presents the key of dreams - american symphony orchestra...gershwin’sporgy and bess(1935), might...

Friday Evening, March 22, 2019, at 8:00

Isaac Stern Auditorium / Ronald O. Perelman Stage

Conductor’s Notes Q&A with Leon Botstein at 7:00

presents

The Key of DreamsLEON BOTSTEIN, Conductor

BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ

JuliettaBased on the French play Juliette, ou La clé des songes (Juliette, or The Key

of Dreams) by Georges Neveux.

ACT I

ACT II

Intermission

ACT III

Julietta: SARA JAKUBIAK, SopranoMichel: AARON BLAKE, Tenor

Police Chief/Clerk: DAVID CANGELOSI, TenorMan with Helmet/Memory Vendor/Beggar: ALFRED WALKER, Bass-baritone

Man in Window/Old Man Youth/Convict: KEVIN BURDETTE, BassYoung Arab/1st Man/Young Sailor/Bellhop: REBECCA JO LOEB, Mezzo-sopranoOld Arab/Grandfather/Old Sailor: PHILIP COKORINOS, Bass-baritoneBird Seller/2nd Man/Palm Reader: TICHINA VAUGHN, Mezzo-sopranoFish Seller/3rd Man/Grandmother/Old Lady: RAEHANN BRYCE-DAVIS,

Mezzo-soprano

BARD FESTIVAL CHORALEJAMES BAGWELL, Director

This evening’s concert will run approximately 3 hours including one 20-minute intermission.

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03-22 ASO.qxp_Carnegie Hall Rental 3/12/19 10:18 AM

FROM THEMusic DirectorMartinů and Juliettaby Leon Botstein

The career of Bohuslav Martinů mir-rors the decisive and tragic character ofthe century in which he lived. Martinů

was born in 1890 and came of age as acitizen of a multinational dynasticempire, only to find himself, in his 20s,a patriot of a newly minted nationalunit: Czechoslovakia. The triumphantnationalism of post-World War I Europecoexisted, however, with a profoundsense of cultural discontinuity, a resis-tance to the claims of late 19th-centuryromanticism, and an internationalistsense of modernity. Martinů chose tobecome an expatriate artist in Paris, butthe Prague-Paris axis vanished when hewas forced into exile in America onaccount of fascism, the dismembermentof Czechoslovakia, and a second worldwar. He died in exile, caught in theCold War in which his homeland hadbecome a Soviet satellite. Martinů’smusic registers the tensions, ambigui-ties, and ambivalences that inevitablysurrounded the writing of originalmusic by a composer caught in thecrosscurrents created by the inventionof a new nation, the technologicaltransformation of sound reproduction,the carnage of World War II, the dis-play of a uniquely modern barbarism inEurope, the nuclear age, and the psy-chic toll of involuntary, as well as self-imposed, exile.

In the young flourishing nationalistenvironment in which he grew up,Martinů demonstrated remarkable giftsand quickly was poised to inherit themantle of a distinctive Czech national-ist tradition—understood in the termsof the late 19th century—in the musicalculture bequeathed by Bedřich Smetana

and Antonín Dvořák. The 1919 re-drawing of the map of Europe accord-ing to notions of self-determinationmay have created independent and rel-atively homogeneous political nationstates, particularly when comparedwith the Austro-Hungarian Empire, butat the same time, a countercurrent ofinternationalist ideals, in culture andpolitics, emerged that redefined the cos-mopolitan and re-imagined its aestheticpossibilities. For this reason, in theearly 1920s, Martinů settled in Paris.

Paris between the two world warsbecame the center of transnationalmovements in dance, theater, painting,and music. Arthur Honegger, FrancisPoulenc, Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky,and Sergei Prokofiev dominated thescene. Whereas the much older LeošJanáček drew strength and inspirationfrom the new Czechoslovak republic,Martinů gravitated toward an interna-tional style. Even so, although he set-tled in Paris and French became his sec-ond language, Martinů did not sever histies to the nascent national entity, theCzechoslovakia of Tomáš Masaryk.Martinů in this way resembled hisnearest Polish contemporary, KarolSzymanowski. They both balancedtheir experiences in cosmopolitan Pariswith an increasingly romanticized butlimited construct of the native home-land to which they felt allegiance. Con-sequently, even though Martinů experi-mented with a variety of widespreadfashionable international approaches tocomposition, the Czech language andBohemian materials were never entirelyneglected. As the composition and per-formance history of Julietta suggest, adelicate balance was continually inplay. This opera derived from a Frenchnovel that then was turned into a Czech


libretto by the composer. It premieredin Prague, only to be retranslated backinto French later on. But the subjecttranscends culture; it is not tied to anyparticular nativist traditions. What dis-tinguished Martinů from Szymanowski,however, was his exceptional composi-tional facility and productivity. Of hisnear contemporaries, perhaps onlyDarius Milhaud was as prolific; butMartinů’s output was better crafted andmore consistent than Milhaud’s andmore of it will remain in the repertory.

Martinů fled to America in 1941. Herehe came to the attention of AaronCopland, who brought him to Tangle-wood. Though Martinů enjoyed thesupport of old friends, among themGeorge Szell, Rudolf Firkusny, andWalter Susskind, America never seemedquite right. He never fit in; moody andreclusive, Martinů was not happy. Tomake matters worse, Communist Czech -olsovakia was anathema. Martinů re -turned to Europe in the 1950s and spentthe final years of his life in Switzerland.

Martinů is now increasingly known forhis orchestral music, which includes sixsymphonies, but it is the field of operathat preoccupied him most. In this heresembled the ambitions of the olderCzech role models and masters, Dvořák,Smetana, and Janáček. Julietta is widelyregarded as the finest and most daring

of Martinů’s 15 operas. Its story lineand libretto fit the period of its cre-ation perhaps a bit too neatly, makingquick comparisons to Franz Kafka andSigmund Freud easy. But the score hasalso been the object of all too facilecritical dismissal; it has been describedas hard to like, episodic, too dependenton one character, attractive but notmemorable. Indeed, Julietta has neverbeen a true success, whether on thestage or in recording, despite severalrecent and highly praised revivals,including one in Berlin.

