September 2019

Dear Friends:

Welcome to the 2019–20 season of Your Philadelphia Orchestra. Some season highlights to share as we launch the new season.

We celebrate Beethoven’s 250th birthday with BeethovenNOW: all of the symphonies in consecutive weeks, uniquely paired with new compositions, and all five piano concertos over three weeks, the first of which takes us back to the Academy of Music, our original home, for our first subscription series there since 2001.

In WomenNOW, women innovators and creators take center stage. The world premiere of Valerie Coleman’s Umoja launches our celebration of the range, creativity, and power of women in music during the opening weekend of the season. We also feature a world premiere by Orchestra Composer-in-Residence Gabriela Lena Frank. Nine further works by women composers receive their first Philadelphia Orchestra performances, including music by Lera Auerbach, Lili Boulanger, Elena Firsova, and 19th-century trailblazer Louise Farrenc, who demanded, and won, equal pay as a teacher at the Paris Conservatory. Five women conductors take the podium, including Karina Canellakis in her Orchestra debut, and many women soloists are featured, including pianist Yuja Wang, violinist Leila Josefowicz, and soprano Angel Blue.

Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s brilliant music-making, boundless energy, and musical curiosity is realized through many concerts, in particular Bach’s transformative Mass in B minor and Richard Strauss’s revolutionary opera Elektra, in a season of great vocal works that also includes Gershwin’s classic Porgy and Bess; Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs, set to love poems and written for his wife; and Ravel’s fairy-tale opera L’Enfant et les sortilèges.

Following the extremely successful 2019 Tour of China this past spring, the Orchestra once again takes its artistry on the road when it embarks on an eight-concert Tour of Asia in October–November, traveling to Taipei, Kyoto, Tokyo, Incheon, and Seoul. The relationships we have built around the world continue to inspire us, and it is incredible to share with the rest of the world the unique chemistry between Yannick and the Orchestra that you witness here at home.

As I reflect on my first year with The Philadelphia Orchestra, perhaps the most inspiring aspect is the depth of musical culture we have here: an orchestra at its best, in an ever-flourishing partnership with a music director who is a leader in the field, and whose mission—together—is to share the passion, beauty, and joy of music with you.

And, of course, we will continue to deepen our important work in the communities of Philadelphia. This is indeed #YourPhilOrch and we are delighted that you are part of our Orchestra family. We hope that the music you experience this season brings you greatest joy.

With warmest best wishes,

Matías TarnopolskyPresident and CEO#YourPhilOrch

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From the President

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Music DirectorMusic Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin will lead The Philadelphia Orchestra through at least the 2025–26 season, an extraordinary and significant long-term commitment. Additionally, he became the third music director of New York’s Metropolitan Opera in August 2018. Yannick, who holds the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Chair, is an inspired leader of The Philadelphia Orchestra. His intensely collaborative style, deeply rooted musical curiosity, and boundless enthusiasm, paired with a fresh approach to programming, have been heralded by critics and audiences alike. The New York Times has called him “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton, “the ensemble, famous for its glowing strings and homogenous richness, has never sounded better.”

Yannick has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most thrilling talents of his generation. He has been artistic director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain since 2000, and in summer 2017 he became an honorary member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He was music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic from 2008 to 2018 (he is now honorary conductor) and was principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic from 2008 to 2014. He has made wildly successful appearances with the world’s most revered ensembles and has conducted critically acclaimed performances at many of the leading opera houses.

Yannick signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon (DG) in 2018. Under his leadership The Philadelphia Orchestra returned to recording with four CDs on that label (a fifth will be released in October). His upcoming recordings will include projects with The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and the Orchestre Métropolitain, with which he will also continue to record for ATMA Classique. Additionally, he has recorded with the Rotterdam Philharmonic on DG, EMI Classics, and BIS Records, and the London Philharmonic for the LPO label.

A native of Montreal, Yannick studied piano, conducting, composition, and chamber music at Montreal’s Conservatory of Music and continued his studies with renowned conductor Carlo Maria Giulini; he also studied choral conducting with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College. Among Yannick’s honors are an appointment as Companion of the Order of Canada; an Officer of the Order of Montreal; Musical America’s 2016 Artist of the Year; the Prix Denise-Pelletier; and honorary doctorates from the University of Quebec in Montreal, the Curtis Institute of Music, Westminster Choir College of Rider University, McGill University, the University of Montreal, and the University of Pennsylvania.

To read Yannick’s full bio, please visit philorch.org/conductor.

