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B O S T O N C O N S E R V A T O R Y A T B E R K L E E P R E S E N T S

Symphony No. 15, op. 141 (1971)AllegrettoAdagio – Largo – Adagio – LargoAllegrettoAdagio – Allegretto – Adagio – Allegretto

– INTERMISSION –

It Remains to Be Seen (2006)

Firebird Suite (1919)Introduction – The Firebird and Its Dance –

The Firebird's variationThe Princesses' Khorovod (Rondo)Infernal Dance of King KashcheiBerceuse (Lullaby)Finale

Gian Francesco Falbo (M.M. '17), conductor

Dmitri Shostakovich1906–1975

Nico Muhlyb. 1981

Igor Stravinsky1882–1971

ORCHESTRABRUCE HANGEN, conductor

BOSTON CONSERVATORY

November 6, 2016Sunday, 2:00 p.m.

Sanders Theatre, Harvard University

GIAN FRANCESCO FALBO (M.M. '17), guest conductor

Pre-concert lecture at 1:00 p.m. given by Maestro Bruce Hangen and Gian Francesco Falbo

B O S T O N C O N S E R V A T O R Y A T B E R K L E E P R E S E N T S

2 • Boston Conservatory Orchestra

PROGRAM NOTESSHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 15, op. 141 (1971)From the opening chime of a glockenspiel and the following flute solo that writhes and wriggles against its key of A Major, Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15 suggests a bright, playfully naïve “toy shop, with a cloudless sky above.” However, all is not what it appears—which is not surprising for the Soviet composer known for hiding musical messages in plain sight. In his final years, such secrecy and restraint were not as essential for survival as they once were during the oppressive reign of Stalin. With the dictator long dead, the 1970s were witness to a significant thawing of the previous Soviet anti-formalism that had plagued and stifled Shostakovich’s creativity. Nevertheless, years of stress from this precarious political position had taken their toll. A weakening body brought with it a preoccupation with his own mortality. In fact, mere months after completing Symphony No. 15, Shostakovich suffered his second heart attack. It is no wonder, then, that the symphony is haunted by retrospection.

Not long after the roguish flute solo, a trumpet, as if from nowhere, mimics Rossini’s famous William Tell Overture. Such a gesture might come off as a joke on the surface, but Shostakovich is playing a musical memory game, one deeply personal. In 1956, Shostakovich had suffered from severe writer’s block, brought on by his first wife’s death. The heroism of the William Tell Overture melody is soured by Shostakovich’s admitted fear from that time that he would end up like Rossini, the Italian composer having written his last opera at the age of 40, yet living well into his 70s. Thus, the quotation is a denial of Shostakovich’s fear, but a triumph that cannot forget the bitterness of hardship. The following adagio continues the pattern of quotation, but this time it is the composer’s own 11th symphony, which commemorates the death of peaceful protesters killed on “Bloody Sunday” by Tsar forces, and it is implied for those lost during Stalin’s rule as well. Like a funeral march, somber brass chorales lay the groundwork for 12-note solos by cello, violin, and celesta. Here, old and new musical devices join to form what Andrew Porter describes as a “sad, soft-falling transformation of what had been ardent and aspirant.” Sardonic brass fanfares during the subsequent scherzo seem to mock the adagio’s somber chorales, and if one listens closely, they will catch the horns pronouncing the DSCH motto (D–E-flat–C–B), musically spelling out the composer’s name. In the finale, Shostakovich deftly litters allusions from his own Leningrad Symphony, as well as from themes by Wagner (Die Walküre, Götterdammerung, and Tristan und Isolde) that carry with them

Boston Conservatory at Berklee • 3

connotations of life and death, nobility, and grief. As the strings hold a long, hollowed-out chord at the conclusion, a xylophone chatters away, which critic Tom Service evocatively likens to machines in a hospital ward. Much remains unanswered or enigmatic about the non-programmatic 15th symphony; and when asked the reasoning for such cryptic musical cribbing, Shostakovich himself pithily replied, “I don’t myself quite know why the quotations are there, but I could not, not include them.” Perhaps this is as he wanted it. We are left probing at the meaning of it all—perhaps just as the 15th reflects upon Shostakovich’s own musical life.

