Ravinia 2021 - Issue 4

PAVILION 8:00 PM WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2021 CHICAGO SINFONIETTA ME,ɨ$NN C+EN, music director and conductor Sounds of Dance CO/ERID*E-TA</OR Danse nègre from African Suite * STRAUSS JR. The Blue Danube Waltz CHOPIN Grande valse brillante (arr. Stravinsky) PRICE Dances in the Canebrakes * (arr. Still) Nimble Feet Tropical Noon Silk Hat and Walking Cane SMETANA The Moldau from My Fatherland D9OσK Slavonic Dance No. 8 ARTURO MƒR4UE= Conga del Fuego Nuevo * There will be no intermission in this program. * First performance at Ravinia SAMUE/ CO/ERID*E-TA</OR (1875–1912) Danse nègre from African Suite , op. 35 Scored for two flutes and piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, four trombones, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, and strings Daniel Peter Hughes Taylor, the 25-year-old Black son of a wealthy merchant in Freetown, Sierra Leone, formed a relationship with the 17-year-old white farrier Alice Holmans, the illegitimate daughter of a craftsman, while pursuing medical studies at King’s College Hospital and the Royal College of Surgeons. Daniel and Alice must have secretly married, although no documentation of a wedding ceremony have survived, for she listed the surgeon as the father and her name as “Tay- lor” on the birth certificate of their son, who entered the world on August 15, 1875, in Lon- don. Dr. Taylor had returned to Freetown long before the boy’s birth, and never played a role in his life. Alice named the child Samuel Coleridge-Tay- lor—an homage to the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)—and raised him in the household of her parents in Croy- don. Benjamin Holmans, his blacksmith grandfather who possessed a love of music, became young Samuel’s first violin teacher at the age of 5 and later paid for his instru- ment and private lessons with more quali- fied instructors. Coleridge-Taylor became a standout student at The British School and a chorister at St. George’s Presbyterian Church, whose choirmaster guided Samuel’s musical training until he entered the Royal College of Music in London at age 15. The RCM main- tained an outstanding music faculty—headed by the well-known lexicographer Sir George Grove—that included composer Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, violinist Henry Holmes, pianist Algernon Ashton, theorist Charles Wood, and organist Walter Parratt. By the time Coleridge-Taylor finished at the RCM in the summer of 1897, he had emerged as a Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1905) MEMBERSOF THE CHICAGOSINFONIETTA Chicago Sinfonietta concertmaster Paul Zafer made his solo debut with the Calgary Philharmonic at age 13. Previously the con- certmaster for The Joffrey and Royal Winni- peg Ballets, Elgin Symphony, and the Illinois Philharmonic, Zafer has also appeared with the English Chamber Orchestra, Toronto and Milwaukee Symphonies, Santa Fe Opera, and the National Ballet of Canada. Additionally, he has played for many Broadway In Chi- cago shows, including The Lion King , Kinky Boots , Miss Saigon , and Phantom of the Opera . Karen Nelson has been the principal second violinist of the Chicago Sinfonietta since its inception and was a member of the Chicago String Ensemble for 20 years. She was previ- ously acting concertmaster of the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra and has been assistant concertmaster of the Park Ridge Civic Or- chestra since 2001. Nelson also spent three years with the Grant Park Symphony and has appeared with the Milwaukee and Elgin Sym- phonies, Chicago and Illinois Philharmonics, Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chicago Opera Theater, and The Joffrey, San Francisco, and Bolshoi Ballets, among many other ensem- bles. Violist Becky Coffman is a longtime Chicago Sinfonietta member who previously played with the Louisville Orchestra, India- napolis Chamber Orchestra, and Indianap- olis Symphony. She holds degrees in violin performance from DePauw and Indiana Uni- versities and returned to IU to study viola. Coffman currently teaches both instruments at Concordia University and has directed the string program at Ascension School in Oak Park for over two decades. Ann Griffin is a founding member of the Chicago Sinfonietta and has been principal cellist since 1992. She currently holds the same chair in the Chica- go Jazz Philharmonic, and she was principal cellist for the The Joffrey Ballet 2003–12 and touring companies of American Ballet The- ater, San Francisco Ballet, and Ballet West. A member of the chamber group Trio Caprice, Griffin has also performed with the Civic Or- chestra of Chicago, Illinois Philharmonic, El- gin and Rockford Symphonies, and Chicago Opera Theater, among other ensembles. RAVINIA MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 7 – SEPTEMBER 24, 2021 44