issue two - Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

allegro 

MAGAZINE OF THE VANCOUVER SYMPHONY 

November 5, 2011 – January 16, 2012 – VOLUME 17 – ISSUE 2 

Isabel 

Bayrakdarian 

Acclaimed soprano stars 

in the Brahms Requiem 

Bugs Bunny 

at the Symphony 

Richie Cole 

Sax legend swings 

in VSO Pops 

VSO Kids’ Koncerts 

Tchaikovsky Discovers America 

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons 

with Henning Kraggerud 

Corey Cerovsek 

Hometown violinist returns 

to the Orpheum stage

vancouver symphony orchestra 

BRAMWELL TOVEY MUSIC DIRECTOR 

KAZUYOSHI AKIYAMA CONDUCTOR LAUREATE 

JEFF TYZIK PRINCIPAL POPS CONDUCTOR 

* Pierre Simard ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR 

Marsha & George Taylor Chair 

* EDWARD TOP COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE 

first violins 

Dale Barltrop, 

Concertmaster 

Joan Blackman, 

Associate Concertmaster 

Claude Halter, 

Assistant Concertmaster ∆ 

Jennie Press, Second 

Assistant Concertmaster 

Robin Braun 

Mary Sokol Brown 

Mrs. Cheng Koon Lee Chair 

Jenny Essers 

Jason Ho 

Akira Nagai, Associate 

Concertmaster Emeritus 

Xue Feng Wei 

Rebecca Whitling 

Yi Zhou 

Angela Cavadas ◊ 

Nancy DiNovo ◊ 

Ruth Schipizky ◊ 

second violins 

Brent Akins, Principal § 

Nicholas Wright, Principal ∆ 

Karen Gerbrecht, 

Associate Principal 

Jim and Edith le Nobel Chair 

Jeanette Bernal-Singh, 

Assistant Principal 

Adrian Shu-On Chui 

Daniel Norton 

Ann Okagaito 

Ashley Plaut 

Maya De Forest ◊ 

DeAnne Eisch ◊ 

Erin James ◊ 

Pamela Marks ◊ 

§ Leave of Absence 

∆ One-year Position 

◊ Extra Musician 

violas 

Neil Miskey, Principal 

Andrew Brown, 


Stephen Wilkes, 


Lawrence Blackman 

Estelle & Michael Jacobson Chair 

Angela Schneider 

Professors Mr. and Mrs. 

Ngou Kang Chair 

Ian Wenham 

Chi Ng ◊ 

Reginald Quiring ◊ 

Marcus Takizawa ◊ 

cellos 

Principal Cello 

Nezhat and Hassan 

Khosrowshahi Chair 

Janet Steinberg, 


Zoltan Rozsnyai, 


Olivia Blander 

Natasha Boyko 

Mary & Gordon 

Christopher Chair 

Joseph Elworthy 

Charles Inkman 

Cristian Markos 

basses 

Dylan Palmer, 

Principal 

Chang-Min Lee, 


David Brown 

J. Warren Long 

Frederick Schipizky 

Christopher Light ◊ 

Leanna Wong ◊ 

flutes 

Christie Reside, 

Principal 

Nadia Kyne, 


Rosanne Wieringa 

Michael & Estelle Jacobson Chair 

piccolo 

Nadia Kyne 

Hermann & Erika Stölting Chair 

oboes 

Roger Cole, Principal 

Wayne and Leslie Ann Ingram Chair 

Beth Orson, 


Karin Walsh 

Paul Moritz Chair 

english horn 

Beth Orson 

Chair in Memory of 

John S. Hodge 

clarinets 

Jeanette Jonquil, 

Principal 

Cris Inguanti, 


Todd Cope 

e-flat clarinet 

Todd Cope 

bass clarinet 

Cris Inguanti 

bassoons 

Julia Lockhart, 

Principal 

Sophie Dansereau, 


Gwen Seaton 

contrabassoon 

Sophie Dansereau 

french horns 

Oliver de Clercq, 

Principal 

Benjamin Kinsman 

Werner & Helga Höing Chair 

David Haskins, 


Fourth Horn 

Winslow & Betsy Bennett Chair 

Richard Mingus, 


trumpets 

Larry Knopp, Principal 

Marcus Goddard, 


Vincent Vohradsky 

W. Neil Harcourt in memory 

of Frank N. Harcourt Chair 

trombones 

Vacant, Principal 

Gregory A. Cox 

bass trombone 

Douglas Sparkes 

Arthur H. Willms Family Chair 

tuba 

Ellis Wean, Principal § 

Peder MacLellan, Principal ∆ 

timpani 

Aaron McDonald, Principal 

percussion 

Vern Griffiths, Principal 

Martha Lou Henley Chair 

Tony Phillipps 

harp 

Elizabeth Volpé, Principal 

Heidi Krutzen ◊ 

piano, celeste 

Linda Lee Thomas, 

Principal 

Carter (Family) Deux Mille 

Foundation Chair 

orchestra personnel 

manager 

DeAnne Eisch 

music librarian 

Minella F. Lacson 

Ron & Ardelle Cliff Chair 

master carpenter 

Pierre Boyard 

master electrician 

Leonard Lummis 

piano technician 

Thomas Clarke 

*Supported by The Canada 

Council for the Arts 

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MAGAZINE OF THE VANCOUVER SYMPHONY 

allegro 

November 5, 2011 – January 16, 2012 – VOLUME 17 – ISSUE 2 

A SERIES FOR EVERY TA S T E 

C L ASSICS MAST E RWO R KS G O L D / MAST E RWO R KS D I AMON D / MAST E RWO R KS S I LV E R ON A 

L I GHTER NOT E M U S I CA L LY S P EA K I N G / BAC H & B EYO N D V SO POPS MATINEES TEA & 

TRUMPETS / SYMPHONY SU N DAYS R OA D T R I P S VS O AT T H E A N N EX / N O RT H S H O R E 

C L A S S I C S / S U R R EY N I G H TS K I D S RULE! TI NY TOTS / KI DS’ KONC ERTS SPECIALS 

C O N C E R T S 

8 November 5, 7 

Musically Speaking 

Surrey Nights 

Jean-Marie Zeitouni conductor 

Dan Zhu violin 


Goldcorp Masterworks Gold 

Carlos Miguel Prieto conductor 

Yossif Ivanov violin 

38 ISABEL BAYRAKDARIAN 


Specials 

Bugs Bunny at the Symphony 

George Daugherty conductor 

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra 

24 November 24 

Pacific Arbour Tea & Trumpets 

Russian Classics 

Pierre Simard conductor 

Christopher Gaze host 

Hannah Chung violin 


London Drugs VSO Pops 

Cool and Swingin’ with Richie Cole 


Richie Cole saxophone 

Five By Design 

34 November 27 

Spectra Energy Kids’ Koncerts 

Tchaikovsky Discovers America 


Classical Kids entertainers 

38 December 3, 5 

Masterworks Diamond 

Bramwell Tovey conductor 

Isabel Bayrakdarian soprano 

Hugh Russell baritone 

Vancouver Bach Choir 

44 December 16, 17 

Specials 

The Four Seasons 

Henning Kraggerud leader/violin 

48 January 7, 8, 9 

Masterworks Diamond 

Symphony Sundays 

Rossen Milanov conductor 

Corey Cerovsek violin 

54 January 14, 16 

Masterworks Silver 


Freddy Kempf piano 

4 allegro

I N T H I S I S S U E 

2 vso lottery 

3 the orchestra 

5 allegro staff list 

6 government support 

7 message from the Chairman 

and the President & CEO 

12 agm announcement 

23 vancouver symphony foundation 

32 vso upcoming concerts 

40 ways to make a difference 

43 patrons’ circle 

53 lovers’ ball 

58 corporate partners 

60 at the concert / vso staff list 

62 the mahler fesitval 

63 board of directors / thanks / 

volunteer council 

64 vso christmas concerts 

20 BUGS BUNNY 

AT THE SYMPHONY 

TM & © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. 

(s11) 

38 BRAMWELL TOVEY 

48 COREY CEROVSEK 8 DAN ZHU 

28 RICHIE COLE 

We welcome your comments on this magazine. Please forward them to: Vancouver Symphony, 601 Smithe Street, 

Vancouver, BC V6B 5G1 Allegro contact and advertising enquiries: vsoallegro@yahoo.com / customer service: 

604.876.3434 / VSO office: 604.684.9100 / website: www.vancouversymphony.ca Allegro staff: published by The Vancouver 

Symphony Society / editor / publisher: Anna Gove / contributors: Don Anderson, Sophia Vincent / art direction, design & 

production: basic elements design Pass it on: It’s the right thing to do! Please feel free to bring your Allegro Magazine 

home at the end of the concert. If you do not wish to keep it, please return it to an usher. Printed in Canada by Web 

Impressions. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written consent is prohibited. 

Contents copyrighted by the Vancouver Symphony, with the exception of material written by contributors. 

Allegro Magazine has been endowed by a generous gift from Adera Development Corporation. 

allegro 5

The Vancouver Symphony Society 

is grateful to the Government of Canada 

and the Canada Council for the Arts, 

Province of British Columbia and the BC Arts Council, 

and the City of Vancouver for their ongoing support. 

The combined investment in the VSO by the three levels 

of government annually funds over 28% of the cost of 

the orchestra’s extensive programs and activities. 

This vital investment enables the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra to present over 150 

life-enriching concerts in 12 diverse venues throughout the Lower Mainland, attract 

some of the world’s best musicians to live and work in our community, produce Grammy ® 

and Juno ® award-winning recordings, participate in numerous CBC Radio broadcasts – 

bringing the sounds of the VSO to listeners across the country and, through our 

renowned educational programs, touch the lives of over 50,000 children. 

Thank you!

M E S S A G E F R O M 

vso chairman and vso president & CEO 

Dear Friends, 

The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s 

2011/2012 Season has already included many 

wonderful performances, but there are a lot 

more to come. We invite you to look through this 

edition of Allegro for upcoming concerts, or visit 

our website at www.vancouversymphony.ca 

to get a complete season listing, and to order 

your tickets online. 

In addition to the many evening and matinee 

concerts performed by the orchestra, we 

are proud to present two sets of Elementary 

School Concerts in November and February 

this season. Over 400 schools and home school 

groups from throughout the Lower Mainland 

and as far afield as Nanaimo and Hope will 

be bringing over 35,000 children to hear the 

orchestra perform at these weekday morning 

concerts. The joy and life-enriching experiences 

these concerts bring to students are an important 

part of the VSO’s mission. We are very grateful 

to Industrial Alliance Pacific for generously 

sponsoring this series, and to TELUS for 

being our Premier Education Partner. 

The VSO maintains eleven distinct 

educational programs that reach over 50,000 

children annually. In addition to the Elementary 

School Concerts are the Sunday afternoon Kids 

Koncerts Series sponsored by Spectra Energy. 

These concerts, for children ages five to eleven 

and their families are both educational and 

entertaining in nature. There is still time to 

subscribe to this series, and treat your children 

or grandchildren to the joys of classical music. 

Another fun way to introduce the family to 

classical music is the Tiny Tots concerts at the 

Vancouver Playhouse in downtown Vancouver 

and the Terry Fox Theatre in Port Coquitlam. 

These 45-minute performances are designed 

for infants to children age five. 

And of course, if you or your loved one would like 

to begin or continue your studies of a musical 

instrument, we now have the exciting VSO 

School of Music right next door to the Orpheum! 

December 8 th through 17 th we are also 

pleased to present (for the young-at-heart) 

the VSO’s annual Traditional Christmas 

concerts: 13 performances in 6 locations 

this season. Performances will take place in 

St. Andrew’s Wesley Church in downtown 

Vancouver, the Bell Performing Arts Centre in 

Surrey, South Delta Baptist Church, Centennial 

Theatre in North Vancouver, the Kay Meek 

Theatre in West Vancouver and the Michael J. Fox 

Theatre in Burnaby. 

And don’t miss the special Mahler Plus 

performances January 20 th through 23 rd in the 

Orpheum Theatre. 

On behalf of the Board of Directors, Maestro 

Tovey, our musicians, staff and volunteers, we 

thank you for your commitment to the VSO and 

send all the best wishes for the holiday season. 

Please enjoy today’s concert. 

Sincerely yours, 

Arthur H. Willms 

Chair, Board of Directors 

Jeff Alexander 

President & Chief Executive Officer 

ARTHUR H. WILLMS 

JEFF ALEXANDER 

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JEAN-MARIE ZEITOUNI 

DAN ZHU 

CONCERT PROGRAM 

Musically Speaki ng / OR PH EUM TH EATR E, 8PM 

saturday, november 5 

Su r r ey N ights / Bell Per formi ng Arts C entr e, 8pm 

monday, november 7 


◆ Dan Zhu violin 

Milhaud Le boeuf sur le toit, Op. 58 

◆ Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63 

I. Allegro moderato 

II. Andante assai 

III. Allegro, ben marcato 

Intermission 

Stravinsky Scherzo à la russe 

Ravel Tzigane 

Gershwin An American in Paris 

Visit the Symphony Gift Shop for CD selections 

8 allegro 

VIDEO SCREEN SPONSOR 

The VSO’s Surrey Nights Series has been endowed by 

a generous gift from Werner and Helga Höing.


Jean-Marie Zeitouni, recently named music 

director of the Columbus Symphony, has 

emerged as one of Canada’s brightest 

young conductors whose eloquent yet fiery 

style in repertoire ranging from Baroque 

to contemporary music results in regular 

re-engagements across North America. 

His association with Les Violons du Roy 

goes back ten years, first as conductor-inresidence, 

then as associate conductor, and 

since 2008 as principal guest conductor. 

Over the years, he has led the ensemble in 

more than 200 performances in the province 

of Québec, across Canada and in Mexico. 

