2 0 1 5 / 1 6 S E A S O N

THIBAUDET PLAYS GERSHWIN

Fri 16 Oct 2015, 8.30 p.m.Sat 17 Oct 2015, 8.30 p.m. Malaysian Philharmonic OrchestraRamón Tebar, conductorJean-Yves Thibaudet, pianoPROGRAMMEBARBER Overture to The School for Scandal 8 mins

GERSHWIN Concerto in F 29 mins

COPLAND Appalachian Spring 24 mins

RESPIGHI Church Windows 25 mins

INTERvAL 20 mins

Acclaimed for his musical versatility, compelling interpretations and orchestra building skills, Ramón Tebar’s international reputation in both the orchestral and opera arenas continues to expand. He became the first Spanish conductor to be appointed Music Director for an American opera company, the Florida Grand Opera (FGO).

Tebar began his tenure as Principal Guest Conductor of Spain’s Palau de Les Arts Reina Sofia in 2015, continues his relationship with FGO as Principal Conductor, serves as Artistic Director of Florida’s Palm Beach Symphony and Opera Naples, and as Music Director of the Dominican Republic’s Festival Musical de Santo Domingo.

Recent highlights include in productions of Madama Butterfly, Così fan Tutte, Mourning Becomes Electra, Nabucco, Tosca and Thaïs with FGO, and La Bohème, Tango, Maria de Buenos Aires and Bizet/Brook’s La tragédie de Carmen with Opera Naples, and conducting the UK’s Philharmonia Orchestra at Buckingham Palace in the presence of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales.

Tebar has led operatic repertoire for such distinguished organizations as Italy's Teatro Regio di Torino, Martina Franca Festival and Teatro Lirico di Cagliari; Germany's Kolner Philharmonie; Russia's Kremlin Palace; the Netherlands' Het Concertgebouw and Argentina's Teatro Colon. Acclaimed artists with whom he has worked include Roberto Alagna, Joshua Bell, Montserrat Caballe, Joseph Calleja, Gautier Capucon, Placido Domingo, Angela Gheorghiu, Maria Guleghina, Ben Heppner, Gregory Kunde and Renata Scotto.

Born in Valencia, Tebar became Assistant Conductor with the Youth National Orchestra of Spain at 15 and graduated in his hometown Conservatory. Since he came to the USA in 2005, he has been the staff of Palm Beach Opera and Cincinnati Opera. He was honoured twice with the Henry C. Clark Conductor of the Year Award by FGO. In 2014, he was featured by the Miami Herald as ‘Top 20 under 40’, the ABC Spanish journal among ‘Ten International Spanish Conductors’ and the Marca Espana among ‘100 espanoles’. That same year, he received his highest honour to date; the Cross of Office of the Order of Mérito Civil by His Majesty, the King of Spain Felipe VI.

RAMÓN TEBAR

Conductor

BIOGRAPHIES

Jean-Yves Thibaudet has performed around the world for more than 30 years and recorded more than 50 albums. He has an artistic depth and natural charisma that have made him one of today's most sought-after pianists.

Jean-Yves Thibaudet tackles three artist-in-residencies in the 2015/16 season: at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony and the Colburn School of Music. At Colburn, he fosters the next generation of musicians, teaching master classes and performing with students. With the Seattle Symphony, he plays Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No.5, Ravel's Piano Concerto in G and Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F; chairs the jury for the Seattle Symphony Piano Competition 2015; performs Dvořák's Piano Quintet No.2 with symphony musicians and tours Asia. He opens his residency at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with James MacMillan's Piano Concerto No.3, which he commissioned and premiered in 2011, and tours Europe with the orchestra, playing Beethoven's “Emperor” Concerto. The residency also involves chamber music, a performance at RCO Club Night and a master class. Thibaudet takes Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor on tour in the spring with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. Also this season, he gives a recital tour across the United States, Europe and Asia.

He was the soloist on the award-winning and critically acclaimed films Atonement, Pride and Prejudice and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. He wears a concert wardrobe designed by Vivienne Westwood. In 2010, the Hollywood Bowl honored Thibaudet for his musical achievements by inducting him into its Hall of Fame. Previously a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Thibaudet was awarded the title Officier by the French Ministry of Culture in 2012.

Mr. Thibaudet's worldwide representation: Harrison Parrot Ltd.Mr. Thibaudet records exclusively for Decca Records.

JEAN-YVES THIBAUDET

Piano

BIOGRAPHIES

Compositions by three of America’s most famous composers from the early twentieth century are joined by one from Italy. All four works come from the short span of barely two decades (1925-1944). The Italian Respighi might seem to be “odd man out” here but he visited America in 1932, within the time frame of the four compositions we hear tonight, so let’s warmly welcome him into the company of the three Americans!

