of Dr. Bill Calvert Mrs. Patricia Drlicka

In memory of Carolyn Carson Gene and Chung-Chin Pennello

In memory of William JacksonCorbett Ben and Anne Riddles

In memory of Franklyn Cutrone Tom and Nora Bailey

Rosilan Leahy Alfred and Holly Picardi

In memory of Patsy (Patty) Ann DyerDavidson


In memory of Daniel Eric Doelker Dr. and Mrs. Richard Doelker

Honorariums & Memorials

In honor of Diane Appleyard Carol Thomas

In honor of Beyond the Stage Hal and Suellen Hudson

In honor of Bret Barrow Maestro Peter Rubardt and Dr. Hedi Salanki

In honor of George Dmytrenko and Blair Clark Dr. Rick Harper and Dr. Ruth Orth

In honor of Suzanne Kahn’s Birthday Dr. and Mrs. Allen L. Litvak, Sr. Mrs. Donald Long Robert W. and Gloria B. Turner

In honor of Richard Jernigan Mr. and Mrs. P. Michael Patterson

In honor of Dr. Angela Ziebarth Gene Strickland

HONORARIUMS

MEMORIALS


In memory of William “Bill” DollarhideBarbara O. BruckmannLinda and Jamie Foshee Elizabeth and Denis Hudlett

The Robert H. Kahn, Jr. Family Foundation Mary S. Robinson Ken and Elizabeth Woolf

In memory of Dr. Albert Drlicka Mrs. Patricia Drlicka

In memory of Family Mike and Jeannie McGrath

In memory of Dr. Inge Holman Sandra S. Holman

In memory of Finley C. Holmes, Jr. Dr. and Mrs. James S. Miller

In memory of Martha Ann Hunter Pensacola Symphony Orchestra Guild

In memory of Ben and Rose Johns Jerry Johns

In memory of Albert L. Johnson Martha Deen

In memory of Colleen M. Jones Rosemarie Mullen

In memory of James Henry Lane Jacqueline Lane

In memory of Dr. Allen L. Litvak, Sr. Dick and Laverne Baker Mr. and Mrs. Ellis Bullock Mrs. Patricia Drlicka David and LeAyn Dunbar Mr. and Mrs. William Elebash Carol Fry and Gary Long David and Dottie Galloway Helen and Mark Gup Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Hart, Jr. Tim and Kelly Heindl Nancy Hirsch Dr. and Mrs. Finley Holmes and Family Hal and Suellen Hudson The Robert H. Kahn, Jr. Family Foundation Litvak, Beasley, Wilson and Ball LLP James and Leah McCreary John Merting Dr. and Mrs. James S. Miller Stephen B. Newsome, D.M.D. Dr. and Mrs. Brett L. Parra Dr. and Mrs. Amos Prevatt Susan Ragan Edwin R. and Teresa H. Rogers Cindy Gup Rudolph and Joe Rudolph Dr. and Mrs. Robert Rubey Scott Schneidewind and Mary Bourdier Arnold Seligman Donald and Mary Todd Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Turner Robert W. and Gloria B. Turner Thomas and Catherine Williams Woodfin Cabassa Orthodontics PA Ken and Elizabeth Woolf Dr. William and Beverly Zimmern

Honorariums & Memorials

2021 SEASON | 43

In memory of John and Anne Lett Anonymous

In memory of Joanne and DonnaMentel

Daniel P. Mentel

In memory of George Milner Michael and Kathryn McGurk

In memory of C. Dian Moore Dr. and Mrs. Matthew B. Ganz Helen Long Ihns The Robert H. Kahn, Jr. Family Foundation Mr. and Mrs. P. Lloyd Paul, III Pensacola Symphony Orchestra Guild The Tiller Family

In memory of Chuck and C. Dian Moore

Dona and Milton Usry In memory of RADM and Mrs. RichardA. Paddock

CAPT and Mrs. Robert E. Stumpf, USN (Ret)

In memory of Dr. and Mrs. Nat Rickoff Dr. and Mrs. Scott Rickoff

In memory of Norman RicksRobert W. and Gloria B. Turner

In memory of Clarita “Keets” Rivers Mr. and Mrs. Clark Thompson

In memory of Herman Rolfs, M.D. Richard and Shirley Knight

In memory of Ida Siegel Dr. Edward Siegel

In memory of A.B. Sisco Mrs. Garlan Sisco

In memory of Douglas Vick Richard and Shirley Knight

In memory of William Vinci Frances Vinci

In memory of Patrick and Ellen JaneWatson

The Honorable and Mrs. C. Roger Vinson

In memory of Johanna Winkler Christa O’Harrow


Diane Appleyard

Tom and Nora Bailey

James H. Baroco Foundation, Inc.

The Bear Family Foundation Bobby and Suzanne Kahn Oboe Chair

Lewis and Belle Bear

Johnny H. Bell and Sue Tate Bell

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Byrnes

Gay and Bruce Burrows Gay and Bruce Burrows Flute Chair

Mr. and Mrs. John S. Carr

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth E. Cole Ensembles in the Schools Fund

Dr. and Mrs. Gordon T. Couch

Norma S. Crooke and Bernard E. Crooke

M. Blair Clark and George Dmytrenko

Bill and Margaret Dollarhide

Anna and Seymour Gitenstein

Jean-Ellen Giblin and Jerome Gordon

Bill and Connie Greenhut

L. Keith and Linda E. Gregory

RADM, USN (Ret) and Mrs. William Gureck

Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Hart, Jr. In memory of R. Daniel Hart

R.K. “Skip” and Martha Ann Hunter

Helen Long Ihns

Tad and Lisa Ihns

The Robert H. Kahn, Jr. Family Foundation Hilda B. Kahn and Doris Jean Kahn Ensembles in the Schools Fund

Dr. and Mrs. William Henry Langhorne Mary Elizabeth Patterson Flute Chair In Memory of Mary Elizabeth Patterson

Jessica Lee

Mark E. Lee and Gary Michaels

Teri Levin

Ann G. Litvak and Allen L. Litvak Litvak Family Cello Chair

Mark and Lesley Lucas

James J. Marks Foundation

Ned and Janet Mayo Ned and Janet Mayo Trumpet Chair

Mr. George A. Milner

Mr. Jock Mobley

Mr. and Mrs. Eric J. Nickelsen


Diane Peterson

Drs. Jim and Nell Potter Nell and James Potter Fund

Dr. and Mrs. Daniel Ross

Maestro Rubardt and Dr. Hedi Salanki

Paul and Phyllis Runge Paul W. Runge and Phyllis G. Runge Principal Bassoon Chair

Russenberger Foundation Russenberger Foundation Fund for Strings

Lifetime GivingThese individual donors have generously contributed $25,000 or more to the Symphony during their lifetimes. We are grateful for their enduring support through the years.

2021 SEASON | 45

We have recently changed the formatting of this recognition. If you have inadvertently been omitted, please accept our sincere apologies and contact us at [email protected] or 850.435.2533 so that you may be listed in future publications.

Legacy Society

BGen Joseph P. Adams, USMC

Margaret S. Allred

Tom and Nora Bailey

Gay and Bruce Burrows

Ken and Marsha Cole

Carol and Dawn Cooper

Norma S. and Bernard E. Crooke

Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Hart, Jr.

Robert H. Kahn, Jr.

Dr. and Mrs. William Henry Langhorne

Ann G. Litvak and Allen L. Litvak

Marea Jo Milner

Marveen C. Pakalik

Harriett Rosasco

Paul and Phyllis Runge

Robert W. Turner and Gloria B. Turner

Milton and Dona Usry

And one who wished to remain anonymous

Planned Gifts to Pensacola Symphony Orchestra Legacy Society

William and Mary Smart William and Mary Smart Fund

Craig and Carolyn Smith

Bentina and Antonio Terry

Paul and Lynne Tobin

Robert W. Turner and Gloria B. Turner Robert and Gloria Turner Fund for Special Music

Dona and Milton Usry Dona and Milton Usry Trombone Chair

Ken and Elizabeth Woolf

Marion Viccars Marion Viccars Viola Chair

Helen N. Williams Helen N. Williams Cello Chair

And four who wish to remain anonymous


Additional Ways to GiveLooking for an opportunity to help further the mission of the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra? There are numerous ways to give that advance the goals of the orchestra while providing meaningful benefits for you and your family.

IRA Charitable Rollovers (Qualified Charitable Distributions or QCDs)

IRA charitable giving is a way you can transfer funds from your IRA directly to the orchestra while realizing some important tax benefits. If you were 70½ or older before December 31, 2019 or turned 72 or older after December 31, 2019 and own an IRA, you can reduce your taxable income and may lower your taxable Social Security (from your IRA withdrawals).

Additional Benefits of an IRA Charitable Rollover

• Avoid taxes on transfers of up to $100,000 annually

• Satisfy your required minimum distribution (RMD) for the year

• Help avoid thresholds for net investment income tax or phaseout range for itemized deductions

*401(k), 403(b), SEP IRA accounts, and other retirement accounts do not qualify.

*Organizations not currently eligible are certain private foundations and donor advised funds

Legacy Gifts

Most of us would like to leave a lasting legacy – to feel we have made a contribution that will benefit future generations. Those who are most devoted to Pensacola and live symphonic music can help guarantee the future of both – through bequests, trusts, and other planned gifts.

By naming the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra as a beneficiary in your will or by making other planned gifts, you ensure the Symphony’s long-term vitality while possibly realizing significant tax advantages for yourself and your loved ones.