In 2006, he recorded his first CD with Les 

Violons du Roy entitled Piazzolla which 

received a JUNO ® Award for Classical Album 

Of The Year in the category Solo or Chamber 

Ensemble in 2007. They also recorded two 

subsequent CDs: Bartok in 2008 and Britten 

in 2010. 

Jean-Marie Zeitouni graduated from the 

Montreal Conservatory in conducting, 

percussion and theory. He studied with 

Maestro Raffi Armenian. 

Dan Zhu violin 

Named “one of the emerging Chinese 

international artists today” by Gramophone 

magazine, and called “an artist of affecting 

humility and beautiful tone production” by 

The Strad magazine, Dan Zhu is quickly 

gaining world recognition. 

Dan Zhu, a native of Beijing, made his 

first public appearance at the age of nine, 

performing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto 

with the China Youth Chamber Orchestra. 

At age twelve he entered the Central 

Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where he 

studied with Xiao-Zhi Huang. Four years 

later Zhu was awarded the Alexis Gregory 

Scholarship to study with Lucie Robert at 

Mannes College of Music in New York. At 

eighteen, he made his Carnegie Hall debut, 

performing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto 

under David Gilbert. 

Dan Zhu lives in New York and plays a 1763 

Carlo Antonio Testore violin, on loan from 

the Alexis Gregory Foundation. His exclusive 

concert attire is provided by Blanc de Chine. 

10 allegro

Darius Milhaud 

b. Aix-en-Provence, France / September 4, 1892 

d. Geneva, Switzerland / June 22, 1974 

Le boeuf sur le toit, Op. 58 

Darius Milhaud was one of a group of French 

composers dubbed “Les Six” (kind of like the 

“Big Five” of Russian composers, or maybe 

England’s “Fab Four”) who regularly hung out 

together in the very avante-garde bar La gaya 

in Paris, along with the poet/writer/occultist 

Jean Cocteau. Cocteau choreographed 

Milhaud’s Le boeuf sur le toit (The bull on the 

roof) into a farcical ballet, which became all 

the rage in Paris at the time. 

“...(he) assembled a few 

popular melodies, tangos, 

maxixes, sambas and even 

a Portuguese fado, and 

transcribed them with 

a rondo-like theme...” 

The piece was inspired by music Milhaud 

heard in his two years with the French legate 

in Rio de Janeiro. In his own words, he 

“assembled a few popular melodies, tangos, 

maxixes, sambas and even a Portuguese 

fado, and transcribed them with a rondo-like 

theme recurring between each successive 

pair.” When La gaya moved, the owner named 

his new bar Le boeuf sur le toit in honour of 

Milhaud and Les Six, and the new star of the 

Paris cabaret scene was born – with Milhaud, 

Cocteau and Les Six at the centre of it all. 

Sergey Prokofiev 

b. Sontsovka, Ukraine / April 27, 1891 

d. Moscow, Russia / March 5, 1953 

Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63 

Born and raised in an affluent household, 

Prokofiev received from his parents not 

only nurturing, guidance, and comfort, but a 

precocious musical gift. In 1902, when his 

formal musical training began, his teacher, 

Gliere, may have learned a thing or two from 

Prokofiev – the boy had already written two 

operas and numerous short works for piano. 

It was obvious Prokofiev was a prodigy, and it 

became obvious after his early compositions 

that he would become controversial, to say 

the least. 

By the time he wrote his Violin Concerto No. 

2, nearly twenty years after his first concerto 

for violin and orchestra and just before he 

returned to Russia later in his career, critical 

and popular opinions of Prokofiev and his 

music were divided into two distinct camps 

of love and hate – with absolutely nothing in 

between. He was the “bad boy” of classical 

music at the time, pushing boundaries with 

his aggressively forward-looking style and 

at times, the sheer violence of music. 

Yet the second violin concerto betrays 

nothing of this at first. 

The work begins with a soaring, almost 

delicate lyricism, meditative in character, 

moving forward with roughly the same tone – 

albeit with some of Prokofiev’s characteristic 

tonal shifts and modulations, but soulful and 

introspective music nonetheless. This tone 

carries through the first two movements, an 

impressive show of compositional restraint 

for the Prokofiev everyone knew at the time. 

VANCOUVER SYMPHONY SOCIETY 

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 

November 24, 2011 10:15am 

Deloitte 

28th Floor, 1055 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver 

Annual donors of $35 or more are welcome to attend. 

12 allegro

“Dark and stormy, the 

finale’s fiercely energetic 

dance tunes collide violently 

with a wall of notes...” 

But then the third movement hits. And what 

a hit! Dark and stormy, the finale’s fiercely 

energetic dance tunes collide violently with a 

wall of notes before one of the most dramatic 

episodes in all of Prokofiev’s works sees 

the solo violin suddenly and violently on 

its own with nothing but a throbbing drum 

accompaniment holding it in flight. The rest 

of the strings rush back in a flourish before 

the work comes to a dramatic and very final – 

and very Prokofiev-like – conclusion. 

Igor Fyodorovich 

Stravinsky 

b. Oranienbaum, Russia / June 17, 1882 

d. New York, USA / April 6, 1971 

Scherzo à la russe 

Igor Stravinsky held a lifelong love for Russian 

folk music, often incorporating stylistic 

elements, stories and melodies from the 

folk music of his native country into his own 

compositions. Though Stravinsky left Russia 

early in his career, his thoughts and musical 

ideas never strayed far from his homeland. 

His Scherzo a la russe (A Dance in the 

Russian Style) was written in 1943, originally 

intended as part of the score of a Hollywood 

film that never actually got made. After the 

production failed, Stravinsky re-worked the 

piece for jazz band leader Paul Whiteman, 

scoring it for a band of six saxophones, 

eight strings, harp, piano, assorted brass, 

woodwinds, and percussion. It was first 

performed in a broadcast concert in October 

1944, conducted by Whiteman, but the music 

was really not jazz. Stravinsky soon arranged 

the lively, dashing work for symphony 

orchestra, exactly as it was meant to be. 

Maurice Ravel 

b. Ciboure, Basses Pyrénées, France / March 7, 1875 

d. Paris, France / December 28, 1937 

Tzigane 

Maurice Ravel was one of the very greatest 

of French composers – a brilliant orchestrator, 

a bold innovator, and creator of a distinctive 

style that remains as popular today as it was 

in Ravel’s time. Born in the Basque region, 

Ravel inherited the love for Spanish style 

and culture that informed much of his music 

from his mother, whom he greatly loved and 

admired throughout his life. 

“...a brilliant orchestrator, 

a bold innovator, and creator 

of a distinctive style...” 

allegro 13

Bohemian lands and gypsy folk-rhythms 

inform Ravel’s magnificent showpiece 

Tzigane. Written for the Hungarian virtuoso 

Jelly D’Aranyi, the Tzigane, a devilishly 

flamboyant arm-twister of a piece, was 

based on the manner of the Hungarian gypsy 

rhapsody. The Tzigane is specifically modeled 

after Paganini’s 24 Caprices for solo violin, 

and tests the virtuosity of the performer to the 

delight of audiences. 

George Gershwin 

b. Brooklyn, New York, USA / September 26, 1898 

d. Hollywood, California, USA / July 11, 1937 

An American in Paris 

The short life of George Gershwin began two 

years before Aaron Copland’s birth in the 

same borough of New York. Like Copland, he 

contributed some of the most enduring works 

to ever come from an American composer; 

one of the most famous of which deals not 

with America but with the great city of Paris. 

An American in Paris is a wonderful sensory 

experience, a symphonic poem with 

sounds and orchestral colours weaving 

their way throughout the piece that literally 

and metaphorically reflect the awesome 

experience of wandering through the 

city of light, day and night, absorbing the 

atmosphere and navigating the chaos. 

“...a symphonic poem with 

sounds and orchestral colours 

weaving their way throughout 

the piece...” 

Gershwin was undoubtedly one of the 

twentieth century’s greatest writers of 

melody, and the blues theme heralded by 

solo trumpet that describes the tourist’s 

homesickness is one of the most exceptional 

and clever of them all. ■ 

Program Notes © 2011 Sophia Vincent 

14 allegro

CARLOS 

MIGUEL PRIETO 

YOSSIF IVANOV 


GOLDCOR P MASTERWOR KS GOLD / OR PH EUM TH EATR E, 8PM 

saturday & monday, november 12, 14 


◆ Yossif Ivanov violin 

Barber Symphony No. 1 (Symphony in One Movement), Op. 9 

◆ Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 

I. Allegro molto appassionato 

II. Andante 

III. Allegretto non troppo – Allegro molto vivace 

Intermission 

Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 

I. Non allegro 

II. Andante con moto (Tempo di valse) 

III. Lento assai – Allegro vivace 

PRE-CONCERT TALKS free to ticketholders at 7:05pm. 


Masterworks GOLD 

SERIES SPONSOR 

RADIO SPONSOR 

16 allegro


Carlos Miguel Prieto, considered one of the 

most dynamic young conductors in recent 

years, has further widened his exposure by 

accepting a total of four music directorships 

in his native Mexico and the United States. He 

was named music director of the Orquesta 

Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico (National 

Symphony Orchestra of Mexico), Mexico’s 

most important orchestra, in July 2007, and 

remains music director at his other Mexican 

orchestra, the Orquesta Mineria. In the US, he 

entered his fourth season as music director of 

the Louisiana Philharmonic, where he leads 

the cultural renewal of ravaged New Orleans, 

and continues to serve as music director of the 

Huntsville Symphony (Alabama). 

Carlos Miguel Prieto is the founder and music 

director of the Mozart-Haydn Festival, an 

annual series of six concerts dedicated to the 

symphonic music of these two composers. 

A graduate of Princeton and Harvard 

Universities (where he was concertmaster 

of the orchestra), Prieto studied conducting 

with Jorge Mester, Enrique Diemecke, Charles 

Bruck and Michael Jinbo. 

Yossif Ivanov violin 

Acclaimed as “a player of impressive authority 

and presence” (The Strad) and “one of the 

top violinists of tomorrow” (Diapason), Yossif 

Ivanov has quickly established himself as 

one of the leading violinists of the young 

generation. He was awarded the First Prize at 

the Montreal International Competition at the 

young age of sixteen, and the Second Prize as 

well as the Public Prize at the Queen Elizabeth 

Competition in Brussels at the age of eighteen. 

In November 2006, his first CD on the 

Ambroisie/Naïve label was awarded a 

Diapason d’Or de l’Année, the most important 

recording industry award in France. His first 

concerto CD, a coupling of the first concerto 

of Shostakovitch and the second of Bartók, 

was very well received by the musical press. 

For his second orchestral disc, which includes 

works of Henri Dutilleux and will be released 

later this year, Yossif Ivanov collaborated with 

the Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Lyon and 

Kazushi Ono. 

Yossif plays on the 1699 “Lady Tennant” 

Stradivarius, kindly lent by the Stradivarius 

Society of Chicago. 

18 allegro 

Samuel Barber 

b. West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA / March 9, 1910 

d. New York, New York, USA / January 23, 1981 

Symphony No. 1 

(Symphony in One Movement), Op. 9 

Samuel Barber, the American Romantic, for the 

most part rejected the “modern Movement” of 

his day, composing music lush with romantic 

lyricism and filled with expansive melody. 

His Symphony in One Movement is generally 

based on the one-movement Seventh 

Symphony of Sibelius, and is an interpretation 

of the standard four-movement form of the 

classical symphony. 

An obviously dramatic work, it is not, however, 

programmatic in any way and rather is an 

exploration of themes and their development. 

In Barber’s own description 

of the work: 

It is based on three themes of the initial 

Allegro non troppo, which retain throughout 

the work their fundamental character. The 

Allegro opens with the usual exposition 

of a main theme, a more lyrical second 

theme, and a closing theme. After a brief 

development of the three themes, instead 

of the customary recapitulation, the first 

theme, in diminution, forms the basis of 

the scherzo section (Vivace). The second 

theme then appears in augmentation, in 

an extended Andante tranquillo. An intense 

crescendo introduces the finale, which is a 

short passacaglia based on the first theme, 

over which, together with figures from other 

themes, the closing theme is woven, then 

serving as a recapitulation for the entire 

symphony. 

Felix Mendelssohn 

b. Hamburg, Germany / February 3, 1809 

d. Leipzig, Germany / November 4, 1847 

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra 

in E minor, Op. 64 

Felix Mendelssohn’s E minor Violin Concerto 

has become one of the most beloved and 

widely admired concerti of the repertoire, for 

any instrument. The composition of the piece 

lasted nearly all of Mendelssohn’s life (he was 

twenty-nine when the work was begun; it 

was completed three years prior to his death), 

giving it a sublime mix of youthful energy 

and resolve, and the wisdom that only life’s 

experience gives. The piece is also a mix of

eathtaking virtuosity and profound musical 

depth. 

Mendelssohn’s Mozart-like gift for creating 

sublime melodies is obvious throughout the 

piece, no more so than in the first movement. 

The movement is generally straightforward, 

designed to show off the instrumentalist 

more so than over-impress the listener with 

complicated musical dialogue. A sustained 

note on the bassoon leads seamlessly into 

the second movement, a complex and lyrical 

dance with some of the concerto’s most 

difficult work for the solo instrument. 

The final movement, again started with no 

pause from the second movement, is all 

energy and grace – a display of virtuosity 

at breathtaking speeds that is never showy 

or pretentious; a joyful dialogue between 

instrumentalist and orchestra. Summarizing 

the place of this concerto in the repertoire, the 

great violinist Joachim said, in 1906, the year 

before his death: 

The Germans have four violin concertos. 

The greatest, most uncompromising is 

Beethoven’s. The one by Brahms vies with 

it in seriousness. The richest, the most 

seductive was written by Max Bruch. But 

the most inward, the heart’s jewel, is 

Mendelssohn’s. 

is more frenetic and disconnected than the 

expected Rachmaninoff score. Soon, though, 

calm is restored, as the orchestra gives way to 

woodwinds, setting the stage for a hauntingly 

beautiful and melancholy melody carried by 

solo alto sax. 

