Louisville Orchestra
More for daughter Samantha, less for Uncle Sam. Without proper planning, estate and inheritance taxes can consume assets you would prefer to pass on to your heirs. Our planners, together with your attorney and accountant, can help you work to minimize taxes and maximize what you leave to the next generation. Hilliard Lyons is as committed to optimizing your assets as you are to establishing your legacy. 888-878-7845 Hilliard Lyons Trust Company, LLC and J.J.B. Hilliard, W.L. Lyons, LLC (Hilliard Lyons) are subsidiaries of HL Financial Services, LLC. Securities are offered through J.J.B. Hilliard, W.L. Lyons, LLC | Member NYSE, FINRA, & SIPC | Hilliard Lyons and Hilliard Lyons Trust Company do not offer tax or legal advise. Please consult your tax advisor or attorney before making any decision that may affect your tax or legal situation. PUBLISHER FEARLESS DESIGNS, INC. FEBRUARY 2015 EDITOR KAY TULL MANAGING EDITOR AGGIE KEEFE CREATIVE DIRECTOR JEFF TULL DESIGN KAY & JEFF TULL LEAH DIENES PRODUCTION AGGIE KEEFE LEAH DIENES CONTRIBUTING WRITER SCOTT DOWD PRINTING CLARK & RIGGS PRINTING FEATURES THE ARTISTIC SPOTLIGHT Louisville Ballet’s next production is Val Caniparoli’s A Cinderella Story—but it’s not what you think! It’s Cinderella with a bebop, blues, swing, tango feel set in the 1950s to an original jazz orchestration from the Richard Rodgers songbook ......................................6 PROGRAM ..................................................................................A-1 TRAVEL CALENDAR A select guide to events worth mentioning in New York, Chicago, Cincinnati and beyond .................. ...14 THEATRE INFORMATION The Kentucky Center—(Whitney Hall, Bomhard Theater, Clark-Todd Hall, MeX Theater, 501 West Main Street; and Brown Theatre, 315 W. Broadway). Tickets: The Kentucky Center Box Office, 502.584.7777 or 1.800.775.7777, or Ticketmaster*. Information Hot-Line: 502.562-0100. *Ticketmaster: 502.361.3100, or www.ticketmaster.com. Reserve wheelchair seating or hearing devices at time of ticket purchase. © COPYRIGHT 2015 FEARLESS DESIGNS, INC. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR PART WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. AUDIENCE ® IS PUBLISHED BY FEARLESS DESIGNS, INC. 622 E. MAIN STREET SUITE 206 LOUISVILLE, KY 40202 502.581.9713 THEAUDIENCEGROUP.COM PRINTED IN USA LOOK AROUND YOU RIGHT NOW. IF THE PEOPLE YOU SEE LOOK LIKE POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS AND CLIENTS, YOU SHOULD BE ADVERTISING IN OUR PROGRAM GUIDES! OUR ADVERTISERS NOT ONLY GET THE BENEFIT OF REACHING A LARGE, CAPTIVE, AFFLUENT AND EDUCATED DEMOGRAPHIC, BUT THEY ALSO SUPPORT THE ARTS. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ADVERTISING IN AUDIENCE, CONTACT KAY TULL AT 502.581.9713. CLOSING DATES FOR AD SALES ARE APPROXIMATELY 30 DAYS PRIOR TO THE DATE OF PUBLICATION. THE AUDIENCE GROUP PROVIDES PROGRAM GUIDES FOR: • Actors theAtre of LouisviLLe (502.584.1205) • KentucKy center Presents (502.562.0100) • KentucKy shAKesPeAre (502.574.9900) • LouisviLLe BALLet (502.583.3150) • LouisviLLe orchestrA (502.587.8681) • Pnc BroAdwAy in LouisviLLe (502.584.7469) E-MAIL: [email protected] FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT OUR WEB SITE: THEAUDIENCEGROUP.COM SCAN THE QR CODE TO DOWNLOAD A PDF OF THIS LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA PROGRAM GUIDE. LOUISVILLE’S HOMETOWN BOURBON™. AMERICA’S FIRST BOTTLED BOURBON® we invite you to visit oldforester.com. please sip old forester responsibly. Old Forester Straight Bourbon Whisky, 43% Alc. by Volume, Brown-Forman Distillers Company, Louisville, KY ©2014 OLD FORESTER is a registered trademark. Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook, Inc. Twitter is a registered trademark of Twitter, Inc. LETTER FROM THE EDITOR The lights dim, the curtain rises, and a quiet air of excitement and expectation settles over the audience. Why are we all here? Perhaps to participate in some sort of transformative experience? What art offers is space—a certain breathing room for the spirit. ~ John Updike The stage is not merely the meeting place of all the arts, but is also the return of art to life. ~ Oscar Wilde A work of art is above all an adventure of the mind. ~ Eugene Ionesco Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought. ~ E.Y. Harbug For a complete list of shows in 2015, go to Audience Calendar at theaudiencegroup.com and link directly to group venues for more information and to buy tickets. For news, reviews and interviews on the entire arts community, visit Arts-Louisville.com. Enjoy the show! Kay Tull HIGHLANDS LATIN SCHOOL AVERAGE CLASS SIZE: 16 AVERAGE SAT: 1954 WWW.THELATINSCHOOL.ORG A U D I E N C E 5 THE ARTISTIC SPOTLIGHT Va l C a n i pa r ol i LOUISVILLE BALLET Once upon a time in the late 1950s, television stations began to offer a few phenomenal evenings of programming that mesmerized the entire family. One of these was Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical Cinderella, the first Broadway musical ever made for television. The year was 1957, and it created an international sensation. That musical and the phenomenon surrounding its initial broadcast provide the background for San Francisco-based choreographer Val Caniparoli’s ballet A Cinderella Story, which makes its Louisville premiere this month at The Kentucky Center for the Arts. One of the most-sought-after American choreographers in the United States and abroad, Caniparoli’s name is synonymous with modern ballet. BY SCOTT Scott Dowd: Even as Louisvillians were enjoying your iconic interpretation of Hoffmann’s Christmas classic here, you were in Michigan working on the world premiere of a newer version of The Nutcracker that you choreographed for the Grand Rapids Ballet. Val Caniparoli: Yes, it was a big project with a lot of pressure, but it was very well-received. The sets and production were designed by Chris Van Allsburg, renowned author of The Polar Express, and Eugene Lee, who designed the 6 DOWD sets for Wicked and Sweeney Todd. SD: I read the production was recordbreaking with all sold-out performances! That show is set to tour much like A Cinderella Story, the ballet you choreographed for Royal Winnipeg Ballet in 2004. It’s danced to themes by Richard Rodgers. Getting the rights to use the music of Richard Rodgers in an original work is almost unheard of. How did this all come about? VC: I guess it started in 2002 with Cincinnati Ballet and their invitation to A U D I E N C E Louisville Ballet dancers Mark Krieger and Natalie Ashikhmina in Val Caniparoli’s A Cinderella Story. Photo by PriceWeber. Wine Down Wednesday 1/2 Priced Select Bottles of Wine from 4 to 11PM Bourbon & Bluegrass on Thursdays live bluegrass music and our signature bourbon cocktails Sunday Brunch, bubbly & Jazz house made pastas, Eggs Benedict station, our Home Grown Table and traditional favorites alongside live Jazz music from 10:30AM to 2PM MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS NOW 502.671.4285 or Opentable.com 280 W Jefferson St. | Louisville, Ky 40202 Located in the Louisville Marriott Downtown the gala in New York to pay tribute to Richard Rodgers during his centennial year. Everyone was doing something with his music that year—orchestras, Broadway, ballet companies, etc. I had created a pas de deux to the tune “No Other Love,” which was originally written for Victory at Sea as “Under the Southern Cross.” He reworked it in 1953 for the show Juliet and Me. A Cuban couple from Cincinnati Ballet had gone back to Europe during break but couldn’t get back into the United States in time, so San Francisco Ballet stepped in with my pas de deux. It just so happened that the daughters of Richard Rodgers were there and they loved it. SD: It sounds a bit like a Cinderella story. VC: Just wait. Flash ahead, maybe a year, and I get a call from the Royal Winnipeg Ballet—I love these challenges. André Lewis, the artistic director, told me he wanted to do a full-length Cinderella and asked if I was interested. Well, of course, I was. Then he said, “But we don’t want Prokofiev.” I love a challenge, so I said, “Great. All right. I’ll figure it out.” Then the light bulb went on and I thought, “Why don’t we do something with Richard Rodgers?” SD: Was the television version your first thought? VC: I don’t know where I came up with the idea of using his version of Cinderella that was done specifically for television in 1957. But I did think it was interesting and had a thought that we could use it as a starting point. Low and behold, we got the rights because of what his daughters had seen in New York. It’s unusual to be able to take Richard Rodgers’ scores and rearrange (Continued on page 9) 8 A U D I E N C E LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA Teddy Abrams, Music Director, Mary and Barry Bingham, Sr., Music Director Chair Jorge Mester, Music Director Emeritus Bob Bernhardt, Principal Pops Conductor Jason Seber, Education and Outreach Conductor FIRST VIOLIN Michael Davis, Concertmaster Fanny and Charles Horner Concertmaster Chair Caitlin Kelley, Interim Assistant Concertmaster National City Bank Chair Katheryn S. Ohkubo Cheri Lyon Kelley Mrs. John H. Clay Chair Stephen Taylor Clayton Pusateri Chair, Endowed by Joe and Vickie Pusateri Scott Staidle Nancy Staidle Barbara Meek Patricia Fong Maria Semes Tamara Meinecke * SECOND VIOLIN Robert Simonds, Principal Claire and Lee Lenkoff Chair Devonie Freeman Mary Catherine Klan Violin Chair, Endowed by Chase Elisa Spalding Kimberly Tichenor, Acting Assistant Principal Charles Brestel Patricia Ann Jenkins Endowed Chair Heidi Tracy Judy Pease Wilson Blaise Hayden Smith Clinton Grosz VIOLA Jack Griffin, Principal Aegon Chair Evan Vicic, Assistant Principal Jacqueline R. and Theodore S. Rosky Chair Clara Markham Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Hebel, Jr. Chair Jennifer Shackleton Jonathan Mueller Virginia Kershner Schneider Viola Chair, Endowed in Honor of Emilie Strong Smith by an Anonymous Donor Meghan Casper CELLO Nicholas Finch, Principal Thomas Mattingly and Anita Grenough Abell Memorial Chair Joseph Caruso, Assistant Principal Carole C. Birkhead Chair, Endowed by Dr. Ben M. Birkhead Christina Hinton Dr. Edward Leo Callahan Chair Allison