Paired with Debussy's haunting Nocturnes, the KWS performs The Planets as the grand finale of our 2010/11 season on May 27th, 28th, and 29th at Centre In The Square. Continuing an annual and historical tradition that has continued since the inception of the KWS in 1945, the Grand Philharmonic Choir (GPC) joins the KWS for these performances. Somewhat atypically, only the women of the GPC will perform, both as the voices of the Sirens in Debussy's Nocturnes and as the unearthly, Neptunian chorus that ends The Planets. These concerts mark the final KWS performances by Cedric Coleman, Principal Bassoon with the KWS since 1975; he retires at the end of the season.
Rainer Hersch has fallen victim to the megalomania for which the concert hall is noted - he has become a conductor. Initially, this love affair with the baton was restricted to his own madcap orchestra which he still conducts and leads in his corruptions of the classics. Whether you know anything about classical music or not makes no difference - maestro Rainer Hersch leads the audience through a programme of truly classic comedy.
BUGS BUNNY AT THE SYMPHONY had its world premieres on May 7, 2010, at the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney Symphony; and July 16, 2010, at the Hollywood Bowl, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. BUGS BUNNY ON BROADWAY had its world premiere on June 16, 1990 at the San Diego Civic Theatre; its Broadway premiere at the Gershwin Theatre, New York City, on October 2, 1990; and its international premiere on May 15, 1996 at the Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia.
Bugs Bunny is one of the most recognized cartoon characters in the world, whose signature phrase "What's Up, Doc?" has long since entered the English language. Bugs' first 'reel' appearance in front of his soon-to-be-adoring public was in 'A Wild Hare' directed by Tex Avery. Since then, Bugs' zany antics in hundreds of cartoon favorites have made him a legend throughout the world. This cool, collected, carrot-chomping rabbit is the unequivocal superstar of the Looney Tunes family. With never a 'hare' out of place he always manages to outsmart his adversaries, whoever they may be. He's a real American icon who has graced the TV and cinema screens the world over. Bugs Bunny's cartoons have twice been nominated for Academy Awards, and his 'Knighty Knight Bugs' won a coveted Oscar. Bugs has starred in four films in addition to his hundreds of animated shorts and 21 prime time television specials.
Conductor George Daugherty is one of the classical music world's most diverse artists. In addition to his 25-year conducting career which has included appearances with the world's leading orchestras, ballet companies, opera houses, and concert artists, Daugherty is also an Emmy Award-winning / five-time Emmy nominated creator whose professional profile includes major credits as a director, writer, and producer for television, film, innovative and unique concerts, and the live theater. His current and recent conducting schedule includes multiple performances with The Cleveland Orchestra at both Severance Hall and the Blossom Festival, his 14th return engagement with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, his seventh engagement with The Philadelphia Orchestra, his tenth return to the National Symphony and Wolf Trap, and his fifteenth engagement with the San Francisco Symphony, as well as appearances with dozens of other orchestras in the U.S. and abroad. He has been a frequent guest conductor at the Sydney Opera House since 1996, and in both 2002 and 2005, he returned to guest conduct the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House. He returned to the SSO in 2010 at the Opera House, as well as performances with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra at the Adelaide Festival Theatre. During the 2009-10-11 season, he has also made, or will make, his debuts with the Baltimore Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, West Australia Symphony Orchestra, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and multiple engagements with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra at both the National Concert Hall, and the new Grand Canal Theatre, both in Dublin, Ireland. He is Music Director and Conductor of London's new orchestra Sinfonia Britannia, which made its world premiere at Easter 2005 during a one-week engagement at the new Wales Millennium Centre, its London West End debut in 2006, and its U.S. debut in San Francisco also in 2006. He has also been a frequent conductor of London's Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, with whom he first made his debut in Royal Festival Hall, and most recently conducted a 15-city U.S. and Canadian concert tour with the orchestra and guest artists Dame Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Charlotte