This section is utterly unique in 

Rachmaninoff’s music, and brings to mind 

his obsession with the idea that “against 

fate, there is no protection.” This section is 

followed by extensive quoting from his First 

Symphony, with beautiful interaction between 

flute, piccolo, piano, harp and bells. The first 

four notes of this section reappear in the 

third dance, and are revealed as the Dies irae 

theme. An orthodox chant Rachmaninoff used 

in his Vespers of 1915 suddenly appears in 

pitched battle with the Dies irae theme. 

After a beautifully orchestrated struggle, 

another chant theme appears to deliver 

the final blow to the Dies irae, perhaps 

representing Rachmaninoff finally coming to 

grips with fate, at peace with himself at the 

end of his life: in the score, when the Dies irae 

is defeated, Rachmaninoff touchingly wrote 

the word Alliluya. ■ 


Sergei Rachmaninoff 

b. Semyonovo, Russia / April 1, 1873 

d. Beverley Hills, USA / March 28, 1943 

Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 

Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, completed 

in 1940, was the composer’s final work, 

and in a way, provides a summary of his life 

and career as a composer. Rachmaninoff 

quotes many of his past works throughout, 

and presents a sort of compendium of the 

major periods of his life. The Dances were 

dedicated to the Philadelphia Orchestra, and 

was debuted by them with Eugene Ormandy 

conducting. Originally scored for two pianos, 

the orchestral work is the more familiar one, 

and features the alto saxophone as a solo 

instrument. 

The music begins stridently, almost Mahlerlike, 

hinting a darker tone and deeper 

meaning than the title implies. Promises 

of typical Rachmaninoff-style melody give 

way to extraordinary, though somewhat out 

of character, orchestration, something that 

allegro 19

CONDUCTED AND CREATED 

BY GEORGE DAUGHERTY 

concert sponsor 

TM & © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. 

TM & © Hanna-Barbera. 

TM & © Turner Entertainment Co. 

(s11) 


SPEC IALS / OR PH EUM TH EATR E, 7:30pm 


20 allegro 

saturday, november 19 

SPEC IALS / OR PH EUM TH EATR E, 2PM, 7:30pm 

sunday, november 20 


Vancouver Symphony Orchestra 

Bugs Bunny at the Symphony 

A spectacular new fusion of classic Warner Bros. Looney Tunes projected on the 

big screen, with their exhilarating original scores played live! Celebrating twenty 

years of Bugs Bunny on the concert stage, this brand new production features 

special guests Tom and Jerry in The Hollywood Bowl and The Flintstones and 

Scooby-Doo! Don’t miss these, plus old favourites like What’s Opera, Doc and 

The Rabbit of Seville in this world premiere season and anniversary concert! 

concert sponsor

PIERRE SIMARD 

GEORGE DAUGHERTY 


Conductor George Daugherty is one of the 

classical music world’s most diverse artists. 

In addition to his twenty-five-year conducting 

career which has included appearances 

with the world’s leading orchestras, ballet 

companies, opera houses, and concert artists, 

Daugherty is also an Emmy ® Award-winning, 

five-time Emmy ® nominated creator whose 

professional profile includes major credits as 

a director, writer, and producer for television, 

film, innovative and unique concerts, and the 

live theatre. 

As a director, writer, and producer of musicbased 

television programs, Daugherty has 

created several major productions for the 

ABC Television Network project, including 

a primetime animation-and-live action 

production of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, 

which he created, co-wrote, conducted, and 

directed, and for which he won a Prime Time 

Emmy ® Award, as well as numerous other 

major awards. 

In 2006, Daugherty was also named a Library 

Laureate of the San Francisco Public Library 

for his contributions to children’s books, 

reading, and literature, joining a distinguished 

list of authors who have been awarded the 

title. This award was especially meaningful to 

Daugherty, since his great-great-great-greatgrandfather 

was the American poet Henry 

Wadsworth Longfellow. 

Daugherty has lived in San Francisco for the 

past twelve years. ■ 

22 allegro

vancouver symphony foundation 

Ensure the VSO’s future 

with a special gift to the 

Vancouver Symphony 

Foundation, established 

to secure the long term 

success of the Vancouver 

Symphony Orchestra. 

Tax creditable gifts of cash, securities and planned gifts 

are all gratefully received by the Vancouver Symphony 

Foundation, and your gift is enhanced by the availability 

of matching funds from the Federal Government. 

Please call Leanne Davis at 

604.684.9100 extension 236 

or email leanne@vancouversymphony.ca to make a gift or 

learn more about the naming opportunities that are available 

to honour a family member, celebrate the memory of a loved 

one or simply recognize your generosity. 

Support the Power of Music We extend our sincere thanks to these donors, whose gifts will ensure the 

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra remains a strong and vital force in our community long into the future: 

$1,000,000 or more 

Martha Lou Henley 

Government of Canada through the 

Department of Canadian Heritage 

Endowment Incentives Program 

Province of BC through the BC Arts 

Renaissance Fund under the 

stewardship of the Vancouver 

FoundatioN 

$500,000 or more 

Wayne and Leslie Ann Ingram 

The Estate of Jim and Edith le Nobel 

$250,000 or more 

Estate of Ruth Ellen Baldwin 

Carter (Family) Deux Mille Foundation 

Chan Foundation of Canada 

Ron and Ardelle Cliff 

Estate of Steve Floris 

Werner (Vern) and Helga Höing 

Mr. Hassan and Mrs. Nezhat Khosrowshahi 

The Tong and Geraldine Louie 

Family Foundation 

Hermann and Erika Stölting 

Arthur H. Willms Family 

$100,000 or more 

Estate of Winslow W. Bennett 

Mary and Gordon Christopher 

Janey Gudewill & Peter Cherniavsky 

in memory of their Father 

Jan Cherniavsky and Grandmother 

Mrs. B.T. Rogers 

In memory of John S. Hodge 

Michael and Estelle Jacobson 

S.K. Lee in memory of Mrs. Cheng Koon Lee 

Katherine Lu in memory of Professors 

Mr. and Mrs. Ngou Kang 

William and Irene McEwen Fund 

Sheahan and Gerald McGavin, C.M., O.B.C. 

McGrane-Pearson Endowment Fund 

Estate of John Rand 

Nancy and Peter Paul Saunders 

Ken and Patricia Shields 

George and Marsha Taylor 

Whittall Family Fund 

$50,000 or more 

Adera Development Corporation 

Brazfin Investments Ltd. 

Mary Ann Clark 

Estate of Rachel Tancred Rout 

Estate of Mary Flavelle Stewart 

Leon and Joan Tuey 

In memory of John Wertschek, 

Cello Section Player 

$25,000 or more 

Jeff and Keiko Alexander 

Estate of Dorothy Freda Bailey 

Mrs. May Brown, C.M., O.B.C. 

Mrs. Margaret M. Duncan 

W. Neil Harcourt in memory 

of Frank N. Harcourt 

Daniella and John Icke 

Mollie Massie and Hein Poulus 

Estate of Margot Lynn McKenzie 

Paul Moritz 

Mrs. Gordon T. Southam, C.M. 

Maestro Bramwell Tovey and 

Mrs. Lana Penner-Tovey 

Anonymous (1) 

$10,000 or more 

Mrs. Marti Barregar 

Kathy and Stephen Bellringer 

Mrs. Geraldine Biely 

Robert G. Brodie and K. Suzanne Brodie 

Douglas and Marie-Elle Carrothers 

Mr. Justice Edward Chiasson and 

Mrs. Dorothy Chiasson 

Dr. Marla Kiess 

Chantel O’Neil and Colin Erb 

Dan and Trudy Pekarsky 

Bob and Paulette Reid 

Nancy and Robert Stewart 

Beverley and Eric Watt 

Anonymous (1) 

$5,000 or more 

Estate of Clarice Marjory Bankes 

Charles and Barbara Filewych 

Estate of Muriel F. Gilchrist 

Edwina and Paul Heller 

Kaatza Foundation 

Prof. Kin Lo 

Rex and Joanne McLennan 

Marion L. Pearson and James M. Orr 

Melvyn and June Tanemura 

$2,500 or more 

In memory of Lynd Forguson 

Stephen F. Graf 

John and Marietta Hurst 

Mr. Gerald A. Nordheimer 

Harvey and Connie Permack 

Robert and Darlene Spevakow 

Winfred Mary (Mollie) Steele 

Estate of Jan Wolf Wynand 

Anonymous (1) 

Due to space limitations, donations 

of $2,500 or more are listed, but every 

gift is sincerely appreciated and 

gratefully received. THANK YOU. 

allegro 23

PIERRE SIMARD 

CHRISTOPHER GAZE 


PAC I FIC AR BOU R TEA & TRUMPETS / OR PH EUM TH EATR E, 2PM 

thursday, november 24 



◆ Hannah Chung violin 

Russian Classics 

Shostakovich Festive Overture, Op. 96 

Tchaikovsky Mazeppa: Cossack Dance 

◆ Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2 

III. Allegro, ben marcato 

Glinka Russlan and Ludmilla: Overture 

Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition: Great Gate of Kiev 

Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin: Waltz 

Prokofiev Lt. Kije, Suite, Op. 60: Troika 

Tea & Cookies Don’t miss tea and cookies served in the lobby one hour 

before each concert, compliments of Tetley Tea and LU Biscuits. 


TEA & TRUMPETS SERIES SPONSOR 

24 allegro

HANNAH CHUNG 


This is Pierre Simard’s second season 

as Assistant Conductor of the Vancouver 

Symphony Orchestra. He is also Artistic 

Director of both the Vancouver Island 

Symphony (BC) and the Orchestre 

Symphonique de Drummondville (QC). 

Having served as Associate Conductor with 

the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, he also 

performs as guest conductor with major 

orchestras in Milwaukee, Toronto, Ottawa 

(National Arts Centre), Victoria, Hamilton, 

Okanagan, Hot Springs (AR), Trois-Rivières, 

Québec’s Les Violons du Roy and Montreal’s 

Orchestre Métropolitain. Pierre Simard was 

awarded the Canada Council’s Jean-Marie 

Beaudet Award in Conducting, recognizing his 

work on a national scale. He is also grantee 

of the Québec Music Council, the Québec Arts 

Council and the Montreal Mayor’s Foundation. 

A passionate defender of orchestral 

repertoire, Pierre Simard devotes himself 

to reinventing the concert form, combining 

his fresh ideas, fantasy and humour with 

music. Holder of a Master’s Degree in 

Conducting from the Peabody Institute 

and five Conservatory Prizes from the 

Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, Pierre 

Simard studied with Raffi Armenian, Frederik 

Prausnitz, JoAnn Falletta and Marin Alsop. 

The VSO’s Assistant Conductor position is 

made possible with the support of the Canada 

Council for the Arts. 


Best known as Artistic Director of Vancouver’s 

Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival, 

Christopher Gaze has performed in England, 

the USA and across Canada. Born in England, 

he trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre 

School before coming to Canada in 1975 

where he spent three seasons at the Shaw 

Festival. He moved to Vancouver in 1983 and 

in 1990 founded Bard on the Beach which 

he has since nurtured to one of the most 

successful not-for-profit arts organizations 

in North America, with attendance exceeding 

91,000. In addition to performing and 

directing for Bard, Christopher’s voice is heard 

regularly in cartoon series, commercials and 

on the radio. As well as Tea & Trumpets, he 

also hosts Vancouver Symphony’s popular 

Christmas concerts. 

As an Olympic ambassador, Christopher was 

honoured to run with the Olympic flame for 

the 2010 Games. A gifted public speaker, 

Christopher frequently shares his insights 

on Shakespeare and theatre with students, 

service organizations and businesses. 

Hannah Chung violin 

California born violinist, Hannah Chung, began 

studying the violin at the age of five. At twelve 

years old, she made her orchestral debut at 

Meany Hall in Seattle, Washington. As both 

a soloist and an ensemble player, she has 

performed in the US, Canada, South America, 

Japan, Italy, France, Korea, Israel, and 

Hungary. She had the honor of performing in 

South America for the First Lady of Paraguay 

in a benefit concert for disabled children in 

Brazil. This past year, Chung was in Ottawa 

where she had the privilege of performing for 

the National Prayer Breakfast. 

She graduated with a bachelor’s degree 

in violin performance from the University 

of Southern California under LA Philharmonic 

concertmaster, Martin Chalifour and her 

master’s degree from the Manhattan 

School of Music under Lucie Robert. She is 

currently studying to obtain her Professional 

Studies Diploma at the Mannes College in 

New York City. ■ 

26 allegro

PIERRE SIMARD 

RICHIE COLE 


LON DON DRUGS VSO POPS / OR PH EUM TH EATR E, 8PM 

friday & saturday, november 25, 26 




Cool and Swingin’ with Richie Cole 

Selections Include 

Almost Like Being in Love 

Night and Day 

Bossa Nova Eyes 

Duke Ellington! A Tribute 

Johnny’s Theme 

Mercy, Mercy, Mercy 

INTERMISSION 

Charade 

Harold’s House of Jazz 

Waltz for a Rainy Bebop Evening 

It’s the Same Thing Everywhere 

Pure Imagination 

A Salute to the Big Bands 

What a Wonderful World 

Come Fly With Me 


VSO POPS SERIES SPONSOR 

NOVEMBER 25 CONCERT SPONSOR 

RADIO SPONSOR 

28 allegro

harmonies, and swinging rhythms that evoke 

the names of Miller, Mancini and Mercer. 

The Minnesota-based Five By Design includes 

Lorie Carpenter-Niska, Sheridan Zuther, Kurt 

Niska, Michael Swedberg, and Terrence Niska. 

Four of the five members have been singing 

together since 1986. The group’s familial 

ties include brothers Terrence and Kurt Niska 

and the husband-wife duo of Kurt and Lorie 

Niska and childhood collaborator, Michael 

Swedberg. The creative team is supported by 

in-house artist representatives Alton Accola, 

Lynn Callahan and Midge Swedberg. Their 

technical team includes Sound Engineer Phil 

Henrickson who has been with the quintet 

since 1987. 