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The Philadelphia Orchestra2019–2020 SeasonYannick Nézet-SéguinMusic Director Walter and Leonore Annenberg Chair

Stéphane DenèvePrincipal Guest ConductorErina YashimaAssistant ConductorLina Gonzalez-GranadosConducting Fellow

First ViolinsDavid Kim, ConcertmasterDr. Benjamin Rush ChairJuliette Kang, First Associate ConcertmasterJoseph and Marie Field ChairYing Fu*, Associate ConcertmasterMarc Rovetti, Assistant Concertmaster Barbara GovatosRobert E. Mortensen ChairJonathan BeilerHirono OkaRichard AmorosoRobert and Lynne Pollack ChairYayoi NumazawaJason DePueLarry A. Grika ChairJennifer HaasMiyo CurnowElina KalendarovaDaniel HanJulia LiWilliam PolkMei Ching Huang

Second ViolinsKimberly Fisher, PrincipalPeter A. Benoliel ChairPaul Roby, Associate PrincipalSandra and David Marshall ChairDara Morales, Assistant PrincipalAnne M. Buxton ChairPhilip KatesMitchell and Hilarie Morgan Family Foundation ChairBooker RoweJoseph Brodo Chair, given by Peter A. BenolielDavyd BoothPaul ArnoldLorraine and David Popowich ChairDmitri LevinBoris BalterAmy Oshiro-MoralesYu-Ting ChenJeoung-Yin KimChristine Lim

ViolasChoong-Jin Chang, PrincipalRuth and A. Morris Williams ChairKirsten Johnson, Associate PrincipalKerri Ryan, Assistant PrincipalJudy Geist Renard EdwardsAnna Marie Ahn PetersenPiasecki Family ChairDavid NicastroBurchard TangChe-Hung Chen Rachel KuMarvin MoonMeng Wang

CellosHai-Ye Ni, PrincipalPriscilla Lee, Associate PrincipalYumi Kendall, Assistant PrincipalWendy and Derek Pew Foundation ChairRichard HarlowGloria dePasqualeOrton P. and Noël S. Jackson ChairKathryn Picht ReadRobert CafaroVolunteer Committees ChairOhad Bar-DavidJohn KoenDerek BarnesMollie and Frank Slattery ChairAlex Veltman

BassesHarold Robinson, PrincipalCarole and Emilio Gravagno ChairJoseph Conyers, Acting Associate PrincipalTobey and Mark Dichter ChairJohn HoodMichael ShahanDavid FayDuane RosengardRobert KesselmanNathaniel West

Some members of the string sections voluntarily rotate seating on a periodic basis.

FlutesJeffrey Khaner, PrincipalPaul and Barbara Henkels ChairPatrick Williams, Associate PrincipalRachelle and Ronald Kaiserman ChairOlivia StatonErica Peel, Piccolo

OboesPeter Smith, Associate PrincipalJonathan BlumenfeldEdwin Tuttle ChairElizabeth Starr Masoudnia, English HornJoanne T. Greenspun Chair

ClarinetsRicardo Morales, PrincipalLeslie Miller and Richard Worley ChairSamuel Caviezel, Associate PrincipalSarah and Frank Coulson ChairSocrates VillegasPaul R. Demers, Bass ClarinetPeter M. Joseph and Susan Rittenhouse Joseph Chair

BassoonsDaniel Matsukawa, PrincipalRichard M. Klein ChairMark Gigliotti, Co-PrincipalAngela Anderson SmithHolly Blake, Contrabassoon

HornsJennifer Montone, PrincipalGray Charitable Trust ChairJeffrey Lang, Associate PrincipalHannah L. and J. Welles Henderson ChairJeffry KirschenErnesto Tovar TorresShelley Showers

TrumpetsDavid Bilger, PrincipalMarguerite and Gerry Lenfest ChairJeffrey Curnow, Associate PrincipalGary and Ruthanne Schlarbaum ChairAnthony PriskRobert W. Earley

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TrombonesNitzan Haroz, PrincipalNeubauer Family Foundation ChairMatthew Vaughn, Co-PrincipalEric CarlsonBlair Bollinger, Bass TromboneDrs. Bong and Mi Wha Lee Chair

TubaCarol Jantsch, PrincipalLyn and George M. Ross Chair

TimpaniDon S. Liuzzi, PrincipalDwight V. Dowley ChairAngela Zator Nelson, Associate Principal

PercussionChristopher Deviney, PrincipalAngela Zator Nelson

Piano and CelestaKiyoko Takeuti

KeyboardsDavyd Booth

HarpElizabeth Hainen, PrincipalPatricia and John Imbesi Chair

LibrariansRobert M. Grossman, PrincipalSteven K. Glanzmann

Stage PersonnelJames J. Sweeney, Jr., ManagerJames P. BarnesDennis Moore, Jr.