—Clifton Ingram (M.M. '14, composition)

MUHLY: It Remains to Be Seen (2006)Nico Muhly’s orchestral tribute to his time at the Tanglewood Institute offers an inside-out view of the excited mind of a young artist—recalling the particular sensation of a post-concert walk through the woods on a summer night. Beginning with the end, as it were, It Remains to Be Seen opens with a flourished nod to Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite and winds through a gently wandering melody, juxtaposed with excited rhythmic textures as the lines between foreground and background, solo and tutti, and program and abstraction bend and blur.

At the peak of its arc, It Remains to Be Seen converges into an orchestrally saturated swell of stratified, chromatic chords that merge and separate through a process of overlapping at unequal durations; the staggered, dynamic trajectories then unravel once more into wandering in the woods, concluding not with flourish and cadence, but with a gently unresolved suspension. It Remains to Be Seen does not end at the closing of the piece, but rather suggests the imagined possibilities that follow.

As the title implies, It Remains to Be Seen is as much a suggestion as it is a work: possibility and potential—as of yet to be realized—are the driving forces of the composition. The program of the work may be a walk through the woods from the concert hall, but the crux of the piece is not the literal “from,” it is the imagined “to.”

—Joshua Scheid (M.M. '17, contemporary music performance)

4 • Boston Conservatory Orchestra

STRAVINSKY: Firebird Suite (1919)The Firebird Suite rests at a fulcrum between nationalist music of the late 19th century, and what would become the high modernism of the 20th. Premiered in June of 1910, the work represents the first of several collaborative efforts between Stravinsky and Sergei Diaghilev, famed impresario of the Ballets Russes, that produced other works of great fame and import: Petruschka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913). Diaghilev’s vision for Ballets Russe was to present Parisian audiences with a Russia that was at once exotic, brutally thrilling, and distinctly chic; a breath of fresh air, perhaps, amid a fog of impressionism that permeated the French musical landscape of the early century. Seeking a new Russian voice for his newly formed company, Diaghilev turned (after receiving several rejections from other composers) to a young Stravinsky with a commission for a piece based on Russian folklore.

The story follows Prince Ivan, who—while hunting in the woods—stumbles into a magical realm and encounters the fabled firebird. In return for sparing her life, the bird bestows Ivan with a feather that he may use in a future time of need. We soon learn that this realm is ruled by the terrible wizard Kashchei, who holds captive a harem of beautiful princesses. Prince Ivan falls in love with one of them, and in an effort to save her from the grip of Kashchei, he summons the firebird to his side. Ultimately Kashchei is defeated and the magical realm disappears, returning Ivan and his new love to the real world.

We hear shades of Stravinsky’s teacher, Rimsky-Korsakov, looming behind some of this music (the jovial settings of folk music and certain shades of orchestral color), but it is affected with what we have come to regard as typical Stravinskian musical language, that is, a propensity for rhythmic play and vividly colorful orchestration that kaleidoscopes from one section of music to the next. What you will hear is the 1919 version of the suite for orchestra, the second reorchestration as a concert version done by Stravinsky himself. It is arguably the most popular, not because it contains only about half of the music from the original ballet score, but in that it distills the power of the work’s musical drama to an impactful and wildly dazzling concert experience that amplifies the thrill Parisian audiences would have felt at the work’s premiere.

—Jordan Kabat (M.M. '17, composition)

PROGRAM NOTES

Boston Conservatory at Berklee • 5

BIOSBRUCE HANGEN, conduc-tor—was appointed as director of orchestral activities at Boston Conservatory in May 2003. Han-gen is in his 19th season as artistic director and conductor of the Or-chestra of Indian Hill, having been appointed in 1997. He has also served as principal guest conduc-tor of The Boston Pops Orchestra, a position created especially for Hangen in May 2002 as a reflection of the strong musical relationship built over two decades of regular guest conducting. Recent appear-ances as a guest conductor include concerts with the Florida Philhar-monic and Boston Symphony Or-chestra (BSO). His repeat engage-ments with The Boston Pops and Boston Pops Esplanade orchestras total more than 200 performances since 1979. Additionally, Hangen has guest conducted orchestras in Japan, Canada, Taiwan and New Zealand. A graduate of the East-man School of Music with a major in conducting, Hangen was a con-ducting fellow at the Berkshire Mu-sic Center at Tanglewood for two summers. Hangen is the recipient of an Honorary D.F.A. from the University of New England. Read Hangen’s complete bio at: boston-conservatory.berklee.edu/directory/bruce-hangen.