FIVE BY DESIGN 


For a biography of Pierre Simard please 

refer to page 26. 


Five By Design’s signature harmonies have 

withstood the test of time in a career that 

stands out on America’s musical landscape, 

spanning more than fifteen years. This 

nationally-acclaimed vocal quintet has been 

the choice of symphony orchestras and 

performing art centers delighting hundreds of 

thousands. 

But Five By Design’s creative talents go far 

beyond their vocal prowess. As the creative 

talent behind Radio Days, Club Swing, and 

Stay Tuned, their productions showcase the 

group’s penchant for storytelling and the 

comedic. Whether backed by symphony 

orchestra or studio big band, Five By Design 

embraces the unforgettable melodies, lush 


Richie Cole is a master of the sax, a brilliant 

arranger and composer, an educator, and 

founder/director of The Alto Madness 

Orchestra. He was awarded a scholarship to 

Berklee College of Music in 1966 and went on 

to become lead sax with Buddy Rich, Lionel 

Hampton and Doc Severinsen over several 

years. In 1975 Richie teamed up with the 

jazz great Eddie Jefferson and together they 

toured world wide. With more than 3,000 

compositions and arrangements to his credit 

today, Richie Cole created The Alto Madness 

Orchestra in the early 1990’s to feature 

seven instruments (a rhythm section with 

four horns) and built his arrangements with 

this group in mind to allow more room for 

improvisation than in a traditional eighteenpiece 

big band (as if in a quartet setting), yet 

it achieves “that BIG BAND sound.” 

Richie has performed with The Manhattan 

Transfer, Bobby Enriquez, Freddie Hubbard, 

Sonny Stitt, Boots Randolph and Nancy Wilson 

to name just a few. Richie’s knowledge is 

revered in Master Classes at Universities and 

Colleges, and The Alto Madness Orchestra 

course has entered is sixth year at the 

University of Madrid in Spain. Richie Cole has 

performed all over the world and recorded 

more than fifty albums. He is heralded by 

critics and fans wherever he goes, and draws 

a crowd whenever he performs. ■ 

30 allegro

Highlights from the next issue of 

allegro... 

TONY DESARE 

The next issue of Allegro Magazine features several exciting 

concerts, including Mozart’s magnificent “Jupiter” Symphony, 

Broadway hits, a romantic Valentine celebration, and much more. 

CLASSIC CROONING 

WITH TONY DESARE 

FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JANUARY 27 & 28 

Jeff Tyzik conductor Tony DeSare singer/piano 

Outstanding singer and pianist Tony DeSare sings classics such as 

That Old Black Magic, One For My Baby, and Night and Day, in a concert 

that will take you back to the Golden Era of the great crooners. 

JOYCE YANG 

BENEDETTO LUPO 

STEPHANIE BLOCK 

Romantic Rachmaninoff and Ravel: 

A Valentine Celebration 

SATURDAY & monday, FEBRUARY 11 & 13 

Bramwell Tovey conductor Joyce Yang piano 

good The Kiss 

Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini 

R. STRAUSS Der Rosenkavalier: Suite 

RAVEL La Valse 

JUPITER! 

The Magnificent Music of Mozart 

FRIDAY & SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24 & 25 

David Lockington conductor Benedetto Lupo piano 

JC Bach Symphony No. 6 

MOZART Piano Concerto No. 23 

MOZART Symphony No. 41, Jupiter 

WICKED DIVAS 

FRIDAY & SATURDAY, MARCH 2 & 3 

Steven Reineke conductor 

Wicked Divas: Stephanie J. Block & Julia Murney 

Broadway new and old, with New York Pops Conductor Steven Reineke, 

and the stars of the long-running Broadway show Wicked. Outstanding 

songs from Ragtime, Titanic, The Wizard of Oz, Wicked and more. 

BENJAMIN GROSVENOR 

A Roman Carnival! 

SATURDAY, SUNDAY & MONDAY, MARCH 10, 11 & 12 

Pierre Simard conductor Benjamin Grosvenor piano 

Dukas The Sorcerer’s Apprentice 

Ravel Piano Concerto in G Major 

Berlioz Roman Carnival 

Bizet L’Arlésienne Suite No. 1 & 2 

Full concert listings and tickets at: vancouversymphony.ca 

or call 604.876.3434

SPECTRA EN ERGY KI DS KONC ERTS / OR PH EUM TH EATR E, 2PM 

sunday, november 27 


presents 


Paul Pement director & producer 

Susan Hammond original creator 

Classical Kids featuring: 

Roger Anderson as Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky 

Nicole Hren as Jennie Petroff 

produced by 

CKME 

Classical Kids Music Education, NFP 

Based on the Original Work by Barbara Nichol 

Dramaturge & Music Timing by Paul Pement 

Playwright & Music Editor Douglas Cowling 

Light Design by Paul Pement 

Costume Design by Alex Meadows 

Production Stage Management & Technical Coordination by Paul Pement 

The great composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky arrives in New York 

for the grand opening of Carnegie Hall, and two children join the 

composer on a musical journey to Niagara Falls. Along the way, 

Tchaikovsky reveals much about his life, his joys, and fears. In the 

end, both the composer and the children discover something about 

courage – and about themselves. 

The theatrical concert version of Tchaikovsky Discovers America is an adaptation of the best-selling and awardwinning 

Classical Kids recording, Tchaikovsky Discovers America, produced by Susan Hammond. Classical Kids® 

is a trademark of Classical Productions for Children Ltd., used under exclusive license by Pement Enterprises, Inc., 

and produced by Classical Kids Music Education, NFP. Classical Kids recordings are marketed by The Children’s 

Group. Actors and Production Stage Manager are members of Actors’ Equity Association. 


KIDS’ KONCERTS SERIES 

Co-Sponsor 

PREMIER EDUCATION PARTNER 

34 allegro 

The VSO’s Kids’ Koncerts have been endowed by a 

generous gift from the William & Irene McEwen Fund.

TCHAIKOVSKY 

Musical Excerpts: 

Trumpet Fanfare from Swan Lake, Op. 20 

Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Major, Op. 23: I. 

Danse napolitaine from Swan Lake, Op. 20 

Trépak (Russian Dance) from The Nutcracker, Op. 71 

Piano Waltzes 

Serenade in C Major for String Orchestra, Op. 48: II. 

Tea (Chinese Dance) from The Nutcracker, Op. 71 

Overture to The Nutcracker, Op. 71 

Coffee (Arabian Dance) from The Nutcracker, Op. 71 

Chocolate (Spanish Dance) from The Nutcracker, Op. 71 

Waltz from Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66 

Introduction to Act II of Swan Lake, Op. 20 

Ragtime on “Silver” from Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66 

Traditional: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot 

Old Russia from 1812 Overture, Op. 49 

Violente from Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66 

Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Major, Op. 23: II. 

Marche Slav (“Slavic March”) in B-flat Major 

for Orchestra, Op. 31 

Coda from Act II of The Nutcracker, Op. 71 

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from 

The Nutcracker, Op. 71 

Entr’acte symphonique and Panorama from 

Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66 

Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64: II. 

Le Cygne Noir (“The Black Swan”) from 

Swan Lake, Op. 20 

Traditional: Amazing Grace 

Serenade in C Major for String Orchestra, Op. 48: I. 

Serenade in C Major for String Orchestra, Op. 48: IV 

Finale from 1812 Overture, Op. 49 

VSO Instrument Fair The Kids’ 

Koncerts series continues with the 

popular VSO Instrument Fair, which 

allows music lovers of all ages (but 

especially kids!) to touch and play real 

orchestra instruments in the Orpheum 

lobby one hour before concert start 

time. All instruments are generously 

provided by Tom Lee Music. 

allegro 35

CLASSICAL KIDS: Nicole Hren & Roger Anderson 

PIERRE SIMARD 

paul pement 


For a biography of Pierre Simard please 


Classical Kids 

Paul Pement director & producer 

Paul holds an exclusive licensing agreement 

with the award-winning Classical Kids 

organization to produce the highly-acclaimed 

symphony concert series that includes 

Beethoven Lives Upstairs, Tchaikovsky 

Discovers America, Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery, 

Hallelujah Handel and Mozart’s Magnificent 

Voyage. As executive and artistic director 

of Classical Kids Music Education, NFP, Mr. 

Pement oversees all business and artistic 

aspects of the Classical Kids Live! theatrical 

concert productions around the world. 

(www.classicalkidslive.com) Paul received a 

BFA in Acting from the University of Illinois 

and, as a long-time member of Actor’s Equity 

Association, has gained extensive theatrical 

experience performing in over 50 professional 

productions throughout Chicago and abroad. 

He has appeared in such long running 

commercial hits as Peter Pan (Peter), Joseph 

and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat 

(Benjamin) and Forever Plaid (Sparky), the 

latter of which he has also directed and 

choreographed at major theatres across the 

country. In addition to film and television 

appearances, he has produced and directed 

several tolerance-related short films and has 

directed and choreographed live industrial 

shows for corporations such as Target and 

Mobil. 

36 allegro 

Susan Hammond series creator 

Susan has created a whole new generation 

of classical music fans through her innovative 

and award-winning Classical Kids recordings. 

She is the executive producer of a sixteen title 

series of children’s classical music recordings 

known collectively as Classical Kids, selling to 

date nearly five million CDs, DVDs and books 

worldwide, and earning over one-hundred 

prestigious awards and honours. 

Each story entails its own adventure featuring 

a unique combination of music, history, and 

theatricality to engage the imaginations of 

children. Susan holds the philosophy that, 

“Where the heart goes, the mind will follow.” 

An accomplished concert pianist and music 

teacher, Hammond searched for recordings 

about classical music to share with her 

young daughters. One day, she sat reading 

to her girls with a classical music radio 

station on in the background and noticed 

how they responded to the literature in a 

different way when enhanced by music. 

The rest, as they say, is history. Susan is the 

recipient of Billboard Magazine’s International 

Achievement Award and resides with her 

husband in Toronto where she is a member 

of the Order of Canada for her contribution 

to the arts. 

Douglas Cowling 

playwright / music editor 

Douglas is a writer, musician and educator 

with a lifelong interest in bringing classical 

music to wider audiences. He is the writer of 

five Classical Kids audio productions: Mozart’s 

Magic Fantasy, Tchaikovsky Discovers 

America, Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery, Hallelujah 

Handel! and Mozart’s Magnificent Voyage.

SUSAN HAMMOND 

Douglas Cowling 

Roger Anderson 

Nicole Hren 

He was also associate producer on 

Daydreams and Lullabies and serves as the 

principal writer /music editor for the Classical 

Kids Live! theatrical symphony concert series. 

Roger Anderson 

peter ilyich tchaikovsky 

Roger is a nationally acclaimed actor and 

musical theatre artist based in Chicago and is 

proud to be a part of the acclaimed Classical 

Kids concert series. He has been featured 

in films and commercials for United Airlines, 

Sony, Microsoft, IBM, Volvo, Ford Motor 

Company, Fidelity Investments, S.C. Johnson, 

Colgate, and the New York Stock Exchange. 

He has had the privilege to work on musical 

theatre stages across the country with Patti 

LuPone, Audra MacDonald, David Hyde 

Pierce, Michael Cerveris, and Sean Hayes 

as well as under the baton of Zubin Mehta 

and Andre Previn. His performances have 

included appearances at The White House, 

The Kennedy Center, Walt Disney World 

and the Ravinia Festival. Regional musical 

theatre credits include: Juan Peron in Evita, 

Jacob/Potiphar in Joseph and the Amazing 

Technicolor Dreamcoat, Harold Hill in Music 

Man, Barnum in Barnum, KoKo in The Mikado, 

Petruchio in Kiss Me Kate, Georges in La Cage 

Aux Folles, Sergeant of Police in Pirates of 

Penzance and Roger DeBris in The Producers. 

He currently sings with the Chicago based 

vocal group Table For Five and, along with his 

career as an actor, is a practicing Speech/ 

Language Pathologist. 

Nicole Hren jennie petroff 

Nicole is currently in her fifth season 

performing with Classical Kids. Recent credits 

include Guys and Dolls, The Music Man, A 

Chorus Line, Beauty and the Beast, Swing! at 

the Marriot Theatre; the Radio City Christmas 

Spectacular in Atlanta, Orlando, and Nashville, 

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Meet Me 

in St. Louis, Hairspray, at the MUNY Theater 

in St. Louis; Funny Girl, Thoroughly Modern 

Millie, A Christmas Carol, Curtains, Sweet 

Charity, Fiddler on the Roof, Kiss Me Kate, 

Camelot, Superman, and Meet Me in St. Louis 

at Drury Lane Theatre; Chicago at Pheasant 

Run Dinner Theater; Singin’ in the Rain at the 

Chicago Center for the Performing Arts; and 

Association, The Musical at the Arie Crown 

Theater in Chicago’s McCormick Place. Nicole 

performed for many years with Moraine Valley 

Theater for Young Audiences as an artist 

in residence in the following productions: 

The Little Mermaid, The Velveteen Rabbit, 

Babes in Toyland, Cinderella, The Odyssey, 

and The Diary of Anne Frank. Nicole lives in 

the Chicago area with her husband, Gideon. 

Special thanks to Paul for this amazing 

opportunity! ■ 

Actors’ Equity Association 

Actors and Stage Managers are members of Actors’ Equity Association. 

Actors’ Equity Association, founded in 1913, is the labor union 

that represents more than 45,000 Actors and Stage Managers in 

the United States. Equity seeks to advance, promote and foster the 

art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Equity 

negotiates wages and working conditions and provides a wide range 

of benefits, including health and pension plans, for its members. 

Actors’ Equity is a member of the AFL-CIO, and is affiliated with FIA, 

an international organization of performing arts unions.

