Chicago Philharmonic 2018-2019 Spring

THE CHICAGO PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY | SPRING 2019 13 2018 2019 SEASON: DEFYING DESTINY Defying Destiny Sunday, April 7 2019, 7:30pm Pick-Staiger Hall, Evanston Scott Speck conductor Robert Everson timpani Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture Michael Daugherty (b. 1954) Raise the Roof for Timpani and Orchestra Intermission Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 – 1908) Scheherazade , Op. 35 I. e Sea and Sinbad’s Ship II. e Story of e Kalandar Prince III. e Young Prince and e Young Princess IV. Festival at Baghdad – e Sea Performance time approximately 2 hours Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture (1870) roughout Tchaikovsky’s compositional career, he returned repeatedly to the ideas of fate, tragedy, and love. Perhaps it was his private strugglewithhis sexuality, hopeless romanticism, frequent struggles with bouts of depression, or even the political unrest of Russia in the late 19th century that drove his obsession with these topics. Whatever the reasons, Romeo and Juliet was an exceptionally tting story for Tchaikovsky. Russian Nationalist composer Mily Balakirev apparently rst suggested the composition to Tchaikovsky, going so far as to write instructions for the key, harmonic structure, and o ering samples of how he would compose the opening measures. Tchaikovsky took Balakirev’s advice to heart and the two wrote back and forth regarding the piece, culminating in the premiere in Moscow in 1870. e two later had a falling out and Tchaikovsky alone revised the piece signi cantly in 1872 and again in 1880. e version most commonly heard today includes these nal 1880 revisions. Romeo and Juliet follows a sonata form(with an exposition, development, and recapitulation) more than it does the actual plot of Shakespeare’s play. e piece begins with solemn chords representing the voice of Friar Lawrence, and later introduces the iconic lover’s melody with quiet English horn and viola. Only towards the end of Romeo and Juliet do we hear this glorious theme played by the full orchestra. Michael Daugherty (b. 1954) Raise the Roof for Timpani and Orchestra (2003) Grammy Award-winning composer Michael Daugherty was born not far from Chicago in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and has achieved international recognition for melding together elements of modern pop and classical music. He is currently Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan. His mini-concerto Raise the Roof was commissioned by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2003. Regarding the piece, the composer writes: “ Raise the Roof brings the timpani into the orchestral foreground as the foundation of a grand acoustic construction. I have composed music that gives the timpanist the rare opportunity to play long expressive melodies, and a tour de force cadenza. e timpanist uses a wide variety of performance techniques: extensive use of foot pedals for melodic tuning of the drums, placement of a cymbal upside down on the head of the lowest drum to play glissandi rolls, and striking the drums with regular mallets, wire brushes, maraca sticks, and even bare hands.” Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 – 1908) Scheherazade, Symphonic Suite, Op. 35 (1888) “ e Sultan Shakriar, convinced of the falsehood and in delity of all women, had sworn an oath to put to death each of his wives a er the rst night. But the Sultana Scheherazade saved her life by arousing his interest in the wonderful tales she told for a thousand and one nights.” – passage from Tales of Arabian Nights. Late Romantic Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov is famous for his colorful orchestration and mastery of storytelling. Scheherazade , which may be considered the composer’s chef-d’œuvre, is quite literally a story about a storyteller. In this symphonic suite, Scheherazade, the embodiment of intelligence, warmth, and sacri ce, saves her own life and the lives NEXT! Music in the Foyer Students from the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory Founded in 1993, Midwest Young Artists Conservatory is a full-curriculum pre-college music school which has garnered a reputation among professional musicians and educators as a place for students to enjoy and nurture their passion for classical and jazz music. MYAC offers a wide variety of educational music programs from early childhood music and movement, to elementary school choral and entry level orchestral groups, to advanced orchestra, chamber music, choral, jazz, music theory and music composition programs. mya.org