B. Olsen Frances Shapiro-Weitzenhoffer Chair, Endowed by Esther & Dr. David Shapiro Deborah Caruso Julia Preston BASS Bert Witzel, Principal Patricia Docs, Acting Assistant Principal Robert Docs Karl Olsen Jarrett Fankhauser Chair, Endowed by the Paul Ogle Foundation Michael Chmilewski FLUTE Kathleen Karr, Principal Elaine Klein Chair Donald Gottlieb Philip M. Lanier Chair PICCOLO Donald Gottlieb Alvis R. Hambrick Chair OBOE Jennifer Potochnic, Principal Betty Arrasmith Chair, Endowed by the Association of the Louisville Orchestra Trevor Johnson, Assistant Principal Edgar J. Hinson III Chair ENGLISH HORN Trevor Johnson CLARINET Andrea Levine, Principal Brown-Forman Corp. Chair Ernest Gross Kate H. and Julian P. Van Winkle, Jr. Chair Marilyn Nije § BASS CLARINET Ernest Gross General Dillman A. Rash Chair BASSOON Matthew Karr, Principal Paul D. McDowell Chair Christopher Reid § HORN Jon Gustely, Principal Edith S. and Barry Bingham, Jr. Chair Stephen Causey, Assistant Principal Diana Wade Morgen Gary and Sue Russell Chair Bruce Heim § TRUMPET J. Jerome Amend, Principal Leon Rapier Chair, Endowed by the Musicians of the Louisville Orchestra James Recktenwald, Assistant Principal Lynne A. Redgrave Chair Daniel Kassteen TROMBONE Donna Parkes, Principal PNC Bank, Kentucky, Inc. Chair Brett Shuster § BASS TROMBONE Raymond Horton TUBA John DiCesare, Principal TIMPANI Jim Rago, Principal Mr. and Mrs. Warwick Dudley Musson Principal Timpani Chair PERCUSSION John Pedroja, Principal Mark Tate § HARP Mary Julian Rapier, Principal The Humana Foundation Chair KEYBOARD Grace Baugh-Bennett § Margaret S. Comstock Piano Chair * Musician On Leave § Auxiliary Musician A U D I E N C E A-1 LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA MUSICIAN PROFILE Meet Matthew and Kathy Karr: A Musical Love Story As married musicians, Principal Bassoonist, Matthew Karr, and Principal Flute, Kathy Karr, get to share the joys of amazing symphonic performances. Kathy says, “When the orchestra plays a magnificent concert, we can share equally the deep satisfaction of having done something really well. We are completely understanding of each other’s lifestyle, our extraordinarily varied schedules, the need to practice a lot, Matthew’s reed making.” Matt continues, “We also both teach at the University of Louisville and work closely together at the School of Music. One of the challenges of our lives is that sometimes we see each other so much that we don’t spend enough time together outside of work.” They met in Chicago in a Greek restaurant. Kathy was a student at Northwestern University and Matthew had finished college at Oberlin and was performing with the Chicago Civic Orchestra. A group of musicians went to dinner in Greek town (Halsted Street in Chicago), and a wild and crazy time was had by all. Matthew auditioned for the Louisville Orchestra shortly after they met and won the job. They married a few years later, and after a few years, the Principal Flute job opened and Kathy auditioned and won the position. “At that point, we decided to settle in Louisville permanently and raise our two beautiful children, Laura and Daniel.” Matthew enjoys the music of the ’60s and ’70s, especially Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cat Stevens and Chicago. Kathy loves Klezmer and world music, but says, “Of course, our first love is Classical music.” Matthew prefers Baroque and Classical music, especially Mozart Piano Concerti. Kathy prefers 20th Century Orchestral music and especially impressionistic music. This season Kathy is thrilled and excited to perform the Mozart Concerto in G for Flute for the February Neighborhood series. Mahler 1st and Shostakovich Symphony No. 6 are also favorites. Matthew was thrilled to perform the Sibelius Violin Concerto, a piece near to his heart. Matthew is also very excited to perform Tchaikovsky 6th Symphony coming up soon. Matthew enjoys hiking the mountains in the Sierras, working in his wood shop and cycling long distances. Kathy enjoys running half marathons and volunteering in her synagogue. Mathew laughs, “Our interests are very diverse and rarely coincide.” How does a wedded pair of orchestral musicians spend Valentine’s Day? This year, Kathy will be performing the Mozart G Major Flute Concerto in Madisonville, Kentucky, that night! Matthew will be performing that night’s concert as well. But mostly, Matthew will be cheering Kathy on! They say, “We will also be listening to woodwind auditions at the University of Louisville all morning. Not such a romantic day for us this year!” A-2 A U D I E N C E LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA TEDDY ABRAMS, MUSIC DIRECTOR JORGE MESTER, MUSIC DIRECTOR EMERITUS BOB BERNHARDT, PRINCIPAL POPS CONDUCTOR COFFEE CLASSICS CLASSICS SERIES THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015 • 10:30 A.M. FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2015 • 8 P.M. Brahms Symphony No. 1 WHITNEY HALL, THE KENTUCKY CENTER TEDDY ABRAMS, CONDUCTOR PROGRAM SEBASTIAN CHANG Symphony (World Premiere) I. Validation II. Vibrance III. Experience IV. Gestalt – INTERMISSION – JOHANNES BRAHMS Symphony No. 1 in C minor, op. 68 I. Un poco sostenuto—Allegro—Meno allegro II. Andante sostenuto III. Un poco allegretto e grazioso IV. Adagio—Più andante—Allegro non troppo, ma con brio—Più allegro Listen to a broadcast of this concert on Classical 90.5FM (WUOL) and WUOL.ORG on Thursday, February 12, at 8 p.m. Please switch off all electronic devices before the concert begins. The use of cameras or recording devices is strictly prohibited. A U D I E N C E A-3 TEDDY ABRAMS, CONDUCTOR An unusually conducted the NWS in Miami Beach, versatile musician, Washington, D.C., and at Carnegie Hall, Teddy Abrams is a and has worked with many other widely acclaimed orchestras around the country. conductor as well as An accomplished pianist and an established clarinetist, Abrams has appeared as a pianist, clarinetist soloist with a number of orchestras – and composer. This including playing and conducting the season marks the beginning of his tenure Ravel Piano Concerto with the as Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra Jacksonville Symphony in fall and Music Director and Conductor of the 2013 – and has performed chamber Britt Classical Festival. He also serves as music with the St. Petersburg String Resident Conductor of the MAV Symphony Quartet, Menahem Pressler, Gilbert Orchestra in Budapest, which he first Kalish, Time for Three and John Adams, conducted in 2011. Teddy in addition to annual recently concluded his appearances at the appointment as Olympic Music “Abrams’ account of the Assistant Conductor of Festival. Dedicated the Detroit Symphony. to exploring new first movement of Active as a guest and engaging ways Schubert’s ‘Unfinished’ conductor, the to communicate was impassioned 2014-15 season with a diverse and brooding. includes Teddy’s range of audiences, debuts with the Abrams co-founded Daniel Gilliam, WUOL Louisiana and New the Sixth Floor Trio Mexico Philharmonics in 2008. The Trio and the Kitchenerhas performed around Waterloo Symphony, as well as returns to the country, establishing residencies in the Indianapolis Symphony and New communities in North Carolina, World Symphony on subscription with Philadelphia, New York and South Joshua Bell as soloist. Recent Florida; Abrams and the Trio founded performances include a debut with the and direct GardenMusic, the music Los Angeles Philharmonic and returns to festival of the world-renowned Fairchild The Florida Orchestra, the Jacksonville Tropical Garden in Miami. Abrams Symphony and the San Francisco collaborated as an arranger and pianist Symphony, where he conducted the with Cleveland Orchestra’s principal orchestra’s summer classical series in July trombonist Massimo La Rosa for La Rosa’s 2013. From 2008 to 2011 Abrams was the debut CD, released in October 2010. Conducting Fellow and Assistant Abrams studied conducting with Conductor of the New World Symphony Michael Tilson Thomas, Otto-Werner (NWS) and conducted many Mueller and Ford Lallerstedt at the Curtis performances, including subscription Institute of Music, and with David concerts and numerous other full and Zinman at the Aspen Music Festival; he chamber orchestra events. Abrams has was the youngest conducting student { { A-4 A U D I E N C E ever accepted at both institutions. Abrams is also an award-winning composer and a passionate educator – he has taught at numerous schools throughout the United States. His 2009 Education Concerts with the New World Symphony (featuring the world premiere of one of Abrams’ own orchestral works) were webcast to hundreds of schools throughout South Florida. Abrams performed as a keyboardist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, won the SEBASTIAN CHANG, Sebastian Chang works as a composer, pianist and teacher. His first major performance was at the age of 9 with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, playing the solo piano part of his composition “Concertino for Piano and Orchestra.” While a student in college and high school, Sebastian received three BMI Student Composer Awards and five ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. 