Church, dancers of the Royal Ballet, and the Westminster Choir and Bell Ringers. Daugherty has also conducted for scores of major American and international symphony orchestras, ballet companies, and opera houses, including numerous performances with the Houston Symphony, Seattle Symphony, American Ballet Theatre, Munich State Opera Orchestra, Munich State Opera Ballet, Fort Worth Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Louisville Orchestra, Moscow Symphony, Kremlin Palace Orchestra of the Russian Federation, Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, the Auckland Philharmonia, the RCA Symphony Orchestra, Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet, Mexico City's Bellas Artes Opera House, Montreal Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Syracuse Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, North Carolina Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Delaware Symphony, Tucson Symphony, New Orleans Symphony, Venezuela Symphony, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and major Italian opera houses in Rome, Florence, Turin, and Regio Emilia. He has been Music Director of a number of major American ballet companies, including The Louisville Ballet, The Chicago City Ballet, and Ballet Chicago. As a director, writer, and producer of music-based television programs, Daugherty has created several major productions for the ABC Television Network project, including a primetime animation-and-live action production of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, which he created, co-wrote, conducted, and directed, and for which he won a Prime Time Emmy Award, as well as numerous other major awards. He also collaborated with The Joy Luck Club author Amy Tan on a television series adaptation of her celebrated children's book Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat. The Emmy Award-winning series debuted on PBS in the fall of 2001 as a daily-animated children's television series. Daugherty executive produced, and also wrote a large number of the animated tales. Daugherty also received an Emmy nomination for Rhythm & Jam, his ABC television network specials which taught the basics of music to a teenage audience. In 1990, Daugherty created, directed, and conducted the hit Broadway musical Bugs Bunny On Broadway, a live-orchestra-and-film stage production which sold-out its extended run at New York's Gershwin Theatre on Broadway, and has since played to critical acclaim and sold-out houses all over the world. The Bugs Bunny symphonic concert tradition continues when Daugherty and producing partner David Lik Wong launch a new version, "Bugs Bunny At The Symphony," in 2010, with double World Premieres at the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney Symphony, and the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Daugherty is also the executive producer, conductor, and creator of the touring concert Rodgers & Hammerstein on Stage and Screen. Daughety received his musical education at Butler University's Jordan College of Music, where he studied conducting with John Colbert, cello with Shirley Evans Tabachnick, Anne Duthie McCafferty, and Dennis McCafferty, and piano with Martin Marks and Frank Cooper; at Indiana University, where he was awarded a special work/study conducting program as Assistant to Thomas Briccetti and The Fort Wayne Philharmonic; and The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he studied conducting with Kelly Hale, opera coaching with Italo Tajo, and where he conducted numerous Opera Studio productions. Daugherty recently received the biannual Indiana Governor's Arts Award from the state of his birth, in recognition for his artistic contributions not only in Indiana, but also throughout the rest of the America. In receiving the award, Daugherty joined an exclusive list of previous Hoosier honorees, including composers Cole Porter and Hoagy Carmichael, conductors Raymond Leppard and John Nelson, violinists Joshua Bell and Josef Gingold, cellist Janos Starker, architect Michael Graves, designer Bill Blass, and novelist Kurt Vonnegut Jr. In 2005, he was also named a Sagamore of the Wabash by the late Indiana Governor Frank O'Bannon, the highest award which can be bestowed upon a performing artist from the state governor. He was also named an Honorable Kentucky Colonel for his contributions to the arts of that state. In 2006, Daugherty was also named a Library Laureate of the San Francisco Public Library for his contributions to children's books, reading, and literature, joining a distinguished list of authors who have been awarded the title. This award was especially meaningful to Daugherty, since his great-great-great-great-grandfather was the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Daugherty has lived in San Francisco for the past 12 years.
