Chicago Philharmonic 2019-2020

10 FALL 2019 | THE CHICAGO PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY 2019 2020 SEASON: LIFE Jeremy Moeller, trombone Jeremy Moeller was appointed Principal Trombone of the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra by Music Director Sir Andrew Davis in 2009. He also currently serves as Principal Trombone with the Chicago Philharmonic and Assistant Principal/Second Trombone for the Grant Park Orchestra during the summer season, a post he has held since 2004. Prior to his appointment at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Jeremy served as Acting Second Trombone with the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops for two seasons. He has also performed with the Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Atlanta, San Antonio, Charleston, and Grand Rapids Symphonies, and he performed Wagner’s Ring Cycle with the National Opera at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. As a chamber musician, Jeremy has performed and can be heard on recordings with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Brass and Brass Quintet, Chicago Trombone Consort, Burning River Brass, Tower Brass of Chicago, and Avatar Brass Quintet. As a soloist, Jeremy has performed with e New Sousa Band. He has also performed on ChicagoWTTW’s “Chicago Tonight” and ABC’s “News is Morning.” Jeremy received a Bachelor’s Degree in AppliedMusic and a Performer’s Certi cate from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with John Marcellus. He later received a Masters of Music degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he studied with David Waters. He is currently on faculty at Northern Illinois University and is an artist/clinician with the Antoine Courtois Instrument Company. Harrison Collins, composer Harrison J. Collins began composing at the young age of 14. Since then, he has made a name for himself across the United States as a skilled composer. He combines his musical studies in academic settings with years of self-teaching and a strong intuition to write music that challenges and connects performers and listeners alike. His works for wind ensemble and orchestra are published by Grand Mesa Music Publishers, C. Alan Publications, and Ars Nova Music. He is a winner of numerous composition competitions, including the Dallas Winds Fanfare Competition, the National Young Composers Challenge, the Austin Symphony Orchestra’s Texas Young Composers Competition, and multiple Fi een Minutes of Fame competitions held by Vox Novus- including one in which his work was selected for performance by the acclaimedWest Point Band. Harrison currently studies at Illinois State University with Dr. Roy Magnuson and Dr. Roger Zare, where he is seeking a degree in music composition and music education. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 -1893) Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 (1893) “I love it as I have never loved any one of my musical o spring before.” —Tchaikovsky, regarding his Sixth Symphony It is a cruel irony that Tchaikovsky completed a nal work that depicts the ght between life and the unstoppable force of oblivion so soon before his own unexpected death. By all accounts, he was in good mental and physical health as he composed his unusually bleak sixth symphony in early 1893. He even rebounded quickly from the public’s half-hearted response to the premiere which he conducted in Saint Petersburg, believing the audience was simply confused by the melancholy nale. Just nine days later, Tchaikovsky died at the age of 53 likely by drinking an unboiled glass of water during a cholera outbreak. ere has been much speculation regarding Tchaikovsky’s death, but the impact of his passing in Russia and worldwide is undeniable. As a result, Pathétiqu e became an immensely popular symphony that symbolized the great composer’s death, even though that was almost certainly not his intent. Tchaikovsky did intend for the symphony to be programmatic but declined further explanation, saying to his nephew and close friend Bob Davydov, “Let him guess it who can.” e symphony is dedicated to Davydov. With all of the hullabaloo surrounding Pathétique and Tchaikovsky’s death, it can be easy to forget that this is possibly the composer’s greatest work. It is a masterful rendition of classical form and structure; it sounds like peak emotional Romantic music, but Tchaikvosky was clearly inspired by his hero Mozart. e symphony begins with a low bassoon solo which leads way to a nervous, skittering melody similar to the feeling one might have before a storm. A passionate melody, strikingly similar to the “Flower Song” in Bizet’s Carmen, emerges in the strings. e movement ends with an unexpected section that quotes a Russian liturgical chant. e second movement is equally unconventional, sounding like a waltz but written in 5/4 meter instead of the usual 3/4. is wistful almost-waltz is swept away by a frenzied third movement march, which could be considered triumphant but verges on hysteria. e nale is the most curious of all; the slow adagio lamentoso movement is the opposite of the traditional victorious nale, sinking into despair as the rst and second violins intertwine their descending melodies. e nal, haunting notes, perhaps some of the last Tchaikovsky wrote, disappear into nothingness. Jeremy Moeller (second from le ) with Chicago Philharmonic musicians at e Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music, in Lusławice, Poland during the Society’s tour in Poland (2018)