Given the evident and long-overdueMartinů revival now underway, partic-ularly with regard to the instrumentaland symphonic music, the operasdemand a new look. And that suggeststhat Martinů’s most celebrated andmost uniquely 20th-century opera, interms of subject and plot, merits a hear-ing in the United States. The faint praiseand condescending rehearsal of the so-called shortcomings of Julietta demandrebuttal through performance. Thatplaces it squarely in the mission of theAmerican Symphony Orchestra. Thereis ample reason to suspect that thetime for Julietta has now come, andthat it has languished too long. Juliettadeserves a place in the repertory of ouropera houses as one of the great 20th-century operas. It is, in my view, anoperatic masterpiece.


Julietta, or Symphonic Music is aSometime Thingby Jon Meadow and Michael Beckerman

Introductions and Possible BrightFutures

On March 16, 1938, inside the hal-lowed walls of Prague’s National The-atre, Czechoslovak composer BohuslavMartinů’s three-act lyric opera Julietta(Snář) [Juliette, or the Key of Dreams]made its successful debut. Audiencemembers immediately recognized thepower, warmth, and economy of meansof Julietta’s often “jazzy” and undula-tory music. The premiere’s conductor,Václav Talich, judged Julietta to be oneof Martinů’s “creative peaks.” Simi-larly, many years later, on his deathbed, the composer showed his estima-tion of the work’s quality by retranslat-ing the libretto back into French. LikeAntonín Dvořák’s Rusalka (1901) orLeoš Janáček’s The Makopulos Case(1926), the opera maintains an iconicstatus in the Czech Republic, and thework’s reputation has resulted in sev-eral excellent, commercially available

recordings, a growing body of relatedscholarship, and an international prolif-eration of new and innovative produc-tions outside of Martinů’s homeland,such as the English National Operastaging in 2012 and Oper Frankfurt’s2014 production.

Musical Recognitions

Julietta is the story of a Parisian book-seller’s (Michel) pursuit of an elusivegirl (Julietta) in a seaside town. Giventhe libretto’s oceanside setting, gamesof chance, sailors, peddlers of “nar-cotics,” and the elusiveness of its name-sake, it is not entirely unreasonable tothink that a discussion of Julietta inlight of some of its musical similaritiesto one of opera’s most provocativeand notorious coastal works, GeorgeGershwin’s Porgy and Bess (1935), mightyield something of consequence.

First, Julietta’s raw musical materialsoccasionally evoke Porgy’s. It is uncer-tain whether, when he started composingJulietta in May of 1936, Martinů knewthe music (and stories) of Gershwin’s

THEProgramBohuslav Martinů

Born December 8, 1890, in Polička, CzechoslovakiaDied August 28, 1959, in Liestal, Switzerland

JuliettaComposed in 1936–37

Premiered on March 16, 1938, in Prague, at the National Theatre conducted byVáclav Talich

Performance Time: Approximately 3 hours including intermission

Instruments for this performance: 3 flutes, 1 piccolo, 3 oboes, 1 English horn, 2 clarinets, 1 bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 5 French horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones,1 tuba, timpani, percussion (xylophone, bass drum, snare drum, field drum,

tam tam, triangle, crash cymbals, suspended cymbal, tambourine), piano, celeste,accordion, 18 violins, 6 violas, 6 cellos, 5 double basses, 9 vocal soloists, and chorus


opera about a disabled gambling beg-gar living in an African-American tene-ment house on the South Carolinacoast. However, as the echoes of Rhap-sody in Blue (1924) in Julietta’s shop-keeper scene (Act I, scene ii) and theostinati, syncopations, and accents ofthe orchestral interlude from Juliettaand Michel’s meeting in the woods (ActII, scene v) attest, the composer was cer-tainly no stranger to Gershwin’s globe-trotting Jazz Age musical style morebroadly. Moreover, even though Martinů

had suspended his use of Jazz Age musi-cal commonplaces at the start of the1930s, his familiarity with Gershwin-esque music is as palpable in stage-works from the previous decade—like1927’s Kitchen Revue and 1929’s three-act French-language film-opera ThreeWishes, or Inconstancy of Life—as it isin select portions of Julietta.

Second, the way that Martinů thoughtabout how symphonic music shouldinteract with actions and words in Juli-etta shares assumptions with howGershwin approached Porgy’s symphonicmusic. Around the summer of 1936,Martinů was able to secure Prague’sgrand, late 19th-century National The-atre for Julietta’s premiere. Perhaps thenature of the venue emboldened him tobring into play the elsewhere, or ratherthe “elsewhen,” of the previous cen-tury, from which he salvaged a vaguely(Richard) Wagnerian manner of think-ing about symphonic music’s interac-tion with words and actions that he hadjettisoned in the interwar period. In hisinfluential essay The Artwork of theFuture (1849), Wagner had summa-rized the basic ideas of this late 19th-century way of thinking when he claimedthat music’s historical progression neces-sitated that abstract, or absolute, sym-phonic music, which Wagner figured asa “vast, shoreless ocean” between wordsand action, would find itself supersededby a symphonic music that resembles a

“bridge between [words and action].”Prior to Julietta or Porgy, Martinů andGershwin had preferred the genres thatmade Wagner’s manner of thinkingobsolete in many interwar circles,because similar to Gershwin with hispre-Porgy Broadway revues and one-act hokum-filled opera Blue Monday(1922), Martinů had demonstrated afondness for the one-act opera genreand the revue format with their looser,less-stringent relations between sym-phonic music and the libretto’s actionsand words. Cases in point are stageworks like the aforementioned KitchenRevue, the one-act radio opera TheVoice of the Forest (1935), and theprizewinning collection of one-act,Czech-language, neo-medieval opera-ballets The Plays of Mary (premiered inBrno in 1935). In these pre-Juliettastage works, the manner in which sym-phonic music reinforces the actions andwords of Julietta and Porgy can hardlybe found.

