UNCG Symphony Orchestra
Violin I
† Frédéric St. Pierre, Trois-Rivières, Québec
**Wayne Reich, Greensboro, NC
Amy Blackwood, High Point, NC
Shelley Blalock, Rocky Point, NC
Katie Costello, Greensboro, NC
Laura Doyle, Wilmington, NC
Melissa Ellis, Apex, NC
Ingrid Hobbs, Greensboro, NC
Timothy Kim, High Point, NC
Elisabeth Malcolm, Garner, NC
Kwanghee Park, Hendersonville, NC
Violin II
* Chris Jusell, Chesapeake, VA
** Emily Arnold, Aberdeen, NC
Debra Anders, Balsam Grove, NC
Joshua Barber, Fayetteville, NC
Ashley Brown, Wilmington, NC
Rachel Godwin, Lillington, NC
Nicole Phillips, Winston-Salem, NC
Rebecca Ross, Charlotte, NC
Holly Sitton, Horse Shoe, NC
Brian Turner, Burlington, NC
Viola
* Noah Hock, Eugene, OR
** Alvoy Bryan, Greensboro, NC
Sara Bursey, Chapel Hill, NC
Jaime DeLong, Clemmons, NC
Joseph Driggars, Greensboro, NC
Katherine Hayden, Raleigh, NC
Susannah Plaster, Simpsonville, SC
Frances Schaeffer, Greensboro, NC
Patrick Scully, Pinehurst, NC
John Ward, Greensboro, NC
Violoncello
* Deborah Shields, Mebane, NC
** Joel Wenger, Raleigh, NC
Jon Benson, Winston-Salem, NC
Fucheng Chuang, Greensboro, NC
Sarah Dorsey, Greensboro, NC
Michael Hickman, Greensboro, NC
Meaghan Skogen, Whitsett, NC
Paul Stern, Tuckasegee, NC
Rebecca Wade, Gay, NC
Double Bass
*Rebecca Marland, Greensboro, NC
**Suzanne Luberecki, Greensboro, NC
Patrick Byrd, Greenville, NC
Andrew Hawks, Raleigh, NC
Emily Manansala, Greensboro, NC
Paul Quast, Jacksonville, NC
Brent Rawls, Hickory, NC
Benjamin Wolf, Greensboro, NC
Di Wong, Greensboro, NC
Flute
*Laura Meyers, East Aurora, NY
Emily Orr, Greensboro, NC
Elizabeth Yackley, Frederick, MD
Oboe
*Connie Ignatiou, Greensboro, NC
Matt Ward, Greensboro, NC
Amanda Woolman, Greensboro, NC
B Clarinet and Bass Clarinet
*Shawn Copeland, Greensboro, NC
Nathan Olawsky, Greensboro, NC
Kenny Tysor, Greensboro, NC
Alto Saxophone
Brent Davis, Greensboro, NC
Bassoon
*Elaine Peterson, Greensboro, NC
Heather Kelly, Cincinnati, OH
Molly Roberts, Greensboro, NC
Horn
*Michael Hrivnak, Greensboro, NC
Tara Cates, Greensboro, NC
Kelly Dunn, Wake Forest, NC
Jaemi Loeb, New Haven, CT
Mary Pritchett, Vilas, NC
Julie Price, Greensboro, NC
Trumpet
*Scott Toth, Greensboro, NC
*Mark Hibshman, Greensboro, NC
Zac Lee, Greensboro, NC
Trombone
*Sean Devlin, Kathmandu, Nepal
Glenn McIntyre, Budapest, Hungary
Bass Trombone
Chris Cline, Godthåb, Greenland
Tuba
*Sam Nettleton, Vladivostok, Russia
Harp
*Bonnie Bach, Greensboro, NC
Piano and Celesta
Juan Pablo Andrade, Greensboro, NC
Percussion
*Robert Rocha, Greensboro, NC
Billy Bialecki, Greensboro, NC
David Fox, Weaverville, NC
Mary Schmitz, Swansboro, NC
Julia Thompson, Rutherfordton, NC
† denotes Concertmaster
‡ denotes Assistant Concertmaster
* denotes Principal or Co-Principal
** denotes Assistant Principal
University Symphony Orchestra
Robert Gutter, conductor
Alexander Chernushenko, guest conductor
Monday, February 23, 2004
7:30 pm
Aycock Auditorium
b
Program
“The Tempest” Fantasy, Op. 18 Piotr Illyich Tchaikovsky
(1840-1893)
The Snowstorm Georgy Sviridov
Troika (1915-1998)
Waltz
Spring and Autumn
Romance
Pastorale
March
A Wedding
Echo of the Waltz
Winter Road
Intermission
Pictures at an Exhibition Modest Moussorgsky
Promenade (1839-1881)
Gnomus Orchestration by Maurice Ravel
Promenade
The Old Castle
Promenade
Tuileries
Bydlo
Promenade
Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks
Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle
Limoges
Catacombs
Cum mortuis in lingua mortua
The Hut on Fowls Legs
The Great Gate of Kiev
_____
The hall is equipped with a listening assistance system.