2007 Aspen Composition Contest and was the Assistant Conductor of the YouTube Symphony at Carnegie Hall in 2009. He has held residencies at the La Mortella music festival in Ischia, Italy, and at the American Academy in Berlin. Teddy was a proud member of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra for seven seasons and graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with a bachelor of music, having studied piano with Paul Hersh. PIANIST-COMPOSER He also became a Davidson Institute for Talent Development Fellow Laureate and a Pinnacle Scholar. He holds a bachelor of music in composition from the Curtis Institute of Music and a master of music in composition from the University of Southern California. He is currently published by Sebastian Press and Alpha Major. He will be participating next in the third Garden Music Festival in Miami, Florida, from January 5 through 18, 2015, which will feature the premiere of several of his new compositions. VIVALDI’S “THE FOUR SEASONS” FRI, MAR 6 • 8pm (ADDED PERFORMANCE) & SAT, MAR 7 • 8pm Brown Theatre on Broadway TICKETS $50 - $15 Teddy Abrams, conductor Concert includes the Grawemeyer Award winning composition On the Guarding of the Heart by Djuro Zivkovich Sponsored by Louisvilleorchestra.org 502-584-7777 A U D I E N C E A-5 PROGRAM NOTES SEBASTIAN CHANG Symphony while the third beat remains in roughly the same place as it originally was placed. III. Experience is my first opportunity The Symphony calls for 3 flutes, piccolo, to write an exposition for orchestra in a 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, slow speed. By adhering to a stable time contrabassoon, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, backdrop of 4/4, I could explore subtle 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, piano harmonic worlds at a slower pace than I and strings. usually have time for. If the right things are done at the right Certain aspects time in this setting, “Pianist-composer Sebastian of the Symphony are tremendous anchored in the amounts of energy Chang played six of his classical tradition, can be generated twelve Etudes for Piano... for example, the and moved. performing with no score and use of sonataIV. In Gestalt, lights lowered, it was easy to allegro form in the the idea that imagine that Chang was freely first movement, ended the first the order of movement improvising his six intricate movements within becomes the miniatures, which summoned the traditional beginning of the in equal measure impressions four-movement last one. As the of Debussy, Prokofiev, framework and first movement is Nancarrow and Keith Jarrett... the use of rondo somber, it colors form in the last the appearance of Someone should pass along movement. The the theme in its Chang’s e-mail address to work retains fidelity first guise, and as Lang Lang, quick.” to traditional the fourth concepts of musical movement is ~ Steve Smith, structure and exuberant and The Boston Globe organization, but declarative, the the broadening of theme, although the the harmonic world of neoclassicism, first manifestation, can’t help but be most clearly represented by works by changed by its musical surroundings. mid-period Stravinsky or Prokofiev’s own Classical Symphony, proved to me to be a Symphony Program Notes necessary expansion of the symphony’s by Sebastian Chang harmonic organization. I. Validation stems from the threeJOHANNES BRAHMS voice main theme that stands as the Symphony No. 1 in C generative force of the entire symphony. II. Vibrance is a waltz. It’s designed to minor, op. 68 be played with a certain feel known as a Viennese lilt, commonly used to stylistically Johannes Brahms was play 19th century Austrian waltzes. In born in Hamburg in regular 3/4 time, all of the beats are 1833 and died in evenly spaced. In a lilt, the first beat is Vienna in 1897. rushed, and the second beat is dragged, Sketches for this work { { A-6 A U D I E N C E date back as far as 1862, but Brahms did most of the composing between 1874 and 1876. The first performance took place at Karlsruhe, Baden, in 1876 under the direction of Otto Dessoff. Robert Whitney first led the Louisville Orchestra with this work in 1944 and was last performed in 2010 with Jorge Mester conducting. The symphony calls for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani and strings. “I shall never compose a symphony! You have no conception of how the likes of us feel when we hear the tramp of a giant like him behind us.” So said Brahms to his friend, conductor Hermann Levi; the “giant,” of course, was Beethoven. Everyone wondered how Brahms could have reached his early forties without writing a symphony. After all, at the same age Beethoven had completed eight of his nine; Haydn, half a hundred. When Brahms was only 21, his friend Robert Schumann wrote, “But where is Johannes? Is he flying high or only under the flowers? Is he not yet ready to let drums and trumpets sound? The beginning is the main thing; if only one makes the beginning, then the end comes of itself.” Brahms did, in fact, make beginnings, but the ends didn’t quite come of themselves. After hearing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Brahms was inspired to compose a symphony in the same key of D-minor. He completed three movements before he abandoned the project. The music he produced was good—two of the movements were used later in the D-minor Piano Concerto and one found its way into Ein Deutsches Requiem—but apparently not good enough. “Composing a symphony is no laughing matter,” said Brahms, no doubt hearing the giant’s footsteps behind him. Brahms knew that his First Symphony would be seen as an artistic manifesto in an age when such things were taken very seriously. Many romantic composers looked upon Beethoven as the Great Liberator, the one who opened the doors to unbridled romanticism. Brahms, on the other hand, was predisposed to believe that much of the strength of Beethoven’s romanticism came largely from his classicism, that the dramatic outbursts were all the more powerful because of the surrounding context of discipline. For Brahms, the heart and mind had to counterbalance each other. Critical reaction to the First Symphony was mixed. The champions of unfettered romanticism took the symphony as a rebuke to their aesthetic and treated it as such; the fans of Brahms’ style, on the other hand, called it “Beethoven’s Tenth.” Those with greater insight delighted in how Brahms’ passion—as refined by his intellect—led to a work whose impact was greater than either. Today the First Symphony is a monument familiar to all. There is the pulsing introduction to the turbulent first movement; the melancholy second; the graceful, tune-laden third; and the transcendent Finale, with its startling transformation of a reverent trombone chorale into a bold consummation—all are remembered, yet each encounter with the symphony is a renewal. The comparisons to Beethoven were inevitable, then as now. In a way, both men approached the same destination from opposite directions: Beethoven had pushed outward on the boundaries of classicism, while Brahms applied discipline to the unrestrained romanticism of his age. Brahms waited to issue his First Symphony until he was a master of his craft, not only able to withstand the comparison but one whose own footsteps would ring in the ears of those who followed. ~ Mark Rohr Questions or comments? [email protected] A U D I E N C E A-7 LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA 2014/15 SEASON UPCOMING CONCERTS VIVALDI’S “The Four Seasons” MAR 6 & 7 orKIDStra MEET THE ORCHESTRA MAR 21 Tchaikovsky’s “PATHÉTIQUE” APR 9 & APR 10 A Symphonic Tribute to THE MUSIC OF PAUL MCCARTNEY at the Pops APR 11 Teddy Abrams conducts BEETHOVEN’S FIFTH APR 23 & 25 SYMPHONIC SWING at the Pops APR 24 Order your tickets NOW! 502-584-7777 • LouisvilleOrchestra.org A-8 A U D I E N C E LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA TEDDY ABRAMS, MUSIC DIRECTOR JORGE MESTER, MUSIC DIRECTOR EMERITUS BOB BERNHARDT, PRINCIPAL POPS CONDUCTOR L.O. WOW! The Ben Folds Orchestra Experience SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 2015 • 8 P.M. WHITNEY HALL, THE KENTUCKY CENTER BOB BERNHARDT, CONDUCTOR BEN FOLDS, PIANO AND VOCALS – THERE WILL BE ONE 15-MINUTE INTERMISSION DURING THIS PROGRAM. – SUPPORTING SPONSORS Please switch off all electronic devices before the concert begins. The use of cameras or recording devices is strictly prohibited. A U D I E N C E A-9 BJOOBR GBEE RMNEHSAT RE DR ,T , C OC ON ND DU UC TC OT OR R Rochester Philharmonic, Tucson With more than Symphony and the Boston Pops. With three decades of the latter, he has been a frequent guest experience as a for twenty-two years, making his debut music director, there in 1992 at the invitation of John conductor of Pops, Williams and his most recent appearance and in the opera pit, in June 2014. Louisville Orchestra This season, he will return to the Principal Pops podiums of Detroit, Edmonton, Baltimore, Conductor Bob Santa Barbara, Louisiana and Grand Bernhardt continues to bring his unique Rapids. combination of easy style, infectious His professional opera career began enthusiasm and wonderful musicianship with the Birmingham Opera in 1979, to the city and orchestra he loves. two years before Now in his thirty-third he joined the season with the LO, Louisville and eighteenth as “Bernhardt is as much at Orchestra. He Principal Pops home with Looney Tunes worked with Conductor, he Kentucky Opera accepted the and Merrie Melodies for eighteen post of Assistant as he is with Symphonies consecutive Conductor in 1981 and Concertos.” seasons, including and has worked Santa Barbara Independent six as its Principal with the Louisville Guest Conductor. Orchestra in every With his own company season since. in Chattanooga, he has conducted dozens He is concurrently Principal Pops of fully staged productions in a genre he Conductor of the Chattanooga Symphony adores. He has also been a frequent and Opera, where he previously spent guest of the Nashville Opera. 