Ravinia 2023 Issue 5

Tatyana’s Letter Scene (excerpt) “Kto ti: moy ángel li khranítel’ Íli kovárniy iskusítel’? Moí somnyén’ya razreshí. Bit’ mózhet, éto vsyo pustóye, Obmán neópitnoy dushí, I suzhdenó sovsyém inóye?” No tak i bit’! Sud’bú moyú Otníne ya tebyé vrucháyu, Péred tobóyu slyózi l’yu, Tvoyéy zashchíti umolyáyu, umolyáyu. Voobrazí: ya zdyes odná! Niktó menyá nye ponimáyet! Rassúdok moy iznemogáyet, I mólcha gíbnut’ ya dolzhná! Ya zhdu tebyá, ya zhdu tebyá! Yedínim slóvom. Nadyézhdi syérdtsa ozhiví, Il’ son tyazhóliy pererví, Uví, zaslúzhennim, Uví, zaslúzhennim ukórom! Koncháyu! Stráshno perechést’ Stidóm i strákhom zamiráyu No mnye porúkoy vásha chest’. I smyélo yey sebyá vveráyu! “Who are you: my guardian angel or a crafty tempter? Resolve my doubts. Perhaps it was all nothing, just the delusion of an artless soul, and something quite different is decreed …” Well, so be it! Henceforth, I entrust my fate to you, before you I shed tears, and I beseech, beseech your protection. Imagine: I am here alone! No one understands me! I am losing my sense of reason, and I must perish in silence! I am waiting for you, I am waiting for you! With a single word revive the hopes of my heart or shatter this oppressive dream, alas deserving your reproaches! It’s finished! I fear to reread it, I am dying with shame and fear, but your honor is my guarantee, and boldly I put my trust in it. 1812 Festival Overture, op. 49 Scored for two flutes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, two cornets, two tenor trombones and bass trombone, tuba, timpani, triangle, tambourine, snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, cannons, chimes (bells), and strings “The overture will be very loud, noisy, but I wrote it without any warm feelings of love, so it will probably be of no artistic worth.” Un- questionably, Tchaikovsky produced an over- ture with “very loud, noisy” portions, but the rest of his assessment missed wide of the mark. The 1812 Festival Overture ranks as per- haps Tchaikovsky’s most popular composition for its sentimental, as well as artistic, worth. Louis-François Lejeune’s Battle of Moscow, 7th September 1812 (1882) Nikolai Rubinstein requested a new work from Tchaikovsky for an upcoming Exhibi- tion of Arts and Crafts in Moscow. This 1882 exhibition coincided with the dedication of the new Cathedral of Christ the Savior and a 70th-anniversary commemoration of the Russian resistance to Napoleon’s assault. Tchaikovsky’s “festival overture” was given a grand, open-air first performance (such as this evening’s). A massive assemblage of instruments filled the cathedral square with sound—a military band, an enormous or- chestra, a company of artillery, and pealing bells from the church towers. Tchaikovsky composed the 1812 Overture between October 12 and November 19, 1880, with the Napoleonic defeat in mind. An old Russian anthem—a patriotic prayer—serves as the slow introductory theme: “Lord, save Thy people and bless Thine heritage; grant victory to our land, our sovereign and his warriors over the invaders, and by the power of Thy cross preserve Thy commonwealth.” The tempo increases as the conflict builds. Among the main themes is a Russian chil- dren’s folk song. French troops advance to the strains of “La Marseillaise,” but the Russian anthem spurs the people to victory. –Program notes © 2023 Todd E. Sullivan GEORGE STELLUTO Appointed Ravinia Festival’s Associate Con- ductor inMarch and now 11 years into his ten- ure as Music Director of the Peoria Sympho- ny Orchestra, George Stelluto also maintains an extensive schedule as a guest conductor, having earned such honors as ASCAP’s Ad- venturous Programming Award, the Bruno Walter Fellowship, and the Nevada Regents Creativity Award. He made his Chicago Sym- phony Orchestra debut at Ravinia in 2021, and he has also led the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Philharmonic at the festival in a variety of family and special programming. Under his direction, the PSO made its Ravinia debut