Patrons needing such assistance should please see one of the ushers in the lobby.
Patrons are encouraged to take note of the exits located on all levels of
the auditorium. In an emergency, please use the nearest exit, which may
be behind you or different from the one through which you entered.
Robert Gutter is currently Director of Orchestral Activities at
UNCG and also serves as Music Director of the Philharmonia of
Greensboro. In 1996 he received an appointment as Principal
Guest Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of the
Ukraine in Kiev. He is founder and artistic director for the
International Institute for Conductors in Kiev. In his 30 years as a
professional conductor, he has devoted himself to both
professional and non-professional orchestras in over twenty-five
countries. This past summer he served as Music Director of the
Catania International Music Festival and Conductors’ Institute. In
addition to his symphonic engagements he has appeared with
opera companies both in the United States and in Europe. Prior to accepting his orchestral
posts in North Carolina in 1988, he served as Music Director and Conductor of the
Springfield, Massachusetts, Symphony for sixteen years. In 1986 he was named
"Conductor Emeritus" of that Orchestra. Prior to his professional conducting, Gutter was
principal trombonist with the Washington National Symphony. He holds the Bachelor and
Master of Music degrees from Yale University.
_____
Alexander Chernushenko is a representative of the Leningrad
(St. Petersburg) school of music. He graduated from the Choir
College affiliated with St. Petersburg Capella, and after that the
Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire, from the class of opera and
symphony conductorship supervised by Prof. I. A. Musin. Early in
his studies, Chernushenko displayed remarkable organizing
capabilities. He assembled and organized an orchestra of
Conservatoire students and graduates which presented regular
concerts of classical music under his leadership. This was
essentially what defined his destiny in music. On graduating from
the Conservatoire and finishing his military service, Chernushenko
worked as a conductor of the Tchelyabinsk Opera & Ballet Theatre. In 1988, he was
invited to take the position of conductor of the Leningrad Maly Opera Theatre (named after
M. P. Mussorgsky). When working in the theatres, not only did Chernushenko, as a
conductor, become familiar with a wide range of opera and ballet repertoire, but he also
acquired the experience of his own productions. In 1990 he took part in tours around Italy
where he successfully worked as a director of a number of presentations and gave
concerts with the Chamber Orchestra of the city of Murcia, Spain. In Autumn 1991,
together with his father, Vladislav Chernushenko, he assembled a symphony orchestra for
the St. Petersburg Capella. He successfully conducted their first concerts, which
immediately displayed a high professional standard. Chernushenko continues to work as
its director (principal conductor). At the same time he is principal conductor of the
Conservatoire Musical Theatre. Since 1992 Chernushenko has been voyaging on regular
tours with the St. Petersburg Capella orchestra in Germany, France, Austria, Slovenia,
Switzerland, Spain, England, Ireland, Japan, and South Korea. Together with the choir of
Capella, the orchestra has become a permanent participant in one of the major
international festivals in France, "La Chaise Dieu". Alexander Chernushenko regularly
takes part in the organization of major world-scale artistic events, such as the Schubertiada
Festival, the Nevsky Choir Assemblies, the "Just Friends" Festival, and the Sergei
Prokofiev Competition. Alexander Chernushenko's relentless work with musicians and the
diversity of the repertoire they perform allow his orchestra to take a position in the rank of
the most well-known musical collectives in St. Petersburg and throughout Russia.
Piotr Illyich Tchaikovsky:
“The Tempest” Fantasy, Op. 18
After an unusually enjoyable trip to Europe, the 33-year-old Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky
retired to a friend’s summer home for the month of August. During his first two weeks
there, he remained in uncharacteristically high spirits and finished the rough draft of The
Tempest with unusual ease and speed. Completed in October of 1873 and premiered in
December of that year under the baton of Nikolay Rubinstein in Moscow, The Tempest
was generally well received from the beginning of its public life. Though not as popular as
one of Tchaikovsky’s other Shakespeare inspired pieces, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest
has remained in standard orchestral repertoire, standing as a towering achievement of
orchestration and tone painting. Tchaikovsky’s friend Vladimir Stasov, to whom the piece is
dedicated helped tremendously in developing the program for the piece, which follows the
events, characters, and moods of the fantastic and exotic Shakespeare play. It was Stasov
that suggested that the piece begin and end with images of the ocean and that a real storm
be played out by the orchestra.