19 seasons as Music Director, and now Born in Rochester, New York, he is in his twenty-second year with the holds a master’s degree from the company. He is also Artist-in-Residence University of Southern California’s School at Lee University. of Music, where he studied with Daniel In the past three seasons, Bob has Lewis. He is also a Phi Beta Kappa, summa made his conducting debut with the cum laude graduate of Union College in Baltimore Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Schenectady, New York, where he was an Houston Symphony, Cincinnati Pops, Academic All-American baseball player. Florida Orchestra, Grand Rapids (While not all the research is in, Bernhardt Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Las believes that he is the only conductor Vegas Philharmonic and Santa Barbara in the history of music to be invited to Symphony, all of which were rewarded spring training with the Kansas City with return engagements. He has a Royals. After four days, they suggested continuing nine-year relationship with to him a life in music.) the Edmonton Symphony conducting His two children, Alex and Charlotte, there several times each season, and has live in Seattle. He and his wife, Nora, live returned as guest conductor with the in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Detroit Symphony, Seattle Symphony, { A-10 { A U D I E N C E B E NB FE NO L D S Multi-platinum hits with major symphonies before soldselling singer/ out crowds across the nation. He has also songwriter/producer toured in 2014 in Europe, the Pacific Rim Ben Folds first found and Australia. success with the Ben He is currently writing and recording Folds Five. He’s gone songs for a new record to be released in on to have a the summer of 2015, and will continue successful solo touring the globe, playing occasional career, writing, recording and performing symphony halls, as well as performances pop hits, as well as a in rock venues. recent new concerto In addition to “The symphony orchestra for piano and his self-described is a major column at the orchestra. love of making core of our civilization, not Folds also music “for a luxury or a specialachieved critical humans,” Folds interest art form.” acclaim for his is also an avid Ben Folds, Symphony Magazine insight as a judge on photographer NBC’s a cappella and an advocate competition “The Singfor music education Off” for the show’s first five seasons. and music therapy as a member of Over the past year, he’s made cameo Artist Committee of the Americans appearances in film and TV, including a For The Arts. role on Comedy Central’s “Community.” A Nashville resident, Folds preserved He’s also written and from destruction recorded several and operates the “My hope is that new songs for film historic RCA audiences are brought into and TV. Studio A, once Folds, who managed by Chet the symphony hall to hear serves as a member Atkins, and the my music and walk of the Board of home to through a door to a Directors of the thousands of lifetime of the greatest Nashville Symphony, legendary music of our culture.” has composed a recording sessions highly acclaimed in all genres of Ben Folds, Symphony Magazine concerto for piano music—from Elvis and orchestra. He Presley to the premiered the concerto in Nashville, and Monkees, Dolly Parton to Kacey has been performing select movements Musgraves, Tony Bennett to the Beach of it and other orchestrations of his pop Boys, Brian Setzer to Hunter Hayes. { { { { A U D I E N C E A-11 LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA Carol and Charlie Hebel recognize and appreciate their family’s contributions to Louisville over the past five generations, and when they began to think about creating their own legacy they knew it had to include the Louisville Orchestra. Carol and Charlie fondly recall their longstanding association with the Louisville Orchestra. “It all began with the MakingMUSIC concerts and Robert Whitney,” says Carol. “I was a student at Sacred Heart and Charlie was attending Male High School. Neither of us have a musical bone in our body, but we know gorgeous music when we hear it.” Carol first joined the Louisville Orchestra’s women’s guild in the 1960s, then Charlie served on the Orchestra Board of Directors in the 1970s, followed by Carol in the 1980s. Carol is a past-president of the board and remains a vital—and valuable—board member to this day. Drawing on their affection for the Orchestra and its musicians, and believing in its essential role in the community, the Hebels have established a Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT) to guarantee sustaining support for the Louisville Orchestra beyond their lifetimes. “No one asked us to do this,” says Charlie. “This community has been good to us and we want to give back. A CRT is the ideal way to do it – it affords the ability to support the charities of our choice while allowing us an income stream for life. Plus, there is a first year charitable deduction, so your tax benefits come up-front.” Carol and Charlie Hebel are proud members of the Robert S. Whitney Legacy Society that recognizes those who have included the Louisville Orchestra in their estate plans. To learn more about how you can include the Orchestra in your estate planning, please contact Edward Schadt, Director of Planned Giving at 502-648-4844 or [email protected]. A-12 A U D I E N C E LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA TEDDY ABRAMS, MUSIC DIRECTOR JORGE MESTER, MUSIC DIRECTOR EMERITUS BOB BERNHARDT, PRINCIPAL POPS CONDUCTOR CLASSICS SERIES Enigma Variations SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2015 • 8 P.M. • BROWN THEATRE JORGE MESTER, cOnducTOR • JuLIAn ScHWARZ, cELLO PROGRAM WILLIAM SCHUMAN New England Triptych I. Be Glad then, America II. When Jesus Wept III. Chester DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, op.107 Julian Schwarz, cello I. Allegretto II. Moderato III. Cadenza—Attacca IV. Allegro con moto – INTERMISSION – EDWARD ELGAR I. Theme II. Variation I “C.A.E.” III. Variation II “H.D.S-P.” IV. Variation III “R.B.T.” V. Variation IV “W.M.B.” VI. Variation V “R.P.A.” VII. Variation VI “Ysobel” VIII. Variation VII “Troyte” Enigma Variations, op. 36 IX. Variation VIII “W.N.” X. Variation IX “Nimrod” XI. Variation X “Dorabella” XII. Variation XI “G.R.S.” XIII. Variation XII “B.G.N.” XIV. Variation XIII “ * * * ” XV. Variation XIV “E.D.U.” Listen to a broadcast of this concert on Classical 90.5FM (WUOL) and WUOL.ORG on Thursday, March 12, at 8 p.m. Please switch off all electronic devices before the concert begins. The use of cameras or recording devices is strictly prohibited. A U D I E N C E A-13 JORGE MESTER, CONDUCTOR Jorge Mester is recogconductor of both the Adelaide Symphony nized throughout the and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. From world as a preeminent 1998 to 2002, he served as artistic director conductor, renowned of the Orquesta Filarmonica de la Ciudad for the excellence and de Mexico in Mexico City. As a guest prominence he brings conductor, Mester has traveled the world to to every organization appear with such orchestras as the Royal he leads. In July 2006, Philharmonic Orchestra of London, Cape Mester was invited to Town Symphony Orchestra and the return as music direc- tor of The Louisville Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. He Orchestra, a position he previously held commanded worldwide attention when from 1967 to 1979. he conducted the opening ceremonies for He was Music Director of the Pasadena the Getty Center in Los Angeles in 1997 and Symphony for 25 years from 1985 to 2010, subsequently served as artistic director of and Music Director of the Naples the Center’s first classical music series. Philharmonic from 2004 to 2012. Mester Long an ardent champion of is also Conductor contemporary Laureate of the music, Mester has During his first 12-year prestigious Aspen worked with tenure, Mester and the Music Festival, dozens of gifted Louisville Orchestra made which he led as composers and music director for has presented 72 world premiere recordings 21 years from at least 75 world of contemporary works by 1970 to 1991. premieres. Dmitri Shostakovich, Carlos He also put his In 1985, he Chavez, Frank Martin, Henry unique stamp on received Columbia Cowell, Samuel Barber, the Puerto Rico University’s Leonardo Balada and Peter Festival Casals prestigious Ditson during the seven Conductor’s Schulthorpe, to name a few. years he served as Award for the its music director, advancement of beginning in the late 1970s. Mester also American music. Other Ditson Award served as Artistic Director of the Young recipients include Leonard Bernstein, Musicians Foundation and its Debut Eugene Ormandy and Leopold Stokowski. Orchestra for the 2011-12 season. In Mexico City, Mester programmed a As the artistic director of the National 40-week festival featuring 20th century Orchestral Association’s New Orchestra music. This unique season, which devoted Music Project from 1988 to 1992, he a month to each decade of the 20th became familiar with an impressive century, was hailed as a musical “first.” number of American composers and had Jorge Mester’s recent guest-conducting the opportunity to present many new works engagements include Breckenridge’s at Carnegie Hall. He also served as chief National Repertory Orchestra, Buffalo conductor of the West Australia Symphony Philharmonic, a return to Mexico City’s Orchestra in Perth, and principal guest Orquesta Filarmónica de la Universidad { { A-14 A U D I E N C E Autónoma de Mexico and Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México (for its celebratory 30th anniversary concert), and the Budapest Concert Orchestra MAV in Hungary. In the U.S., he has also conducted the orchestras of Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Cincinnati, Seattle and Rochester. In summer 2011, Mester led the Chautauqua Festival Orchestra in its season opening concerts. Notably, Mester’s passion for conducting extends from the stage to the classroom. He served as director of the Juilliard School’s Conducting Department during the early 1980s, led a series of conducting workshops for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and has also been a guest conductor at the USC Thornton School of Music. Mester says, “I love teaching. I hope to pay back the help which Leonard Bernstein, Gregor Piatigorski, William Schuman and Jean Morel gave me early in my career. I want to help others the way I was helped.” Indeed, he has taught several generations of conductors, including James Conlon, Dennis Russell Davies, Andreas Delfs, JoAnn Falletta and John Nelson. In addition, he has mentored early in their careers such internationally acclaimed artists as Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Midori, Renee Fleming and Robert McDuffie. Mester, who is of Hungarian descent, was born and raised in Mexico City and currently resides in Southern California. An accomplished violist, he performed with the Beaux-Arts Quartet for several years before focusing exclusively on conducting. JULIAN SCHWARZ, Born in Seattle into a musical family, cellist Julian Schwarz is already being recognized as a cellist destined to rank among the finest of the 21st century. In August 2013, he was awarded first prize in the professional cello division of the inaugural Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld International String Competition in Hong Kong. Mr. Schwarz made his orchestral debut at the age of 11 playing the SaintSaens Concerto No. 1 with