Bugs Bunny At The Symphony Executive Producer David Ka Lik Wong was awarded with a coveted Emmy Award for his work as producer on Peter and the Wolf in 1996, and was also nominated for an Emmy in 1994 for his work as producer of Rhythm & Jam, the ABC series of Saturday morning music education specials for children. He teamed with George Daugherty as principal producer for the Peter and the Wolf project, the animation and live-action production starring Kirstie Alley, Lloyd Bridges, Sleepless in Seattle's Ross Malinger, and the new animated characters of legendary animation director Chuck Jones. He also produced the interactive CD-ROM version of the production for Time Warner Interactive. He was also the senior Producer for the Warner Bros. documentary film The Magical World of Chuck Jones, directed by George Daugherty and starring interviews by Steven Spielberg, Whoopi Goldberg, George Lucas, and Ron Howard, among many others. He has been Producer for the Warner Bros. touring production Bugs Bunny On Broadway since 1991, as it has toured the world, and co-produced the audio CD album and tape for Warner Bros. Records. Mr. Wong has also produced innovative symphony orchestra concerts for some of the world's leading orchestras, including the National Symphony, The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, the Sydney Opera House, the San Francisco Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Wales Millennium Centre, Sinfonia Britannia, and many others. Most recently, he produced critically acclaimed Christmas concerts for Canada's National Arts Centre, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. He is also Executive Producer and the co-creator of the touring concert Rodgers & Hammerstein on Stage and Screen. Mr. Wong has teamed with George Daugherty, Amy Tan, and the legendary Sesame Workshop to produce and create the new Emmy Award winning PBS / Sesame Workshop children's television series Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat, based on the book by Ms. Tan, which premiered on PBS in the fall of 2001, and has since been one of the most highly rated children's television series on all broadcast networks. Mr. Wong also wrote a number of episodes for the series and story-edited all 80 segments. Mr. Wong is also the producer of the new WaterTower Music CD release of Bugs Bunny At The Symphony. In addition to his Emmy Awards and nominations, he has won numerous other awards during his career, including the Grand Award of both the Houston and Chicago International Film Festivals, a Silver Award of the Chicago Film Festival, two Parents' Choice Awards, and the Kids First Award Mr. Wong was born in Hong Kong, and moved to San Francisco with his family as a teenager. He still calls San Francisco home.
Kirill Gerstein, who "shows how virtuosity and soulfulness can go hand in hand," (ChicagoSun Times) is the sixth and latest recipient of the Gilmore Artist Award - an honour worth $300 000 and described as "music's answer to the MacArthur Foundation 'genius grants'" (New York Times). The Russian-born pianist, said to "turn the tried-and-true…into something startlingly fresh" (ibid), grew up in southern Russia, dropped out of Berklee College of Music just shy of a degree, attended the Manhattan School of Music, and has since amassed a long list of awards and honours. Gerstein currently teaches at the conservatory in Stuttgart and maintains a major international career, appearing with top orchestras all over the world.
World Premiere of Brian Current's Whirling Dervish
This concert will also feature Whirling Dervish, a brand new work commissioned by the KWS from Canadian composer Brian Current. The Ottawa native is recognized as one of the leading composers of his generation in North America. A Guggenheim Fellow and recipient of the Barlow Prize for Orchestral Music, Current's music is performed, broadcasted, and acclaimed all over the world. Renowned for its energy, wit, and daring, the latest recorded collection of his works, This Isn't Silence, was nominated for a Juno.
"The voice of an original composer with something important to say could be clearly heard…The composer lives in Toronto; he is worth watching, even from afar."
- L.A.Weekly
Whirling Dervish stars Raqib Brian Burke, a Canadian Sufi Mevlevi whirling dervish who began practicing this spectacular form of meditation through movement at the age of 23. Almost four decades ago, Raqib Brian Burke attended a lecture on Sufism and the 12th century poet Rumi and watched a demonstration of "whirling". The practice entranced Burke and he devoted himself to mastering it over almost 40 years of study and experience under Mevlevi Sheikhs. Burke has since performed in Canada and the United States at numerous spiritual gatherings, arts festivals and music events. He performed in the first-ever Sema Ceremony by North American dervishes in Konya, Turkey; he is the only Canadian to have toured with the Whirling Dervishes of Turkey.