Tchaikovsky describes the program on the first page of the score:
“The Sea. The sorcerer Prospero commands the airy spirit Ariel to
raise a tempest. The storm causes the wreck of the ship that carries
Ferdinand [son to the King of Naples]. An Enchanted Island. The first
timid stirrings of love between Miranda [Prospero’s daughter] and
Ferdinand. Ariel. Caliban [“a savage and deformed slave”]. The love-struck
couple succumbs to the thrill of passion. Prospero lays aside his
magic powers and quits the island. The Sea.”
Labeled a “fantasy,” as opposed to the “fantasy-overture” of Romeo and Juliet, the form of
The Tempest is fairly free, focused more on the unfolding of characterizations and events
than specific tonal or thematic relationships. Formally reminiscent of Tchaikovsky’s ballet
scores, The Tempest seems to evolve organically rather than develop in a rational, linear
manner typical of the German symphonic tradition. With its large orchestra complete with
piccolo, four horns, three trombones, tuba, cymbals and bass drum, The Tempest runs the
emotional and stylistic spectrum from soft and shimmering to tender to martial, from the
heights of passion to the depths of terror, from magic to nature to the human heart.
Gyorgy Sviridov:
The Snowstorm, Musical Illustrations after Pushkin
Born on Dec. 16 1915, the Russian composer Georgy Sviridov remains largely unknown in
the United States, despite his popularity in Russia. Sviridov was born in Fatezh, where he
lived until 1924, when his family moved to Kursk. His father died in 1919 and his mother
passed away in 1937. Despite these losses, Sviridov remained steadfast in his education
and musical training, eventually studying composition with Dmitri Shostakovitch at the
Leningrad Conservatoire from 1937 to 1941. After military service in World War II, Sviridov
returned to Leningrad in 1944. He was then appointed musical director of Leningrad
Academic Theater of Drama and Comedy. In 1956, he moved to Moscow, where he died
on January 5, 1998. During his lifetime, he received countless honors by the U.S.S.R. and
the Union of Soviet Composers for his compositions and performances as a pianist. His
music is often featured in the background of television, film, and cultural events in Russia
and used as an icon of Russian culture in media all over the world.
Though mostly a composer of vocal music, Sviridov composed several orchestral scores
for film and concert purposes. Snowstorm was originally a film score for a 1964 movie
based on a Pushkin novel of the same title. Typical of Sviridov’s style, Snowstorm is a
stunning example of Soviet realism. Long, lyrical lines based on Russian folk themes and
dark, rich timbres pervade the piece, evoking the wide Russian countryside and the harsh
realities of Communist life. Rhythmic and melodic intensity and development evolves,
much like The Tempest , from the logic of layering: adding levels of color, rather than a
mathematical, linear melodic development typical of the Austro-German symphonic
tradition. Each of the nine movements characterizes and accompanies a scene in the film
whose events dictate the movement titles. In the literal center of the whole piece are a
pastorale depicting a simple country life and a military march not so far removed from our
own Sousa. While asserting his individuality and the distinctness of the Russian style,
Sviridov’s Snowstorm still bears the marks of influence of many of his Russian and
European models. Despite the many movements, the piece remains a coherent unit by
virtue its formal closure. The final two movements, mimicking and almost repeating
verbatim the first two in reverse order, bring the piece to rest at the point of its beginning.
Modest Moussorgsky:
Pictures at an Exhibition
Orchestration by Maurice Ravel
The most widely known piece by Russian composer Modest Moussorgsky, and perhaps
one of the most widely recognizable pieces of the symphonic tradition is Pictures at an
Exhibition. Originally completed in 1874 (the year after The Tempest) for solo piano,
Pictures was saved from obscurity by the master orchestrator Maurice Ravel when he
completed an orchestral transcription in 1922. Despite the importance of the piece within
Moussorgsky’s output, Pictures remained unpublished until after the composer’s death in
1881. The story of Pictures at an Exhibition begins with the death of Moussorgky’s close
friend Victor Hartmannn in 1873. A painter and architect, Hartmann was a confidant and
companion to the troubled and erratic Moussorgsky. A year after the artist’s death, an
exhibition of his works helped inspire Moussorgsky to turn his grief into tribute and
represent his friend’s images musically. In so doing, Moussorgsky created a new style of
piano writing (part of his life-long quest to musically mimic the accents and cadences of the
Russian language) whose thick chordal textures influenced many later composers and
inspired many transcriptions, though Ravel’s remains the most widely used.