BRAMWELL TOVEY 

Isabel Bayrakdarian 


MASTERWOR KS DIAMON D / OR PH EUM TH EATR E, 8PM 

saturday & monday, december 3, 5 

JON KIMURA PARKER 


◆ Isabel Bayrakdarian soprano 

◗ ◆ Hugh Russell baritone 

◆ Vancouver Bach Choir 

Edward Top Masquerade 

◗ Mahler Songs of a Wayfarer 

Intermission 

◆ Brahms A German Requiem, Op. 45 

PRE-CONCERT TALKS free to ticketholders at 7:05pm. 


38 allegro


GRAMMY ® Award winning conductor 

Bramwell Tovey is acknowledged around the 

world for his artistic vision and depth, and 

his warm, charismatic personality. Tovey’s 

career as a conductor is uniquely enhanced 

by his extensive work as a composer and 

pianist, lending him a remarkable musical 

perspective. His tenures as music director 

with the Vancouver Symphony, Luxembourg 

Philharmonic and Winnipeg Symphony 

Orchestras and as Principal Guest Conductor 

of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the 

Hollywood Bowl have been characterized by 

his expertise in operatic, choral, British and 

contemporary repertoire. 

Mr. Tovey, who is entering his twelfth season 

as Music Director of the Vancouver Symphony, 

celebrated his 100th concert this past July as 

a guest conductor of the New Philharmonic. 

He is founding host and conductor of the New 

York Philharmonic’s Summertime Classics 

series at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center. 

In 2008, the New York and Los Angeles 

Philharmonics co-commissioned him to 

write a new work, Urban Runway, which has 

been played across Canada, the US and in 

Australia. He was awarded the Best Canadian 

Classical Composition Juno ® Award in 2003 

for his Requiem for a Charred Skull. 

An esteemed guest conductor, Mr. Tovey has 

worked with orchestras in the United States 

and Europe including the City of Birmingham, 

London Philharmonic, London Symphony and 

Frankfurt Radio orchestras. In North America, 

Mr. Tovey has made guest appearances with 

the orchestras of Baltimore, Philadelphia, 

St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Seattle and 

Montreal as well as ongoing performances 

with Toronto, where his trumpet concerto, 

Songs of the Paradise Saloon commissioned 

by the TSO, received its premiere in 

December of 2009 as a preview of his first 

full-length opera The Inventor which was 

commissioned and premiered by Calgary 

Opera in January 2011. During the summer 

of 2011 he debuted with the Cleveland 

Orchestra at the Blossom Festival and the 

Boston Symphony at Tanglewood and made 

a return visit to the Philadelphia Orchestra, 

this time in their summer series in Saratoga, 

NY. This season he will guest conduct the 

Melbourne, Western Australia (Perth) and 

Sydney Symphony orchestras in Australia. 

Tovey has been awarded honourary 

degrees, including a Fellowship from 

the Royal Academy of Music in London, 

honourary Doctorates of Law from the 

universities of Winnipeg and Manitoba, and 

Kwantlen University College, as well as 

a Royal Conservatory of Music Fellowship 

in Toronto. He is a member of the Order 

of Manitoba. In 1999, he received the 

M. Joan Chalmers National Award for Artistic 

Direction, a Canadian prize awarded to 

artists for outstanding contributions in the 

performing arts. 

Isabel Bayrakdarian soprano 

Isabel Bayrakdarian burst onto the 

international opera scene after winning 

first prize in the 2000 Operalia competition 

founded by Plácido Domingo. Since then 

she has performed in many of the world’s 

major opera houses, recital stages and 

concert halls. She is admired as much for 

her stunning stage presence as for her 

exceptional musicality, and she has followed 

a career path completely her own. 

Ms. Bayrakdarian sings on the Grammy ® 

award-winning soundtrack of the blockbuster 

film The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers, 

and her voice can also be heard in the 

multiple award-winning Canadian film 

Ararat. She has been honoured with four 

Juno ® awards, Canada’s highest recording 

prize, most recently for her CD Mozart arie & 

duetti with fellow Canadians Russell Braun 

and Michael Schade. Expanding her vast 

discography, Ms. Bayrkdarian was a guest 

soloist with the Canadian band Delerium on 

their 2007 Grammy ® nominated dance remix 

Angelicus. 

Born in Lebanon of proud Armenian 

heritage and now a citizen of Canada, 

Ms. Bayrakdarian moved with her family to 

Toronto as a teenager. Her earliest singing 

experience was at church, which remains 

– along with her family – the central focus 

of her life. She holds an honours degree in 

Biomedical Engineering from the University 

of Toronto. 

allegro 39


Hugh Russell 

Hugh Russell baritone 

The young Canadian baritone Hugh Russell 

has been consistently hailed for his beautiful 

voice, dramatic gifts and interpretive 

originality. The Victoria Times Colonist said, 

“Hugh Russell, singing and acting with 

easy assurance, does a bravura turn as 

Papageno. He is immensely entertaining as 

the bumpkin.” 

Mr. Russell has been seen in recent seasons 

at the New York City Opera, where he made 

his company debut singing the title role in 

Il barbiere di Siviglia, as well as the Los 

Angeles Opera, where he sang Harlequin 

in Ariadne auf Naxos conducted by Kent 

Nagano. 

As a member of the Pittsburgh Opera Center, 

Mr. Russell sang the roles of Malatesta 

in Don Pasquale, the title role in Pelléas 

et Mélisande, and Guglielmo in Così fan 

tutte. Reviewing the latter performance, the 

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review wrote, “Baritone 

Hugh Russell was magnificent. His was also 

the most completely acted performance.” 

A further triumph with this company was 

his performance in Dominick Argento’s 

Postcard from Morocco. 


The Vancouver Bach Choir gave its first 

concert at the Orpheum in December 1930. 

During its long history, the choir has sung 

with such world-renowned conductors as 

Bruno Walter, Sir Ernest MacMillan, Zubin 

Mehta, Sir Arthur Bliss, Meredith Davies, 

Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Simon Streatfeild, 

Andrew Davis and Simon Preston. Leslie Dala 

was appointed Music Director in July 2010 

following Bruce Pullan who had been Music 

Director for twenty-seven years. 

Since 1930, the Vancouver Bach Choir’s 

Canadian reputation has grown through 

numerous broadcasts by the Canadian 

Broadcasting Corporation, an Eastern 

Canadian tour in 1974 and the cross-Canada 

viewing of a television film of the Easter 

music from Handel’s Messiah. 

In Vancouver, the Vancouver Bach Choir 

presents a series of concerts each season 

and has been responsible for the British 

Columbia premiere of a number of major 

works including Rossini’s Stabat Mater, 

Fanshawe’s African Sanctus, Lloyd Webber’s 

Requiem, Paul McCartney’s Liverpool 

Oratorio, Berlioz’ Messe Solennelle and 

Penderecki’s Polish Requiem. The choir has 

also commissioned and premiered extended 

works by Canadian composers John Estacio 

and Christos Hatzis as well as many shorter 

pieces by other Canadian composers. 

Gustav Mahler 

b. Kalischt, Bohemia / July 7, 1860 

d. Vienna, Austria / May 18, 1911 

Songs of a Wayfarer 

Gustav Mahler’s first song-cycle, Songs of 

a Wayfarer, was inspired by his relationship 

with the famous soprano Johanna Richter – 

more specifically, the bad relationship. The 

songs are heavily influenced by a collection 

of anonymous German folk poetry known as 

Des Knaben Wunderhorn, itself written as a 

song cycle by many composers, including 

Mahler. The Wayfarer song cycle is intimately 

connected with Mahler’s first symphony, with 

the two works sharing at least two notable 

themes. Nonetheless, the work stands on 

its own as a brilliant example of lieder by 

a master of the form. The four songs are 

arranged as follows: 

I. When my Sweetheart is Married: The 

first song of the cycle deals with the 

Wayfarer’s grief at losing his love to 

another man; he laments that the beauty 

of the natural world cannot keep sadness 

from his dreams. A melancholy, bittersweet 

orchestral tone holds throughout. 

II. I Went this Morning over the Field: This 

is a song of joy, the happiest song of the 

cycle, wondering at the beauty of nature. 

allegro 41

Yet a hint of melancholy remains, as 

the Wayfarer knows that, in the end, his 

happiness is fleeting now that his love is 

gone. 

III. I Have a Gleaming Knife: Despair and 

agony reigns in this song, as the Wayfarer 

compares the pain of his lost love to a 

knife stabbing through his heart. Intense 

music drives forward as the Wayfarer is 

driven to near-madness as everything 

around him reminds him of his lost love, 

and he wishes he had a real knife to end 

his sorrow. 

IV. The Two Blue Eyes of My Beloved: Lyrical, 

delicate, beautiful music evokes the beauty 

of the Wayfarer’s beloved and her haunting 

eyes that cause him so much grief. He 

wishes that he had never met his lost love, 

and that their affair had never occurred; 

that he can be free of love, grief, the world 

and his dreams. 

Johannes Brahms 

b. Hamburg, Austria / May 7, 1833 

d. Vienna, Austria / April 3, 1897 

A German Requiem, Op. 45 

The Requiem by Johannes Brahms, more 

fully known as A German Requiem, To Words 

of the Holy Scriptures, is unique amongst 

all Requiem Masses in that it is written in 

German, set to words taken from Martin 

Luther’s German Bible, and is non-liturgical; 

unlike nearly every other Requiem ever 

written, Brahms did not employ the standard 

Roman Catholic Latin text for a mass for 

the dead. Elevated and noble, the German 

Requiem differed even in concept and theme, 

taking a humanist rather than Christian 

approach, and focusing on the living rather 

than the dead. 

The Latin Requiem begins and ends with 

prayers for the dead and their soul; Brahms’s 

German Requiem, following the ethos 

of Lutheran spiritualism, begins with a 

statement about those who grieve and clearly 

states the path upon which his Requiem 

travels: “Blessed are they that mourn, for they 

shall be comforted.” Possibly inspired by the 

death of Brahms’s beloved mother, or the 

death of his beloved friend Robert Schumann 

– or both – the German Requiem was begun 

in 1866, the year after his mother’s death, 

and completed in August of 1868. The 

work was dedicated by the composer to his 

mother, Robert Schumann, and “the whole 

42 allegro 

of humanity.” Cast in seven movements or 

sections, the German Requiem contains 

some of the most extraordinary, moving, and 

inspiring musical passages written by any 

composer. The work begins in a most sombre 

manner, as Brahms leaves out violins, piccolo, 

clarinets, two horns, trumpets, tuba and 

timpani, and subdivides the cello and viola 

part in the orchestration to create a mournful, 

yet serene, tone. A motif is introduced in 

the first three notes of the chorus part that 

winds its way throughout the movement in a 

number of forms. 

The second movement begins with a slow 

march that is interrupted by the sudden and 

startling appearance of the violins. Taking 

a briefly ominous turn, the music brightens 

again as the march returns, a triumphant 

note is sounded, and the movement ends 

gently. The third movement begins with a 

baritone solo, followed by a dialogue with 

the chorus lamenting man’s mortality. The 

fourth movement begins and ends with some 

of Brahms’s most beautiful and expressive 

writing, a profound meditation on the nature 

of life and death. 

The fifth movement is one of beautiful 

consolation, and most certainly directly 

inspired by his mother’s death; the soprano 

and chorus each sing Biblical passages of 

comfort and hope, including “As one whom 

his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you.” 

The sixth movement carries forward with the 

idea of comfort and hope, with the message 

that death is but a doorway to another 

plane of existence, and the cycle of creation 

and recreation repeats for all eternity – as 

emphasized in this extraordinary passage 

from I. Corinthians that Brahms focused on as 

the central concept of this section: “Behold, 

I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, 

but we shall all be changed, in a moment, 

in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: 

for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead 

shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be 

changed. . . then shall be brought to pass the 

saying that is written, Death is swallowed up 

in victory. O death, where is thy sting 

O grave, where is thy victory” 

The final movement brings the work fullcircle, 

with the message that “blessed are the 

dead” and that “their works do follow them,” 

the law of karma that makes reincarnation 

possible. Thus a beautiful, human journey of 

death, grieving, comfort and life is complete. ■ 

Program Notes © 2011 Sophia Vincent

patrons’ circle 

The Vancouver Symphony is grateful for the generosity shown by the following individuals and 

foundations, whose annual investment in the VSO has helped this orchestra reach new heights 

and garner national and international recognition. 