The Symphony always recommends that you consult your tax professional for the most up-to-date and personalized information about giving benefits.

2021 SEASON | 47

e BAPT I STHEALTHCARE .ORG

T R A N S F O R M I N GB A P T I S T f o r t h e F U T U R EF U T U R ET R A N S F O R M I N G

B A P T I S T H E A LT H C A R E T R A N S F O R M I N G F O R T H E F U T U R E .Guided by our Mission of helping people throughout life’s journey, we are transforming to better care for our community. From our new urgent care/emergency department now open in Navarre to our new main hospital at the southwest corner of the intersection of Brent Lane and I-110 in Pensacola, we continuously explore innovative ways to best serve the people of Northwest Florida and South Alabama now and for many generations to come.

Baptist Hospital / Gulf Breeze Hospital / Jay Hospital / Andrews Institute / Lakeview CenterBaptist Medical Park – Airport / Baptist Medical Park – Nine Mile / Baptist Medical Park – Navarre

Baptist Medical Park – Pace / Baptist Medical Group / Baptist Heart & Vascular Institute

What do all of these outstanding PSO musicians have in common?

They are also the faces of public school music!

Wess Hillman Bass Trombone

Tony Chiarito Horn

Maeanna Naffe Violin

Tom Savage Trumpet

Kim Whaley Clarinet

Don Snowden Trombone

Richard Jernigan Clarinet

Peter Krostag Percussion

www.schmidtsmusic.com Downtown Pensacola

(850) 434-0317

Schmidt’s Music — Where It All Begins

We are proud to support the PSO, and all of our local

teachers who are sharing the joy of music

with the next generation.


B E G G S L A N E . C O M

C O R P O R A T E · L I T I G A T I O N · R E A L E S T A T E · E S T A T E P L A N N I N G

Proud supporters of the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra

Attorneys & Counsellors Since 1883

P E N S A C O L A · D E S T I N

2021 SEASON | 49

Wanna play?

wuwf.org

Get your favorite NPR programs as well as local news and music. Tell your smart speaker to “Play WUWF.”


Opening Night!

Peter Rubardt, ConductorJennifer Frautschi, Violin

Saturday, February 20, 2021

Masterworks Series Presented by Wind Creek Hospitality

Aaron Copland Appalachian Spring (Ballet for Martha): (1900 – 1990) Suite for 13 Instruments

Johannes Brahms Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77(1833 – 1897) I. Allegro non troppo II. Adagio III. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace

Featuring Jennifer Frautschi, Violin

The program will be performed without intermission.

Piano Provided By: Blues Angel Music

Media Sponsors: WEAR ABC 3, WKRG News 5, Cox Media, Cat Country 98.7 FM, NewsRadio 92.3 FM and 1620 AM, Pensacola Magazine, Pensacola News Journal, InWeekly, WUWF Public Media, 88.1 FM

Official Automobile Sponsor: Centennial Imports

Official Hotel Sponsor: Solé Inn and Suites

Guest Artist Accommodations Provided By: Hilton Garden Inn

2021 SEASON | 51

Two-time Grammy nominee and Avery Fisher career grant recipient Jennifer Frautschi has garnered worldwide acclaim as a musically adventurous violinist with a wide-ranging repertoire. As the Chicago Tribune noted, “violinist Jennifer Frautschi is molding a career with smart interpretations of both warhorses and rarities.” Equally at home in the classic and contemporary repertoire, her recent seasons have featured innumerable performances and recordings of works ranging from Brahms and Schumann to Berg and Schoenberg. She has also had the privilege of premiering several new works composed for her by prominent composers of today.

Frautschi has appeared as soloist with Pierre Boulez and Los Angeles Philharmonic, Christoph Eschenbach and Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival, and at Wigmore Hall and Lincoln Center’s

Mostly Mozart Festival. Highlights of recent seasons include performances with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Boston and Buffalo Philharmonics, and Orchestra of the Teatro di San Carlo Opera House, and the Eugene, Jacksonville, Milwaukee, New Jersey, Tucson, and Utah Symphonies.

Selected by Carnegie Hall for its Distinctive Debuts series, she made her New York recital debut in Weill Hall; and as part of the European Concert Hall Organization’s Rising Stars series, debuted at ten of Europe’s most celebrated concert venues.

Frautschi performs regularly at Caramoor Center for the Arts, where she was first invited by André Previn as a “Rising Star” at the age of 18, during her freshman year at Harvard. As a chamber artist she has appeared at the Spoleto USA Chamber Music Festival, Bravo! Vail, Chamber Music Northwest, La Jolla Summerfest, and Music@Menlo. She has also performed at the Library of Congress, New York’s Metropolitan and Guggenheim Museums of Art, the 92nd Street Y, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and Mainly Mozart in San Diego.

Born in Pasadena, California, Frautschi began studying violin at age 3. She was a student of Robert Lipsett at the Colburn School for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles. She also attended Harvard, New England Conservatory of Music, and The Juilliard School, where she studied with Robert Mann. She currently teaches violin in the graduate program at Stony Brook University. She performs on a 1722 Antonio Stradivarius violin known as the “ex-Cadiz,” on generous loan to her from a private American foundation with support from Rare Violins in Consortium.

Jennifer Frautschi appears by arrangement with Arts Management Group Inc.

Jennifer FrautschiViolin

Phot

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Aaron CoplandAppalachian Spring (Ballet for Martha): Suite for 13 Instruments

Aaron Copland was born on November 14, 1900 in Brooklyn, New York and died on December 2, 1990 in North Tarrytown, New York. Appalachian Spring was written in 1943 – 44 on commission from the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation. It was first performed at the Library of Congress on October 30, 1944. The work is scored for flute, clarinet, bassoon, piano, and nine string instruments.

“If a gifted young man can write a symphony like this at age 23, within five years he will be ready to commit murder.”

It almost sounds like a quote about Beethoven or Mahler, perhaps Schoenberg or Stravinsky. This quote, too, is surprising: conductor Walter Damrosch uttered these words about the young Aaron Copland. Copland began his career as an unashamed modernist, influenced by such avant-garde heavy hitters as Prokofiev, Bartók, and Stravinsky. Jazz influences abound in his earlier works, like his Piano Concerto and Music for the Theater.

Over time, Copland began listening to other voices as well – American folk and popular music from both past and present and from South America as well as North. As Copland absorbed these new sounds into his musical vocabulary, the simplicity of American folk songs fused with the modernist techniques Copland had learned in Europe. The result was a spare but communicative style, both immediate and intellectual. It was

as though Copland had taken to heart Thoreau’s urgings to “Simplify, simplify!” In works like El Sálon México, Billy the Kid, Fanfare for the Common Man, Rodeo, and his opera The Tender Land, Copland spoke in a musical language both learned and vernacular at the same time. His musical dialect permeated his works for the concert hall as well as for the stage and screen; it could be said that Copland was the first composer to “speak American.”

In 1942, the pioneering dancer and choreographer Martha Graham commissioned Copland to write a ballet score, stipulating only that it be on an American theme. While composing the music, Copland gave it the working title Ballet for Martha, but had no specific scenario in mind. Graham suggested the title largely because of Copland’s use of the Shaker hymn Simple Gifts, which concludes the ballet. In later years, Copland admitted that he chuckled at the well-meaning listeners who told him how well the piece captured the pioneer spirit of Appalachia, even though he was thinking of nothing of the sort when he wrote it.

Originally written for just 13 instruments, Copland later extracted a suite from the ballet for concert use. He was later persuaded by the conductor Artur Rodzínski to arrange the suite for full symphony orchestra.

Appalachian Spring begins in sweet serenity, with the clarinet rising out of a silvery string background. This peaceful meditation is interrupted by vigorous, stomping arpeggios in the strings that then pass through the entire orchestra. The

Opening Night!

2021 SEASON | 53

suite is a seamless fusion of the evocative music of American hymns and dances with the musical language of Debussy, Ravel, and Stravinsky, with its exotic harmonies and asymmetrical rhythms.

Lyrical meditations and lively barn dances lead to the final section of the suite, with the hymn Simple Gifts as its cornerstone. Copland draws upon the simplicity of the Shaker tune to evoke both calm and activity. A serene solo clarinet first sings this hymn with sparse string accompaniment. A series of variations follows, presenting the hymn in different colors and speeds, concluding with a grand statement of the tune by the full ensemble. After this grandiose climax, the gentle hymn-like textures gradually fade away, leaving the clarinet to lead us into serenity and, finally, silence.

Johannes BrahmsViolin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77

Johannes Brahms was born May 7, 1833 in Hamburg, Germany and died April 3, 1897 in Vienna. He composed the Violin Concerto during the summer of 1878 in Pörtschach, Austria. The concerto’s first performance was given on January 1, 1879 with Joseph Joachim as the soloist and the composer conducting the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. The work is scored for solo violin, pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings.

It is easy to see the Romantic violin concerto as the perfect expression of the Romantic notion of the creative individual versus the immovable and

unfeeling conventions of society. Just as the voice of the individual roars defiantly to be heard above the crowd, so, too, does the violin soloist strain his or her instrument to its limits to project above the clamoring of a symphony orchestra.

From Mendelssohn’s iconic concerto through 20th-century works as disparate as those of Samuel Barber and Alban Berg, this struggle can take on epic proportions, casting the violin in the role of the lonely and perhaps misunderstood protagonist who asserts herself in passages of knuckle-busting virtuoso display, testing the mettle of both instrument and instrumentalist. One might even consider that in some concertos the soloist is opposed by Nature itself – it’s not difficult to hear the finale of the Sibelius violin concerto as an epic pursuit, the soloist being chased across a freezing tundra lit only by the Northern Lights, a pack of ravenous wolves snapping at his heels.