Pictures opens with a “Promenade” that serves as an introduction and the formal thread
that binds the ten movements into a unified whole. Each movement, or picture, is
dedicated to an image of the same title from the 1874 exhibition. True to his reputation,
Ravel employs a large orchestra, including the instrument least commonly seen in the
symphony orchestra: the alto saxophone. Some pictures are fantasies, depicting gnomes,
chicks dancing while still un-hatched, and the folkloric hut of the witch Baba-Yaga. Other
pictures are images of daily life, depicting a Paris playground, a French country market
place, a large ox-cart in Poland and two Polish Jews. Still others nostalgically evoke
images of an epic past, as a troubadour serenades an ancient castle and Hartmann
himself explores the Roman tombs. The final picture is architectural, depicting a gate
whose traditional design was never realized. Grand and expansive, “The Great Gate of
Kiev” evokes the ancient Russian style of the gate design and brings fitting closure to a
piece whose scope is as wide as the Russian countryside.
— Program Notes by Jaemi Loeb
Piotr Illyich Tchaikovsky:
“The Tempest” Fantasy, Op. 18
After an unusually enjoyable trip to Europe, the 33-year-old Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky
retired to a friend’s summer home for the month of August. During his first two weeks
there, he remained in uncharacteristically high spirits and finished the rough draft of The
Tempest with unusual ease and speed. Completed in October of 1873 and premiered in
December of that year under the baton of Nikolay Rubinstein in Moscow, The Tempest
was generally well received from the beginning of its public life. Though not as popular as
one of Tchaikovsky’s other Shakespeare inspired pieces, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest
has remained in standard orchestral repertoire, standing as a towering achievement of
orchestration and tone painting. Tchaikovsky’s friend Vladimir Stasov, to whom the piece is
dedicated helped tremendously in developing the program for the piece, which follows the
events, characters, and moods of the fantastic and exotic Shakespeare play. It was Stasov
that suggested that the piece begin and end with images of the ocean and that a real storm
be played out by the orchestra.
Tchaikovsky describes the program on the first page of the score:
“The Sea. The sorcerer Prospero commands the airy spirit Ariel to
raise a tempest. The storm causes the wreck of the ship that carries
Ferdinand [son to the King of Naples]. An Enchanted Island. The first
timid stirrings of love between Miranda [Prospero’s daughter] and
Ferdinand. Ariel. Caliban [“a savage and deformed slave”]. The love-struck
couple succumbs to the thrill of passion. Prospero lays aside his
magic powers and quits the island. The Sea.”
Labeled a “fantasy,” as opposed to the “fantasy-overture” of Romeo and Juliet, the form of
The Tempest is fairly free, focused more on the unfolding of characterizations and events
than specific tonal or thematic relationships. Formally reminiscent of Tchaikovsky’s ballet
scores, The Tempest seems to evolve organically rather than develop in a rational, linear
manner typical of the German symphonic tradition. With its large orchestra complete with
piccolo, four horns, three trombones, tuba, cymbals and bass drum, The Tempest runs the
emotional and stylistic spectrum from soft and shimmering to tender to martial, from the
heights of passion to the depths of terror, from magic to nature to the human heart.
Gyorgy Sviridov:
The Snowstorm, Musical Illustrations after Pushkin
Born on Dec. 16 1915, the Russian composer Georgy Sviridov remains largely unknown in
the United States, despite his popularity in Russia. Sviridov was born in Fatezh, where he
lived until 1924, when his family moved to Kursk. His father died in 1919 and his mother
passed away in 1937. Despite these losses, Sviridov remained steadfast in his education
and musical training, eventually studying composition with Dmitri Shostakovitch at the
Leningrad Conservatoire from 1937 to 1941. After military service in World War II, Sviridov
returned to Leningrad in 1944. He was then appointed musical director of Leningrad
Academic Theater of Drama and Comedy. In 1956, he moved to Moscow, where he died
on January 5, 1998. During his lifetime, he received countless honors by the U.S.S.R. and
the Union of Soviet Composers for his compositions and performances as a pianist. His
music is often featured in the background of television, film, and cultural events in Russia
and used as an icon of Russian culture in media all over the world.