PLATINUM BATON 

$50,000 and above 

Dr. Peter and Mrs. Stephanie Chung 

Jemini Foundation 

Mrs. Maria Logan 

Grenville Thomas 

GOLD BATON 

$25,000—$49,999 

Michael Audain, O.C., O.B.C. and 

Yoshiko Karasawa 

Mary and Gordon Christopher Foundation* 

Heathcliff Foundation* 

Mr. Gerald McGavin, C.M., O.B.C. and 

Mrs. Sheahan McGavin* 

Jane McLennan 

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Mr. Alan and Mrs. Gwendoline Pyatt 

Mr. Ronald N. and Mrs. Janet Stern 

Arthur H. Willms Family* 

MAESTRO’S CIRCLE 

$10,000—$24,999 

Larry and Sherrill Berg 

Mrs. Joyce E. Clarke 

The Christopher Foundation (Education Fund) 

Martha Lou Henley* 

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Lagniappe Foundation 

Meriem Foundation 

Mr. Brian W. and Mrs. Joan Mitchell 

Mollie Massie and Hein Poulus* 

Maestro Bramwell Tovey and 

Mrs. Lana Penner-Tovey* 

Gordon Young 

Anonymous* (1) 

Anonymous (1) 

CONCERTMASTER’S CIRCLE 

$5,000—$9,999 

Dr. and Mrs. J. Abel 

Jeff and Keiko Alexander* 

Ann Claire Angus Fund 

Dave Cunningham 

Mr. Ian and Mrs. Frances Dowdeswell 

Mrs. Margaret M. Duncan 

Hillary Haggan 

In Memory of John Hodge* 

Diane Hodgins 

Kaatza Foundation* 

Dr. Marla Kiess* 

Robert H. Lee, C.M., O.B.C. and Lily Lee 

The Lutsky Families 

Kenneth W. and Ellen L. Mahon* 

Mrs. Irene H. McEwen* 

Dr. Katharine Mirhady 

John Hardie Mitchell family foundation 

Joan and Michael Riley 

Ms. Nina Rumen 

Mr. Ken and Mrs. Patricia Shields* 

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Mr. Fred Withers & Ms. Kathy Jones 

Bruce Munro Wright 

Anonymous (2) 

PRINCIPAL PLAYER 

$2,500—$4,999 

Mr. and Mrs. Francesco Alongi 

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Dr. and Mrs. Cameron 

Marnie Carter* 

Joan and Darryl Chambers 

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Mr. and Mrs. G. A. Cooper 

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Yuri Fulmer 

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Heather Holmes 

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Olga Ilich 

Gordon and Kelly Johnson 

Prof. Kin Lo* 

Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Menten* 

Andrè and Julie Molnar 

Hugh and Joan Morris 

Mrs. Dorothy Nairne 

Christine Nicolas 

Chantel O’Neil and Colin Erb* 

Mrs. Lorraine Redmond, in loving memory 

of Mrs. M. Quast 

Mr. and Mrs. Maurice A. Roden 

Bernard Rowe and Annette Stark 

Dorothy Shields 

Wallace and Gloria Shoemay 

Dr. Peter and Mrs. Sandra Stevenson-Moore 

Mel and June Tanemura* 

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Anonymous* (1) 

Anonymous (1) 

PATRON 

$1,500—$2,499 

Gordon and Minke Armstrong 

The Honourable Jack Austin and 

Ms. Natalie Freeman 

Mr. R. Paul and Mrs. Elizabeth Beckmann 

Roberta Lando Beiser* 

Betsy Bennett* 

Dr. and Mrs. J. Deen Brosnan 

Mrs. May Brown, C.M., O.B.C.* 

Mr. Peter Cherniavsky* 

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Mrs. Dorothy Chiasson* 

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Leanne Davis and Vern Griffiths 

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Count and Countess Enrico and 

Aline Dobrzensky 

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Ms. Judy Garner 

Mrs. San Given 

Mr. Brian Gusko 

Dr. Donald G. Hedges 

In Memory of Betty Howard 

John and Marietta Hurst* 

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D.L. Janzen in memory of Jeannie Kuyper 

Herbert Jenkin 

C.V. Kent 

Hank and Janice Ketcham 

Mr. Hassan and Mrs. Nezhat Khosrowshahi* 

Drs. Colleen Kirkham & Stephen Kurdyak 

Sherry and Alex Klopfer 

Uri and Naomi Kolet 

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Don and Lou Laishley 

Robert M. Ledingham 

Bill and Risa Levine 

Bill and Ethel McIntosh 

Mrs. Pamela Metal 

M. Lois Milsom 

Nancy Morrison 

Dal and Muriel Richards 

The Ruth E. and Dr. William H.Y. Ross Foundation 

Dr. Robert S. Rothwell* 

Mrs. Joan Scobell 

David and Cathy Scott 

Dr. Earl & Mrs. Anne Shepherd 

Mrs. Mary Anne Sigal 

Randall Takasaki 

L. Thom 

Garth and Lynette Thurber 

Michael Williams 

Dr. Brian Willoughby 

Eric and Shirley Wilson 

Milton and Fei Wong 

Dr. I.D. Woodhouse 

Anonymous (7) 

* Members of the Patrons’ Circle 

who have made an additional gift to 

the VSO’s endowment campaign, 

for which we are most thankful. 

For more information about the patrons’ circle and the exclusive benefits associated 

with this program, please contact Leanne Davis at 604.684.9100 extension 236 

or email leanne@vancouversymphony.ca 

allegro 43

Henning Kraggerud 

MEMBERS OF THE VSO 


SPEC IALS / C han C entr e for th e Per formi ng Arts, at U BC, 8PM 

friday & saturday, december 16, 17 

Henning Kraggerud leader/violin 

The Four Seasons 

Bach Violin Concerto No. 1 

in A minor, BWV 1041 

I. Allegro 

II. Andante 

III. Allegro assai 

Corelli Concerto grosso, Op. 6, 

No. 8 in G minor, Christmas Concerto 

I. Vivace 

II. Allegro 

III. Adagio – Allegro – Adagio 

IV. Vivace 

V. Allegro 

VI. Largo. Pastorale ad libitum 

Intermission 

Vivaldi The Four Seasons, Op. 8, Nos. 1–4 

Concerto No. 1 in E, RV. 269, Spring 

I. Allegro 

II. Largo 

III. Allegro 

Concerto No. 2 in G minor, RV. 315, Summer 

I. Allegro non molto 

II. Adagio 

III. Presto 

Concerto No. 3 in F, RV. 293, Autumn 

I. Allegro 

II. Adagio molto 

III. Allegro 

Concerto No. 4 in F minor, RV. 297, Winter 

I. Allegro non molto 

II. Largo 

III. Allegro 


44 allegro 

The presentation of the Bach & Beyond 

Series is made possible, in part, through 

the generous assistance of the Chan Centre 

for the Performing Arts of the University of 

British Columbia.

Henning Kraggerud 

leader/violin 

Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud is 

an artist of exquisite musicianship, who 

combines an unusually sweet tone and 

beauty of expression with impressive 

virtuosity, drawing audiences and critics alike 

towards the genuine quality of his playing. 

With a strong Scandinavian profile, Henning 

continues to work extensively in his home 

region, including recent concerts with the 

Helsingborg and Trondheim Symphony 

orchestras and the Lahti Symphony 

Orchestra with Jukka Pekka Saraste. From 

2011, Henning succeeds Leif Ove Andsnes 

as Artistic Director of the Risør Festival of 

Chamber Music. 

Adding to his multi-faceted career, Henning 

is an innovative improviser and composer, 

performing many of his own cadenzas and 

arrangements in concert, and several of 

his compositions have been performed at 

festivals worldwide. 

Born in Oslo in 1973, Henning studied with 

Camilla Wicks and Emanuel Hurwitz. He is 

a recipient of Norway’s prestigious Grieg 

Prize and, in 2007, was awarded the Sibelius 

Prize for his interpretations and recording of 

Sibelius’ music throughout the world. Henning 

is a Professor at the Barratt-Due music 

conservatoire. 

Johann Sebastian Bach 

b. Eisenach, Germany / March 21, 1685 

d. Leipzig, Germany / July 28, 1750 

Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, BWV1041 

The career of Johannes Sebastian Bach 

can be roughly thought of in three separate 

phases: as an organist and composer/ 

arranger for organ music in Weimar; a 

“middle period” in Cothen, employed by 

the Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen; and 

the last period of his life, spent as Cantor 

of St. Thomas in Leipzig, where most of his 

extraordinary choral music was created. 

It was during the “middle period” when Bach 

wrote most of his instrumental music. Only 

two of his violin concertos have original 

scores that remain, near-perfection in the 

art and craft of the violin concerto. The Violin 

Concerto in A minor shows the marked and 

profound influence of the master of the 

concerto form, Antonio Vivaldi. Bach held 

Vivaldi’s music in great reverence, and the 

influences are clear. 

The concerto is written with the standard 

form of a middle slow movement (of 

surpassing beauty) surrounded by two 

sparkling Allegro movements. Where Bach 

really upped the ante from Vivaldi, however, 

is in giving the orchestra a much richer and 

more vivid accompaniment than Vivaldi ever 

dreamed of. Bach also extended the role of 

the soloist in his violin concerti, giving them 

much more to work with, and leaving nothing 

to chance by writing out each and every note. 

One of the defining characteristics of this 

work is the ritornello technique employed 

by Bach in the Allegro movements. The 

opening notes of each of the fast movements 

brand the concerto, and return throughout 

each respective movement, providing the 

foundation of the works – and accounting for 

how memorable the music has remained. 

The concerto is rich and beautiful, structurally 

perfect and with sounds as pure as spring 

water. Aggressive and firm in its opening 

statement, a soaring melody in the second 

movement contrasts what went before. 

The finale of the concerto is complex and 

conflicted, infused with a sense of longing 

and sentimentality. 

Arcangelo Corelli 

b. Fusignano, Italy / February 17, 1653 

d. Rome, Italy / January 8, 1713 

Concerto grosso, Op. 6, No. 8 

in G minor, Christmas Concerto 

Arcangelo Corelli’s virtuosic writing for 

violin influenced Vivaldi immensely; Corelli’s 

extraordinary grasp of the violin’s full potential 

created great advancements in technique, 

and he is credited with inventing the concerto 

grosso form. His collection of twelve concerti 

grossi was sadly only published after his 

death. The first eight of these concerti are 

in the form of “church concertos” with fast 

movements that are typically written in 

fugal form. The Christmas Concerto was 

allegro 45

transcribed as being written “for the night 

of Christmas” and was commissioned by 

Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni around 1690. The 

concerto is a sublime example of the form in 

six relatively short movements rather than the 

customary four, and finishing with Corelli’s 

famous and beautiful, idyllic Pastorale ad 

libitum. 

Antonio Vivaldi 

b. Venice, Italy / March 4, 1678 

d. Vienna, Austria / July 28, 1741 

The Four Seasons, Op. 8, Nos. 1–4 

Antonio Vivaldi’s musical output was 

astounding. Some authorities estimate that 

he wrote as many as five hundred concertos, 

nearly fifty concerti grossi, more than 

seventy violin sonatas, much church music 

and cantatas, and thirty-nine operas(!). Yet 

echoing down through the years, the set of 

four concertos known as The Four Seasons 

are his best-known and most popular works. 

These four concertos were part of a larger 

group of twelve concertos called The 

Contest Between Harmony and Invention, 

and although the idea of representing the 

seasons in music is not an original one, 

Vivaldi certainly did it with the most style and 

panache. Printed with the four concertos was 

a set of sonnets of unknown origin (perhaps 

written by Vivaldi himself), sonnets which 

are rarely read along with the works, but 

are presented below in an effort to capture 

the feelings that this master composer and 

virtuoso violinist so successfully attempted to 

capture in music. 

Spring – Concerto in E Major 

I. Springtime is upon us. The birds 

celebrate her return with festive song, and 

murmuring streams are softly caressed by 

the breezes. Thunderstorms, those heralds 

of Spring, roar, casting their dark mantle 

over heaven, Then they die away to silence, 

and the birds take up their charming songs 

once more. 

II. On the flower-strewn meadow, with leafy 

branches rustling overhead, the goat-herd 

sleeps, his faithful dog beside him. 

III. Led by the festive sound of rustic bagpipes, 

nymphs and shepherds lightly dance 

beneath the brilliant canopy of spring. 

Summer – Concerto in g minor 

I. Beneath the blazing sun’s relentless heat 

men and flocks are sweltering, pines are 

scorched. We hear the cuckoo’s voice; 

then sweet songs of the turtle dove and 

finch are heard. Soft breezes stir the air... 

but threatening north wind sweeps them 

suddenly aside. The shepherd trembles, 

fearful of violent storm and what may lie 

ahead. 

II. His limbs are now awakened from their 

repose by fear of lightning’s flash and 

thunder’s roar, as gnats and flies buzz 

furiously around. 

III. Alas, his worst fears were justified, as the 

heavens roar and great hailstones beat 

down upon the proudly standing corn. 

Autumn – Concerto in F Major 

I. The peasant celebrates with song and 

dance the harvest safely gathered in. The 

cup of Bacchus flows freely, and many find 

their relief in deep slumber. 

II. The singing and the dancing die away 

as cooling breezes fan the pleasant air, 

inviting all to sleep without a care. 

III. The hunters emerge at dawn, ready for the 

chase, with horns and dogs and cries. Their 

quarry flees while they give chase. Terrified 

and wounded, the prey struggles on, but, 

harried, dies. 

Winter – Concerto in f minor 

I. Shivering, frozen mid the frosty snow in 

biting, stinging winds; running to and fro to 

stamp one’s icy feet, teeth chattering in the 

bitter chill. 

II. To rest contentedly beside the hearth, while 

those outside are drenched by pouring rain. 

III. We tread the icy path slowly and cautiously, 

for fear of tripping and falling. Then turn 

abruptly, slip, crash on the ground and, 

rising, hasten on across the ice lest it 

cracks up. We feel the chill north winds 

coarse through the home despite 

the locked and bolted doors... this is winter, 

which nonetheless brings its own delights. 

■ 


allegro 47

Rossen Milanov 

Corey Cerovsek 


MASTERWOR KS DIAMON D / OR PH EUM TH EATR E, 8PM 

saturday & monday, january 7, 9 

SYMPHONY SU N DAYS / OR PH EUM TH EATR E, 2PM 

sunday, january 8 


◆ Corey Cerovsek violin 

JON KIMURA PARKER 

48 allegro 

Debussy Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune 

◆ Korngold Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35 

I. Moderato nobile 

II. Romance: Andante 

III. Finale: Allegro assai vivace 

Intermission 

Berlioz Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 

I. Rêveries – Passions (Dreams, Passions): Largo – Allegro agitato e appassionato assai 

II. Un bal (A Ball): Valse: Allegro non troppo 

III. Scène aux champs (Country Scene): Adagio 

IV. Marche au supplice (March to the Scaffold): Allegretto non troppo 

V. Songe d’une nuit du sabbat (Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath): Larghetto – Allegro 

PRE-CONCERT TALKS free to ticketholders on January 7 & 9 at 7:05pm. 

Visit the Symphony Gift Shop for CD selections


Rossen Milanov’s place as “one of the 

most-promising figures in the upcoming 

generation of conductors” (The Seattle 

Times) has recently been recognized with 

his appointment as music director of The 

Princeton Symphony Orchestra. 