in 2018 in collabora- tion with Jamie Bernstein on “Bernstein 100 Years Young: A New Young People’s Concert.” Stelluto has hosted the PBS series SoundBites since 2014, bringing the PSO to thousands while exploring music in relation to medicine, society, business, and education alongside re- nowned guest artists. Another highlight of the PSO’s growth of under his leadership was its 2021 Betty Friedan 100th birthday tribute, featuring its first woman composer-in-resi- dence, Stephanie Ann Boyd, and repertoire entirely about and by women. Stelluto’s guest conducting credits include debuting with the San Francisco Symphony in 2019 as well as appearances with the Atlanta, Hartford, Mil- waukee, Pasadena, and San Diego Sympho- nies, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Germany’s Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Romania’s Transylvania State Philharmonic, and the Ukrainian National Orchestra. His concert collaborators have included violinists Hilary Hahn, Charles Yang, and Sarah Chang; pianists Ramsey Lewis, Jorge Federico Oso- rio, and Orion Weiss; vocalists Ryan Spee- do Green, Michelle DeYoung, and Samuel Ramey; and versatile artists Victor Wooten, Edgar Meyer, Béla Fleck, and Time for Three. An inaugural recipient of Juilliard’s Artist Di- ploma in conducting, he also holds degrees in violin and conducting from Yale and West Virginia Universities. Over his 12-year asso- ciation with Juilliard as resident conductor, Stelluto led performances by its orchestral, dance, vocal, drama, and jazz divisions and prepared the Juilliard Orchestra to work with numerous guest conductors, including Ber- nard Haitink, Pierre Boulez, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, as well as for three interna- tional tours. KEVIN MURPHY New York native Kevin Murphy studied pi- ano performance at Indiana University un- der Menahem Pressler and James Tocco, completing a Bachelor of Music, and later studied piano accompaniment at the Curtis Institute, earning a master’s degree. In 1992 he was invited to be the first pianist to partici- pate in the Lindemann Young Artist Program of the Metropolitan Opera, where he was an assistant conductor from the following year until 2006, when he was named director of musical studies for the Paris National Op- era. Murphy has played harpsichord contin- uo with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in productions of Rossini’s La Cenerentola and Mozart’s Così fan tutte , The Marriage of Figaro , Idomeneo , La clemenza di Tito , and Don Giovanni —also performing that role in productions of several of those opera at Ravinia—and traveled with the company on tour to Japan, where he has played and been a musical assistant for the Seiji Ozawa Opera Project. He also regularly collaborates with such artists as Michelle DeYoung, Gary Lakes, Kathleen Battle, Nathan Gunn, Bryn Terfel, Cecilia Bartoli, Frederica von Stade, Plácido Domingo, Renée Fleming, Gerald Finley, Kiri Te Kanawa, and Pinchas Zuker- man. Murphy has been a vocal coach at San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, the Inter- national Vocal Arts Institute, Glimmerglass Opera, Tanglewood, and The Juilliard School; an opera coach for the Canadian Opera Com- pany and Netherlands Opera; and a regular adjudicator for the Metropolitan Opera Na- tional Council Auditions. He was director of music administration for New York City Opera from 2008 until 2011, when he joined the faculty of Indiana University as Professor of Practice and the head opera coach, and he has frequently been an artistic consultant for the Tucson Desert Song Festival since its in- ception in 2013. This is Kevin Murphy’s 13th season in performance at Ravinia, where he first appeared in 2004, and his 12th year as director of the Ravinia Steans Music Institute Program for Singers. Special thanks to Ravinia Steans Music Insti- tute collaborative pianist Nikolay Verevkin for his assistance as diction coach in the prepara- tion of this performance. RAVINIA.ORG • RAVINIA MAGAZINE 31