Musical Misrecognitions and theQuestion of Leitmotifs

Regardless of their coastal settings, theircommon fund of situations and voca-tional types, the occasional similarityand contemporaneity of their musical“raw” materials, and their composers’comparable manners of thinking aboutsymphonic music’s role in opera, Juli-etta and Porgy’s librettos are dissimilar:they treat memory and the laws ofphysics differently, and their plots locatereality in disparate places and times.

On the one hand, Porgy’s, “realist”libretto has a plot with a beginning,middle, and end, and its characters aresubject to the laws of physics. This is arealm where bodies expire, and peopleare unable to bend spoons with theirminds. This is the domain of the day-time. Also, the libretto’s words andactions have consequences and accrue


meaning across all three acts. Memory,whether of the law, the individual, thecommunity, a song, or a leitmotif, isessential to Porgy and Bess.

On the other hand, Michel’s “surreal”pursuit of who (or what) possibly existsbehind an adulterated memory of asong fragment begins in medias res andunfolds moment by moment. Thesequences of its situations across acts isnot additive; its words (while clearlysung) have different inter-act, intra-act,and even intra-scene meanings, and theconsequences of its characters’ actionsare either suspended in ambiguity orthey are cartoon-like in their denial ofthe laws of physics. This is the domainof night time, where and when memoryis elusive.

After accounting for these differences,it stands to reason that the action—andword-reinforcing symphonic musics oflibrettos that have such dissimilar con-ceptions of reality, memory, and physi-cal necessity are going to unfold ingrossly dissimilar ways across threelong acts. Because Gershwin both set-tles on Porgy’s “realistic” libretto andreverts to a late 19th-century call forsymphonic music to reinforce wordsand action, he is emboldened to weavea network of Wagnerian leitmotifs fromand through memorable songs andchoral ensembles, and this enables himto ensure that every musical decision ofPorgy and Bess will reinforce the drivetowards the opera’s end, which is alsothe beginning of Porgy’s quest for theelusive Bess. Even Jasbo Brown’s often-cut onstage piano blues from Porgy’sopening scene provides ambiance andassists in orienting the audience in Cat-fish Row’s here and now, which is logi-cally connected to its before and later.

This kind of practice finds no resonancein Julietta’s symphonic music. ThroughoutJulietta, Martinů employs the orchestra toprovide unconventional but skillfullycrafted and concretely shaped local oper-atic forms. Occasionally Martinů repeatsmelodic figures and sonorities that areappropriately associated in some vague,non-conceptual way with the elusiveJulietta, and from time to time Martinů

will repeat each act’s prelude wholecloth. However, because the words andthe actions of the libretto do not drivetoward some univocal, unanimousmeaning across all three acts, the sym-phonic music—because it is acting inaccordance with the manner of think-ing that Martinů adopted for the grandoccasion of Julietta’s National Theaterpremiere—has no need for the coales-cence of leitmotifs across all three acts.

In the end, it will be up to the listener todiscover whether, despite this unreality, orperhaps because of it, Julietta, far fromdisappearing into the morass of non-memory, actually takes on a corporealityof enormous power. We may imagine,then, that the “miracle” of Julietta, think-ing back to Martinů’s previous opera,The Plays of Mary, is that in Martinů’scapable hands, absence becomes pres-ence, dreams become true, and the lack ofrecall creates indelible operatic memories.

Jon Meadow is a Ph.D. student in histor-ical musicology at New York University.His work is focused on the roles ofhumor and comedy in Bohuslav Martinů’sGreat Depression theater reforms.

Michael Beckerman is the Carroll andMilton Petrie Professor of Music atNew York University. He is the authorof numerous articles and books aboutCzech music.


THE Artists

Leon Botstein has been music directorand principal conductor of the Ameri-can Symphony Orchestra since 1992.He is also music director of TheOrchestra Now, an innovative trainingorchestra composed of top musiciansfrom around the world. He is co-artisticdirector of Bard SummerScape and theBard Music Festival, which take placeat the Richard B. Fisher Center for thePerforming Arts at Bard College, wherehe has been president since 1975. He isalso conductor laureate of the JerusalemSymphony Orchestra, where he servedas music director from 2003–11. In2018 he assumed artistic directorshipof the Grafenegg Academy in Austria.

Mr. Botstein is also active as a guest con-ductor and can be heard on numerousrecordings with the London Symphony(including a Grammy-nominated re -cording of Popov’s First Symphony), theLondon Philharmonic, NDR-Hamburg,and the Jerusalem Symphony Orches-tra. Many of his live performanceswith the American Symphony Orches-tra are available online. His recordingwith the ASO of Paul Hindemith’s TheLong Christmas Dinner was namedone of the top recordings of 2015 byseveral publications, and his recentrecording of Gershwin piano musicwith the Royal Philharmonic washailed by The Guardian and called“something special...in a crowdedfield” by Musicweb International.

Mr. Botstein is the author of numerousarticles and books, including The Com-pleat Brahms (Norton), Jefferson’sChildren (Doubleday), Judentum undModernität (Bölau), and Von Beethovenzu Berg (Zsolnay). He is also the editorof The Musical Quarterly. For his con-tributions to music he has received theaward of the American Academy ofArts and Letters and Harvard Univer-sity’s prestigious Centennial Award, aswell as the Cross of Honor, First Classfrom the government of Austria. Otherrecent awards include the BrucknerSociety’s Julio Kilenyi Medal of Honorfor his interpretations of that composer’smusic; and the Leonard BernsteinAward for the Elevation of Music inSociety. In 2011 he was inducted intothe American Philosophical Society.

LEON BOTSTEIN, Conductor

RIC KALLAHER


MATT M

ADISO

N CLARK

The recipient of a 2017 George LondonFoundation Award, Aaron Blake hasearned international recognition for hiscreation of the role of Timothy Laughlinin Gregory Spear’s Fellow Travelers.Re cently Mr. Blake made a criticallyacclaimed debut with the New YorkCity Opera as Louis in Angels in Amer-ica. He has performed with CincinnatiOpera, the Komische Oper Berlin,Minnesota Opera, Utah Opera, TulsaOpera as Nadir in Bizet’s Les Pêcheursde Perles, Dallas Opera as Romeo in

Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette, OperaOrchestra of New York as Ugo in Parisinad’Este, Washington National Opera inDonizetti’s Anna Bolena, and the Metro-politan Opera in Verdi’s La traviata.