Though mostly a composer of vocal music, Sviridov composed several orchestral scores
for film and concert purposes. Snowstorm was originally a film score for a 1964 movie
based on a Pushkin novel of the same title. Typical of Sviridov’s style, Snowstorm is a
stunning example of Soviet realism. Long, lyrical lines based on Russian folk themes and
dark, rich timbres pervade the piece, evoking the wide Russian countryside and the harsh
realities of Communist life. Rhythmic and melodic intensity and development evolves,
much like The Tempest , from the logic of layering: adding levels of color, rather than a
mathematical, linear melodic development typical of the Austro-German symphonic
tradition. Each of the nine movements characterizes and accompanies a scene in the film
whose events dictate the movement titles. In the literal center of the whole piece are a
pastorale depicting a simple country life and a military march not so far removed from our
own Sousa. While asserting his individuality and the distinctness of the Russian style,
Sviridov’s Snowstorm still bears the marks of influence of many of his Russian and
European models. Despite the many movements, the piece remains a coherent unit by
virtue its formal closure. The final two movements, mimicking and almost repeating
verbatim the first two in reverse order, bring the piece to rest at the point of its beginning.
Modest Moussorgsky:
Pictures at an Exhibition
Orchestration by Maurice Ravel
The most widely known piece by Russian composer Modest Moussorgsky, and perhaps
one of the most widely recognizable pieces of the symphonic tradition is Pictures at an
Exhibition. Originally completed in 1874 (the year after The Tempest) for solo piano,
Pictures was saved from obscurity by the master orchestrator Maurice Ravel when he
completed an orchestral transcription in 1922. Despite the importance of the piece within
Moussorgsky’s output, Pictures remained unpublished until after the composer’s death in
1881. The story of Pictures at an Exhibition begins with the death of Moussorgky’s close
friend Victor Hartmannn in 1873. A painter and architect, Hartmann was a confidant and
companion to the troubled and erratic Moussorgsky. A year after the artist’s death, an
exhibition of his works helped inspire Moussorgsky to turn his grief into tribute and
represent his friend’s images musically. In so doing, Moussorgsky created a new style of
piano writing (part of his life-long quest to musically mimic the accents and cadences of the
Russian language) whose thick chordal textures influenced many later composers and
inspired many transcriptions, though Ravel’s remains the most widely used.
Pictures opens with a “Promenade” that serves as an introduction and the formal thread
that binds the ten movements into a unified whole. Each movement, or picture, is
dedicated to an image of the same title from the 1874 exhibition. True to his reputation,
Ravel employs a large orchestra, including the instrument least commonly seen in the
symphony orchestra: the alto saxophone. Some pictures are fantasies, depicting gnomes,
chicks dancing while still un-hatched, and the folkloric hut of the witch Baba-Yaga. Other
pictures are images of daily life, depicting a Paris playground, a French country market
place, a large ox-cart in Poland and two Polish Jews. Still others nostalgically evoke
images of an epic past, as a troubadour serenades an ancient castle and Hartmann
himself explores the Roman tombs. The final picture is architectural, depicting a gate
whose traditional design was never realized. Grand and expansive, “The Great Gate of
Kiev” evokes the ancient Russian style of the gate design and brings fitting closure to a
piece whose scope is as wide as the Russian countryside.
— Program Notes by Jaemi Loeb
University Symphony Orchestra
Robert Gutter, conductor
Alexander Chernushenko, guest conductor
Monday, February 23, 2004
7:30 pm
Aycock Auditorium
Program
“The Tempest” Fantasy, Op. 18 Piotr Illyich Tchaikovsky
(1840-1893)
The Snowstorm Georgy Sviridov
Troika (1915-1998)
Waltz
Spring and Autumn
Romance
Pastorale
March
A Wedding
Echo of the Waltz
Winter Road
Intermission
Pictures at an Exhibition Modest Moussorgsky
Promenade (1839-1881)
Gnomus Orchestration by Maurice Ravel
Promenade
The Old Castle
Promenade
Tuileries
Bydlo
Promenade
Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks
Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle
Limoges
Catacombs
Cum mortuis in lingua mortua
The Hut on Fowls Legs
The Great Gate of Kiev
_____
The hall is equipped with a listening assistance system.
Patrons needing such assistance should please see one of the ushers in the lobby.
Patrons are encouraged to take note of the exits located on all levels of
the auditorium. In an emergency, please use the nearest exit, which may
be behind you or different from the one through which you entered.