The violin concerto of Johannes Brahms is cut from a different cloth. While no violinist would deny that the concerto is ferociously difficult to play, not to mention exhausting (a typical performance lasts more than 40 minutes), any virtuoso display in the work derives its necessity from the musical argument. The orchestra is far more than mere accompaniment, it is an active partner in the musical discourse. It is a concerto of integration rather than of opposition, of unity rather than division, of voices intertwined for the purpose of creating timeless beauty.

This unity of purpose may stem from the two creative personalities involved in


the work’s inception, Johannes Brahms and his lifelong friend, the Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim. They first met in 1853, though Brahms later told his friend that he had heard him play the Beethoven concerto several years previously and had been enraptured by his performance. Joachim’s repertoire was grounded in the “Classics” – Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn – and he eschewed virtuosity for its own sake. In Brahms, he discovered a kindred spirit whose aesthetic mirrored his own.

While Brahms had a long association with the violin (he had been the pianist for several recitals and concert tours with the violinist Ede Reményi), he felt inadequate to the task of writing a major work for his friend Joachim. He even postponed writing the concerto for a decade or more, fearing to overshadow Joachim’s own compositions. Once he did start work, Brahms consulted Joachim frequently on matters of the instrument’s technique and sound. Brahms’ trust in Joachim was so great that he reverted to the 18th-century practice of allowing the performer to create his or her own cadenza, the unaccompanied passage for the solo instrument found at the end of each movement. Since Mendelssohn’s concerto, composers had written out the cadenzas for the performer, but Brahms felt Joachim would make a better job of it. Performers today usually learn and perform Joachim’s cadenzas, though others have taken up the challenge of creating their own.

Brahms started work on the concerto in the summer of 1878 at his favorite summer hideaway of Pörtschach in

Carinthia in southern Austria, where he had written the vibrant and sunny Second Symphony during the previous summer. Brahms found the setting stimulating to his creativity; he wrote to the Viennese critic Eduard Hanslick “There are so many melodies flying about (at Pörtschach) one must be careful not to step on them.”

Brahms wrote the bulk of the concerto at Pörtschach, cleaning up minor details and completing the orchestration that fall in Vienna. The premiere performance was given in Leipzig on New Year’s Day of 1879, with Joachim as the soloist and the composer conducting the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. The performance survived two wardrobe mishaps on the part of the composer – he had forgotten his formal dress pants and had to conduct in a pair of regular grey trousers, and evidently a pair of ill-fitting suspenders left him looking something less than sartorially splendid.

The first performance earned only grudging applause; it was thought that the work’s length and lack of flashy virtuosity did not endear it to either audiences or critics, though both soloist and concerto received greater acclaim at the Vienna premiere. Other violinists felt it lacked the virtuoso flair they felt they needed. The great Spanish violinist Pablo de Sarasate never played the work because, in his words, he wasn’t going to “stand on the platform, violin in hand, to listen to the oboe play the only tune in the whole work.” The conductor Hans von Bülow said that it was a concerto “for the violin against the orchestra.” Despite the initial resistance, this seemingly unlovable concerto has

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taken its place beside Beethoven’s Concerto as one of the great violin masterpieces.

The work is in the Classical three-movement concerto form, but the proportions of each movement are greatly expanded from the concertos of Bach or Mozart. The first movement is an epic construction, with a full orchestral introduction highlighting two of the principal themes of the movement. The opening theme begins in unison, quietly singing in violas and cellos, then builds in energy until it blazes forth in the full orchestra. While the soloist’s first entry storms in with fiery octaves, this conflict is brief and leads to the solo violin’s calm and lyrical statement of the opening theme. A waltz-like second theme plays a vital part in the first movement’s discussion, and the majority of the movement delights in the warm interplay between soloist and orchestra.

A serene solo oboe begins the Adagio, floating over the rest of the orchestra on a simple but enchanting melody. As the movement progresses, the violin solo weaves beautifully sculpted arabesques around the woodwinds, occasionally playing with romantic ardor, but with few other disturbances to the gentle lyricism of the movement.

Brahms’ finale (Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace) pays tribute to Joachim’s Hungarian ancestry, and, perhaps, with a little nostalgia for the Gypsy-like music Brahms used to play with Ede Reményi many years before. The soloist starts the dancing with a vigorous theme of capricious double stops. As in

the other movements, the soloist both leads and follows, sometimes singing the principal melodic material, at other times weaving tendrils of counterpoint around the orchestra. The high spirits of the opening prevail throughout, and after a brief cadenza the meter changes from 2/4 to 6/8. Soloist and orchestra joyfully scamper to the end, where a rallentando and diminuendo serve as Brahms’ final bit of humor before the three majestic chords that bring this epic concerto to a noble conclusion. — David Cole


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Russian Spectacular

Peter Rubardt, ConductorJeffrey Biegel, Piano

Saturday, March 6, 2021

Sergei Prokofiev Symphony No. 1 in D Major, Op. 25, “Classical”(1891 – 1953) I. Allegro II. Larghetto III. Gavotte: Non troppo allegro IV. Finale: Molto vivace

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 in B Minor, Op. 23(1840 – 1893) I. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso – Allegro con spirito II. Andantino semplice – Prestissimo III. Allegro con fuoco

Featuring Jeffrey Biegel, Piano


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Until the age of 3, Jeffrey Biegel could neither hear nor speak, until corrected by surgery. The “reverse Beethoven” phenomenon explains his life in music, having heard only vibrations in his formative years. Since 1999, Biegel has commissioned 10 composers to bring new music for piano and orchestra to the repertoire. On February 10, 2019, Kenneth Fuchs’s Piano Concerto: Spiritualist with the London Symphony Orchestra led by JoAnn Falletta garnered a Grammy win in the Best Classical Compendium category, featuring Biegel as its soloist. Considered the most prolific artist of his generation, Biegel was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for his achievements in performance, recordings, and chamber music, recognizing his work as a champion of new music, composer, arranger, and educator. Among his recent recordings and performances, Biegel performed the world premiere of Giovanni Allevi’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra with Orchestra Kentucky and in Milan’s Teatro dal Verme, recording with Orchestra Sinfonica Italiana. During 2018 he performed the world premiere of Christopher Theofanidis’s Concerto No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra with the Harrisburg

Symphony Orchestra, Stuart Malina conducting. In 2019 Grammy-winning composer Dick Tunney unveiled the new Peanuts Concerto for Piano and Orchestra based on music by Vince Guaraldi for its world premiere with Orchestra Kentucky and Biegel.

Equally championing pop music icons, Biegel has brought Jimmy Webb’s Nocturne for Piano and Orchestra to the public along with P.D.Q. Bach’s Concerto for Simply Grand Piano and Orchestra by Peter Schickele with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. The first solo digital recordings on Biegel’s Naturally Sharp label were released and upcoming plans include world-premiere performances of Daniel Perttu’s A Planets Odyssey, Jim Stephenson’s first piano concerto, and Farhad Poupel’s Legend of Bijan and Manijeh. In tribute to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Biegel has created a project for vocalist/narrator, piano, and small orchestral ensemble. The work will be composed by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and will feature the respected mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves. Biegel is currently organizing the Rhapsody in Red, White, & Blue project for a planned 50-state and, perhaps, global project post-pandemic. This will coincide with centennial celebrations for George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.

An avid composer, Biegel’s choral music is published by the Hal Leonard Corporation, Carl Fischer, Porfiri and Horvath, and LeDor Group. Leonard Bernstein said of pianist Jeffrey Biegel: “He played fantastic Liszt. He is a splendid musician and a brilliant performer.” These comments launched Biegel’s 1986 New York recital debut, as the third recipient of the Juilliard William Petschek Piano Debut Award in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. He studied at The Juilliard School with Adele Marcus, herself a pupil of Josef Lhevinne and Artur Schnabel, and is currently on faculty at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, a City University of New York (CUNY).

Jeffrey BiegelPiano

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Jerr

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Faro


Sergei ProkofievSymphony No. 1 in D Major, Op. 25, “Classical”

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was born in Sontsivka, Ukraine on April 27, 1891 and died in Moscow on March 5, 1953 on the same day as the death of Joseph Stalin. The Symphony No. 1 was written in 1917 and was given its first performance on April 21, 1918 in Petrograd with the composer conducting. The work is scored for pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns and trumpets, along with timpani, and strings.

Imagine buying concert tickets to hear the glam-rock influenced band KISS. The warm-up band has raised the excitement in the arena to a fever pitch, and you’re eagerly anticipating Paul, Gene, Peter, and Ace strutting onstage in their full regalia, jumping and cavorting through a full salvo of onstage ordnance. The lights dim, the spotlight swings to center stage, and… the band walks calmly onstage wearing no makeup, business suits, and conservative neckties.

This highly implausible scenario is designed to give you some idea of what it might have been like for the first audience of Sergei Prokofiev’s “Classical” Symphony, technically his Symphony No. 1. As someone whose music tended to cause riots among the audience (both his First and Second piano concertos) and was sometimes so avant-garde that even his own teachers walked out of performances (Alexander Glazunov, at the first performance of the Scythian Suite), Prokofiev had built a reputation for being the bad boy of Russian music at

the turn of the 20th century. He might be the last composer you would connect to any kind of classical order and balance.