In recent seasons Mr. Blake returned tothe Metropolitan Opera for Les Contesd’Hoffmann and The Merry Widow.He debuted with the American Sym-phony Orchestra as Rothschild inFleishman’s Rothschild’s Violin at Car -negie Hall, as Tamino with the KomischeOper Berlin, as Candide with theAtlanta Symphony, and with Ravinia inLeonard Bernstein’s Mass. In the cur-rent season Mr. Blake returns to theTulsa Opera for his first Rossini role asCount Almaviva in Il barbiere diSiviglia, creates the role of Mila inAndrea Clearfields’ Mila, Great Sor-cerer with the Prototype Festival,returns to the Metropolitan Opera forRigoletto and Dialogues des Car-mélites, and performs on tour in Aus-tralia and New Zealand with theKomische Oper Berlin as Tamino. Thissummer he will make his MostlyMozart Festival debut as Tamino.

AARON BLAKE, Tenor

JESSIC

A O

SBER

Raehann Bryce-Davis is a recipient ofthe 2018 George London Award. In the2018–19 season she returns to OperaVlaanderen for a role debut of Ms.Alexander in Satyagraha and a worldtour of Unknown, I Live With You. Shealso sings Kristina in The MakropulosAffair at the Janáček Brno Festival,makes her role debut as Leonora in Lafavorita with Teatro Massimo Palermo,sings Marguerite in La Damnation deFaust with Orquesta Sinfónica Nacionalde Costa Rica, Verdi’s Requiem withOratorio Society of New York atCarnegie Hall, and Mahler’s Symphony

RAEHANN BRYCE-DAVIS, Mezzo-soprano


No. 8 with the South Dakota Sym-phony Orchestra.

Upcoming engagements include her roledebut as Eboli with Opera Vlaanderen.Last season included her first perfor-mances of Wellgunde in Die Ring-Trilogie(Theater an der Wien), Madeline Mitchellin Three Decembers (Opera Maine),Elgar’s Sea Pictures (Musikverein Vienna),the world premiere of Paul Moravec’sSanctuary Road (Carnegie Hall, Orato-rio Society of New York), and Verdi’sRequiem (Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional

de Costa Rica and the Greenwich Vil-lage Orchestra). While a member of theensemble of Opera Vlaanderen, Ms.Bryce-Davis sang Nezhata in Sadko,Kristina in The Makropolus Affair, andMary in Der fliegende Holländer.

Ms. Bryce-Davis is the first place andAudience Prize winner of the ConcorsoLirico Internazionale di Portofino com-petition, a prize winner of the 2016International Hans Gabor BelvedereSinging Competition, and winner of the2016 Richard F. Gold Career Grant.

Recent highlights include Stefano inAdès’ The Tempest with the Metropol-itan Opera (Deutsche GrammophonDVD, 2014 Grammy Award); BeckWeathers in Talbot’s Everest, EricGold/Bazzetti’s Ghost in Heggie’s GreatScott, and Ob in Adamo’s BecomingSanta Claus, all world premieres withThe Dallas Opera; multiple roles inShostakovich’s The Nose with the Met-ropolitan Opera; Doktor in Wozzeckwiththe Philharmonia Orchestra; Scattergoodin The Last Savage, Général Boum in Lagrande-duchesse de Gérolstein, Sulpice inLa fille du régiment, and Stobrod/BlindMan in Higdon’s Cold Mountain (worldpremiere) with Santa Fe Opera; Leporelloin Don Giovanni with the Los AngelesPhilharmonic; Sulpice with WashingtonNational Opera; Dulcamara in L’elisird’amore with San Diego Opera; andBartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Stobrod/Blind Man, and Dulcamarawith Opera Philadelphia.

Mr. Burdette’s upcoming engagementsinclude performances with the Metro-politan Opera, Utah Opera, OperaPhiladelphia, Cincinnati Opera, Cen-tral City Opera, Dallas Opera, AustinOpera, and San Diego Opera.

KEVIN BURDETTE, Bass

SIMON PA

ULY


KEN H

OWARD

David Cangelosi made his Metropoli-tan Opera debut in 2004 as Mime inDas Rheingold. He has returned inmultiple principal roles and Der Ringdes Nibelungen–related assignmentsover the past 12 years.

Recent highlights include a multi-yearperformance/recording project of theRing with the Hong Kong Philharmonic,his company debut with Houston Grand

Opera (Tosca, Eugene Onegin), his roledebut of the Witch in Hansel and Gre-tel, and reprising his signature role ofMime for the Ring with the WashingtonNational Opera and Boston WagnerSociety. Other notable Ring highlightsinclude a recording of the Forging Scene(Siegfried) with Placido Domingo forEMI Classics’ Scenes from the Ring;Siegfried and full Ring productionswith Lyric Opera of Chicago; and theSan Francisco Opera, where he reprisedboth Mime roles in 2018.

Recent performances include The Cun-ning Little Vixen with the ClevelandOrchestra and Mime in Das Rheingoldwith the Boston Symphony at Tangle-wood and the Opéra de Montreal. Mr.Cangelosi sang his role debut of Shuiskyin Boris Godunov with the DallasOpera in 2012 and has returned to thecompany for Moby Dick and MadameButterfly. This summer he makes hisdebut with Bard SummerScape as theBlind Judge in Das Wunder der Heliane,conducted by Leon Botstein.