A committed supporter of youth and music, 

Milanov is Music Director of both the New 

Symphony Orchestra, a privately-funded 

youth orchestra in his native city of Sofia, 

Bulgaria, and Symphony In C, one of the USA’s 

leading professional training orchestras. 

Mr. Milanov studied conducting at the Juilliard 

School (where he received the Bruno Walter 

Memorial Scholarship), the Curtis Institute of 

Music, Duquesne University and the Bulgarian 

National Academy of Music. He has received 

the Award for Extraordinary Contribution to 

Bulgarian Culture, awarded by the Bulgarian 

Ministry of Culture, and in 2005 was chosen 

as Bulgaria’s Musician of the Year. 

Corey Cerovsek violin 

Corey Cerovsek has performed to constant 

acclaim with conductors such as Zubin 

Mehta, Charles Dutoit, Michael Tilson Thomas, 

Neeme Järvi, Andrew Litton, Yoel Levi, and 

Jesús Lopez-Cobos. 

Born in 1972 in Vancouver, Canada, and now 

residing in Paris, Cerovsek began playing the 

violin at the age of five. After early studies 

with Charmian Gadd and Richard Goldner he 

graduated at age twelve from the University 

of Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music 

with a gold medal for the highest marks in 

strings. That same year, he was accepted 

by Josef Gingold as a student and enrolled 

at Indiana University, where he received 

bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and 

music at age fifteen, masters in both at 

sixteen, and completed his doctoral course 

work in mathematics and music at age 18. 

Concurrently he studied piano with Enrica 

Cavallo, until 1997 frequently appearing in 

concert performing on both instruments. 

Corey Cerovsek performs on the “Milanollo” 

Stradivarius of 1728, an instrument played, 

among others, by Christian Ferras, Giovanni 

Battista Viotti, and Nicolò Paganini. 

Claude Debussy 

b. St. Germaine-en-Laye, France / August 22, 1862 

d. Paris, France / March 25, 1918 

Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune 

(Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun) 

This atmospheric work, the first piece to 

announce the emergence of Debussy’s 

sensuous mature style, developed out of his 

admiration for Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem, 

The Afternoon of a Faun. Debussy recognized 

in it a style similar to his own view of music. 

He composed his Prelude during the summer 

of 1894. The words of the poem are those 

of a faun or satyr, a languid, pleasure-loving 

half-man, half-goat figure from Classical 

mythology. Debussy wrote, “The music of 

this Prelude is a very free illustration of 

Mallarmé’s beautiful poem. It is not to be seen 

as an attempt at a synthesis of the poem; 

that is suggested rather by the succession 

of scenes through which the faun’s dreams 

and desires in the heat of the afternoon are 

expressed. Then, weary of continuing the 

pursuit of the sacred water-nymphs and 

spirits, he abandons himself to enriching 

sleep, which is full of finally fulfilled dreams, 

of complete possession of the natural world.” 

Erich Wolfgang Korngold 

b. Brno, Bohemia / May 29, 1897 

d. Hollywood, California, USA / November 29, 1957 

Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35 

Korngold was an astonishing child prodigy. He 

composed his first music at eight and saw his 

ballet The Snowman produced professionally 

five years later. His loyalty to tradition helped 

win him many performing champions, 

including such renowned artists as Bruno 

Walter, Artur Schnabel and Fritz Kreisler. 

He also played a role in reviving the operettas 

of Johann Strauss, Jr., an activity that brought 

him together with celebrated impresario, 

Max Reinhardt. When Reinhardt travelled 

to Hollywood in 1934 to produce a film 

of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s 

Dream, he brought Korngold along to adapt 

allegro 49

Mendelssohn’s incidental stage score for 

use in the film. Impressed by Korngold’s 

work, the Warner Brothers studio asked him 

to compose original film scores. He wrote 

eighteen in all, winning Academy Awards for 

Anthony Adverse (1936) and The Adventures 

of Robin Hood (1938). 

For several years, he shuttled back and forth 

between Europe and America, creating operas 

and concert scores for the old world and 

outstanding symphonic film music for the 

new. With the onset of the Second World War, 

he and his family settled in California. After 

the war, he returned to writing concert music 

in his previous style. Attitudes had changed 

so much in the interim that his works were 

condemned as old-fashioned. As the wheel of 

taste revolves, however, Korngold’s brand of 

lush and emotional music has regained much 

of its early popularity. 

After the soloist to whom Korngold offered 

the premiere of his Violin Concerto decided 

not to perform it, Korngold persuaded the 

renowned virtuoso, Jascha Heifetz, to give the 

premiere (although he insisted that Korngold 

increase the finale’s technical difficulty!). The 

first performance took place on February 15, 

1947, with Vladimir Golschmann conducting 

the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. 

Korngold took the themes from his film 

scores: Another Dawn and Juarez (first 

movement); Anthony Adverse (second 

movement); and The Prince and the Pauper 

(third movement). It is a highly Romantic and 

above all lyrical creation, intended, in the 

composer’s words, “for a Caruso rather than 

a Paganini.” After two tender and expressive 

movements, the joyful finale, as Heifetz 

requested, bristles with virtuoso fireworks. 

Hector Berlioz 

b. La Côte-St-André, Isère / December 11, 1803 

d. Paris, France / March 8, 1869 

Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 

In 1827, while Berlioz was studying at the 

Paris Conservatoire, he developed a typically 

allconsuming passion for Harriet Smithson, an 

50 allegro

allegro 51

Irish actress whom he saw perform a number 

of works by Shakespeare. His attempts to 

communicate with her came to nothing. This 

unhappy experience inspired him to compose 

Episode in the Life of an Artist – Grand 

Fantastic Symphony in Five Parts. He did 

so partly at the call of his brilliant creative 

imagination, partly for a more practical 

reason: he hoped it would win him the kind 

of reputation that would impress Harriet 

Smithson. In it, he broke new compositional 

ground by synthesizing events from his life 

with purely imaginary ones. 

Smithson’s stage company returned to 

Paris in 1832, and Berlioz made sure she 

heard the piece he had written for her. They 

were married the following year, but their 

relationship proved an unhappy one. 

“A young musician of morbidly sensitive 

temperament and fiery imagination poisons 

himself with opium in a fit of lovesick 

despair,” the final revision of the symphony’s 

published program begins. “The dose of the 

narcotic, too weak to kill him, plunges him 

into a slumber accompanied by the strangest 

visions, during which his sensations, his 

emotions, his memories are transformed 

in his sick mind into musical thoughts 

and images. The loved one herself has 

become a melody to him, an idée fixe (fixed 

idea) as it were, that he encounters and 

hears everywhere.” He hears it, in various 

transformations, amidst the turbulence of 

the opening movement; the waltz rhythms 

of the second; the tranquil country scene of 

the third; the sinister march to the scaffold of 

the fourth; and the hallucinatory revels of the 

concluding Witches’ Sabbath. ■ 

Program Notes © 2011 Don Anderson 

The Vancouver Symphony Society 

congratulates Karen Foster on her retirement. 

We thank Karen for her dedicated 

service to the VSO, and wish her all 

the best for many years to come. 

Karen Haley Foster has enjoyed a rich and rewarding 40 year career in music, 

the past 25 years of which she has served as first violinist with the VSO. 

Karen studied with Morris Gomberg at Roosevelt University in Chicago on a full 

tuition scholarship, winning several music club awards. 

She began her professional career in the summer of 1970 with Chicago’s 

Grant Park Orchestra in addition to free-lancing. Two years later she joined the 

Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, playing in both for nine years. 

Karen met her husband Wes in the ISO when he became principal clarinettist. 

They married in 1979 and moved to Vancouver two years later when Wes won 

the principal clarinet position in the VSO. Karen played with the CBC Chamber 

Orchestra and the Vancouver Opera Orchestra for four years before joining the 

VSO in 1985, just in time for the orchestra’s tour to Japan. 

In addition to her love for the orchestral genre, chamber music and solo 

repertoire have brought a special joy to Karen’s musical life. She has been 

a member of two string quartets, participated in summer music festivals, 

collaborated with her husband and many other musicians on various recitals, 

performed at UBC, Masterpiece Music, the Banff Centre and West Vancouver’s 

The Silk Purse. 

Some memorable career highlights include: performing Mahler’s 

“Resurrection” symphony at Carnegie Hall with the ISO and Maureen Forrester; 

and the VSO’s 1985 concert tour to Japan. 

Occasionally performing now as an extra with various orchestras, her main 

interest is solo and chamber music repertoire. She performs in the greater 

Vancouver area and on the island as an independent musician, and also under 

the auspices of ArtsWay. 

52 allegro

allegro 53

Freddy Kempf 

BRAMWELL TOVEY 


MASTERWOR CONCERT KS SI LVER PROGRAM 

/ OR PH EUM TH EATR E, 8PM 

▲ 

saturday & monday, january 14, 16 


Freddy Kempf piano 

▲ 

Gorecki Three Pieces in an Olden Style 

Tchaikovsky Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra in B-flat minor, Op. 23 

I. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso – Allegro con spirito 

II. Andantino semplice – Prestissimo – Tempo I 

III. Allegro con fuoco 

Intermission 

Beethoven Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68, Pastoral 

I. Allegro ma non troppo 

II. Andante molto mosso 

III. Allegro 

IV. Allegro 

V. Allegretto 


54 allegro


For a biography of Maestro Tovey, please 


Freddy Kempf cello 

Freddy Kempf is one of today’s most 

successful pianists, performing to sold-out 

audiences all over the world. He has built a 

unique reputation both as an explosive and 

physical performer not afraid to take risks as 

well as a serious, sensitive and profoundly 

musical artist. 

Born in London in 1977, Freddy began 

piano lessons at the age of four. He came 

to national prominence in 1992 when 

he won the BBC Young Musician of the 

Year Competition following a memorable 

performance of Rachmaninoff’s Paganini 

Variations. It was perhaps his award of third 

prize in the 1998 Tchaikovsky International 

Piano Competition in Moscow that rapidly 

established his international career. That 

he did not win the first prize provoked 

protests from the audience and an outcry 

in the Russian press, which proclaimed 

him “the hero of the competition” and his 

unprecedented popularity with Russian 

audiences since then has been reflected 

in several sold-out concerts and numerous 

television broadcasts. 

Freddy records exclusively for BIS Records, 

his most recent release being Prokofiev’s 

Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3 with the Bergen 

Philharmonic Orchestra and Andrew Litton, 

which was nominated for the prestigious 

Gramophone Concerto award and described 

by the associated magazine as “A masterful 

Prokofievian pair.” 

Henryk Mikołaj Górecki 

b. Silesia, Poland / December 6, 1933 

d. Katowice, Poland / November 12, 2010 

Three Pieces in an Olden Style 

Henryk Gorecki was a Polish composer most 

heavily influenced by Messiaen, though 

crafting a unique and dramatic, and very 

individual, compositional voice of his own 

over the years. Though very contemporary 

in his approach to composition and 

orchestration, Gorecki also venerated 

early music, sometimes incorporating 

early musical concepts and even medieval 

texts into his music. 

His Three Pieces in an Olden Style were 

written for a string orchestra, incorporating 

folk elements and medieval church liturgy 

with modern compositional techniques. The 

Three Pieces are based 

on the following: 

1) Lamentation of the Holy Cross Monastery, 

2) Prayer of the eighteen year-old Helena 

Wanda Blazusiakowna inscribed on the 

wall of a Gestapo cell in Zakopane, and 

3) Folk song in Opole Region dialect. 

Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky 

b. Kamsko-Votkinsk, Russia / May 7, 1840 

d. St. Petersburg, Russia / November 6, 1893 

Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra 

in B-flat minor, Op. 23 

Ah, Tchaikovsky. Nothing ever seemed to 

come easy for this brilliant, tortured genius, 

including this remarkable treasure, his first 

piano concerto. At age thirty-four, he began 

work on the B-flat minor Concerto for Piano 

and Orchestra performed tonight. The music 

did not exactly flow from his pen: “I am 

engrossed in the composition of a piano 

concerto…but it is not coming easily… 

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vancouversymphony.ca 

allegro 55

I have, as a duty, to force my brain to invent 

piano passages, with the result that my 

nerves are very strained.” 

The work did eventually come, but on 

Christmas Eve the next blow to Tchaikovsky’s 

fragile psyche would be decisively delivered 

by the pianist Nikolay Rubinstein. Tchaikovsky 

played the concerto for his friend and mentor, 

and three years later, in a famous letter to 

his patron Nadezhda von Meck, Tchaikovsky 

describes the debacle: 

“(after the performance) I stood up and 

asked, ‘Well’ Then a torrent poured from 

(his) mouth, gentle at first then more and 

more growing…. It turned out that my 

concerto was ‘worthless and unplayable; 

passages so fragmented, so clumsy, 

so badly written that they were beyond 

rescue; the work itself was bad, vulgar; in 

places I had stolen from other composers; 

only two or three pages were worth 

preserving; the rest must be thrown out 

or completely re-written’…a disinterested 

observer in the room might have thought 

I was a maniac, a talentless, senseless 

hack…” 

Unusually undaunted, Tchaikovsky vowed to 

publish the work exactly as it was, which he 

did. Scratching Rubinstein’s name from the 

dedication, Tchaikovsky brought the concerto 

to legendary German conductor/pianist Hans 

von Bülow, who found it to be “a pearl… 

so original in thought, so noble, so strong, 

so interesting in details.” The piece has of 

course gone on to become one of the most 

famous, beloved, and enduring pieces of 

music ever written. 

If Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony contains 

the most famous opening of any work, this 

concerto is not far off: the strident horn calls, 

lush strings spinning the famous opening 

melody, the almost shocking chords spread 

over the entire keyboard – a bolder, more 

memorable opening statement has not been 

created. The musical gems continue in the 

middle section of the second movement with 

its waltz-like melody borrowed from the song 

Il faut s’amuer et rire. The final movement, 

sprinkled with Ukrainian folk-song tunes as 

in the first, gives the virtuoso pianist plenty 

to work with in a fast-moving, joyful and 

triumphant finale. 