Yet in the summer of 1917, with the rest of Russia in the throes of revolution, Prokofiev retreated to a dacha outside Petrograd to write a symphony of a very different character from his previous music. He had been studying with Nikolai Tcherepnin (1873 – 1945) at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and Tcherepnin immersed Prokofiev in the works of Haydn and Mozart, with an emphasis upon the musical structures found in the symphonic movements of those two Classical masters.

Prokofiev later wrote about the gestation of the “Classical” Symphony:

“The idea occurred to me to compose an entire symphonic work without the piano. Composed in this fashion, the orchestral colors would, of necessity, be clearer and cleaner. Thus the plan of a symphony in Haydnesque style originated, since, as a result of my studies in Tcherepnin’s classes, Haydn’s technique had somehow become especially clear to me, and with such intimate understanding it was much easier to plunge into the dangerous flood without a piano. It seemed to me that, were he alive today, Haydn, while retaining his style of composition, would have appropriated something from the modern. Such a symphony I now wanted to compose: a symphony in the classic manner.”

The first movement’s opening would barely surprise Haydn or Mozart at all – the opening arpeggio could easily be a modern take on the “Mannheim

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rocket” (a quick upward arpeggio) that opened many Classical symphonies. The movement follows Classical sonata form, but with jokes fully worthy of Papa Haydn: harmonic slights of hand, sudden shifts in volume, and a development section that seems just about ready to dissolve into complete chaos before the first theme returns to restore order.

The slow movement’s serene opening melody floats in the violins above a stately accompaniment. A contrasting middle section builds over quiet staccato in the strings and bassoon and then becomes the accompaniment to a return of the opening section before the movement evaporates in graceful elegance.

The ensuing Gavotte might seem a dignified predecessor to Prokofiev’s later “Montagues and Capulets” from Romeo and Juliet. The capricious opening section gives way to a gentle musette before a subdued version of the opening closes the movement.

The Finale bursts into life as an exuberant galop, challenging the entire orchestra to maintain the pace in the face of death-defying violin acrobatics and ferocious fast tonguing in the woodwinds. This movement, too, adheres to Classical forms, while the high spirits never flag, and the symphony charges into the final cadence with reckless abandon.

Peter Ilyich TchaikovskyPiano Concerto No. 1 in Bb Minor, Op. 23

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in Votkinsk in the Russian Empire on May 7, 1840 and died on November 6, 1893 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The Piano Concerto No. 1 in Bb minor was written in 1875, with further revisions in 1879 and 1888. The work was given its first performance in Boston on October 25, 1875 with Hans von Bülow as soloist and Benjamin Johnson Lang conducting the orchestra of the Harvard Musical Society. The concerto is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in Bb, two bassoons, four horns in F, two trumpets in F, three trombones, timpani, solo piano, and strings.

Tchaikovsky’s two best known and most beloved concertos both needed to walk a difficult path to finally arrive in the concert hall. His violin concerto was snubbed by its original dedicatee, Leopold Auer, and after its world premiere in Vienna in December 1881, the critic Eduard Hanslick condemned the work in the press the following day: “…the violin is no longer played; it is torn asunder, it is beaten black and blue.” Despite these initial birthing pains, the violin concerto became and remains one of the most beloved works in the violin repertoire.

Six years earlier, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 faced a similar uphill battle. Not a virtuoso pianist himself, Tchaikovsky was self-conscious about his ability to write idiomatically for the instrument. He pinned his hopes on persuading the brilliant Russian pianist Nicolai Rubinstein to take


on the challenge of the first performance. Rubinstein was a composer as well as a pianist, and he was the head of the Moscow Conservatory where Tchaikovsky served on the faculty. As one of the leading pianists of his time, if he would lend his advocacy to Tchaikovsky’s concerto, it would be assured of a place in the concert repertoire.

Upon putting the finishing touches on the work, Tchaikovsky made an appointment to play the concerto for Rubinstein on Christmas Eve of 1874. The older composer listened thoughtfully through the entire performance. At the end, when greeted with Rubinstein’s stony silence, Tchaikovsky asked for his opinion. Rubinstein launched into a vicious diatribe on the defects of the composition, not sparing Tchaikovsky’s feelings in the least. Tchaikovsky described it in a letter to a friend:

“There burst from Rubinstein’s mouth a mighty torrent of words. He spoke quietly at first, then he waxed hot, and finally he resembled Zeus hurling thunderbolts. It seems that my concerto was utterly worthless, absolutely unplayable. Certain passages were so commonplace and awkward they could not be improved, and the piece as a whole was bad, trivial, vulgar. I had stolen this from somebody and that from somebody else, so that only two or three pages were good for anything and all the rest should be wiped out or radically rewritten.”

Rubinstein told Tchaikovsky that if he would undertake radical and extensive alterations, and if the revisions met with Rubinstein’s approval, the great virtuoso would deign to bestow his

talents upon Tchaikovsky’s poor little concerto. Tchaikovsky absorbed Rubinstein’s criticism stoically, but the conservatory director’s harsh comments and condescending attitude must have hit a nerve – Tchaikovsky soon after wrote to a friend, “I will not alter a single note, and will publish it exactly as it is!” Just as Beethoven angrily tore the title page of his ”Eroica” Symphony when scratching out the dedication to Napoleon Bonaparte, Tchaikovsky rubbed out the dedication to Rubinstein and instead dedicated it to the German pianist and conductor Hans von Bülow (who just happened to be one of Rubinstein’s professional rivals).

Karma was on Tchaikovsky’s side. Von Bülow not only graciously accepted the dedication, but immediately included it on a concert tour of the United States. Instead of a world premiere in Moscow with Rubinstein at the piano, Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto made its debut in Boston, with von Bülow as soloist with the orchestra of the Harvard Musical Society, a pick-up group of professional musicians from the area. The young, American composer George Whitefield Chadwick was in the audience attending the premiere and found the work powerful and enchanting; American audiences agreed. Von Bülow reported the work’s success back to Tchaikovsky, who gushed in a letter to a friend, “Each time Bülow was obliged to repeat the whole finale of my concerto! Nothing like that happens in our country.”

Tchaikovsky’s concerto has been so beloved for so long that it is easy to overlook its unique musical features. The opening movement is announced

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in portentous horn fanfares, punctuated by sharp chords from the rest of the orchestra. The soloist enters with arpeggiated chords to accompany the orchestra in one of the lushest Romantic melodies in the concerto repertoire – in the “wrong” key (Db Major, not Bb Minor). The piano repeats the same melody, adorned with filigree decoration, over a quiet pizzicato accompaniment. After a brief piano cadenza, this ravishingly beautiful tune returns one more time in full Hollywood orchestration over cascades of chords in the piano… and it is never heard again. A quiet interlude that follows leads to the Allegro con spirito, whose initial idea is a nervous figure in the piano, which is then heard in the orchestra. The contrasting second theme is a sensitive and melancholy tune that sighs with each phrase. The piano’s pyrotechnics are evident throughout the movement, answered by the passionate outbursts of the orchestra. While the movement is identifiable in sonata form, the overall feeling is one of an extended rhapsody, with a free interplay of the movement’s themes. The energy builds throughout the movement to an extended piano cadenza, a brief reprise of the lyrical second theme and a final sprint to the final chords.

The Andantino semplice is an ABA song form, but the central section serves not just as a contrast, but as a miniature scherzo within the bookends of the opening and closing sections. The opening flute melody passes to the piano, which extends and elaborates its simple song, with gentle responses from solo woodwinds and horn. After the central section’s bouncy exuberance, the piano returns

to the wistful opening tune and brings the movement to a quiet conclusion.

The finale (Allegro con fuoco) bursts forth in a whirlwind of orchestral energy, which the piano seizes upon immediately in a vigorous, demonic dance, punctuated by syncopated accents in the orchestra. The pianistic fireworks relent only for an ardently lyrical waltz, introduced by the strings and taken up by the soloist. Virtuoso pianism and passionate lyricism vie for the spotlight throughout the movement, answered by muscular orchestral tuttis. The lyrical waltz appears in one final grand peroration for both piano and orchestra before the soloist brings the house down with the final adrenaline-fueled sprint to the finish.

— David Cole


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Beethoven & Blue Jeans

Peter Rubardt, Conductor

Saturday, March 20, 2021


Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 3 in Eb Major, Op. 55, “Eroica”

(1770 – 1827) I. Allegro con brio

II. Marcia funebre: Adagio assai

III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace – Trio

IV. Finale: Allegro molto

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Ludwig van BeethovenSymphony No. 3 in EbMajor, Op. 55, “Eroica”

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in December 1770 in Bonn, Germany and died on March 26, 1827 in Vienna. His Symphony No. 3 was written in 1804 and received its first performance in Vienna at the Theater an der Wien on April 7, 1805. The work is scored for pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, three horns, two trumpets, two timpani, and strings.

He was short, probably standing no more than 5 feet, 4 inches tall. His face bore the pockmarks of an attack of smallpox that he endured in his youth. Women found him fascinating because of his genius but also physically repulsive. That he was sometimes bad-tempered, there is absolutely no doubt; when served a plate of meatballs that he found improperly cooked, he dumped the entire bowl of food over the waiter’s head. His advancing deafness increased his irritability and his isolation from everyone except his closest friends. By early middle age, he was using ear trumpets to amplify the sounds of other people’s voices, and he could eventually only communicate through a correspondence book, in which friends and acquaintances would write their side of the conversation and he would reply by speaking. He was by all

accounts socially inept, often bordering on rude and boorish – and those were the opinions of his dearest friends!