the Seattle Symphony and his father, Gerard Schwarz, on the podium. Since then, he has appeared with the Seattle, San Diego, Puerto Rico, Columbus (Ohio), Syracuse, Virginia, Sarasota, Grand Rapids, Omaha, Wichita and Modesto symphonies, among others, and performed recitals at CELLO the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico and in Palm Springs. During the 2014-15 season, Mr. Schwarz made debuts with the Charlotte, Toledo, Amarillo and Washington/Idaho symphonies, and Symphony Silicon Valley in San Jose along with this performance with the Louisville Orchestra; returns to the Hartford and Boca Raton symphonies and the Northwest Sinfonietta; and plays recitals in Palm Springs, Washington DC, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Internationally, he made his Australian debut with the Queensland Symphony in Brisbane, his Mexican debut with the Orquesta Filarmonica de Boca del Rio in Veracruz, as well as his debut in Hong Kong appearing at the Intimacy of Creativity Festival. In August 2012, Julian Schwarz recorded the Samuel Jones Cello Concerto, which was written for him, A U D I E N C E A-15 with the newly formed All Star Orchestra. The All Star Orchestra, comprised of orchestral musicians from major American orchestras, taped eight programs at that time, all of which were broadcast on public television in the fall of 2013 and then issued on DVD’s by Naxos. Mr. Schwarz’s previous recordings for Naxos include “In Memoriam” for the Music of Remembrance series and the Saint-Saens No. 1 and Haydn C Major cello concertos with the Seattle Symphony. An avid chamber musician, Julian Schwarz has performed at the Aspen, Interlochen, Eastern, California Summer and Encore music festivals. He has been the “Featured Young Artist” at both the Seattle Chamber Music Festival and the Cape Cod Music Festival and attended and performed at the prestigious Verbier Festival in Switzerland. He performed the Brahms Double at the Eastern Music Festival and the Bellingham Festival of Music in summer 2011 and returned to the Eastern Music in summer 2013 to play the premiere of a new concerto by Richard Danielpour, A Prayer For Our Time. Julian Schwarz started piano lessons at the age of five and began his cello studies the following year with the late David Tonkonogui; subsequent teachers include Toby Saks, Lynn Harrell, Neal Cary, Paul Coletti, Arnold Steinhardt, Andre Roy and Ronald Leonard at the Colburn School. He received his bachelor of music degree in May 2014 from The Juilliard School in New York City, where he studied with Joel Krosnick. PROGRAM NOTES WILLIAM SCHUMAN New England Triptych William Schuman was born in New York City in 1910 and died there in 1992. He composed this work in 1956 on a commission from conductor Andre Kostelanetz. It was first performed the same year by the University of Miami Orchestra led by Kostelanetz. Jorge Mester conducted the first Louisville Orchestra performance of New England Triptych in 1976 and the last performance in 2010. The score calls for 3 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, E-flat clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion and strings. A-16 William Schuman was one of the most important musical figures in America in the twentieth century. Apart from his accomplishments as a composer—sadly neglected today—he promoted new music as Director of Publications for G. Schirmer, was a longtime president of the Julliard School, president of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and director of such institutions as the Koussevitsky Foundation, the Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center and the Naumberg Foundation. In a strange twist, he is best known as a composer for his New England Triptych, which is based on another man’s music. Schuman explained: “William Billings (1744–1800) is a major figure in the history of American music. His works capture the spirit of sinewy ruggedness, deep religiosity and patriotic fervor that we associate with the revolutionary A U D I E N C E period in American history. I am not alone among American composers who feel a sense of identity with Billings, which accounts for my use of his music as a departure point. These three pieces are not a ‘fantasy’ nor ‘variations’ on themes of Billings, but rather a fusion of styles and musical language.” The first movement is based on Billings’ hymn “Be Glad, Then, America,” a celebration of America’s bounty. After a dark introduction led by the timpani, a great profusion of counterpoint ensues based on music originally written to the lines “Be glad, then, America, shout and rejoice.” “When Jesus Wept” begins with Billings’ tune in a mournful bassoon and continues in rounds. Billings composed “Chester” as a church hymn, but during the Revolution it became a popular marching song for the Continental Army. We hear it first as a hymn, then a joyous tribute to the spirit of America. DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Concerto for Cello & Orchestra No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 107 Dmitri Shostakovich was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 1906 and died in Moscow in 1975. He composed this work in 1959, and it was first performed by Mstislav Rostropovich, cello, with the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Yevgeny Mravinsky the same year. The Louisville Orchestra first performed this work in 1979 with Jorge Mester conducting and Yo-Yo Ma as the soloist. The last time the Louisville Orchestra presented this work was in 2010 with Scott Yoo conducting and Bion Tsang as the cellist. The score calls for solo cello, 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, French horn, timpani, celeste and strings. Shostakovich spent the bulk of his life shadowboxing with the greatest (and perhaps most unpredictable) antagonist anyone could have: Joseph Stalin. In one of his many purges, the dictator condemned the composer for music “marked by formalist perversions, dissonance, contempt for melody, and the use of chaotic and neuropathic discords—all of which are alien to the artistic tastes of the Soviet people.” Yet not long after he wrote those words, Stalin phoned Shostakovich personally and asked him to represent the Soviet Union at a cultural conference to be held in New York in 1949. It is no wonder that the composer was described as “highly nervous, chain smoking and seemingly anxious most of the time” during his trip. By the time Shostakovich made his next trip to the United States in 1959, Stalin was dead and the Krushchev “thaw” had mostly rehabilitated his reputation. On this visit the composer was able to hear much new American music, and he brought with him a little something of his own: the newlycomposed Cello Concerto No. 1. Before World War II Shostakovich had produced but one concerto, the exuberant (and youthful) Op. 35 Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings. After the war, he returned to the idiom and composed two concertos for cello, two for violin and another for the piano. The Cello Concerto No. 1 came closely after the Eleventh Symphony, yet their styles are surprisingly distinct. Where the symphony had been expansive, meditative and personal, the concerto is tightly drawn, succinct and more objectively argued. The opening motive stated by the cello is the thematic basis A U D I E N C E A-17 of the entire work; its ironic character brings the First Symphony to mind. The second movement is lyrical, and in an unusual twist, the third is a cadenza for the soloist. The cello first ruminates upon the second movement material, then looks ahead to the turbulent Finale. After having been disguised in its many variations, the work’s opening theme returns in its original form, now providing the “solution” to the “question” it had posed when it first appeared. EDWARD ELGAR Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma), Op. 36 Edward Elgar was born in Broadheath, Worcestershire, England, in 1857 and died in Worcester, England, in 1934. He composed this work in 1899, and it was first performed the same year in London under the direction of Hans Richter. The debut performance of this work was in 1969 under the baton of Yoav Talmi and was last performed in 2011 led by Jorge Mester. The score calls for 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, optional organ and strings. This is the work that put Elgar on the musical map. He had made his living as a musical jack-of-all-trades, playing several instruments, conducting, teaching and composing. His early works (mostly cantatas and choral works based on historical romances) brought him scant recognition; it was not until he composed his Enigma Variations that he came into his own as a composer of quality, one whom Richard Strauss would call “the first English progressivist.” A-18 As the title implies, the work is a theme-and-variations, but with a twist: the theme is never heard—hence the “enigma.” What’s more, each variation is also a portrait of one of his friends. Each was cryptically titled with a set of initials or a name, and it was not until after Elgar’s death that all of the identities became known. The variations are played without pause, proceeding as follows: Theme: A theme without a theme, actually: its two contrasting sections are derived from, but are not in themselves, the mysterious Enigma theme. Variation I (C.A.E.) A warm portrait of Caroline Alice Elgar, the composer’s wife. Elgar incorporated the four-note whistle he always used to let her know that he was home. Variation II (H.D.S-P) Pianist-friend H.D. Stuart-Powell. Variation III (R.B.T.) Amateur actor Richard Baxter Townshend. Townshend’s peculiar ability to manipulate his voice from basso to falsetto is mimicked by gravelly rumbles set against high woodwind figures. Variation IV (W.M.B.) William M. Baker, a rather gruff country squire. Variation V (R.P.A.) Richard P. Arnold was a young philosopher/musician whose personality could turn rapidly from serious to whimsical. Variation VI (Ysobel) The prominence of the violas in this variation is in honor of Isabel Fitton, Elgar’s viola student. Variation VII (Troyte) Arthur Troyte Griffith was an architect and amateur pianist whose contentious personality often showed in his piano playing. Variation VIII (W.N.) Winifred Norbury was a gracious elderly woman whose laugh is immortalized by the oboe trills in this variation. Variation IX (Nimrod) This weighty core of the Variations is a portrait of A U D I E N C E August Jaeger, Elgar’s friend at Novello, his publisher. According to Elgar, “It is a record of a long summer evening talk, when my friend grew nobly eloquent (as only he could) on the grandeur of Beethoven, and especially of his slow movements.” Variation X (Dorabella) In the descending melody Elgar warmly recalls his friend Dora Penny’s halting manner of speech. Variation XI (G.R.S.) This variation is named for George R. Sinclair, but the portrait is largely of the man’s bulldog, Dan. Variation XII (B.G.N.) The cello section portrays Basil G. Nevinson, a cellist who played chamber music with Elgar. Variation XIII (***) Mary Lygon was on a voyage to Australia when the Variations were written, which explains the quotes from Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage. Since she was away, Elgar couldn’t ask her permission to use her initials. Finale (E.D.U.) “Edu” was his wife’s pet name for Elgar and, as he said, “In the fourteenth variation, I came to myself.” The composer’s self-portrait is a grand resolution of the Variations, and a capstone to the piece. Elgar refused to reveal the thematic basis for the Variations: “The Enigma I will not explain—its ‘dark saying’ must be left unguessed.” Despite that—of course!