DAVID CANGELOSI, Tenor

SARAH SH

ATZ

Philip Cokorinos was winner of theMetropolitan Opera National CouncilAuditions in 1985 and went on to singhis debut during the MetropolitanOpera’s 1987–88 season. Since then hehas appeared in more than 400 perfor-mances of 40 operas at the Metropoli-tan Opera, including Live from TheMet telecasts of Don Giovanni; theworld premiere of The Ghosts of Ver-sailles; and The Met’s premieres of Sly,Cyrano de Bergerac, The Gambler, andShostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth ofthe Mtsensk. He has also appeared intheir productions of Tosca, La bohème,La fanciulla del West, La traviata,Adriana Lecouvreur, La rondine, Die

PHILIP COKORINOS, Bass-baritone


Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Macbeth,Manon, Don Carlo, Tosca, Il barbieredi Siviglia, Manon Lescaut, and Lenozze di Figaro.

His recent appearances include severalThe Metropolitan Opera Live in HDbroadcasts, including Manon, La fanci-ulla del West, The Nose, Werther, ManonLescaut, Le nozze di Figaro, La bohème,and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. This

season Mr. Cokorinos returns to theMetropolitan Opera for productions ofLa bohème and Adriana Lecouvreur,and to perform Billy Jackrabbit in Lafanciulla del West, Amantio in GianniSchicchi, and Sacristan in Tosca. Hewill also perform as Second Nazarenein Salome with the Spoleto Festival USA.

Philip Cokorinos appears courtesy ofThe Metropolitan Opera.

In 2018 Sara Jakubiak created the roleof Heliane in Christof Loy’s Das Wun-der der Heliane at the Deutsche OperBerlin. Other recent highlights includeEva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnbergat the Bavarian State Opera, Agathe inDer Freischütz at the Semperoper Dres-den, and portrayals of Tatiana inEugene Onegin and Marta in The Pas-senger in new productions with theFrankfurt Opera. Other roles haveincluded Marie in Wozzeck at the Eng-lish National Opera, Polina in TheGambler at the Dutch National Opera,Marietta in Die Tote Stadt at the Ham-burg State Opera, Elsa in JohannesErath’s production of Lohengrin at theGraz Opera, and Rosalinde in Die Fle-dermaus with the Israeli Philharmonic.

In the 2018–19 season Ms. Jakubiak willsing Marietta in a new production ofDie Tote Stadt at the Komische Oper,directed by Robert Carsen. She joinsthe Bavarian State Opera in a reprise ofher role as Eva in Die Meistersinger vonNürnberg and the SymphonieorchesterVorarlberg in Mahler’s Eighth Symphony.Other concert performances includeJanáček’s Glagolitic Mass with the

Hallé Orchestra and Erwartung withthe Bergen Philharmonic. She will alsomake a studio recording of Erwartungwith the Chandos label.

Ms. Jakubiak was a member of theensemble at the Frankfurt Operabetween 2014 and 2018, and per-formed as Prima Donna in Ariadne aufNaxos, Marie in Die Tote Stadt, Lina inStiffelio, Polina in The Gambler, Mariein Der Diktator, Alice Ford in Falstaff,the Goose Girl in Königskinder, andFreia in Das Rheingold.

SARA JAKUBIAK, Soprano

ASH

LEY PLANTE


RALPH RÜHMEIER

Rebecca Jo Loeb debuts with Los Ange-les Opera and Beth Morrison Projectsas Lumee in the world premiere of EllenReid’s Prism in the 2018–19 season. Shealso returns to the Deutsche Oper Berlinfor a staged production of Schönberg’sPierrot Lunaire and Frasquita in Car-men, and to the New York Festival ofSong to reprise Bernstein’s Arias andBarcarolles on tour to Boston and NewHampshire this season. Last season shedebuted with the Teatro Municipal deSantiago (Gymnasiast/ein Groom in

Lulu) and Theater Freiburg (Susan inLove Life) and returned to the DeutscheOper Berlin (Zweite Magd in Elektra) andNew York Festival of Song (Bernstein’sArias and Barcarolles) on tour.

Ms. Loeb spent five seasons as anensemble member of the DeutscheOper Berlin and Hamburgische Staat-soper, where her performances includedCherubino in Le nozze di Figaro,Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Siebelin Faust, Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel,Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, and theFox in The Cunning Little Vixen. Fol-lowing her performances of Bellante inHandel’s Almira in Hamburg, shereprised the role at the InnsbruckerFestwochen der alten Musik.

Other recent engagements include join-ing the Metropolitan Opera (Flora inLa traviata); Oper Köln (Fox in TheCunning Little Vixen); Dutch NationalOpera (Eine Theater Garderoberie/Gymnasiast/ein Groom in Lulu); Festi-val d’Aix-en-Provence (Second Angel/Marie in Written on Skin); and DallasOpera (Fyodor in Boris Godunov).

REBECCA JO LOEB, Mezzo-soprano

Tichina Vaughn began her career as amember of the Lindemann YoungArtist Program of the MetropolitanOpera and debuted in Europe as Mis-tress Quickly in Falstaff at StaatsoperStuttgart, where she was awarded thetitle of Kammersängerin. Ms. Vaughnsings regularly with Semperoper Dres-den, Teatro alla Scala, Spoleto Festival,the Arena di Verona, and the Metro-politan Opera. Her repertoire includesroles such as Klytämnestra in Elektra,Azucena in Il trovatore, Amneris inAida, Herodias in Salome, Fricka inDie Walküre, Waltraute in Die Götter-dämmerung, Brigitta in Die tote Stadt,

TICHINA VAUGHN, Mezzo-soprano


and La madre in Il Prigioniero. Futureperformances include Mother of Aida/Ritual singer in Caruso a Cuba (Dutch

National Opera) and Mère Jeanne inDialogues des Carmélites (Metropoli-tan Opera).

This season Alfred Walker returns tothe Metropolitan Opera as the Speakerin The Magic Flute. He also sings Thoasin Iphigénie en Tauride with OperStuttgart and the Ruler in Das Wunderder Heliane with Bard SummerScape.Last season he sang Orest in Elektra(San Francisco Opera); Titurel in Parsifaland the Speaker in The Magic Flute(Metropolitan Opera); Amonasro inAida and Porgy in Porgy and Bess(Seattle Opera); and Méphistophélès inFaust (Portland Opera).