*On leave

Where were you born? In Seoul, South Korea.What piece of music could you hear over and over again? Brahms’s Symphony No. 1.What is your most treasured possession? My soulful phone. What’s your favorite Philadelphia restaurant? Definitely Parc.What’s in your instrument case? Advil and chocolate to protect and enrich my violin and bow.If you could ask one composer one question what would it be? Are there any consistent and penetrating themes or messages in your overall works?What piece of music never fails to move you? Brahms’s Symphony No. 1.When did you join the Orchestra? In September 2019.Do you play any instruments? I play piano and little bit of French horn.What’s your favorite type of food? Korean food. What books are on your nightstand? Hard copy or e-reader? Hard copy.Do you speak any other languages? Korean. Do you have any hobbies? I like to cook.Do you have a favorite movie? The Harry Potter films.Is there a piece of music that isn’t in the standard orchestral repertoire that should be? Bizet’s Symphony No. 1 in C major.What’s the last recording you purchased? Mozart’s Requiem with Riccardo Muti.What’s on your iPod? All the music I need and my lovely dog’s photo.

To read the full set of questions, please visit www.philorch.org/Lim.

Musicians Behind the ScenesChristine Lim Violin

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In the 2019–20 season, a woman’s place is on The Philadelphia Orchestra’s stages, leading from the podium, performing in the spotlight, and commanding the repertoire.

Gabriela Lena Frank, the Orchestra’s composer-in-residence, who will

write a new work to be performed “in dialogue” with Beethoven’s First and

Ninth symphonies this season.

Ravel. Bartók. Frank.

Gabriela Lena Frank remembers well what it was like, as a young composer, to have one of her pieces paired with the work of musical giants.

“I felt daunted then,” she says. “And it was my father who said, ‘You shouldn’t feel daunted. Look at this: Frank, and Ravel, and Bartók. Look, your name is with them. And that should be inspiring.’ That changed me forever.”

Seeing her name on a program with famous composers from history may have been new. But being in the company of male composers—and white male composers at that? That was the status quo. Coming of age in the 1990s, she never had a woman composition teacher in school. Nor did she have a composition teacher of color.

“When you talk about being a woman, women’s rights, you also have to talk about race,” she says. “The fact that I was a woman of color, often the only one in the music school and/or the department during my years of training, was something that was always a challenge. There would be times when I felt that I was qualified for something but I would not be selected because I didn’t look like what a composer in a European art tradition should look like. And my response to that was to just work harder.

“Nowadays, there’s so much more conversation about what it means to be of color, or to be a woman, to be disabled, to be trans,” she says, “and it’s really as a result of this kind of discussion that the industry is following.”

As the new composer-in-residence for The Philadelphia Orchestra’s current season and beyond, Frank is a linchpin of WomenNOW, the Orchestra’s multi-faceted programming initiative designed to put female artists in what Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin calls “their rightful place at center stage—as conductors, as composers, and as soloists.”

“This is a celebration of women innovators and creators,” said President and CEO Matías Tarnopolsky in announcing WomenNOW as a major “pillar” of the Orchestra’s 120th season. “We’re delighted that women’s music features so significantly on our season.”

“This is a great moment,” says Yannick. “I want to make it clear that this a new commitment for the future. That every Philadelphia Orchestra season should be the reflection of the diverse and beautiful communities that we represent.”

“Diversity is key. Whether it be diversity of opinion, heritage, or gender,” says composer Valerie Coleman, whose world premiere work launches WomenNOW.

Nineteenth-century composer, pianist, and teacher Louise Farrenc, whose Second Symphony will be performed by Yannick and the Orchestra in January/February.

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The Orchestra commissioned a symphonic expansion of her Afro-Cuban inspired Umoja—meaning “unity” in Swahili—for opening weekend. “Many women composers who have come before wrote thought-provocative works that challenged standard convention, with a greatness not fully realized until people were ready to listen.”

Frank says The Philadelphia Orchestra has been listening—and providing opportunities for women composers. The seeds for her current residency were planted eight years ago, when she was commissioned to compose a new work for Yannick’s inaugural season in 2012. After giving the world premiere of Concertino Cusqueño in Philadelphia, Yannick took the piece to Carnegie Hall, Saratoga, and on tour to Asia, in addition to programming it on one of the Orchestra’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Tribute Concerts.

Frank’s voice is a powerful one. Female, yes, but she’s also, in her words, someone who is “mixed-race, daughter of a Jew, daughter of a Latin-American immigrant, daughter of Chinese immigrants” who grew up in a liberal, hippie campus town and writes symphonies for a living. “To me, that’s very American!” she says.