GIAN FRANCESCO FALBO, as-sistant conductor—received his G.P.D. from Boston Conservatory. As a violinist, he studied with An-ton Berovsky, Lenuta Ciulei, and Markus Placci, and he has played with such ensembles as Bologna Philharmonic Academy, Italian Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Chamber Orchestra, and Orches-tra of Indian Hill, among others. As a conductor, he has assisted Andrew Altenbach for both Bos-ton Opera Collaborative (BOC) and Boston Conservatory, working on various productions including L’Italiana in Algeri and La Traviata. He is currently pursuing an M.M. in orchestral conducting with Bruce Hangen.

NICO MUHLY, composer—is an American composer and sought-after collaborator whose influ-ences range from American mini-malism to the Anglican choral tradition. The recipient of commis-sions from The Metropolitan Op-era, Carnegie Hall, St. Paul’s Ca-thedral, and others, he has written more than 80 works for the concert stage, including the operas Two Boys (2010), Dark Sisters (2011), and the forthcoming Marnie; the song cycles Sentences (2015) for countertenor Iestyn Davies, and Impossible Things (2009) for tenor Mark Padmore; a viola concerto for violist Nadia Sirota; and the choral

6 • Boston Conservatory Orchestra

works My Days (2011) and Recor-dare, Domine (2013), written for the Hilliard Ensemble and the Tallis Scholars, respectively. Muhly is a frequent collaborator with chore-ographer Benjamin Millepied and, as an arranger, has paired with Suf-jan Stevens, Rufus Wainwright, Jo-anna Newsom, and Antony and the Johnsons, among others. He has composed for stage and screen, with credits that include music for the 2013 Broadway revival of The Glass Menagerie and scores for the films Kill Your Darlings, Me, Earl And The Dying Girl, and the

Academy Award–winning The Reader. Born in Vermont, Muhly studied composition with John Corigliano and Christopher Rouse at the Juilliard School before work-ing as an editor and conductor for Philip Glass. He is part of the artist-run record label Bedroom Com-munity, which released his first two albums, Speaks Volumes (2006) and Mothertongue (2008). He cur-rently lives in New York City. Nico Muhly is the Boston Conservatory 2016–2017 Kunkemueller artist in residence.

Andy Vores, Interim Dean of Music Lawrence Isaacson, Associate Director of MusicRyland Bennett, Concert Manager Rachael Stachowiak, Administrative Coordinator, Music Division Ryan Fossier, Performance Librarian Aileen Sullivan, Ensembles Coordinator

MUSIC OFFICE STAFF

Boston Conservatory at Berklee • 7

PICCOLOKathryn Downs,

B.M. '18Katie Williams, B.M. '17

FLUTEColleen Carlson,

M.M. '17Yu-Han Chen, M.M. '17Kathryn Downs,

B.M. '18Alejandra Santillances,

M.M. '18Keren Satkin, B.M. '18Katie Williams, B.M. '17

OBOEAiden Rodier, B.M. '18Lindsey A. Stein,

M.M. '17Andrew van der

Paardt, B.M. '17

ENGLISH HORNAiden Rodier, B.M. '18

CLARINETMichael Gellar,

B.M. '19Michael Gruender,

M.M. '18Jasmine Stecker,

M.M. '17Lori Syngajewski,

G.P.D. '17He Zhang, B.M. '17

BASS CLARINETMichael Gellar,

B.M. '19

BASSOONGrant Bingham,

M.M. '17Hillary Erb, G.P.D. '17Timothy Wisdom,

M.M. '18

CONTRABASSOONTimothy Wisdom,

M.M. '18

HORNMaria D'Ambrosio,

B.M. '19 Jacob Factor, M.M. '18Ran Lu, M.M. '17Brian Nowak, M.M. '18Sean Wang, B.M. '20Emily Wiebe, M.M. '17