SAMUEL BARBER (1910-1981)Overture to The School for Scandal (1931)

The BackgroundBarber was only 26 when he wrote his Adagio for Strings, his best known work, but the Overture to The School for Scandal precedes the famous Adagio by five years. Barber was still studying composition at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia with Rosario Scalero when he wrote this fresh, effervescent work. It also became his first orchestral composition to be published and performed. The premiere was given on 30 August, 1933 by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Alexander Smallens.

The MusicAs noted in the score, the music was “suggested by Sheridan’s comedy,” meaning that it intends only to capture the spirit of mirth, wit and laughter of Richard Sheridan’s Restoration play (1777) and not to portray any particular characters or scenes. The overture conforms to the sonata-allegro design that would have been found in most symphonic movements in Sheridan’s (also Mozart’s) time.

PROGRAMME NOTES

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GEORGE GERSHWIN (1898-1937)Concerto in F (1925)

I. Allegro II. Adagio ̶Andante con moto III. Allegro agitato

The BackgroundGershwin’s first major orchestral work was Rhapsody in Blue, premiered at a historic concert in New York’s Aeolian Hall in 1924. At that concert, among many other dignitaries from the worlds of both jazz and classical music, was Walter Damrosch, conductor of the New York Symphony (which merged with the Philharmonic in 1928). Damrosch was sufficiently impressed with the young Gershwin (just 25 at the time), both as composer and as performer, to ask the Symphony Society of New York to commission Gershwin to write a full-length concerto for piano and orchestra. Unlike the Rhapsody in Blue, Gershwin did his own orchestration for the Concerto in F; also unlike Rhapsody, the Concerto was scored for full symphony orchestra right from the start (Rhapsody was originally for a 22-piece jazz band). The first performance was given on 3 December 1925 in New York with Gershwin as soloist.

The MusicThe first movement is in freely modified classical sonata form, with a restless and energetic first theme announced first in the bassoon (immediately following the percussion introduction), then in turn by bass clarinet, trumpet and strings. A second theme – poignant and lyrical – is introduced by the piano in a long solo passage. The lively Charleston dance rhythm pervades the movement, which is infused with “the young enthusiastic spirit of American life,” in Gershwin’s words. The slow movement has a “poetic, nocturnal atmosphere which has come to be referred to as the American blues but in a purer form than that in which they are usually treated” (Gershwin). The brilliant, highly energetic finale is “an orgy of rhythms, starting violently and keeping to the same pace throughout” (again quoting the composer) and employs the rondo form. Themes from the earlier movements are recalled.

PROGRAMME NOTES

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AARON COPLAND (1900-1990)Appalachian Spring (1944)

The BackgroundAlthough Copland wrote music in many styles and in virtually all categories – symphonies, theater works, chamber music, choral pieces, piano music, radio and film scores and even books – the orchestral portraits of rural America continue to be the music the public most closely associates with this composer. These works, written mostly during the late 1930s and early 1940s, include Billy the Kid, Our Town, Lincoln Portrait, Rodeo, The Tender Land and the ballet score Appalachian Spring.

This was composed in 1944 for the dancer and choreographer Martha Graham. Graham and her troupe gave the first performance at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. on 30 October 1944. Later that year Copland expanded the original instrumentation from thirteen players to full symphony orchestra and reduced the work’s length by about a third, resulting in the well-known suite.

The MusicThe published score bears the following description of the action: “… a pioneer celebration in spring around a newly-built farmhouse in the Pennsylvania hills in the early part of the [nineteenth] century. The bride-to-be and the young farmer-husband enact the emotions, joyful and apprehensive, that their new domestic partnership invites. An older neighbor suggests now and then the rocky confidence of experience. A revivalist and his followers remind the new householders of the strange and terrible aspects of human fate. At the end the couple are left quiet and strong in their new house.”

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PROGRAMME NOTES

OTTORINO RESPIGHI (1879-1936)Church Windows (1925)

I. The Flight into Egypt (La Fuga in Egitto) II. St. Michael Archangel (S. Michele Arcangelo) III. The Matin of St. Clare (Il Mattutino di Santa Chiara) Iv. St. Gregory the Great (S. Gregorio Magno)

The BackgroundConcertgoers familiar with Respighi’s famous Roman trilogy (The Pines of Rome, The Fountains of Rome, Roman Festivals), his Botticellian Triptych and The Birds know well this composer’s penchant for writing vividly conceived programme music. Church Windows, by its very title, would seem to belong in this company as well. But unlike the aforementioned works, Church Windows was originally conceived as purely abstract music.