Red Carpet Oscar Party
Bringing you music straight from the Oscars - the KWS, led by conductor Michael Krajewski, plays scores from your favourite Academy Award-winning films, including Gone with the Wind, Titanic, Ben Hur, and more.
February 24 I 8 PM River Run Centre, Guelph February 25 & 26 I 8 PM Centre In The Square, Kitchener Edwin Outwater, conductor Measha Brueggergosman, soprano* Isengart, cabaret performer^ Peter Tiefenbach, baritone#
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) - Overture to The Consecration of the House, Op. 124 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) - Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21 26'
I. Adagio molto - Allegro con brio II. Andante cantabile con moto III. Menuetto: Allegro molto e vivace IV. Finale: Adagio - Allegro molto e vivace
Intermission
Kurt Weill (1900 - 1950) ) / Arr. Max Schönherr 2' "Mack the Knife" from Dreigroschenoper (Threepenny Opera) 2. Die Moritat von Mackie Messer
Kurt Weill (1900 - 1950) Die sieben Todsünden (The Seven Deadly Sins) I. Prologue II. No. 1, Faulheit (Sloth) III. No. 2, Stolz (Pride) IV. No. 3, Zorn (Anger) V. No. 4, Völlerei (Gluttony) VI. No. 5, Unzucht (Lust) VII. No. 6, Habsucht (Covetousness) VIII. No. 7, Neid (Envy) IX. No. 9, Epilog (Epilogue)
A lot is made of Brahms struggle with composing his first symphony because he was intimidated by Beethoven. At least his idol was dead when Brahms was making his fi rst attempts. Beethoven too, took a long time to pull the symphonic trigger, as it were. When he made his fi rst sketches in 1795, Mozart was only 4 years dead and Haydn was giving Beethoven composition lessons. Frustrated by the enormity of the task, Beethoven put the draft aside and instead went back to his comfort zone: piano sonatas. After the success of Sonata No. 10 Pathetique, Beethoven gathered his resolve and fi nished the symphony in early 1800. Once he got over that fi rst hurdle, Beethoven was unstoppable in the symphonic department, churning out 8 over the next 13 years. The total was abysmal compared to Haydn and Mozart who could both wrote quickly and prodigiously, but Beethoven always found composing diffi cult. Also, he built on the fi rm foundation Haydn and Mozart had left him, cementing the symphony as the ultimate form of artistic expression it is today. Beethoven was not embarrassed by the debt he owed his forbears. In fact, he used their fame to his advantage at the symphony's premiere by programming a Mozart Symphony and parts of Haydn's Creation before his music was performed. We rarely hear his fi rst symphony performed these days, preferring instead to hear the 3rd, 5th, 7th or 9th. Those used to his fuller fat later works will fi nd this piece to be a bit slight. It may be more delicate in texture but it is still revolutionary in terms of form. The third movement minuet is essentially a scherzo, a much quicker dance form that would later become standard in symphonic writing.
Kurt Weill (1900 - 1950): The Seven Deadly Sins
Best known as the composer of the Threepenny Opera, which in turn spawned the jazz standard "Mack the Knife", Kurt Weill wrote Seven Deadly Sins in Paris after he fl ed Nazi Germany in 1933. Weill and his librettist Bertolt Brecht fell out over politics (Weill a socialist, Brecht a communist) in 1930 but reunited in Paris for one fi nal collaboration. It is also Weill's last work in the German cabaret style before he moved to America and adapted his work to suit Broadway. Seven Deadly Sins is a sung ballet commissioned by Englishman Edward James for his ballet company Les Ballets 1933 which was also founded by George Balanchine. The plot of the ballet is complicated but that's what James wanted. Bizarre as it was, money is money, so that's what Weill and Brecht wrote. James was estranged from his wife who was a ballet dancer and bore a remarkable physical resemblance to Weill's estranged wife who was a singer. James decided that the main character in the ballet, Anna, would be split into singing and dancing halves - one morally upright and one less so. She embarks on a 7-year, 7 city tour of America in aid of making enough money to buy a house for her family. Like the Threepenny Opera, Seven Deadly Sins is a biting critique of the excesses of capitalism. The full title of the piece is The Seven Deadly Sins of the Petit Bourgeoisie, a group we would now call yuppies or hipsters. This goes some way to explaining why in each of the sins, the moment of wrongdoing is when she doesn't give into temptation. For example, Anna's lust is wanting to marry the poor man she loves rather than staying in a loveless marriage to a wealthy man. Her pride is resisting becoming a topless dancer in a cabaret because she is too poor. Incidentally, James' efforts at reconciliation failed but Weill and his wife Lenya patched things up, emigrated to America together two years later and married for the second time in 1937.
Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso - Allegro con spirito
Andantino semplice - Prestissimo
Allegro con fuoco
Over his lifetime, Tchaikovsky wrote 4 piano concerti but it was his first one, written over the winter of 1874/75 that has eclipsed the others. The third and fourth concertos are less well developed and anthemic but compositionally speaking there is no good reason, why the second shouldn't be just as popular.
As any composer knows, there are many other factors aside from the quality of writing that determine if a piece is destined for a place in the canon or will end up as an also ran.
Although there is some debates regarding the details, the story appears to be that the concerto was originally dedicated to renowned Russian pianist Nikolai Rubenstein (younger brother of Anton) but Rubenstein dismissed it as technically impossible.
Tchaikovsky was crushed but for reasons unknown to us approached German pianist and conductor Hans von Bülow(he was married to Liszt's daughter Cosima before she took up with Richard Wagner). VonBülowagreed to learn the concerto and gave its premiere in Boston in 1875.
Because it is so familiar to us, it is difficult for us to imagine the concerto as a piece of new music. An audience member wrote later in a memoir that, "They had not rehearsed much and the trombones got in wrong in the 'tutti' in the middle of the first movement, whereupon Bülow [known for his complete lack of tact] sang out in a perfectly audible voice, 'The brass may go to hell.'"
Incidentally, when Rubenstein found out how popular the first concerto was, he promised Tchaikovsky he'd premiere the second one. Unfortunately, Rubenstein died before he could give the concert. A premiere was given in America but without a star like von Bülow championing it, the piece never quite caught on.
Mozart (1756-1791)
Symphony No. 10 in G Major K. 74
Allegro - Andante
Allegro
Written in Milan while Mozart was spending some time in Italy in 1770, K.74 was neither the 14 year old composer's first nor tenth symphony. Over the previous seven years, while his father was touring him around the Continent, Mozart had written several arias, a few theme and variation sets on tunes that honoured his hosts, several keyboard sonatas, a set of violin sonatas meant perhaps to played with his father and a mass setting.
It is thought by some that this symphony was really an overture for an opera Mozart never completed. The opening Allegro has a certain curtain-raising energy and while the Adagio isn't quite there in terms of what he would achieve melodically in later works, the third movement has an unmistakeably Mozartian sprightliness.
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Symphony No. 5 in E Flat major Op. 82
Tempo molto moderato - Allegro moderato
Andante mosso, quasi allegretto
Allegro molto - Un pochettino largamente
Thanks to the popularity of his second symphony, by the time Sibelius' 50th birthday rolled around in 1915, he was a national hero. These days, we recognize Finland as producing excellent conductors, ski jumpers and race car drivers but at the beginning of the 20th century, Sibelius the only Finn known throughout the world. To mark the occasion, the Finnish government commissioned Sibelius to write a symphony for his birthday celebration concert.
An entry in his notebook, dated September 1914 reads: "In a deep valley again. But I already begin to see dimly the mountain that I shall certainly ascend . . . God opens His door for a moment and His orchestra plays the Fifth Symphony."
The E-flat chord that begins the symphony - rumbling tympani followed by horns and some woodwind exclamations is classic Sibelius. Within 10 bars, it is clear that it couldn't be anyone else.
After the premiere in Helsinki on 8th December 1915, Sibelius undertook significant revisions to the score symphony twice. Once in 1916 and again in 1919. In the first revision, the original four movements were reduced to three. A performance was given but Sibelius was still not happy with it.