—many have guessed, and solutions have ranged from “Auld Lang Syne” to “God Save the Queen.” There is one solution, though, that accounts for Elgar’s broadest hint: when Dora Penny (the subject of Variation X) asked Elgar about the Enigma, he replied, “You of all people should have guessed!” The reason she should have guessed was that on the tail side of an old Victorian penny was the image of Britannia, and in this hypothesis, “Rule Britannia” is the source of the theme. If you sing from the words “never never never shall be slaves,” you encounter a snippet of melody that occurs frequently throughout the work. With a little imagination this also explains Elgar’s statement that “the principal theme never appears.” Simply re-arrange the punctuation and you have “the principal theme, ‘never,’ appears”— along with an enigmatic gleam in Elgar’s eye. ~Mark Rohr Questions or comments? [email protected] LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA Principal Flutist, Kathy Karr 2014/15 SEASON LG&E Music without Borders Sat Feb 7 • 7:30pm • Middletown United Methodist Church Thu Feb 12 • 7:30pm • Congregation Adath Jeshurun TICKETS $20 Jason Seber, conductor • Kathy Karr, flute Program includes: Mozart Flute Concerto Louisvilleorchestra.org 502-587-8681 A U D I E N C E A-19 THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA’S 2014-15 SEASON $100,000 + UP $50,000 - $99,999 $15,000 - $49,999 The Gheens Foundation, Inc. William M. Wood Foundation $7,500 - $14,999 $2,500 - $7,499 GARY AND SUE RUSSELL IN KIND CD Colonial Designs of St. Matthews Florist of the Louisville Orchestra SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS AT THE KENTUCKY CENTER FOR THEIR CONTINUED SUPPORT. THE GALT HOUSE HOTEL & SUITES IS THE PREFERRED HOTEL OF THE LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA. A-20 A U D I E N C E LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA CONTRIBUTORS The Louisville Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the following donors of record for the period December 1, 2013, through December 31, 2014. $3,000 - $4,999 Conductor’s Patron Frank Abell Fund Dr. Frederick Albrink Mrs. Janice Purcell-Basu and Mr. Joy Basu $100,000 - $249,999 Mr. William F. Burbank Virtuoso Circle Ms. Laura Douglas Mr. and Mrs. David A. Jones, Sr. Mr. and Mrs. Donald Finney Association of the Louisville Orchestra Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Fleischman Mr. and Mrs. Owen C. Hardy $75,000 - $99,999 Robin Koch Howard and Sam Carl Maestro Circle Mr. Anthony Kern Mr. and Mrs. John Malloy $25,000 - $74,999 Andrew Kipe and Norman Morse Platinum Baton Guild Dr. and Mrs. Joseph E. Kutz Brooke and Matthew Barzun Mr. and Mrs. David Laird Mr. Owsley Brown, III Mr. and Mrs. Tom Partridge Mr. and Mrs. George S. Gibbs, III Ms. Kathleen Pellegrino Augusta and Gill Holland Mr. and Mrs. Norman Pfau John and Ingrid Johnson Mr. Todd P. Lowe and Ms. Fran C. Ratterman Mr. and Mrs. John Smart Woodrow M. and Florence G. Strickler Mr. and Mrs. Gary M. Russell Fund Mr. and Mrs. James S. Welch, Jr. Estate of Martha J. Voll $15,000 - $24,999 $1,500 - $2,999 Gold Baton Guild Concertmaster Patron Bob and Nora Bernhardt Dr. James Appleberry Frank and Paula Harshaw Mr. and Mrs. Irving W. Bailey, II Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Hebel, Jr. Ms. Elizabeth M. Bernstrom Mr. and Mrs. James O. King Mr. and Mrs. Steven Breckner Estate of Mrs. S. Arnold Lynch Ms. Ruth Brinkley Mr. and Mrs. Guy Montgomery Mrs. Evelyn T. Cohn Mr. and Mrs. Warwick Musson David and Cynthia Collier Mrs. Jane Feltus Welch Mrs. John G. Dietrich Dr. and Mrs. Richard Wolf Ms. Gayle A. DeMersseman Dr. and Mrs. Christopher Doane $10,000 - $14,999 Mr. and Mrs. William L. Ellison, Jr. Sterling Baton Guild Dr. Vilma Fabre Mrs. Kendra D. Foster and Mr. and Mrs. Randall Fox Mr. Turney P. Berry Mr. and Mrs. Erik Furlan Mr. David A. Jones, Jr. and Mr. and Mrs. John R. Gregory Mrs. Mary Gwen Wheeler Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Hamel Dr. Virginia Keeney Mrs. Barbara B. Hardy Mr. John E. King and Dr. Emma Birks Dr. Susan J. Herlin Mr. and Mrs. Arthur J. Lerman Dr. Frederick Hilton Mr. Joseph A. Paradis, III Mr. Robert E. Kulp, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Bruce J. Roth Mrs. Philip Lanier Mrs. Denise Schiller Mrs. Eileene J. MacFalls Dr. Eugene March and $5,000 - $9,999 Dr. Lynn Gant March Bronze Baton Guild Mrs. Carolyn Marlowe Mr. and Mrs. Steve Bailey Ms. Mary Means Mrs. Edith S. Bingham Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Morgen Mr. and Mrs. David C. Daulton Mr. and Mrs. Fred Pirman Mrs. Elizabeth W. Davis Mrs. David Potter Dr. and Mrs. Charles E. Dobbs Mr. and Mrs. David Ray Mr. and Mrs. Thomas E. Dunham Kenneth and Beulah Rogers Mr. and Mrs. Vincenzo Gabriele Mr. Michael Rudd Mrs. Thelma Gault Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth L. Sales Mr. and Mrs. John S. Greenebaum Reverend Edward W. Schadt Jay and Louise Harris Ms. Helga Schutte Mr. Robert B. Horner Ms. Tamina Singh Don and Ann Kohler Mr. and Mrs. Robert Steen Mr. and Mrs. Bill Lamb Mr. Edward Stopher General Dillman Rash Fund Dr. Gordon D. Strauss and Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. Rounsavall, III Dr. Catherine Newton Rev. Alfred R. Shands, III Mr. and Mrs. Michael Von Hoven Mr. and Mrs. Joseph E. Shiprek Mr. and Mrs. Robert Whayne Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Wardell Mrs. Mary Ellen Wiederwohl and Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Hays Wimsatt Mr. Joel Morris Mr. and Dr. Robert Wimsatt Anonymous Dr. Shiao Y. Woo and John H. Shaw-Woo Anonymous $250,000 + Founders Circle Christina Lee Brown A U D I E N C E $500 - $1,499 Player’s Patron Dr. and Mrs. Joe F. Arterberry Ms. Susan H Baker Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Barton Ms. Lynne Baur Mrs. Mary J. Beale Mr. and Mrs. William D. Beaven Reverend and Mrs. Harlan Beckemeyer Tom and Jody Block Mr. and Mrs. John T. Bondurant Dr. and Mrs. Lawrence H. Boram Mr. and Mrs. Steven Breckner Dr. and Mrs. Paul Brink Mr. and Mrs. Gary Buhrow Dr. and Norbert Burzynski Mr. and Mrs. William P. Carrell Lindy Casebier June Allan Creek Bettye Jane Davey Mr. and Mrs. Gordon B. Davidson Dr. and Mrs. John W. Derr, Jr. Ms. Judith Ann Dickson Mr. and Mrs. James M. Doyle Mr. and Mrs. George F. Duthie Rev. John G. Eifler Ms. Susan Ellison Mrs. Jean W. Frazier Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon G. Gilman Mr. Don J. Glaser Ms. Mary Louise Gorman Dr. and Mrs. Laman A. Gray Ms. June Hampe Mr. and Mrs. William Hancock Mr. and Mrs. Spencer E. Harper, Jr. Mr. Carl Helmich Dr. George H. Herbener and Dr. Margaret Fonda Mr. and Mrs. Willis W. Hobson Mr. and Mrs. Paul Hollingsworth Mr. and Mrs. Ronald J. Horvath Mr. and Mrs. David Hyslop Mr. and Mrs. Breck Jones Mr. and Mrs. Daniel N. Klinck Dr. and Mrs. Forrest Kuhn Mr. and Mrs. Karl D. Kuiper Mr. Michael Kusman Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Lancaster Mrs. Helen Lang Mr. and Mrs. Samuel M. Levine Dr. and Mrs. Daniel McAninch Tonya and Steve McSorley Cantor David Lipp and Rabbi Laura Metzger Ms. Julie Morton Mr. and Mrs. Ken Loomis Mr. and Mrs. Stuart McCombs Mrs. Virginia MacKin Mr. and Mrs. Robert Montgomery Ms. June E. Morris Mr. and Mrs. Ronald J. Murphy Dr. and Mrs. Alton E. Neurath, Jr. Dr. and Mrs. David H. Neustadt Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Olliges Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Passafiume Mrs. William P. Peak Mr. and Mrs. John Pohl Mrs. Anne L. Pope Charlie and Carol Pye Mr. Stephen Reinhardt Dr. John Roberts Mr. and Mrs. Theodore S. Rosky Dr. and Mrs. William M. Schreiber A-21 Ms. Alleine Schroyens Mr. and Mrs. David C. Scott Dr. Arthur J. Slavin and Mrs. Inger J. Slavin Dr. Janet L. Smith Mrs. Carole Snyder Dr. and Mrs. Paul E. Tipton Mrs. Rose Mary Toebbe Mr. and Mrs. James R. Voyles Ms. Zada Wagaman Mr. and Mrs. William W. Weber Mr. and Mrs. Orme Wilson Mr. James I. Wimsatt and Ms. Rebecca S. Beal Dr. John C. Wright and Dr. Kay Roberts Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Wolff Mrs. Evelyn C. Wolford $250 - $499 Patron Ms. Susan Barry Mr. Hans Bensinger Ms. Pamela Blair Mrs. Kathryn D. Christopherson Ms. Caroline Christian Ms. Faith Cirre Mr. and Mrs. George F. Coleman Mrs. Richard L. Conklin Mr. and Mrs. Arthur O. Cromer Mr. and Mrs. Leonidas D. Deters, Jr. Mr. Stephen A. Dobbins Ms. Ewing A. Fahey Mr. Walter Feibes Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Foshee Ms. Christine Gault Dr. Mary Harty Mr. Marc T. Haynes Mr. Lawrence Herzog Dr. Arthur Isaacs and Ms. Joyce Loeser Dr. and Mrs. Samuel L. Karr Ms. Margie Kommor Ms. Kathy Kugler Mr. and Mrs. Alan L. Kunkel Dr. and Mrs. Allan Lansing Dr. and Mrs. Leonard Leight Mr. Ronald L. Loughry and Ms. Bethany A. Breetz Ms. Nancy Marnett Ms. Maureen Marra