In 1919 Respighi married one of his former composition students, Elsa Olivieri Sangiacomo. One of the fruits of this marriage was a love for medieval music, especially the austere beauty of Gregorian chant, instilled in the composer by his wife. The first of many works Respighi created based on this body of ancient music was Three Piano Preludes on Gregorian Melodies. In 1925, the composer decided to orchestrate the piano preludes, adding a fourth in the process to make a suite of “Four Impressions.” Only afterwards did Respighi affix programmatic titles to the music. For each piece, the composer attached an appropriate biblical image such as might be depicted in an Italian church window.

The MusicThe story of the opening movement is self-explanatory. The second suggests the sounds of battle, specifically Michael and his angels fighting the dragon and its evil forces. The third “impression” concerns St. Clare, who founded the Franciscan Order of Nuns. As she lay dying, Jesus caused her to be borne by angels to the Church of St. Francis so that she could attend the entire Holy Service of Matins. The final movement is a musical tribute to the very figure who is indelibly associated with Gregorian chant itself, Pope Gregory I (540-604). Gregory was a zealous missionary who sent men out from Rome across Europe to found churches and schools. He did not write chants himself but he categorized the thousands of melodies and rendered this repertory the fundamental music of the Roman Catholic Church for centuries.

PROGRAMME NOTES

Note: Sectional string players are listed alphabetically and rotate within their sections. *Substitute / extra musician.

MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

PRINCIPAL CONDUCTORFabio Mechetti

RESIDENT CONDUCTORCiarán McAuley

fIRST vIOLINCo-ConcertmasterPeter DanišPrincipalMing GohCo-PrincipalZhenzhen LiangSub-PrincipalVira Nyezhentseva

Runa BaagöeMaho DanišMiroslav DanišEvgeny KaplanErgys KoniMartijn NoomenSherwin ThiaMarcel AndriesiiTan Ka Ming*Petia Atanasova*Ooi Khai Ern*Roxana Tudorache*Ikuko Takashi*Marit Vligenthart

SECOND vIOLINCo-PrincipalTimothy PetersAssistant PrincipalLuisa Hyams

Catalina AlvarezChia-Nan HungAnastasia KiselevaStefan KocsisLing YunzhiIonut MazareanuTan Poh KimYanbo ZhaoAi Jin*Ahin Lee*Liu Yi Retallick

vIOLACo-PrincipalGábor MokányAssistant PrincipalAyako Oya

Fumiko DobrinovOng Lin KernCarol PendleburySun YuanThian AiwenFan RanEliza FluderJulia ParkMahmoud Hussein*Ida Kovacs*Emil Csonka

CELLOCo-PrincipalCsaba KőrösAssistant PrincipalSteven RetallickSub-PrincipalAttila Pasztor

Gerald DavisJulie DessureaultLaurentiu GhermanTan Poh JooElizabeth Tan SuyinSejla SimonMátyás Major

DOUBLE BASSSection PrincipalWolfgang SteikeCo-PrincipalJoseph Pruessner

Raffael BietenhaderJun-Hee ChaeNaohisa FurusawaJohn KennedyFoo Yin HongAndreas Dehner

fLUTESection PrincipalHristo DobrinovCo-PrincipalYukako YamamotoSub-PrincipalRachel Jenkyns

PICCOLOPrincipalSonia Croucher

OBOESection PrincipalSimon EmesSub-PrincipalNiels Dittmann

COR ANGLAISPrincipalDenis Simonnet

CLARINETSection Principal*Gonzalo EstebanSub-PrincipalsMatthew Larsen*Juan Luis Puelles

BASS CLARINETPrincipalChris Bosco

BASSOONSection PrincipalAlexandar LenkovCo-Principal*Adolfo MartinezSub-PrincipalOrsolya Juhasz

CONTRABASSOONPrincipalVladimir Stoyanov

HORNSection PrincipalsGrzegorz Curyla*Cem AkcoraCo-PrincipalJames SchumacherSub-PrincipalsLaurence DaviesTodor PopstoyanovAssistant PrincipalSim Chee Ghee

TRUMPETSection Principal*Matthew Dempsey Co-PrincipalWilliam TheisSub-PrincipalWilliam DayAssistant PrincipalJohn Bourque

TROMBONESection Principal*Jamie WilliamsCo-PrincipalMarques YoungSub-PrincipalAnthony Wise

BASS TROMBONEPrincipalsZachary Bond*Martin McCain

TUBASection PrincipalBrett Stemple

TIMPANIMatthew Thomas

PERCUSSIONSection PrincipalMatthew PrendergastSub-PrincipalsDarryl LittmanMatthew Kantorski*Chun Yu Tsai

HARPPrincipalTan Keng Hong

PIANO*Akiko Danis

CELESTE*Shuen Da Wong

ORGAN*Margaret Chen

CORPORATE SUITE CLUB MEMBERS

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malaySian PhilharmoniCorCheSTraChieF eXeCUTiVe oFFiCerNor Raina Yeong Abdullah

general managerTimothy Tsukamoto

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