Other recent operatic engagementsinclude Der fliegende Holländer,Amfortas in Parsifal, and Amonasro inAida (Theater Basel); Parsi Rustomjiin Satyagraha (Metropolitan Opera);Méphistophélès in La damnation deFaust (Teatro Municipal de Santiago);Wotan in Das Rheingold (North Car-olina Opera); Orest in Elektra (Teatroalla Scala, Deutsche Opera Berlin, Seat-tle Opera, San Sebastián Festival);Bluebeard in Bluebeard’s Castle (NewJapan Philharmonic); Pizarro in Fidelio(Caramoor Music Festival); Josh Gibsonin the world premiere of Sonenberg’sThe Player King (Pittsburgh Opera);Four Villains in Les contes d’Hoffmann(Den Norske Opera, Komische Oper

Berlin); Allazim in Zaide (Festivald’Aix-en-Provence, Wiener Festwochen,Barbican Center, Mostly Mozart Festi-val); Der fliegende Holländer (GenevaWagner Festival, Oper Köln, SeattleOpera, Théâtre de Caen, Grand Théâtrede Luxembourg); Kurwenal in Tristanund Isolde (Angers Nantes Opera, Opérade Dijon); Creonte in Medea (Opéranational de Lorraine); Telramund inLohengrin (Oviedo); Porgy in Porgyand Bess (Los Angeles Philharmonic,Sydney Symphony, Boston Philhar-monic, Toronto Symphony Orchestra);and Achilla in Giulio Cesare and Collinein La bohème (San Diego Opera).

ALFRED WALKER, Bass-baritone

WALT

ER H

ILL

Now in its 57th season, the AmericanSymphony Orchestra was founded in1962 by Leopold Stokowski, with amission of making orchestral musicaccessible and affordable for everyone.Music Director Leon Botstein expandedthat mission when he joined the ASO

in 1992, creating thematic concertsthat explore music from the perspec-tive of the visual arts, literature, reli-gion, and history, and reviving rarelyperformed works that audiences wouldotherwise never have a chance to hearperformed live.

AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA


The orchestra’s Vanguard Series con-sists of multiple concerts annually atCarnegie Hall. ASO has also performedat the Richard B. Fisher Center for thePerforming Arts at Bard College in Bard’sSummerScape Festival and the BardMusic Festival. The orchestra has madeseveral tours of Asia and Europe, andhas performed in countless benefits fororganizations including the JerusalemFoundation and PBS.

Many of the world’s most accomplishedso loists have performed with the ASO,including Yo-Yo Ma, Deborah Voigt, andSarah Chang. The orchestra has releasedseveral recordings on the Telarc, NewWorld, Bridge, Koch, and Vanguard la -bels, and many live performances are alsoavailable for digital download. In manycases these are the only existing recordingsof some of the rare works that have beenrediscovered in ASO performances.

The Bard Festival Chorale was formedin 2003 as the resident choir of theBard Music Festival. It consists of thefinest ensemble singers from New YorkCity and surrounding areas. Many of

its members have distinguished careersas soloists and as performers in a vari-ety of choral groups; all possess ashared enthusiasm for the explorationof new and unfamiliar music.

BARD FESTIVAL CHORALE

James Bagwell maintains an activeinternational schedule as a conductorof choral, operatic, and orchestralmusic. In 2015 he was named associateconductor of The Orchestra Now whilecontinuing his role as principal guestconductor of the American SymphonyOrchestra. From 2009–15 he was musicdirector of The Collegiate Chorale;some of the highlights of his tenurethere include conducting a number ofrarely performed operas-in-concert,including Bellini’s Beatrice di Tenda,Rossini’s Moise et Pharaon, and, mostrecently, Boito’s Mefistofele. He con-ducted the New York premiere of PhilipGlass’ Toltec Symphony and OsvaldoGolijov’s Oceana, both at CarnegieHall. His performance of Kurt Weill’sKnickerbocker Holiday at Alice TullyHall was recorded live for GaslightRecords and is the only completerecording of this musical. Since 2011he has collaborated with singer andcomposer Natalie Merchant, conduct-ing a number of major orchestras acrossthe country, including the San Franciscoand Seattle Symphonies. Other recent

performances in New York includeconducting Philip Glass’ Another Lookat Harmony at the Park Avenue Armory,and leading The Little Opera Theatreof New York’s production of Rossini’sOpportunity Makes the Thief. He hasbeen guest conductor of The CincinnatiSymphony Orchestra, Jerusalem Sym-phony, Amici New York, IndianapolisChamber Orchestra, and Tulsa Sym-phony Orchestra, among others.

Mr. Bagwell has trained choruses for anumber of major American and inter-national orchestras, including theBoston Symphony, Mostly MozartOrchestra, Israel Philharmonic, SanFrancisco Symphony, Los Angeles Phil-harmonic, NHK Symphony (Japan),St. Petersburg Symphony, BudapestFestival Orchestra, American Sym-phony Orchestra, Cincinnati Sym-phony Orchestra, Cincinnati PopsOrchestra, and Indianapolis SymphonyOrchestra. He is professor of musicand director of performance studies atBard College and Bard College Conser-vatory of Music.

JAMES BAGWELL, Director, Bard Festival Chorale


VIOLIN I Cyrus Beroukhim,

ConcertmasterSuzanne GilmanRagga PetursdottirPauline Kim HarrisPhilip PaytonYukie HandaKobi MalkinAshley HorneDiane BruceKatherine Livolsi-

Landau

VIOLIN II Richard Rood,

PrincipalWende NamkungElizabeth NielsenJohn ConnellyYana GoichmanAlexander VselenskyLucy MorgansternDorothy Strahl