Ms. Joanne Milo Mr. Charles Moore Mrs. Robert Nash Dr. Charles R. Oberst Dr. Naomi J. Oliphant Ms. Donna Peak Ms. Joan Pike Mr. and Mrs. Julius E. Raith Mr. and Mrs. Robert Reed Mr. and Mrs. Mark Richardson Dr. Kay Roberts Ms. Eleanor R. Robins Mr. and Mrs. E. Halsey Sandford Brandon and Courtney Schadt Mr. Richard W. Sharpe Cary Shields Mr. and Mrs. John Sinai Mr. and Mrs. Richard E. Smith Mr. Richard Stephan Dr. Gerald F. Sturgeon and Dr. Patricia Sturgeon Mrs. & Mr. Kathleen Towsley Mr. Samuel Tyler Ms. Patricia Walker Mr. Dennis Walsh Mr. and Mrs. William Walsh, III Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm Watts Mr. and Mrs. John H. Welch Ms. Maria L. Whittington Mr. and Mrs. Raleigh K. Wilson Mrs. Susan H. Wilburn Ms. Susan Zepeda and Dr. Fred Seifer Dr. and Mrs. Nathan Zimmerman ROBERT S. WHITNEY LEGACY SOCIETY Individuals who have generously made estate plans for the Louisville Orchestra. Ms. Doris L. Anderson Mr. and Mrs. Stanley L. Crump Mrs. Janet R. Dakan William J. Ehrig Don J. Glaser Anita Ades Goldin Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Hebel, Jr. Carl E. Langenhop Mrs. Philip Lanier Mr. and Mrs. Arthur J. Lerman Dr. Naomi J. Oliphant Mr. Paul R. Paletti, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Gary M. Russell Rev. Edward W. Schadt Estate of Louise Tachau Schulman Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Summers, Jr. Dr. Peter Tanguay and Margaret Fife Tanguay Rose Mary Rommel Toebbe Dr. and Mrs. Richard S. Wolf Anonymous COMMUNITY PARTNERS Axxis Colonial Designs of St. Matthews Gohmann Asphalt & Construction Jefferson County Public Schools Leap Frog Interactive, Inc. Louisville Public Media O’Neil Arnold Photography Phoenix Lighting and Sound Psi Iota Xi National Sorority, Inc. Psi Iota Xi Sorority, Zeta Iota Chapter SCH Realty Strothman & Company PSC Thrifty Car and Truck Rental Vincenzo’s Vintage Printing The Voice-Tribune WDRB Fox 41 FOUNDATION PARTNERS Barr Foundation The Clifton Foundation Irvin F. and Alice S. Etscorn Foundation Fiddlehead Fund Gheens Foundation Habdank Foundation Klein Family Foundation Paradis Foundation RLR Charitable Foundation Louis T. Roth Foundation Lyndon and Helen Schmid Charitable Foundation Arthur K. Smith Family Foundation Sutherland Foundation William M. Wood Foundation Wimsatt Family Foundation LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA PARTNERSHIP IN ARTS AND CULTURE Bistro Le Relais Bristol Bar & Grille 211 Clover Lane Corbett’s: An American Place DISH on Market Gary’s on Spring Lilly’s Bistro Milkwood MATCHING GIFTS Porcini Restaurant Dow Corning for Edward Sprague General Electric for Walter and Maud Baker, RIVUE Rye on Market Filomena Farley, Theodore Groene, Seviche, a Latin Restaurant Diane Aprile Hoosel, Jacquelyn B. St. Charles Exchange Metzler, Richard and Louise Prycha, U of L Physicians Group Mr. and Mrs. K. C. Reifsteck, J. and The Village Anchor Carol Rosenkrans, Kim Shapiro and Vincenzo’s Italian Restaurant Gerald Wells Kindred Healthcare for Ms. Barbara Baylis Volare Italian Restaurant and John E. King YUM! Brands, Inc. for Gary and Virginia Buhrow The Louisville Orchestra Partnership for Arts and Culture The Louisville Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the following partners for their five-year commitment of financial support. Please join us by expressing your gratitude when visiting these establishments. The Bristol Bar and Grille • 211 Clover Lane • Corbett’s: An American Place • Le Relais • Porcini Restaurant • University of Louisville Physicians Department of Radiation Oncology • The Village Anchor • Vincenzo’s Italian Restaurant A-22 A U D I E N C E LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA 2014-15 BOARD OF DIRECTORS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Mary Ellen Wiederwohl, Member at Large Winona Shiprek, Chair Special Events Christina Brown, Member at Large Carol Hebel†, Member at Large Ingrid Johnson, Member at Large John Malloy, Member at Large Tim Tomes, ALO President James S. Welch, Jr., President Chuck Maisch, Immediate Past President Andrew Fleischman, General Counsel/Secretary Kendra Foster, Co-Chair Development Susan Von Hoven, Co-Chair Development Paula Harshaw, Chair Education Tom Partridge, Chair Finance Bruce Roth, Chair Nom. and Governance BOARD OF DIRECTORS Mrs. Janice Purcell-Basu Mrs. Paula Harshaw Mrs. Carole Birkhead† Dr. Virginia Keeney† Mrs. Ruth Brinkley Mr. James King, Jr. Mr. Lindy Casebier* Mr. John E. King Dr. Christopher Doane Mr. Don Kohler, Jr. Mrs. Ritu Furlan Mrs. Mary Jane Kutz Mr. Vincenzo Gabriele Mrs. Nancy Laird Mr. Arthur Lerman Mr. Todd Lowe Mr. Guy Montgomery Mr. Joseph Paradis, III Mr. Nicolas Raubertas Mr. Kenneth Sales Mrs. Denise Schiller Mrs. Kim Tichenor* Mr. Louis Waterman Mr. Robert Wimsatt Dr. Shiao Woo *denotes Ex-Officio † denotes Life Member ASSOCIATION OF THE LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA, INC. EXECUTIVE OFFICERS Tim Tomes, President Gloria Bailey, Immediate Past President Margaret Horlander, Vice President, Communication Mona Newell, Vice President, Education Peg Irvin, Dottie Nix, Vice Presidents, Hospitality Gloria Bailey, Jeanne James, Vice Presidents, Membership Winona Shiprek, Anne Tipton, Vice Presidents, Ways and Means Carolyn Marlowe, Recording Secretary Sue Bench, Corresponding Secretary Ann Decker, Treasurer Jo Ann Gammon, Paula Harshaw, President’s Appointments BOARD OF DIRECTORS Janet Ames Rita Bell Sally Brink Carolyn Bruce June Creek Barb Dunham Janet Falk Jeanne Ferguson Margie Harbst Carol Hebel Deanna Heleringer Jeanne James Nancy Laird Marcia Murphy Carolyn Neustadt Roycelea Scott Ruth Scully Nancy Seitz Mollie Smith Harriet Treitz Judy Wayne Carol Whayne Suzanne Whayne LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA STAFF Andrew Kipe, Executive Director Tonya McSorley, Chief Financial Officer Robin Koch Howard, Director of Development Deanna Hoying, Director of Education & Community Engagement Carla Givan Motes, Director of Patron Services & Ticket Operations Lindsay C. Vallandingham, General Manager Michelle Winters, Director of Marketing and Public Relations Callie Chapman, Creative Manager Kim Davidson, Receptionist/Accounts Payable Clerk Adrienne Hinkebein, Personnel Manager Mary Hudson, Development Assistant Nathaniel Koch, Development Manager Andrew Llewellyn, Operations Manager Brandon Neal, Education Coordinator Heather O’Mara, Public Relations Manager Angela Pike, Receptionist Bill Polk, Stage Manager Cheri Reinbold, Staff Accountant Edward W. Schadt, Major Gifts Officer/Director of Planned Giving Erika Voss, Librarian Shane Wood, Patron Services Coordinator CaSandra Zabenco, Senior Staff Accountant A U D I E N C E A-23 A-24 A U D I E N C E them. The estate is very particular about how the music is used, and it showed a great level of trust on their part. SD: Once you had obtained the permissions, what was the next step? VC: We had to come up with a story line. That kind of fell together. The more difficult part was finding an arranger the estate would approve. I talked with many arrangers and composers who wanted to do it; there was no lack of interest in the community. But I really liked Ron Paley from Canada. He’s a big name on the Canadian blues and jazz scene—the Ron Paley Band has a great reputation. I introduced him to the Hammerstein estate stakeholders and we got the green light to go ahead. SD: How did you choose which pieces to include? VC: We sifted through an amazing amount of music, but I didn’t want to choose anything that didn’t reflect what was happening on stage. Even though we weren’t using the words, these songs are iconic and we all know them. So we had to be very careful about where we placed a particular piece. It was a big challenge. SD: You worked on the libretto with Sheryl Flatow, who is something of a historian. VC: Yes, she happened to be living in San Francisco at the time working with San Francisco Ballet. It was easy because the whole creative team was in San Francisco. Sandra Woodall designed the sets and costumes for the production. Alexander V. Nichols, lighting and sound designer, was also in San Francisco. SD: The way you incorporated Richard Rodgers’ television version of Cinderella is brilliant. Tell me how you developed it. 410 W. Chestnut • Suite 634 Louisville, KY 40202 502.589.2728 • Fax: 502.589.0209 A U D I E N C E 9 VC: We used only parts of it that emulated the music and that come from a television set on stage. The plot is set during the week before the premiere of the television special. The producers made a lot of commercials specifically for Cinderella, which was unusual. It was unusual enough to have the premiere of a musical on TV, but promotional commercials to drive viewership were very rare at the time. One commercial in particular that I was really drawn to features Nancy and Bob: Bob’s getting ready for his first date with Nancy and she’s very excited. So we used them as our characters. SD: You have made some interesting twists in your story. VC: I hope they are. In our version, Bob loses his shoe in the Arthur Murray dance studio. Nancy sneaks in because her stepmother doesn’t want her to go. Bob is a rebel and gets kicked out for being rowdy, and in the commotion, he is separated from his footwear. SD: The Cinderella story has been told so many different ways. Were there other versions that inspired your production? VC: I was also influenced by Jerry Lewis and Cinderfella. There are a few references to that movie scattered throughout the ballet. I’ve always loved that film. SD: It’s also correct for the period, because it came out about the same time as the special. VC: Exactly. One place I used it is in his entrance into the ballroom. SD: Edith Head designed the beautiful costumes in that film. I know you are very much interested in the costumes used in your ballets. Tell me about these. 