The final years of World War I and a bout of bad health slowed progress on a third version. After Russian troops searched his house and shot his neighbour, Sibelius fled to Helsinki to stay with his brother. There was so little food, Sibelius lost 40 pounds. Needless to say, further work was impossible.
When he was finally able to return to his beloved Järvenpää, music virtually gushed out of him. Revisions on the fifth were completed as were outlines for the sixth and seventh. "It looks as if I were to come out with all three symphonies at the same time", he wrote in his diary. It didn't quite work out like that in the end but Sibelius was pleased with the fifth's latest incarnation. "The whole, if I may say so, a vital climax to the end. Triumphal." Indeed.
Make the annual KWS Yuletide Spectacular a part of your family's holiday celebration. Much-loved guests perform holiday favourites including Winter Wonderland, White Christmas, Let It Snow and many more.
Check out this video of Larry featured on The Record's website, talking and playing jazz.
Edmonton-based composer, Malcom Forsyth wrote Morning's Minion in 2000 for the Red Deer Symphony. The music of North American Indians as well as the popular music of his native South Africa make regular appearances in Forsyth's work and he is known for his use of pastiche and parody.
In all endeavours, he aims to put audience needs first. "I am myself a dedicated audience member, dedicated to the idea of concert music that does sweep people away ... Everything I've done is with that experience in mind."
Forsyth has been nominated for 6 Juno awards in the Best Classical composition category and won an incredible three times.
It is tempting for the aesthetes among us to be sniffy about Forsyth's populist leanings. That attitude won't get much traction on this program. Elgar did exactly the same thing.
In 1900, Richard Strauss endorsed Elgar as the foremost composer in England (not that there was a lot of competition) and Elgar's thoroughly English mix of high and low styles became an instant hit all over Europe.
One of the few works that wasn't an immediate hit was his cello concerto, the first theme of which is reported to have written while coming to after a tonsilecotomy. The orchestra giving the premiere of the concert was hopelessly under-rehearsed, and reviews were scathing.
While the concerto didn't fade into complete obscurity, it wasn't until English cellist Jacqueline du Pré (subject of the film Hilary and Jackie) came on the scene as a child prodigy in the early 1960s that it became part of the public consciousness. Du Pré recorded the concerto for times in her career, including once with her husband Daniel Barenboim, but it is her 1965 recording with the London Philharmonic Orchestra that is the hallmark.
The association didn't come just from the fact that she played that concerto a lot but that, even from beginning, it seemed she had a special insight into the music that no one else could quite duplicate.
Tchaikovsky's second symphony is the shortest of the six he wrote, but that's not what 'Little Russian' means. It refers instead to the Ukraine, which was affectionately known as Little Russia in the 19th century. Tchaikovsky's sister lived in Kiev and it was there that he wrote this symphony, which includes several small Ukranian folk tunes.
The inclusion of Russian folk music is interesting because Tchaikovsky was considered a Western composer in Russia, meaning he wasn't part of the Mighty Handful, a group of five composers trying to create a nationalist Russian style based on folk tunes.
The premiere went well and in February 1873, he wrote to his father, saying, "I received 300 rubles from the Musical Society. . . . I am delighted with all the success and the material profit that has accrued from it."
Impress Your Friends: Malcom Forsyth is the father of National Arts Centre cellist Amanda Forsyth, who is also the wife of Pinchas Zuckerman.
WANT TO KNOW MORE? Check outGenerations: The Director's Cutfor an in-depth look at Tchaikovsky's second symphony and Malcolm Forsyth's Morning's Minion with Simon Streatfeild!
Rainer Hersch has fallen victim to the megalomania for which the concert hall is noted - he has become a conductor. Initially, this love affair with the baton was restricted to his own madcap orchestra which he still conducts and leads in his corruptions of the classics. Whether you know anything about classical music or not makes no difference - maestro Rainer Hersch leads the audience through a programme of truly classic comedy.
Mozart (1756-1791)
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
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