VIOLAWilliam Frampton,

PrincipalSally ShumwayRachel RiggsVeronica SalasJen HermanJason Mellow

CELLOEugene Moye,

PrincipalRoberta CooperAnnabelle HoffmanSarah CarterMaureen HynesEmily Brausa

BASSJohn Beal, PrincipalJack WengerPeter DonovanWilliam EllisonRichard Messbauer

FLUTELaura Conwesser,

PrincipalRie SchmidtDiva Goodfriend-

Koven, Piccolo

OBOEAlexandra Knoll,

PrincipalJulia DeRosaMelanie Feld,

English Horn

CLARINET Shari Hoffman,

PrincipalLino Gomez, Bass

Clarinet

BASSOON Marc Goldberg,

PrincipalMaureen Strenge

HORN David Peel, PrincipalDavid SmithChad YarbroughTheodore PrimisShelagh Abate,

Assistant

TRUMPETCarl Albach,

PrincipalJohn DentDominic Derasse

TROMBONE Richard Clark,

PrincipalBradley WardJeffrey Caswell, Bass

Trombone

TUBA Kyle Turner,

Principal

TIMPANI Benjamin Herman,

Principal

PERCUSSIONJonathan Haas,

PrincipalKory GrossmanDavid Nyberg

PIANOElizabeth Wright,

Principal

CELESTEElizabeth DiFelice

ACCORDIONDenise Koncelik

PERSONNEL MANAGER Matthew Dine

ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR Zachary

Schwartzman

ORCHESTRA LIBRARIAN Marc Cerri

AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRALeon Botstein, Conductor

SOPRANOSarah GriffithsAine HakamatsukaElizabeth Smith

ALTOB. J. FredricksHelen KarloskiSuzanne Schwing

TENORAlex GuerreroRobert MayMichael Steinberger

BASSBlake BurroughsNicholas HaySteven Moore

CHORAL CONTRACTORNancy Wertsch

BARD FESTIVAL CHORALEJames Bagwell, Director


Oliver Inteeworn, Executive DirectorBrian J. Heck, Director of MarketingKatherine C. Peck, Development ManagerAlice Terrett, Marketing ManagerSebastian Danila, Library ManagerCarissa Shockley, Operations Assistant

James Bagwell, Principal Guest ConductorZachary Schwartzman, Assistant ConductorRichard Wilson, Composer-In-ResidenceJoshua Winograde, Vocal Casting Director

ASO ADMINISTRATION

Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Chair

Helen BaronMiriam R. BergerMichael DorfRachel KalnickiJack Kliger

Hans-Jurgen KnochShirley A. Mueller, Esq.Eileen Rhulen

HONORARY MEMBERSJoel I. Berson, Esq.L. Stan Stokowski

ASO BOARD OF TRUSTEES

AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PATRONS

Ticket sales cover less than a quarter of the expenses for our full-size orchestral concerts.

The American Symphony Orchestra Board of Trustees, staff, and artists gratefully acknowledgethe following individuals, foundations, corporations, and government agencies who help usto fulfill Leopold Stokowski’s avowed intention of making orchestral music accessible andaffordable for everyone. While space permits us only to list gifts made at the Friends leveland above, we value the generosity and vital support of all donors.

MAESTRO’S CIRCLE Jeanne Donovan FisherRachel and Shalom KalnickiNew York City Department

of Cultural Affairs (DCA)New York State Council on

the Arts (NYSCA)

STOKOWSKI CIRCLE AnonymousThe Kurt Weill Foundation

for Music, Inc. Dimitri B. and Rania

PapadimitriouPatricia E. SaigoFelicitas S. ThorneMr. and Mrs. Richard E.

Wilson

BENEFACTORS AnonymousThe David & Sylvia

Teitelbaum Fund, Inc.

PATRONS Anonymous (3)Joel I. and Ann Berson

Connie S. P. ChenGary M. GiardinaArthur S. LeonardDr. Pamela F. Mazur and

Dr. Michael J. MillerJames and Andrea NelkinDavid C. Pixley, in honor of

Dorothy Pixley Rothschild

SUSTAINERS Anonymous (4)Veronica and John

FrankensteinStephen M. GrahamIBM CorporationDoug B. JonesErica Kiesewetter Patricia Kiley and Edward

FaberJeanne MalterJoanne and Richard MrstikAnthony H. RichterDavid E. Schwab II and Ruth

Schwartz SchwabDr. and Mrs. Thomas P.

SculcoJanet Z. Segal

Joseph and Jean SullivanSiri von Reis

CONTRIBUTORS Anonymous (3)Gary ArthurNancy L. BanksJeffrey CaswellRoger ChatfieldMax and Eliane HahnAshley HorneAdnah G. and Grace W.

KostenbauderGerald LaskeyDr. Coco LazaroffNancy Leonard and

Lawrence KramerSteve LeventisPeter A. Q. LockerAlan MallachJohn D. Metcalfe Stephen J. McAteerChristine MunsonKurt Rausch and Lorenzo

MartoneRoland Riopelle and Leslie

Kanter


Harriet SchonMartha and David SchwartzAlan StenzlerTheodore and Alice Ginott

Cohn Philanthropic Fund Michael and Judith ThoyerMr. and Mrs. Jon P. Tilley Larry A. WehrRobert and Patricia Ross

Weis

SUPPORTERS Anonymous (13)American Express Gift

Matching ProgramBernard AptekarMarian D. BachJohn and Joanne BaerThe Bank of America

Charitable FoundationReina BarcanCarol Kitzes BaronRuth BaronMary Ellin BarrettDr. Robert BasnerDavid C. Beek and Gayle

Christian Simone BeldaYvette BendahanAdria BenjaminDaniel and Gisela BerksonMona Yuter BrokawStephen M. BrownDiane Bruce and John

SinclairMarjorie BurnsMoshe BursteinCA TechnologiesRichard CellerBarbara and Peter ClapmanBette Collom and Anthony

MenningerLaura ConwesserMichael and Frances CurranWilliam DiggsHerbert and Mary DonovanPaul EhrlichRichard FarrisLynda FergusonMartha FerryLaura FlaxJeffrey F. FriedmanHelen GarciaAnn and Lawrence GilmanJune O. GoldbergDiva Goodfriend-KovenGordon GouldGreenwich House, Inc.John L. HaggertyLaura HarrisLinda Herskowitz

Hudson Guild, Inc. Sara HunsickerGeorge H. HutzlerOliver InteewornJewish Communal FundCassondra JosephRonald S. KahnRobert and Susan KalishDr. Roses E. KatzRobert and Charlotte KellyRobert KeohaneDavid KernahanIrving and Rhoda KleimanCaral G. and Robert A. KleinPeter KrollDr. Carol LachmanShirley LeongLinda LopezWilliam LublinerJoyce F. LuchtenbergDr. Karen ManchesterElizabeth MateoCarolyn McColleyAlan B. McDougallClifford S. MillerMyra K. MillerPhyllis and Stanley MishkinSteven MorvayShirley MuellerLucy M. and Martin L.