She is also hearing impaired—born partially deaf, but with perfect pitch—which perhaps makes her uniquely qualified for one of her roles as composer-in-residence: curating a series of new works in honor of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birthday.

Composer and flutist Valerie Coleman (far left) is joined by oboist Jonathan Blumenfeld, Principal Bassoon Daniel Matsukawa, French horn player Shelley Showers, and clarinetist Socrates Villegas to perform a selection from her Umoja at the 2019–20 season announcement this past March in Verizon Hall. The world premiere of Coleman’s orchestral version of Umoja, which was commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra, launches the WomenNOW celebration.

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Yannick and Gabriela Lena Frank go over the score to her Concertino Cusqueño, a work commissioned by the Orchestra for his inaugural season as music director in 2012.

As part of BeethovenNOW, another cornerstone of the Orchestra’s 2019–20 season, Yannick will lead the entire cycle of Beethoven symphonies over a four-week period in the spring (March 12–April 5, 2020), each program paired with an original work in “response” to the symphonies—a love letter, a work of dissent, or a reflection on contemporary struggles and aspirations—illuminating the genius and relevance of Beethoven today. Frank’s commission will be “in dialogue” with the

Ninth Symphony, which Beethoven wrote when he was completely deaf. Other symphonies will be juxtaposed with new works by three emerging composers from Frank’s Creative Academy of Music: Iman Habibi, Jessica Hunt, and Carlos Simon.

“Beethoven lived in a world where the dominant voice was male … and white,” says Yannick. “Celebrating his legacy in 2020 means paying attention to the voices of today.”

Audiences will hear compositions by 11 women this season, ranging from the world premiere commissions of Coleman, Frank, and Hunt to underappreciated works by other living composers, to the rarely heard masterpieces of women composing in the 19th (Louise Farrenc) and early 20th centuries (Lili Boulanger).

“We have to understand that women have been composing for a very long time,” says Frank. “This is just merely giving them the platform that has been denied.”

WomenNOW means women will have an unprecedented showing on the podium. Five women—some returning, some making debuts—will guest conduct the Philadelphians this season. Two more join the Orchestra family: Erina Yashima, succeeding Kensho Watanabe, is now the Orchestra’s assistant conductor. And Lina Gonzalez-Granados has been named conducting fellow, a new position that, Tarnopolsky says, “speaks volumes to The Philadelphia Orchestra’s and Yannick’s commitment to education and to cultivating the next generation of conductors.”

Women will also be well represented on stage as soloists, and in the repertoire. More than 13 instrumentalists and vocalists will be featured, including sopranos Angel Blue and Christine Goerke; pianists Hélène Grimaud and Yuja Wang; and violinist Leila Josefowicz.

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Josefowicz’s performance adds another dimension to the WomenNOW theme: She performs John Adams’s Scheherazade.2, a piece written for her by Adams (who also conducts the Philadelphia premiere) and inspired by the plight of women throughout history.

“I imagine a Scheherazade who is not just a clever and inventive wife caught in an impossible situation, but rather an empowered woman, both sensuous and capable of fighting back,” says Adams.

Other repertoire centerpieces that tell women’s stories include George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (conducted by Marin Alsop); a rare presentation of Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges (conducted by Stéphane Denève), featuring a libretto by 20th-century writer Colette; and a symphonic staging of Strauss’s Elektra, with Yannick conducting and powerhouse Goerke singing the title role of a tormented daughter.

Throughout her residency, Frank will remain a presence in Philadelphia’s communities. She’s working on a commission for the 2020–21 season, a symphonic piece focused on Latin-American creation myths, for which she is partnering with other Philadelphia arts organizations.

Beyond the stage, the Orchestra is also a partner in Drexel University’s Vision 2020 initiative. Founded and administered by Drexel’s Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership, Vision 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote in America, and examines what’s still needed for women to achieve true equality.

Frank says it’s shocking to realize how much further there is to go. But in that shock, there is opportunity.

“This is a positive development that we’re looking at ourselves,” she says. “This is a beautiful thing to open the doors.”

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Margie Smith Holt is an Emmy-winning journalist and managing partner of re:Write, a writing and storytelling business with a special focus on the arts. She was also the host of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s Global Concert Series.

Conductor Karina Canellakis makes her Philadelphia Orchestra debut in February.