TRUMPETMatthew Compagno,

B.M. '19Tricia Dyer, M.M. '18Ryanne Flynn, M.M. '17Moxi Li, P.S.C '17Justin Ploskonka,

G.P.D. '18James Stone,

G.P.D. '17

TROMBONEYu-Ming Chen,

B.M. '19Kevin Downing,

M.M. '17John Niro, G.P.D. '17Joshua Thomas-Urlik,

B.M. '17

BASS TROMBONEChris Beaudry^

TUBASamuel Boswell,

B.M. '19Austin Comerford,

B.M. '17

HARPAnna Ellsworth,

B.M. '17Gildea Philomena,

B.M. '20Amber Mecke, B.M. '17Jane Soh, G.P.D '17

VIOLIN ICaxton Jones,

G.P.D. '18*Ann Chun-Hui

Chuang, G.P.D. '17Kelley McGarry,

B.M. '17Luna Ramos, B.M. '19Lizzie Jones, G.P.D. '18Weiqiao Wu, G.P.D. '17Jesus Saenz, G.P.D. '18Alden Young, B.M. '19John Castore, B.M. '19Shiyu Liu, M.M. '18Igor Garcia, B.M. '18Jiuri Yu, M.M. '17Thomas Hofmann^Nan Lu^

* Concertmaster^ Guest artist

ENSEMBLE

8 • Boston Conservatory Orchestra

VIOLIN IIVeronica Riner, M.M. '18Marie Comuzzo,

G.P.D. '17Melissa Taddie,

P.S.C. '17Jake Vincel, B.M. '19Ran Seo, G.P.D. '17Zhou Yang, M.M. '18Andrew Jaeger,

B.M. '18Peyton Cook, B.M. '20Sophia Bellino, B.M. '19Chia-Hao Wang,

B.M. '17Sven Skriveris, B.M. '18Pia Bucci, B.M. '20Emanuele Valle,

G.P.D. '17 VIOLAEve Caruso Whitman,

B.M. '18Mariya Ksondzyk,

B.M. '17Raymond Dineen,

G.P.D. '18Lau Kwan Nok (Louie),

M.M. '18Miriam Lee, B.M. '17Devon Duarte,

B.M. '20Alexandria Wendling,

B.M. '19James Nelson,

B.M. '20Yichun Huang, M.M. '16Sofija Zlatanova,

G.P.D. '18

CELLOJeremiah Barcus,

G.P.D. '18Ashley Ng, M.M. '17Nathaniel Taylor,

G.P.D. '17Marguerite Salajako,

M.M. '17Sara G. Cook, B.M. '18Jennifer Jordan,

M.M. '17Luke Morrissey,

B.M. '18William Laney,

G.P.D. '17Victor Mooney,

M.M. '17Julia Dornelas,

B.M. '20 BASSMichael Alan Simon,

G.P.D. '17Justin Cheesman,

B.M. '17Eric R. Duback,

B.M. '19Thatcher M. Drake,

B.M. '20Andrew W. Metzger,

B.M. '17

PIANO/CELESTEChi Zhang, G.P.D. '18 TIMPANIAustin Birdy, B.M. '17Travis Newman,

M.M. '17Dan Smiley Raderman,

B.M. '17 PERCUSSIONRyan Aguilar, B.M. '19Tzu-En Chang,

M.M. '17Joanna Chen, B.M. '18William Land, B.M. '19Neil McNulty, B.M. '18Travis Newman,

M.M. '17Reed Puleo, B.M. '19Noah Rosen, B.M. '18Harry Zhang, B.M. '19Xinyi Zheng, M.M. '17

Boston Conservatory at Berklee • 9

10 • Boston Conservatory Orchestra

Boston Conservatory at Berklee • 11

accessible seating For patrons with disabilities, accessible seats are available on the orchestra level. Large print programs and assistive listening devices are also available. Please call our Access Services Hotline at 617-638-9431.