MurrayKenneth Nassau and Ms. Lee

HebnerMichael NasserKaren OlahClary Olmstead and Kathleen

HeenanMather PfeiffenbergerRoger and Lorelle PhillipsDavid Pozorski and Anna

RomanskiAnita RandolfiWayne H. ReaganLeonard Rosen and Phyllis

RosenJack Rosenthal and Holly

RussellRochelle RubinsteinJoe Ruddick and Mary Lou

SchempMichael T. RyanHenry SaltzmanPeter Lars Sandberg Nina C. and Emil SchellerSharon SchweidelGerald and Gloria ScorseMargret SellDr. M. Lana Sheer and

Dr. J.P. JessonGeorgi Shimanovsky

Bruce Smith and PaulCastellano

Gertrude SteinbergSuzanne SteinbergSusan StempleskiHazel C. and Bernard StraussRobert SweeneyMargot K. TalentiCatherine TraykovskiSusan and Charles TribbittMr. and Mrs. Jack UllmanJanet WhalenVictor WheelerDonald W. WhippleMr. and Mrs. David

WilkinsonLeonard and Ellen ZablowAlfred Zoller

FRIENDS Anonymous (4)Francine AbelesMadelyn P. AshmanRudolph BakerKaren Bedrosian-RichardsonStephen BlumJesse BlumbergMrs. A. Peter BrownJoan BrunskillStephen J. and Elena ChopekNancy L. ClipperRobert CohenConcerts MacMusicsonPatricia ContinoLois ConwayJudy Davis Thomas J. De StefanoSusanne DiamondRuth Dodziuk-Justitz and

Jozef DodziukBarton DominusJonathan F. DzikMarc Alon EmbreeLee EvansExxonMobil FoundationAnne Stewart FitzroyDonald W. Fowle Christopher H. GibbsGoldman, Sachs & Co. Robert GottliebMichael and Ilene GottsMr. and Mrs. Sidney

GreenbergJohn HallDonald HargreavesAndrée HayumJohn HelzerRobert HerbertDiana F. HobsonChristopher Hollinger


New York State Council on the Artswith the support of Governor Andrew Cuomoand the New York State Legislature

The City of New YorkThe Honorable Bill De Blasio, MayorNYC Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council

Music plays a special part in the lives of many New York residents. The American SymphonyOrchestra gratefully acknowledges the support of the following government agencies thathave made a difference in the culture of New York:

Since 1962 the American Symphony Orchestra has done something incredible: present thewidest array of orchestral works, performed at exceptional levels of artistry—and offered atthe most accessible prices in New York City. Be they rare works or beloved masterpieces, noother orchestra dares to present the same depth of repertoire every single season.

But the ASO has urgent need of your support. Production costs for full-scale, orchestral con-certs are ever increasing, while public philanthropy for the arts has decreased at an alarmingrate. As always, we keep to our mission to maintain reasonable ticket prices, which meansASO depends even more than most other orchestras on philanthropic contributions.

That’s why we must call on you—our audiences, artists, and community partners who can-not imagine a world without opportunities to hear live Schubert, Strauss, Elgar, or Bernstein.

Every dollar counts. Please donate at any level to safeguard the ASO’s distinctive program-ming now and ensure another season!

ANNUAL FUNDAnnual gifts support the Orchestra’s creative concert series and educational programs. Inappreciation, you will receive exclusive benefits that enhance your concert-going experienceand bring you closer to the Orchestra.

KEEP US ON POINT! SUPPORT THE ASO

Drs. Russell and BarbaraHolstein

Cyma HorowitzTheresa JohnsonPeggy Karp, in honor of

Vivian FineGinger KarrenRobin KatzPeter KeilKaori KitaoPete KlostermanFrederick R. KochSeymour and Harriet KoenigMr. and Mrs. Robert LaPorteDavid LaurensonWalter Levi

Judd LevyJosé A. LopezPatricia LucaSarah LuhbyNancy LuptonRichard and Maryanne

MendelsohnMark G. MiksicAlex MitchellDavid MortonMichael NassarLeonie NewmanSandra NovickJane and Charles PrussackBruce RaynorMartin Richman

Catherine RoachJohn RoaneDr. and Mrs. Arnold RosenLeslie SalzmanDr. and Mrs. Herbert C.

SchulbergMadeline V. TaylorRenata and Burt WeinsteinAnn and Doug WilliamKurt WissbrunDagmar and Wayne YaddowLawrence YagodaMark and Gail Zarick

List current as of March 8, 2019.


SUSTAINING GIFTSMake your annual gift last longer with monthly or quarterly installments. Sustaining giftsprovide the ASO with a dependable base of support and enable you to budget your giving.

MATCHING GIFTSMore than 15,000 companies match employees’ contributions to non-profit organizations.Contact your human resources department to see if your gift can be matched. Matching giftscan double or triple the impact of your contribution while you enjoy additional benefits.

CORPORATE SUPPORTHave your corporation underwrite an American Symphony Orchestra concert and enjoy themany benefits of the collaboration, including corporate visibility and brand recognition,employee discounts, and opportunities for client entertainment. We will be able to provideyou with individually tailored packages that will help you enhance your marketing efforts.For more information, please call 646.237.5022.

HOW TO DONATEMake your gift online: americansymphony.org/support

Please make checks payable to: American Symphony Orchestra

Mail to:American Symphony Orchestra263 West 38th Street, 10th FloorNew York, NY 10018

For questions or additional information: Katherine C. Peck, Development Manager,646.237.5022 or [email protected].


presents the key of dreams - american symphony orchestra...gershwin’sporgy and bess(1935), might...

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