Yet this diminutive, awkward, angry man created some of the most soul-stirring music ever written on our planet, music that is as dynamic, inspiring, and moving today as it was two centuries ago when it was first composed. His music has been recorded by the greatest musicians of every generation; numerous movies and countless books have been devoted to his life; his music appears in advertising and video games; and his sonatas, string quartets, and symphonies are integral to the concerts of pianists, chamber groups, and orchestras the world over. His immortal music fuels both our compassion and our aspirations, reflects both our humanity and our divinity, and, even in those works’ darkest moments, gives us hope for a better future for all humankind.

His name was Ludwig van Beethoven.

In an era where most musicians were little more than servants to the noble families and royal courts of Europe, Beethoven conversed with his noble Viennese patrons as their social equal. He championed the Enlightenment concepts of “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité (Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood)” espoused by the leaders of the French


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Revolution. In a letter to one of his aristocratic patrons, Beethoven wrote:

“Prince, you are what you are through the accident of birth; I am what I am by what I have made of myself. There are and always will be hundreds of kings and princes; there is only one Beethoven!”

Written in 1803 – 04, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 originally bore a dedication to Napoleon. An ardent democrat, Beethoven greatly admired the French Consul’s commitment to the ideals of the French Revolution. Upon hearing of Napoleon’s seizure of the emperor’s crown, Beethoven flew into a rage and violently attacked the title page of the work with a pen. Beethoven’s student Ferdinand Ries relates the incident:

“I was the first to tell him the news that Bonaparte had declared himself Emperor, whereupon he broke into a rage and exclaimed, ‘So he is no more than a common mortal! Now, too, he will tread under foot all the rights of man, indulge only his ambition; now he will think himself superior to all men, become a tyrant!’ Beethoven went to the table, seized the top of the title page, tore it in half and threw it on the floor. The page had to be re-copied, and it was only now that the symphony received the title ‘Sinfonia eroica.’”

Upon publication in 1806, Beethoven gave the work the title Sinfonia Eroica...composta per festeggiare il sovvenire di un grand Uomo (“heroic symphony, composed to celebrate the memory of a great man”).

While the title of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 owes its origins to the French Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte, it is the musical revolution of the work that is most relevant today. At nearly twice the length of either of Beethoven’s first two symphonies, the “Eroica” changed the ways in which composers conceived the symphony. Along with the Fifth and Ninth symphonies, the Third Symphony stands in relation to the rest of the 19th century as Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring relates to the 20th century; after the “Eroica,” symphonic music would never be the same.

The work is in four movements. The first is a huge work in sonata form, opening with two explosive Eb chords. The melodic material throughout is both simple (the opening theme is based on the tones of the Eb Major chord) and widely varied (music in transitional passages is developed and reshaped). In the middle of the development section, a huge dissonant climax is followed by a new idea not heard in the exposition and heard only again in the coda. Clearly Beethoven is thinking not so much of “sonata form” as “sonata process” – using the Classical forms of Haydn and Mozart but adapting and stretching them for even greater emotional impact. The coda of the work, which in symphonies by Haydn and Mozart might last a mere 16 measures, functions as almost a second development section, summing up the movement with the same chords which opened the symphony.

The second movement, “Funeral March,” plumbs the depths of emotion, from the


grim sotto voce opening through a brief episode in a major key which builds to a triumphant climax, only to return to the initial funeral march. An emotionally intense fugato section leads back to the opening material, which is interrupted by a fanfare leading to a highly mysterious presentation of the march in oboe and clarinet but accompanied by distant fanfares in the horns and trumpets. At the end, the march collapses on itself, the tune shattered into hesitant, weeping fragments before the final anguished cry.

The third movement scherzo begins as a light, gossamer dance of uncertain meter, but builds to joyous outbursts of muscular energy. The central trio section showcases the three horns for which Beethoven writes, adding a richness to the writing (most symphonies before the “Eroica” used only two horns) and taxing the skills of his horn section. In 1805, horns had no valves, so accuracy of pitch depended both upon the player’s adeptness with their lips, and with the hand that was inserted in the bell of the instrument to produce pitches not found naturally on the instrument.

The finale bursts into life with a vigorous fanfare-like passage (presaging a similar fanfare that opens the finale of the Ninth Symphony). Beethoven sets this movement as a theme and variations, with the theme taken from his own earlier ballet The Creatures of Prometheus and also used for his Theme and Variations in EbMajor, Op. 35 for piano (later dubbed the “Eroica” Variations). The

theme is initially presented as merely its harmonic structure in pizzicato strings. Subsequent variations take the form of a rapid march in G Minor, and two highly imaginative fugato sections, the second of which leads (after a brief pause) to a slower Poco andante section, beginning in tranquility but ending majestically. The music drops to pianissimo, with two-note figure being traded between strings and woodwinds over ominous triplets in the cellos and basses, before the final exultant Presto concludes the symphony in exultant triumph.

— David Cole


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Haydn, Symphony No. 94, “Surprise”

Peter Rubardt, ConductorCorey McKern, Baritone

Saturday, April 24, 2021


Gustav Mahler Adagietto from Symphony No. 5 in C# Minor (1860 – 1911)

Gustav Mahler Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer)(1860 – 1911) I. Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht (When My Sweetheart is Married) II. Ging heut’ Morgen über’s Feld (I Went This Morning Over the Field) III. Ich hab’ ein glühend Messer (I Have a Gleaming Knife) IV. Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz (The Two Blue Eyes of My Beloved)

Featuring Corey McKern, Baritone

Franz Joseph Haydn Symphony No. 94 in G Major, “Surprise”(1732 – 1809) I. Adagio – Vivace assai II. Andante III. Menuetto: Allegro molto IV. Finale: Allegro molto


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Award-winning baritone Corey McKern continuously earns critical acclaim and accolades in every appearance he makes. Of his performance as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, critics hailed: “Corey McKern… has all the goods to rise to star stature – timing, stamina, vocal heft, and an easy-going stage presence – especially telling in Figaro’s signature aria, Largo al factotum della citta.” Recent engagements include Older Thompson in Glory Denied with Opera Birmingham, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with Inland North West Opera, the title role in Don Giovanni with Pensacola Opera, performances as a soloist in Carmina Burana with Missoula Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with the Alabama Symphony, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Tallahassee Symphony. He also returned to the Florentine Opera for a concert of “Opera’s

Greatest Hits” and returned to Pensacola Opera as Captain Corcoran in H.M.S. Pinafore. He performed as a soloist in Nashville Opera’s Opera Jukebox.

Of his performance in La bohème, the Santa Fe New Mexican said, “Corey McKern’s resolute, robust-voiced and rambunctious Marcello, a perfect picture of a wannabe Parisian painter, was one of the best I’ve ever heard.” McKern garners attention at leading opera houses for his charming and dynamic portrayals of his signature roles: Marcello in La bohème in his Asian début at Opera Hong Kong, Santa Fe Opera, Florentine Opera of Milwaukee, Nashville Opera, and Opera Grand Rapids; Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Nashville Opera and Opera Birmingham; the Count in Le nozze di Figaro with Nashville Opera, Opera Cleveland, Opera Columbus, Michigan Opera Theatre, Tulsa Opera, Opera Birmingham, and Syracuse Opera; Gabriel von Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus with Nashville Opera and Florentine Opera; Papageno in Die Zauberflöte with Opera Omaha, Arizona Opera, Opera Birmingham, and Tulsa Opera; as Silvio in Pagliacci with Austin Lyric Opera, Arizona Opera, Opera Birmingham, and Central City Opera.

Corey McKernBaritone


Gustav MahlerAdagietto from Symphony No. 5 in C# Minor

Gustav Mahler was born in Kalischt (Kaliště), Bohemia on July 7, 1860 and died in Vienna on May 18, 1911. The Symphony No. 5, from which the Adagietto is taken, was first performed on October 18, 1904 in Cologne, by the Gürzenich Orchestra conducted by the composer. The Adagietto is scored for strings and harp.

To what lengths would you go to impress a significant other? Dinner, candy, and flowers are all very nice, but not very original. An original poem or song? It could work, but unless you are a professional poet or musician, such an artistic attempt at romance could be painfully embarrassing.

Fortunately for Gustav Mahler, he already had four symphonies and numerous art songs under his belt by the time he met Alma Schindler at the home of a mutual friend in November 1901. Alma was an intelligent, talented, and beautiful young woman, and an accomplished composer in her own right. When she met Mahler, he had risen from his humble beginnings to become the Music Director of the Vienna Court Opera, the most prestigious conducting post in the German-speaking world.

Mahler fell for Alma immediately and proposed three weeks later. Alma’s family went to great lengths to persuade her to refuse him, concerned about his Jewish background (he had converted to Catholicism in order to accept the Vienna Court Opera post), his middle-class upbringing, and his age – he was 19 years her senior. She was also taken back by his 20-page letter to her, dated December 19, 1901, in which he outlined his expectations that she give up her composing career for the sake of their marriage. Nevertheless, the couple formally announced their engagement four days later and they were married on March 9, 1902, at the Karlskirche in Vienna.

After Mahler’s death, it became standard practice to perform the Adagietto as a memorial work, much as Leonard Bernstein did at the funerals of both Serge Koussevitzky and John F. Kennedy, with a typical performance lasting anywhere from 12 to 16 minutes. More recently, newly-discovered letters between Alma and the Dutch conductor Willem Mengelberg have revealed that instead of a lament, the Adagietto is an ardent love letter from the composer to his young wife, delivered wordlessly by the strings of the orchestra.