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Decca has released the premiere recording of Wynton Marsalis’s Violin Concerto with Nicola Benedetti and conductor Cristian Măcelaru, taken from live performances in Verizon Hall in November 2017. The Concerto draws on Western violin music from the Baroque era to the 21st century and explores Benedetti’s and Marsalis’s common musical heritage in Celtic, Anglo, and Afro-American folk music and dance. As Peter Dobrin noted in his concert review in the Philadelphia Inquirer, “Four movements long, his [Marsalis’s] concerto speaks in easy tones, guiding us through familiar American vernacular sounds. It fishes in some of the same waters as Gershwin and Copland. Benedetti negotiated the stream of variegated material with great sensitivity to style.”

The Orchestra’s cycle of the complete piano/orchestra works of Rachmaninoff with Daniil Trifonov and Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the Deutsche Grammophon label comes to a conclusion when their final recording, the First and Third concertos, is released next month. The recording is paired with Trifonov’s solo piano transcription of Rachmaninoff’s “The Silver Sleigh Bells” and his arrangement of the composer’s Vocalise. Trifonov follows in the footsteps of the composer, who also recorded all his piano/orchestra works with the Philadelphians in the first half of the 20th century.

The recordings can be purchased through various music retailers and digital music services.

Two New Orchestra Recordings

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The Philadelphia Orchestra began recording in 1917, and over the ensuing years it became the most recorded orchestra in the United States. The ensemble adds to its catalogue with two new releases.

A native Philadelphian, Daniel Williams served as the Orchestra’s second horn player. He began his horn studies at the age of nine in the Philadelphia public school system and then went on to attend Temple University and the Curtis Institute of Music. While at Curtis he performed with the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia (now the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia) and the Pittsburgh Symphony in its summer season. In 1975, during his senior year at Curtis, he became a member of The Philadelphia Orchestra. His primary teachers were F. Mason Jones, John Simonelli, Ward Fearn, and Glenn Janson, all former members of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s horn section. Mr. Williams currently serves on the faculty of Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance.

Christine Lim began violin studies at age three. In 2018 she received a bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Ida Kavafian. She is currently studying for a master’s degree with Soovin Kim and Paul Biss at the New England Conservatory. Ms. Lim has performed as a soloist with the Munich Chamber and South Bohemian orchestras; the Suwon, Gwacheon, Rzeszów, Euro-Asia, and Kyunggi philharmonics, and the KBS Symphony. She won First Prize at the International Competition for Violin, Kloster Schöntal; Second Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians; Third Prize at the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition; and Fourth Prize at the Seoul International Music Competition. She has also participated in the Marlboro, Ravinia, Verbier, Aspen, and Music from Angel Fire festivals.

A Fond Farewell and a Warm Welcome

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This past August horn player Daniel Williams retired from the Orchestra after a tenure of 44 years. We send him our gratitude and best wishes for the future. And with the start of the 2019–20 season we welcome violinist Christine Lim to the Orchestra.

Ms. Yashima started her musical studies at the Institute for the Early Advancement of the Musically Highly Gifted in her hometown of Hannover, Germany. After studying conducting in Freiburg and Vienna, she completed her studies at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin. She has been studying and working with Riccardo Muti since 2015. She was winner of the Chicago Symphony’s Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprenticeship and one of three finalists in the prestigious 2018 Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award. She will make several debuts this season, including the Chicago Symphony’s School and Family Concerts, the San Francisco Symphony’s Family Concert, and the Rostov State Philharmonic in her Russian debut. She also leads new productions of Handel’s Rinaldo at the Glimmerglass Festival and Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Teatro di Pisa in Italy, and returns to the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and to the Transylvania State Philharmonic of Cluj-Napoca Romania.

Ms. Gonzalez-Granados was born and raised in Cali, Colombia. She earned a master’s degree and graduate diploma from New England Conservatory and is pursuing a doctoral degree at Boston University. From 2017 to 2019 she was the Taki Concordia Fellow, a position created by Marin Alsop to foster the talent of female conductors. This year she also becomes conducting fellow of the Seattle Symphony. Her engagements this season include The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Seattle, San Diego, Principality of Asturias, and Stamford symphonies. She was the first Latina conductor to lead a major production in a U.S. opera house, at Tulsa Opera. She was a finalist for the 2019 Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition and attended the Tanglewood Conducting Seminar, a master class at the Lucerne Festival with Bernard Haitink, and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. In 2014 she founded the Unitas Ensemble, a Boston-based chamber orchestra specializing in Latin-American music.

New Conducting Appointments

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The Philadelphia Orchestra welcomes new Assistant Conductor Erina Yashima and Conducting Fellow Lina Gonzalez-Granados. Ms. Yashima will serve as cover conductor for, and provide assistance to, Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin and guest conductors, in addition to participating in residency, touring, and educational activities. Ms. Gonzalez-Granados will assist Nézet-Séguin and guest conductors on special projects in addition to leading select community programs.

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