10 VC: It’s all from the 1950s, reflective of Givenchy and other high-fashion designers of the time. Sandra was really into that and did extensive research of old magazines for the spirit and design elements she brought to the stage. Audrey Hepburn became a muse for us. She, of course, wore a lot of Givenchy, and you’ll see a lot of Audrey Hepburn in Nancy. You won’t see so much of the poodle skirts and bobby socks—it’s more high fashion. She has an iconic pink and black dress that she wears into the ballroom that is central to the plot of this story. SD: Why is the dress so important? VC: Remember we are using commercials on the television upstage to further the plot. We found one with a sort of Hedda Hopperish feeling in which a socialite asks, “Who is that girl in the pink and black dress?” As she’s leaving she doesn’t lose her shoe in our version, she gets her dress caught in the elevator. She has to leave the dress behind and the prince searches for the person who can wear it. All the women of the town come in with knock-offs of the dress. It’s a very funny visual joke that I got from I Love Lucy. All the knock-offs in this scene are of original Givenchy designs, and it is hysterical. The costumes in this production are very instrumental to the plot. SD: Wasn’t your father involved in the garment business? VC: Yes, but mostly sportswear. I remember having to work summers when I was in junior high and high school doing the bundling line. After they cut the patterns, they stack them together in preparation for sewing. So I really saw how things were made. It was very interesting. A U D I E N C E Visit Museum Row on Main Louisville’s Cultural Corridor CELEBRATE THE SPIRIT OF LOVE. EvanWilliamsBourbonExperience.com Evan Williams ® Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. Bardstown, KY 43% Alc./Vol. © 2014 52130_LSMF_AudAd-Aug2013.indd 1 8/20/13 9:41 AM Shows Through March 31st kentuckycenter.org SD: Of course, ballet costumes have to be built a little differently, because dancers need to be able to move. Tell me about the types of movement in this ballet. VC: It is heavily influenced by ballroom dancing, jitterbug, the Madison and a lot of dance from the period. I’ve used ballroom before, but I really had to research this because the music so influences the direction of the ballet. As you would expect, it is still heavily influenced by classical ballet. SD: Ballet today seems to be moving in a new direction and this work is, to my mind, indicative of where we are heading. What do you think about the genre in general? VC: I would call it a new direction for me. Not just from the standpoint of choreography, but across the board there is a fresh approach to ballet that taps into many other resources. I love doing that kind of collaboration and I always include elements of that in my work. In A Cinderella Story, I worked with a lot of people who inhabit Richard Rodgers’ A U D I E N C E 11 world—Broadway—and that introduced new approaches. I’m not sure exactly how to answer, but we are all trying to push ballet forward. The Nutcracker I just choreographed for Grand Rapids Ballet does that through my collaboration with a children’s book author as well as designers from Broadway and film. They see things differently and it lets me see things with a fresh eye. SD: It must be a real eye-opener for them as well. VC: I always say that ballet doesn’t have the advantage of any of these other disciplines—film, Broadway or other art forms—because we don’t have out-oftown runs. You can plan until you are blue in the face, but you don’t know what it’s going to look like really—how the choreography works with the costumes and sets and lighting—until you put it on stage. We don’t have previews; we have three performances, and it’s expected to be genius right away. It’s very intense. SD: Most theatrical productions including Broadway and film get previews before they even open. VC: I don’t think most people really understand that and what it means for ballet. It’s scary, especially when you are using a lot of production elements, because you have to be right on. You have to have people who really know what they are doing, because there is no time for trial and error. SD: How much time do you get on stage before opening? VC: Not very much. All of these disparate elements are created in the studio and the various shops and, if you are lucky, 12 you have three days in the theatre to load it in and run technical rehearsals. It is intense. And this was one of those. At one point I had an idea that the TV would be located in Cinderella’s own little corner, where she has created her refuge from abuse. Well, the show comes on and the fairy godmother from that show explodes from the television into our story. Then the television replaces the pumpkin and turns into a Chevy, in which Nancy drives away. I give Sandra these ideas and she always makes it work. SD: There is a lot of stage craft in this production. VC: Oh yeah, including the commercials, the music…it’s really a huge collaboration. SD: In the Royal Winnipeg Ballet production, you were able to have the arranger, Ron Paley, and his trio performing. How will that be handled in Louisville? VC: Ron created arrangements for small, medium and big bands so that it can be played with nine musicians in the pit or a full orchestra—very smart on his part. The set is also designed to fit small, medium and large stages. This production is designed to tour. San Francisco Ballet is doing one of the pas de deux this season with the full orchestra. SD: You’re not using the words from the songs, but you said earlier that they are driving the story. Can you explain that a little more? VC: I hear the words in my head as I am choreographing and they are listed in the program. For instance, when Nancy enters the ballroom, I chose “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World.” So the essence of the songs in every section of A U D I E N C E Ballet is doing Lady of the Camellias this season, and San Francisco is doing Lambarena in 2015. These ballets have lasted, they have travelled and been performed a lot—but you never know… the ballet will make sense when you see what is happening on stage. SD: Do you ever think about how people might look at this ballet in a hundred years? You are doing the same thing Petipa did in his time, but now he is a legend. Does the weight of that ever affect you? VC: You never know what’s going to last. When I create a work, I don’t put that kind of pressure on it. This ballet is ten years old, but it’s the first time any company other than the Royal Winnipeg will perform it. They have done it many times and I have worked on it over the years. I tweak ballets forever! Balanchine tweaked his masterpieces until his death. I hope my work lasts. I want it to be seen, but you never know. I do have a couple of ballets celebrating twenty years: Boston Val Caniparoli’s A Cinderella Story, set in the 1950s to an original jazz orchestration from the Richard Rodgers songbook, will be performed in Whitney Hall at The Kentucky Center on February 13 and 14. This fresh and inventive retelling of the popular rags-to-riches fairytale will be a treat for young and old alike. To buy tickets, call 502.584.7777 or go to kentuckycenter.org. For more information about Louisville Ballet and the rest of their season, go to louisvilleballet.org. Kentucky to the ™ A U D I E N C E 13 T R A V E L C A L E N D A R New Openings on Broadway AN AMERICAN IN PARIS A new musical inspired by the film about young souls in Paris is directed by Christopher Wheeldon and features some of the Gershwins’ classics. Palace Theatre, 1564 Broadway, 877.250.2929. FINDING NEVERLAND Based on the true story of the relationship between author J. M. Barrie and the family that inspired his classic work, Peter Pan. Starring Matthew Morrison and Kelsey Grammer. Lunt-Fontanne, 205 W. 46th St., 877.250.2929. HAND TO GOD HUMANA FESTIVAL LOCALS PASS FIVE PLAYS FOR ONLY $75 Set in a devout Christian Texas town, the play revolves around a puppet that takes over the personality of the human who is manipulating it. Booth Theatre, 222 W. 45th St., 800.432.7250. ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY Hijinks aboard a luxury train trip from Chicago to New York! A financially strapped producer (Peter Gallagher) must convince a movie star (Kristin Chenoweth) to sign on for a play. American Airlines Theatre, 227 W. 42nd St., 212.719.1300. SKYLIGHT Bill Nighy and Carey Mulligan star in this drama that starts when one year after the death of his wife, Tom arrives on an ex-lover’s doorstep in hopes of a reconciliation. John Golden Theatre, 252 W. 45th St., 800.432.7250. THE AUDIENCE Helen Mirren again plays Queen Elizabeth II, who is shown in imagined private conversations with the many prime ministers who served during her reign. Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, 236 W. 45th St., 800.432.7250. THE HEART OF ROBIN HOOD This spectacular rendition of the English legend is filled with swashbuckling, acrobatics, comedy, romance and original music played on-stage by the acclaimed band Parsonsfield. Marquis Theatre, 1535 Broadway, 877.250.2929. THE KING AND I Kelli O’Hara and Ken Watanabe star in this Rodgers and Hammerstein musical revival set in 1860s Siam. Vivian Beaumont Theatre, 150 W. 65th St., 212.239.6200. PASSES ON SALE NOW! 502.584.1205 | actorstheatre.org 14 WOLF HALL, PARTS ONE AND TWO Hilary Mantel’s fictional tour de force about the deceit, betrayal and intrigue at the court of Henry VIII (two separate productions). Winter Garden Theatre, 1634 Broadway, 800.432.7250. AA UU DD I I EE NN CC EE We give you more primary care options. Whether you’re sick or need a wellness check-up, KentuckyOne Health has more primary care options. Your primary care physician is your first choice when you’re sick, and for annual visits. Express Care at Walgreens is close-by for minor illnesses and injuries. Anywhere Care is a live 24/7 phone or video chat service. Emergency Care is where you turn for immediate emergency treatment. To find the right door for you, visit ChooseYourDoor.org or call 888.570.8091 for a provider near you. TRNSFR FNDS. Transfer funds seamlessly with our faster app. Impatience has its rewards. Now get $200 when you open a Fifth Third Essential checking account with qualifying activities. Learn more at 53.com/200 Visit 53.com/200 for qualifying activity requirements, which must be met within 90 days of account opening. New checking account must be opened with $50 min deposit from 1/20-4/4/15. Member FDIC. Mobile data charges may apply. QFRC5103000_Transfer_4C_Louisville(4.75x7.75).indd 1 1/12/15 8:57 AM
© Copyright 2024