The Adagietto opens with whispering strings and a quietly murmuring harp that introduce a hesitant violin melody, wistful and longing, like a plant tendril


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rising to greet the sun. This achingly beautiful tune is taken up by other string sections, elongated and elaborated upon, rising to climactic moments, and falling away again into chamber-music delicacy. There is passion and ardor in addition to sweetness and serenity, all the way to the final nostalgic and poignant final bars.

Gustav MahlerLieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer)

Gustav Mahler was born in Kalischt (Kaliště), Bohemia on July 7, 1860 and died in Vienna on May 18, 1911. The Songs of a Wayfarer were written between December 1884 and January 1885. The first performance of the cycle was given on March 16, 1896, with baritone Anton Sistermans as soloist and the composer conducting the Berlin Philharmonic. The work is scored for solo voice, two flutes, piccolo, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings.

“The course of true love did never run smooth.” – William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Shakespeare’s sadly wise proverb was never so true as it was for the lovelorn Gustav Mahler in the autumn of 1884. Just one year before, his life seemed to be nearly perfect: at 23 years old, he had been appointed to the position of second conductor and choirmaster with the opera company in Kassel, Germany, where he became immediately known for his high

standards and attention to musical detail. Romance had bloomed with one of the company’s sopranos, Johanna Richter. Yet within a year, Mahler’s love affair had gone sour, and his beloved Johanna had dumped him. Her father was the local postmaster and did not believe Mahler to be a good match for his daughter; as a result, many of Mahler’s letters to Johanna were returned to him unopened. Mahler remained in Kassel only through the summer of 1885, resigning from his post to accept a conducting position with the Czech National Theatre in Prague.

Rather than wallowing in his sorrow, Mahler channeled it into music, specifically the four Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, begun in December 1884, and finished in piano score in early 1885. Initially, he may have just written the songs just to ease his emotional pain, but after 1890 he returned to the cycle, reduced the number of songs from six to four, and began to orchestrate the piano part.

The title is usually translated into English as “Songs of a Wayfarer,” but it would be more accurate to call it “Songs of a Journeyman,” since the title really means a workingman who goes from place to place plying his trade. Unsurprisingly, the poetry (by Mahler himself ) concerns a young man who journeys from home to ease the pain of a failed romance. Mahler wrote to a friend that “The songs are a sequence in which a wayfaring craftsman, who has had a great sorrow, goes out into the world and wanders aimlessly.” One might dispute that the wandering of Mahler’s protagonist is aimless – the


poetry of the four songs traces a path from grief to acceptance, and each of the songs ends in a different key from which it began, indicating that the “wandering” pervades the music as well as the text.

The music of Songs of a Wayfarer is closely linked to Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, which premiered in Budapest in 1889. The principal melody of Ging heut’ Morgen über’s Feld appears as the initial Allegro in the Symphony’s first movement, though Mahler left no indication of why he employed it. Likewise, melodies from Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz appear in the third movement of the symphony, again without explanation. We do not know if they had a particular extra-musical association for Mahler, or he repurposed the older melodies in the symphony because he felt them perfect for the symphony.

The initial song in the cycle, Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht (When my Sweetheart is Married), is clothed in gloom. The singer unleashes his grief from knowing that his beloved is marrying someone else that very day. The music alternates between two tempos, the achingly slow tempo of the young man’s lament, and the slightly faster music that sounds like a distant echo of happy wedding music played by double reeds and clarinets with discreet string accompaniment. Interestingly, these two sections both begin with the same phrase, played faster by the woodwinds and sung much more slowly by the soloist. A brief shaft of sunlight appears when the singer notices the joys of nature around him, but the mood quickly darkens,

and the song closes with echoes of the wedding music fading to silence.

Ging heut’ Morgen über’s Feld (I Went This Morning Over the Field) sings forth without fear or sorrow; it is the most joyful of the four songs in the set. The wayfarer marvels at the glories of nature, repeatedly asking, “Is this not a beautiful world?” It ends calmly, though the text asks if the wayfarer’s luck will ever change.

Ich hab’ ein glühend Messer (I Have a Gleaming Knife) plumbs the depths of despair, ushered in by desperate leaping arpeggios in strings and woodwinds, and the singer intoning that he has a gleaming knife stuck in his chest, in reality a metaphor for his sorrow in losing his love. At the end, the music collapses, exhausted, into silence.

In the final song, Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz (The Two Blue Eyes of my Beloved), the wanderer finally achieves a sense of closure. Initially lamenting the amount of pain his beloved’s blue eyes have brought him, he finds a linden tree under which to rest, and the nap that follows brings him a sense of peace, and that love, grief, life, and the world will all continue to carry on. The music pulsates gently as it finally fades to silence.


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Franz Joseph Haydn Symphony No. 94 in G Major, “Surprise”

Franz Joseph Haydn was born in Rohrau, Austria on March 31, 1732 and died in Vienna on May 31, 1809. The Symphony No. 94 was written in 1791. The premiere took place on March 23, 1792 in the Hannover Square Rooms in London. Haydn conducted an orchestra assembled especially for the concert. The work is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings.

Joseph Haydn’s 30-year career with the Esterházy family proved to be a fruitful relationship for both musician and monarch. While it is true that Haydn was treated as a servant – his contract specified that he and his musicians “appear in white stockings and white shirt, with either pigtail or tiewig, and thoroughly powdered” – his patrons, Prince Paul and his successor Prince Nikolaus, provided Haydn with all the resources he could want in order to make the Esterházy musical establishment one of the most renowned in all of Europe. Since Haydn needed to please only one fairly liberal patron without the need to entertain a fickle public, he could experiment to his heart’s content. In so doing, he forged the modern forms of both the symphony and string quartet. Haydn wrote of his time at Esterházy: “I was cut off from the world. There was no one to confuse or torment me, and I was forced to become original.”

When Prince Nikolaus died in September 1790, Haydn’s sheltered creative life came to an end. Nikolaus’ successor, Prince Anton, severely cut the musical staff at his court. Most of the musicians were given six weeks severance pay, and Haydn was given a pension, with almost no demands on him for new compositions. With more than 90 symphonies to his credit along with numerous other works in all genres, no one could blame Haydn for contemplating a quiet (if austere) retirement at the age of 58.

Fortunately for Haydn and the history of music, fate had other plans. Haydn’s dull retirement was shattered by the appearance of one Johann Peter Salomon, a violinist, composer, and conductor who had made a very successful career as a concert impresario in London. Salomon made the journey from London to Vienna to entice Haydn to return with him to write music, give concerts – and make obscene piles of money. According to Haydn’s first biographer, Albert Christoph Dies, Salomon’s first words to Haydn were, “I am Salomon of London and I have come to fetch you; tomorrow we will establish an accord.” While Haydn was initially skeptical and slightly apprehensive of undertaking such a long journey at his age, the lure both of a new audience and much-needed financial security proved irresistible. With the contractual promise of 5000 Austrian gulden (roughly $65,000 in today’s currency) in hand, Haydn landed in Britain on New Year’s Day, 1791 after a two-week journey across Europe.


Salomon was as good as his word. Within days of setting foot in England, Haydn wrote “My arrival caused a sensation throughout the city, and I went the round of all the newspapers for three successive days. It appears that everybody wants to know me.” His concerts were considered the most important events of the society season, playing to sold-out houses on almost every occasion. The musicologist and critic Charles Burney attended Haydn’s first concert in London and reported the sensation it caused:

“Haydn himself presided at the piano-forte; and the sight of that renowned composer so electrified the audience, as to excite an attention and a pleasure superior to any that had ever been caused by instrumental music in England.”

During his visits to England, Haydn was awarded an honorary doctorate from Oxford and was a frequent guest and performer for the Royal Family.

Haydn’s two seasons in London (1791 – 92) proved so artistically and financially successful that Salomon arranged a second London trip for 1794 – 95. For both sojourns, Haydn’s contract called for him to produce six new symphonies to be given their initial performances in London. These 12 works (numbered as symphonies 93 – 104) have been collectively dubbed the “London” symphonies, and you may occasionally see them called the “Salomon” symphonies. Thanks to Salomon’s connections in London’s music world, Haydn’s orchestra was staffed with the best players in London, and he

wrote accordingly. While today we are accustomed to performance practice with an orchestra of perhaps 30 musicians, we know from contemporary accounts that performing these pieces with large groups of players was also common practice. In one instance, Haydn heard one of his symphonies performed by an orchestra of more than 300 musicians.

The Symphony No. 94, known to the world as the “Surprise” Symphony, was probably written sometime during 1791 for Haydn’s first season in the British capital. The reason for the nickname is obvious – (*SPOILER ALERT*) – the fortissimo crash at the end of the 16th measure of the quiet slow movement – but the inspiration for the surprise remains. In the original manuscript, the fortissimo is absent, with the phrase ending quietly. One source claims that Haydn mischievously told a friend that he wanted to “make the ladies jump;” yet another said that Haydn wanted to startle an older gentlemen who came to his concerts and invariably dozed off in his chair. When asked about the title by his biographer, Georg August Griesinger, Haydn’s answer was in itself a surprise – he wanted to present something new and brilliant, because he didn’t want to be outdone by a rival (Ignaz Pleyel, a former student) who also gave concerts in London. The symphony received great audience and critical acclaim at its first performance and has remained one of the most popular of all of Haydn’s symphonies.