2 0 1 6 – 2 0 1 7 S E A S O NS E P T E M B E R 24 –M AY 6

BSO.ORG • 617-266-1200 #BSO1617 TICKETS: $25–$145

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BRAHMS & NATHAN Tuesday, November 8Thursday, November 10Friday, November 11, 1:30pm

Saturday, November 12

Andris Nelsons, conductorHélène Grimaud, pianoEric NATHAN the space of a door (world premiere; BSO commission)

BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 1BRAHMS Symphony No. 1 (November 8 & 10)BRAHMS Symphony No. 2 (November 11 & 12)

BRAHMS & ANDRESTuesday, November 15Thursday, November 17Friday, November 18Saturday, November 19

Andris Nelsons, conductorHélène Grimaud, pianoTimo ANDRES Everything Happens So Much (world premiere; BSO commission)

BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2BRAHMS Symphony No. 3 (November 15 & 17)BRAHMS Symphony No. 4 (November 18 & 19)

MENDELSSOHN, MOZART & DVOŘÁK Tuesday, November 22Friday, November 25, 1:30pm

Saturday, November 26

Concerts begin at 8pm unless otherwise noted.

Moritz Gnann, conductorMenahem Pressler, pianoMENDELSSOHN Overture, The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave)

MOZART Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-flat, K.595DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 9, From the New World

Hélène Grimaud

Andris Nelsons

Moritz Gnann

12 • Boston Conservatory Orchestra

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Berklee and Boston ConservatoryJeff Shames,

Board ChairSusan Whitehead,

Vice ChairRoger H. Brown,

President, BerkleeRichard Ortner,

President, Boston Conservatory at Berklee

David AbramsLuis AlvarezG. Leonard Baker, Jr.Michael A. Brown John ConnaughtonCynthia K. CurmeMichael R. EisensonEmilio EstefanGloria EstefanMonica GiraldoDean F. GoodermoteDavid Gross-LohJoshua GrussChristopher GuestNils GumsDan HarpleKristine Moyer HigginsCharles HirschhornSteven HoltzmanBill KaiserJoel KatzB. J. KrintzmanLaura D. KunkemuellerSara Lawrence-LightfootMiky (Mie Kyung) LeeMartin J. MannionDemond MartinMarc MayerJane L. MendilloFrederick T. MillerPeter Muller

Anthony PangaroAlexander RigopulosDarius SidebothamDavid Scott SloanSusan SolomontJeffrey C. WalkerAnn Marie WilkinsMarillyn ZacharisBarry Zubrow

Leadership Council Teresa Koster, ChairLaura Kunkemueller,

Conservatory LiaisonBetsy BoverouxGreg BulgerDavi-Ellen ChabnerCaroline CollingsDiana Dohrmann '71Kitty FlatherMimi HewlettKelly McKernanLyle J. Micheli, M.D.Pamela A. MurrayCharlotte Prescott NewtonMegan O'BlockChristopher D. PerrySantosh PerumbadiWanda ReindorfGerry RicciJan Steenbrugge '99Peter J. WenderEd WertheimTania Zouikin

Board of Overseers Ivy C. Scricco, ChairAnne N. Cuervo,

Vice ChairSteven E. Eisenberg P'17,

Vice ChairStacy Parkinson P'14, P'16,

AmbassadorHoward H. Bengele, Ph.D.

Joan M. BroderickDoreen Donovan CorkinWarren R. CutlerRonald F. Duska P'17Miles A. Fish, III '63Edward C. FleckJill A. Fopiano, C.F.A.Jennifer A. FraserJohn S. FosterRemmi Franklin Christina P. GlenPreston B. GrandinAlice JacobsKate KushTom KushMarilyn LevittRicardo Lewitus, M.D.Michele ManganaroPaul F. MollicaMichael G. MoyerBrendan MurphySean M. Murphy '94 '96Barbara G. PapeschH. Calvin PlaceSuzanne H. RollertWarren A. SeamansRobb SilvaAnne C. TolkoffRosamond VauleJason S. WeissmanAmy K. WertheimGeorge C. White

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BOSTON CONSERVATORYAT BERKLEE