The work is in four movements. Like most of the “London” symphonies,


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Symphony No. 94 begins with a slow introduction, gentle woodwinds answered by soothing strings. Under a gentle pulsation, the music builds to climactic forte chords, but the slenderest tendril of a violin line subtly launches into the rustic 6/8 Vivace assai of the movement. The movement is a contrast between the lyricism of its first idea and the bold, energetic responses that answer it, powered by energetic runs in the strings. The second theme has the character of a folk dance, leading brilliantly to the end of the exposition. In the development, Haydn delights in turning some of his musical material on its head, creating a thunderstorm out of the warmly lyrical music of the exposition. Out of nowhere, the recapitulation chimes in with the opening material of the Vivace assai, and the other themes are brought back from the exposition before the energetic coda.

The Andante begins with the simplest, most innocuous tune ever, just the perfect music to nap to – until Haydn unleashes his musical “popped paper bag” as the perfect musical joke. Like any good comedian, Haydn doesn’t repeat the joke, but fashions his theme into a series of variations that grow more complex and grandiose as the movement progresses. The final variation and coda clothe the theme in the brilliance of horns and trumpets surrounded by swirling string triplets. Yet at the end, the movement ends the way it began, with an eerie reharmonization of the main theme, and gently closing with pizzicato strings.

Haydn’s Menuetto is marked Allegro molto and is more in the character of a

vigorous peasant dance from the Austrian mountains rather than an elegant ballroom minuet. The contrasting trio section is quieter and more mellifluous, but we are still never far away from the rustic character of the menuetto which returns to conclude the movement.

The Finale is full of bustling energy, even in the quiet skipping tune that opens the movement. Here, too, Haydn gives his musical material a full workout, transforming it into a musical kaleidoscope of colors, textures, and moods, propelled by a relentless vivacious energy. In the coda, trumpets and horns chortle merrily over a timpani tattoo, bringing the symphony to a joyous conclusion. Even 200 years later, Haydn’s “surprise” has lost none of its freshness and humor.

— David Cole


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ANGELENA'S RISTORANTE ITALIANO: 850-542-8398 · 101 EAST INTENDENCIA STREET


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Johann Sebastian Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048 (1685 – 1750) I. Allegro II. Adagio-Allegro Assai

Felix Mendelssohn Symphony No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 56, “Scottish”(1809 – 1847) I. Andante con moto – Allegro un poco agitato II. Vivace non troppo III. Adagio IV. Allegro vivacissimo – Allegro maestoso assai

The movements are performed without pause.


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Harpsichord Provided By: Claire Hammett




Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 3, “Scottish”

Peter Rubardt, Conductor

Saturday, May 15, 2021



Felix MendelssohnSymphony No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 56, “Scottish”

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was born February 3, 1809 in Hamburg and died on November 4, 1847 in Leipzig. The Third Symphony was composed largely in 1820 – 42 and given its first performance on March 3, 1842 with the composer conducting the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. The symphony is scored for pairs of woodwinds, four horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings.

Mark Twain once wrote “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” Our propensity to travel and explore is one of the primary urges of the human species. From accounts of tourism throughout the Roman Empire to Chaucer’s Canterbury Pilgrims to today’s glitzy advertisements for romance and adventure from Cancun to Kuala Lumpur, we seem to have an insatiable desire to explore our world.

From 1829 – 31, Felix Mendelssohn, at the insistence of his wealthy and cultured banking family, embarked upon the traditional European “Grand Tour,” where young men and women spent their time viewing the landscapes, churches, and museums of the great European capitals. His itinerary took him from the mists

of northern Scotland, through France, Germany, and Austria, to the sunny hills of Italy. In addition to his numerous letters, sketches, and watercolors from his trips (he was a talented visual artist), Mendelssohn’s “souvenirs” from his journey included some of his greatest instrumental music, including the overture “The Hebrides” (also known as “Fingal’s Cave”) and two symphonies, the “Scottish” (No. 3) and the “Italian” (No. 4).

Departing from Berlin in early 1829, Mendelssohn headed for London to meet up with his boyhood friend Karl Klingemann, the Secretary to the Hannoverian Legislation (a minor diplomatic post) in London. While Mendelssohn had letters of introduction to many famous musicians and members of the English nobility, he seemed far more excited about exploring England’s northern neighbor. In a letter to Klingemann dated March 26, he let his friend know that his London arrival was imminent, and of his excitement to revel in Scottish culture, musical and otherwise: “NEXT AUGUST I AM GOING TO SCOTLAND, with a rake for folk songs, an ear for the lovely, fragrant countryside, and a heart for the bare legs of the natives.”

Following several months of making the rounds of London’s musical society, Mendelssohn and Klingemann left London for Scotland by stagecoach, arriving in Edinburgh on July 26. They spent three weeks touring the country, venturing as far as the Isle of Staffa, where Mendelssohn


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visited the basalt cave on the sea known as Fingal’s Cave after the hero of Scottish and Irish legend. The cave and the windswept coast inspired Mendelssohn to set down a brief melody, which became the principal tune of the concert overture “The Hebrides,” later given the title “Fingal’s Cave” by Mendelssohn’s publisher.

An even stronger inspiration came from Mendelssohn’s visit to Holyrood Palace, now the British Monarch’s official residence in Scotland, but at the time a decrepit ruin, not yet restored to its former glory. In a letter to his parents, dated July 30, 1829, he told them of an emotional experience that would result in a symphony:

“In the evening twilight we went today to the palace where Queen Mary lived and loved; a little room is shown there with a winding staircase leading up to the door: up this way they came and found Rizzio in that dark corner, where they pulled him out, and three rooms off there is a dark corner, where they murdered him. The chapel close to it is now roofless, grass and ivy grow there, and at that broken altar Mary was crowned Queen of Scotland. Everything round is broken and mouldering and the bright sky shines in. I believe I have found today in that old chapel the beginning of my ‘Scottish’ Symphony.”

His sketchbook ever at the ready, Mendelssohn jotted down 16 measures of music, with small annotations for instrumentation. This short musical doodle evolved eventually into the Andante which opens his “Scottish” Symphony.

While Mendelssohn began work on the symphony with the best of intentions, the rest of his Grand Tour occupied his thoughts and his imagination to the fullest extent. The charms of Italy, where Mendelssohn spent nearly a year, kept him distracted from completing the work. From Rome, he wrote to his parents, “The loveliest time of the year in Italy is the period from April 15 to May 15. Who then can blame me for not being able to return to the mists of Scotland? I have therefore laid aside the symphony for the present.”

The gestation period of the ”Scottish” took a little longer than Mendelssohn expected, largely due to the duties he had taken on in Leipzig as the general music director of the city – duties which included the conducting the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. It would take a decade for Mendelssohn to return to his Scottish work, with indications through his correspondence that he had picked it up again from time to time in the interim. Toward the end of 1840 he began to explore it again, and he worked on it in earnest through 1841. Mendelssohn conducted the premiere with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra on March 3, 1842. For a work so steeped in extra-musical inspiration, it might be surprising to note that Mendelssohn provided no description or other programmatic indication about the music, letting it stand on its own without explanation. Yet Robert Schumann and others remarked upon the folk-like melodies heard throughout the work.

The ”Scottish” Symphony is actually Mendelssohn’s last (the current numbering reflects the order of publication, not


composition), and documents his transition from writing “Classical” works (like his early Octet for Strings) to more “Romantic” pieces. The work is unconventional in some of its structural details. Mendelssohn writes in the preface to the score that “the movements of this symphony must follow one another immediately and must not be separated by the customary long pauses.” While Beethoven connected one or two movements at the end of some of his symphonies (like the Fifth and the Sixth), Mendelssohn heard his symphony as an organic whole, with the ideas for each of the five movements growing from the initial melodic kernel at the opening of the first movement.

The opening movement begins with sonorous low strings intoning the chorale-like melody Mendelssohn wrote down in Holyrood Palace (Andante con moto), but the introduction gradually brightens before the opening music returns. This leads to a vigorous but nervous Allegro un poco agitato in 6/8 which begins quietly, but retains a nervous, stormy character. The music rises to several tempestuous climaxes before the opening Andante restores calm. The ensuing Scherzo (Vivace non troppo) substitutes a 2/4 meter for the traditional 3/4 of a typical scherzo, but the lively character remains. The music imparts the feeling of a hunting scene in the Scottish forests, with both hunters and hunted spurred on by the ebullient (and fiendishly difficult) chortling of the horns. In this feather-light music, the fairies of Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream music are not far away, perhaps lurking in the shadows, waiting to see how this hunt turns out. The slow movement (Adagio) is a heartfelt lament,

much in the manner of Mendelssohn’s earlier Songs without Words for the piano, with the expressive melody heard in the violins spinning out over a gently pulsating accompaniment. The music rises to an impassioned climax before retreating into a gentle calm. The robust finale (Allegro vivacissimo) starts more like material cut from the earlier “Italian” Symphony, but the music soon turns darker and more agitated, passing through several different stormy sections, before dwindling in tempo and volume to a mysterious pause. From out of this silence, a majestic, hymn-like melody in A Major (Allegro maestoso assai) brings the symphony to a triumphant conclusion – perhaps proving that occasionally Scotland does get a bright, sunny day.

— David Cole


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James Lee, III Restored Images(b. 1975)

Antonín Dvořák Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88(1841 – 1904) I. Allegro con brio II. Adagio III. Allegretto grazioso – Molto vivace IV. Allegro ma non troppo


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Dvořák, Symphony No. 8

Peter Rubardt, ConductorJames Lee, III, Guest Composer

Saturday, June 26, 2021


Robert and Gloria Turner Fund for Special Music

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James Lee, III, born 1975 in St. Joseph, Michigan cites as his major composition teachers Michael Daugherty, William Bolcom, Bright Sheng, Betsy Jolas, Susan Botti, Erik Santos, and James Aikman. He graduated with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan in 2005. As a composition fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in the summer of 2002, he added Osvaldo Golijov, Michael Gandolfi, Steven Mackey, and Kaija Saariaho to his roster of teachers, and he studied conducting with Stefan Asbury.

In 2006 he premiered Beyond Rivers of Vision in Washington D.C. at the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra. During the 2009 – 10 season Lee won the Wladimir and Rhoda Lakond Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City. He was also the composer-in-residence for the Ritz Chamber Players, an African-American chamber music society based in Jacksonville, Florida. Lee was also commissioned by the

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to compose a work about the life of Harriet Tubman. Lee composed Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula that was premiered by Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony Orchestra in October 2011 in Miami. In 2014 Lee was a Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Professor to the State University of Campinas in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.

Since Lee’s graduation from the University of Michigan, his orchestral works have been commissioned and premiered by the National Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony Orchestra, and the orchestras of Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Omaha, Pasadena, Memphis, Grand Rapids, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Akron, and have been conducted by such artists as Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop, Michael Tilson Thomas, Juanjo Mena, David Lockington, Thomas Wilkins, and others.

In a future season, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra will premiere his newly commissioned work Amer’ican. Upcoming premieres of Lee’s work include his Violin Concerto No. 2, “Teshuah” to be premiered by violinist Carla Trynchuk and the Andrews University Symphony Orchestra, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra to be premiered by Daniel Lau and the New England Youth Ensemble, Wakayoha Concerto for Bayan, Percussion, and Strings to be premiered by Franko Bozac and the Oregon Music Festival Orchestra. Many other works for orchestra, narrator and orchestra, symphonic band, and chamber music will also be premiered during the upcoming seasons. Lee is currently a Professor of Music at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland.

James Lee, IIIComposer



James Lee, IIIRestored Images

James Lee, III was born on November 26, 1975 in St. Joseph, Michigan. Restored Images was written in 2020 and was first performed on April 22, 2021 in Easton, Maryland by the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Julien Benichou. The work is scored for string orchestra.

Restored Images is a work that is inspired by the difficult challenges of the year 2020. It is a piece about the idea of breaking various forms of harmful tensions and the final restoration of images of beauty on this planet. The work begins solemnly with a slow and hopeful ascent. These ascending lines become more intense as the music progresses. Once the music reaches a certain height, there is a sense of hopeful anticipation of sustained joy. Along this path of anticipating joy, there are various reminders of challenges and obstacles that need to be overcome. As the work nears its climax, I intended for the music to evoke the beautiful, restored images of love and respect in humanity. This is then followed by other images regarding the restored image of God in man, the restoration of harmony in families, the restoration of the beauty of nature and the earth, and finally a blissful anticipated vision of having eternal life and seeing the light and glory of the eternal God.

— James Lee, III

Antonín DvořákSymphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88

Antonín Dvořák was born in Nelahozeves, Bohemia, Austrian Empire (now part of the Czech Republic) on September 8, 1841 and died in Prague on May 1, 1904. His Symphony No. 8 in G Major was written in 1889 and given its first performance in Prague on February 2, 1890, with the composer conducting the Orchestra of the National Theatre. The work is scored for 2 flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (1st doubling English horn), 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, and strings.

Many composers have found their musical voice by assimilating the essential style and flavor of folk music. Certain inspired flashes of it can be found in Joseph Haydn’s music, possibly because the teenage Haydn made part of his living as a street musician in Vienna. Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály took the music they heard in the far reaches of Eastern Europe and created their own distinctive vocabularies. Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams drew a similar wealth of inspiration from English folk songs.

Antonín Dvořák filled his works with the rhythms and melodies of Czech and Bohemian folk songs and dances. Even in his so-called “abstract” compositions (symphonies, string quartets, etc.) the distinctive features of Czech music abound – syncopated rhythms, modal melodies and harmonies, distinctive melodic contours. Even in compositions

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given programmatic titles that would suggest places far away from his native land (the “New World” Symphony, the “American” String Quartet), Dvořák may be speaking of “new worlds” but he speaks of them with a distinctly Czech accent.

The Symphony No. 8 in G Major, written in 1889 and first performed in Prague in 1890 with the composer on the podium, stands as a largely cheerful, bright, and sunny work between the brooding power of the Seventh and epic visions of the Ninth (“New World”) Symphony. Written at the composer’s country home in Vysoká, far away from the worries of performers, publishers, concert promoters, and students, the symphony seemed to flow spontaneously from Dvořák’s pen – he said at the time “Melodies seem to pour out of me.” He wrote the entire work in a little under a month and spent the following six weeks completing the orchestration. After the premiere in Prague, Dvořák conducted the work to great acclaim in Frankfurt, London, and Cambridge; the last performance was part of the ceremony at which Dvořák received an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University. Because of the success of the Cambridge performance, the symphony was, for a time, nicknamed Dvořák’s “English” Symphony. The symphony received just as enthusiastic a reception in Chicago, where Dvořák conducted the Chicago Symphony in a performance at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893.

Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony is set in the traditional four movements. The first movement opens with a wealth of melodic material: a lament led by the cellos and

accompanied by clarinets, bassoons, and trombones. The somber mood does not last for long; the solo flute introduces a rising melody soon exultantly taken up by the rest of the orchestra. A second idea appears richly scored in clarinets, violas, and cellos, with fragments of the flute melody intertwined with it. As the music gains power, it builds to a restatement of the flute idea in the whole orchestra. This leads to a lyrical idea in the strings, and then an extended melody in clarinets and violins, accompanied by restless triplets in violins, violas, and cellos. A short chorale in the winds suddenly explodes into colorful life in the full orchestra; as this climax subsides, the initial melancholy cello theme returns to begin the development section, where the melodies from earlier in the movement reappear in many different guises. A very contrapuntal section ensues, leading to the movement’s high point: trumpets declaim the opening cello theme fortissimo over a chromatic fury in upper strings and punctuations in the cellos, basses, and low brass. The music turns from G Minor to G Major at the climactic point of this outburst, and the recapitulation enters in a masterstroke of orchestration: the first flute melody appears in the English horn (the only moment in the symphony that this instrument plays). All the melodic material of the movement returns, and the final coda treats the flute melody as a vigorous march all the way to the final chords.

The second movement opens with a yearning melody in the strings, which alternates with a more foursquare response from flutes and oboes, and a much more lyrical reply from the two clarinets. These two ideas pass back and forth between


winds and strings, and the clarinet duet gains in prominence. After a brief forte statement based on the opening music, a more warm and lyrical chorale-like texture leads to a surprise: cellos and basses start playing dance rhythms, which are then taken up in the whole orchestra: descending scales in the violins with punctuation from pizzicato strings as well as clarinets, horns, and bassoons. Over this dance-like texture, the solo flute and oboe sing a long-breathed melody which passes to a solo violin. When the violin’s double stops subside, the orchestra roars to life in a majestic version of both the dance rhythms and the initial melody of the movement. This ceases abruptly, and a warm lyrical string texture leads to a return of the earlier woodwind dialogue. Instead of dance rhythms, this time the music turns darker and more dramatic, with melodic fragments in canon over dramatic tremolo strings. Ferocious string chords follow, punctuating insistent triplets from woodwinds and trumpets. These finally collapse, and the nostalgic dance returns, this time with the violins singing the melody and the woodwinds dancing. The music calms gradually, builds again to a final climax, and subsides over a distant tattoo of trumpets, timpani, and low strings.

The third movement is a melancholy waltz, begun in the violins and taken up in the woodwinds. This is interrupted by fanfare-like figures in winds that are echoed in the rest of the orchestra. The middle section is a delightful folk dance, making much of different cross rhythms between strings, winds, brass, and timpani. The opening waltz returns and leads to a bright coda in duple meter, which

suddenly evaporates into three final wind chords, and a calm string harmony.

The finale opens in a blaze of trumpets and is nominally in the form of a theme and variations. The cellos introduce a principal melody, accompanied by bassoons and pizzicato basses. The initial variations are also led by the cellos, with the rest of the strings adding counterpoint above the cello line. The full orchestra enters at a faster tempo, with the initial cello melody altered into a more dramatic version. After a virtuoso variation for the solo flute, the full orchestra returns, leading to a minor-key interlude featuring two melodies: a chorale-like proclamation from the woodwinds answered by a descending pattern in the flutes. These two melodies increase in intensity: the first heard in the full woodwind section against a scurrying violin and cello accompaniment, the second boldly proclaimed by the trombones against forceful chords from the strings. A contrapuntal variation of this section follows, leading back to a triumphant restatement of the opening fanfare, this time in the full orchestra. As this subsides, the music returns to the initial cello melody, and several more lyrical variations follow. The music gradually softens and fades; just as it seems as though the work will end pianissimo, the full orchestra roars back to life, and the movement sprints to its conclusion in high spirits, capped by the final fanfares in the horns and trumpets.

— David Cole


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PENSACOLA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRApensacolasymphony.com/assets/2020.21.Program.Book.with... · 2021. 2. 15. · Clarinet Richard Jernigan, Principal Newell Hutchinson Kim Whaley Melissa