Ludwig van Beethoven 

b. Bonn, Germany / baptized December 17, 1770 

d. Vienna, Austria / March 26, 1827 

Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68, 

Pastoral 

Quite different from the drama present in 

many of Beethoven’s works, peace and 

serenity are the hallmarks of Beethoven’s 

‘Pastoral’ Symphony No. 6. Rife with rich 

orchestration and feelings of elation, this 

work nearly corners the market on giddy 

euphoria. It is also the perfect example of the 

differing reactions that Beethoven’s music 

provoked amongst his audiences, peers 

(if one can use such a word when referring 

to Beethoven) and critics. 

56 allegro

Many hailed this symphony as yet another 

affirmation of Beethoven’s great genius; 

while many early critics (and later ones) were 

confused by it. Those critics dismissed the 

symphony as being too long and repetitive; 

too simple, or too complicated. The fact is, 

though, that the very “repetitiveness” of 

the work is one of the keys to its brilliance. 

Repeated figures, brilliantly overlapped 

phrases, and long harmonic progressions 

create a breathless anticipation as the scenes 

of nature and wonder reveal themselves. 

“Nature” truly is the dominant theme here, 

and what more wonderful muse could a 

composer have The “nicknames” of the 

movements of the symphony (I. Awakening of 

Cheerful Feelings upon Arrival in the Country, 

II. Scene by the Brook, III. Merry Gathering of 

Country Folk, IV. Thunderstorm, V. Shepherd’s 

Song: Happy and Thankful Feelings after the 

Storm) reveal the subject matter of the work. 

Beethoven loved the natural world (more 

than his fellow human beings!), and often 

wandered for hours at a time outdoors in all 

manner of weather. The meadows, woods, 

mountains and streams in the country outside 

of Vienna were his constant companions, and 

his most cherished muse. 

In Beethoven’s own words, “O God, what 

majesty is in woods like these… In the 

height there is peace – peace to serve Him.” 

This explains much of Symphony No. 6 – its 

devotional character, its pure, unadulterated 

joy in describing the simplicity of nature’s 

beauty. Yet the symphony does so much 

more than just describe in a narrative sense; 

another quote of Beethoven’s reveals what 

this work actually is: “…more a matter of 

feeling than of painting in sounds.” 

Therein lies the genius of Beethoven: 

relation of the physical to the spiritual, in 

the same way that the symphony itself uses 

classical symphonic form and structure 

to communicate a Romantic feeling and 

series of impressions. So, it remains only 

for the listener to sit back and listen to this 

application of great genius revealing itself, as 

you are transported to a perfect natural world 

through perfectly constructed music. ■ 


allegro 57

vancouver symphony partners 

The Vancouver Symphony gratefully acknowledges the generosity of the following 

Corporations, Foundations, and Government Agencies that have made a financial contribution 

through sponsorship and/or a charitable donation for the 2011/2012 season. 

SERIES SPONSORS 

Concert and Special Event SPonsors 

 

 

IMPORTANT: 

For Usage below 1-1/2” wide 

KINGSWOOD CAPITAL CORPORATION 

KINGSWOOD CAPITAL CORPORATION 

Platinum Baton Club Sponsors of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra 

58 allegro

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM SPONSORS AND PARTNERS 

PREMIER EDUCATION PARTNER 

JEMINI 

FOUNDATION 

MEDIA PARTNERS 

$150,000+ 

TELUS 

Vancouver Sun 

$50,000+ 

City of Burnaby Parks, 

Recreation and Cultural 

Services 

Goldcorp Inc. 

Jemini Foundation 

$40,000+ 

BMO Harris Private Banking 

CIBC 

Industrial Alliance Pacific 

$30,000+ 

Borden Ladner Gervais LLP 

Holland America Line Inc. 

HSBC Bank Canada 

London Drugs 

Pacific Arbour 

Retirement Communities 

PwC 

RBC Foundation 

YVR–Vancouver Airport Authority 

$20,000+ 

Air Canada 

Best Buy 

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP 

The Chan Endowment 

Fund of UBC 

Chan Foundation of Canada 

Concord Pacific Group Inc. 

Deloitte & Touche LLP 

Eminata 

Ernst & Young LLP 

OriginO 

Spectra Energy 

TD Canada Trust 

Wesbild Holdings Ltd. 

$10,000+ 

Atiga Investments Inc. 

BA Blacktop Ltd. 

BCLC 

Canadian Western Bank 

Canron Western 

Constructors Ltd. 

Corus Entertainment 

Craftsman Collision Ltd. 

Deans Knight Capital 

Management Ltd. 

Keir Surgical 

Kingswood Capital Corporation 

KPMG 

Odlum Brown Limited 

Park Royal Shopping Centre 

Peter Kiewit Infrastructure Co. 

Polygon Homes Ltd. 

Raymond James Ltd. 

Stikeman Elliott LLP 

Tiffany & Co. 

Tom Lee Music 

University Canada West 

$5,000+ 

Allied Holdings Group 

Anthem Properties Group Ltd. 

Commonwealth 

Insurance Company 

Genus Capital Management 

Graphic Angel Design 

Grosvenor 

Harris Rebar 

Hatch Mott MacDonald 

Lazy Gourmet Inc. 

LMS Reinforcing Steel Group 

Marin Investments Limited 

Dr. Tom Moonen Inc. 

MMM Group Limited 

Michael O’Brian 

Family Foundation 

PCL Constructors Westcoast Inc. 

SOCAN Foundation 

The Portables 

Teck Resources Limited 

Terus Construction Ltd. 

The Titanstar 

Group of Companies 

The James and Kathleen Winton 

Foundation 

$2,500+ 

Concord National Inc. 

Gateway Casinos 

LU Biscuits 

McCarthy Tétrault 

Norburn Lighting & Bath Centre 

Pedersen’s Rentals Ltd. 

$1,000+ 

ABC Recycling Ltd. 

Bing Thom Architects Foundation 

Charton Hobbs Inc. 

Encore Software Inc. 

The Hamber Foundation 

HUB International 

Insurance Brokers 

Lantic Inc. 

Rhino Print Solutions 

The Simons Foundation 

Anonymous (1) 

For more information about vso corporate partners programs please contact: 

Jennifer Polci at 604.684.9100 extension 239 or email jennifer@vancouversymphony.ca 

allegro 59

at the concert 

Concert COURTESIES 

For your enjoyment, and the enjoyment of 

others, please remember concert etiquette. 

Talking, coughing, leaning over the balcony 

railings, unwrapping cellophane-wrapped 

candies, and the wearing of strong perfume 

may disturb the performers as well as other 

audience members. 

Latecomers 

Ushers will escort latecomers into the 

auditorium at a suitable break in the 

performance chosen by the conductor. 

Patrons who leave the auditorium during the 

performance will not be re-admitted until a 

suitable break in the performance. 

Hearing-assist systems 

Hearing-impaired patrons may borrow 

complimentary Sennheiser Infrared Hearing 

System headsets, available at the coat-check 

in the Orpheum Theatre only, after leaving 

a driver’s licence or credit card. 

Cell phones, pagers, digital watches 

Please turn off cell phones and ensure 

that digital watches do not sound during 

performances. Doctors and other professionals 

expecting calls are asked to please leave 

personal pagers, telephones and seat locations 

at the coat-check. 

Cameras, recording equipment 

Cameras and audio/video recording 

equipment of any kind are strictly prohibited 

in all venues and must be left at the coat-check 

in the main lobby. Under no circumstances 

may photographs, video recordings or audio 

recordings be taken during a performance. 

Smoking 

All venues are non-smoking. 

Program, Guest Artists and/or 

Program Order are subject to change. 

vancouver symphony administration 604.684.9100 

Jeff Alexander, President & Chief Executive Officer 

Finance & Administration: 

Mary-Ann Moir, Vice-President, Finance & 

Administration 

Debra Marcus, Director of Information Technology 

& Human Resources 

Ann Surachatchaikul, Accountant 

Ray Wang, Payroll Clerk & IT Assistant 

Marketing, Sales & Customer Service: 

Alan Gove, Vice-President, Marketing & Sales 

Shirley Bidewell, Manager of Gift Shop & Volunteers 

Estelle and Michael Jacobson Chair 

Stephanie Fung, Marketing Projects Manager 

Anna Gove, Editor & Publisher, Allegro Magazine 

Katherine Houang, Group Sales & Special Ticket Services 

Kenneth Livingstone, Database Manager 

Jaime Moore Hirsbrunner, Marketing Assistant & 

Assistant to the President and CEO 

Cameron Rowe, Director of Audience & Ticket Services 

Customer Service Representatives: 

Jeff Cancade Thalia McWatt 

Jason Ho Karl Ventura 

Shawn Lau Lauren Watson 

The Stage Crew of the Orpheum Theatre are members of Local 

118 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. 

Development: 

Leanne Davis, Vice-President, Chief Development Officer 

Hoori Barkh, Lotteries Assistant 

Ryan Butt, Development Officer, Corporate & Donor Relations 

Ann Byczko, Development Officer, Annual Giving 

Curtis Pendleton, Senior Development Officer, Individual Giving 

Jennifer Polci, Director, Corporate & Major Gifts 

William Wong, Development Coordinator 

Daniel Zomparelli, Development Assistant 

Artistic Operations: 

Joanne Harada, Vice-President, Artistic Operations 

& Education 

DeAnne Eisch, Orchestra Personnel Manager 

Aaron Hawn, Digital Projects Coordinator 

& Library Assistant 

Susan Hudson, Education Manager 

Ken & Patricia Shields Chair 

David Humphrey, Operations Manager 

Karen Jeffery, Artistic Operations Assistant 

& Assistant to Maestro Tovey 

Minella F. Lacson, Librarian 

Ron & Ardelle Cliff Chair 

Pearl Schachter, Artistic Operations & Education Assistant 

The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is a proud member of 

60 allegro

MAHLERPlus 

JANUARY 19 th 

THROUGH THE 23 rd 

From January 19th to the 23rd, Maestro 

Bramwell Tovey and the VSO will present 

a special music festival culminating in a 

performance of Mahler’s extraordinary 

Symphony No. 2, ‘Resurrection.’ MAHLERPlus 

will also feature chamber music, music written 

by composers who influenced Mahler, new music 

performances, and pre-concert lectures. 

We invite you to join us for this exciting 

music celebration. Look for details online at 

vancouversymphony.ca/mahlerplus. 

allegro 

Speak directly to your audience: 

Advertise in Allegro Rates starting at only $600! 

ALLEGRO DEMOGRAPHICS 

◆ Affluent 

◆ Educated 

◆ Home Owners 

◆ Culturally Diverse 

◆ Influential 

ALLEGRO FACTS 

◆ 5 Issues per Season 

◆ Each Issue Active 2 Months 

◆ Read by Over 200,000 People Each Year 

◆ Distributed at the Orpheum, Chan Centre, 

and ten other venues around the 

Lower Mainland 

Highly targeted and highly effective, advertising in Allegro makes 

sense for your business. Email allegro@vancouversymphony.ca 

for details and a rate kit. 

vancouversymphony.ca/allegro

vancouver symphony society board of directors 

Executive Committee 

Arthur H. Willms, Chair 

President (Ret.), Westcoast Energy 

Alan Pyatt, Vice Chair 

Chairman, President and CEO (Ret.) 

Sandwell International Inc. 

Colin Erb, Treasurer 

Partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP 

Dave Cunningham, Secretary 

VP Government Relations, TELUS 

Patricia Shields, Member-at-Large 

Education Consultant 

Larry Berg 

President & CEO 

Vancouver International Airport Authority 

Joan Chambers 

Partner, Blakes 

Dr. Peter Chung 

Executive Chairman, Eminata Group 

Charles Filewych 

Co-Chief Executive Officer 

Corinex Communications Corp. 

Michael L. Fish 

President, Keir Surgical 

Lindsay Hall 

Executive Vice-President and CFO 

Goldcorp, Inc. 

Diane Hodgins 

Director, Century Group Lands Corporation 

Olga Ilich 

President, Suncor Development Corporation 

Gordon R. Johnson 

Partner, Borden Ladner Gervais 

Michael E. Riley, CA 

Corporate Director 

Denise Turner 

Executive Vice President 

TitanStar Group of Companies 

Michael Webb 

SVP, Human Resources 

HSBC Bank Canada 

Fred Withers 

Chief Development Officer 

Ernst & Young 

Musician Representatives 

Christie Reside, Principal Flute 

Aaron McDonald, 

Principal Timpani 

Honourary Life Vice-Presidents 

Ronald Laird Cliff, C.M. 

Nezhat Khosrowshahi 

Gerald A.B. McGavin, C.M., O.B.C. 

Ronald N. Stern 

vancouver symphony foundation board of trustees 

Ronald Laird Cliff, C.M., Chair 

Marnie Carter 

John Icke 

Judi Korbin 

Hein Poulus, Q.C. 

Robert T. Stewart 

Arthur H. Willms 

Tim Wyman 

vso school of music society 

Board of Directors 

Gordon R. Johnson, Chair 

Hein Poulus, Q.C. 

Gerry Sayers 

Patricia Shields 

George Taylor 

Administration 

Jeff Alexander 

President & CEO 

Shaun Taylor 

Executive Director 

Edwin Kwong 

Business Manager & 

Office Administrator 

Louise Ironside 

Registrar & Communications 

Coordinator 

Lindy Gray 

Front Desk Administrator 

vancouver symphony volunteer council 2011/2012 

Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anne Janmohamed 

Vice-Chair/Treasurer . . . Sheila Foley 

Secretary. . . . . . . . . . . . Nancy Wu 

Immediate Past Chair. . . Estelle Jacobson 

Scheduling 

Concerts (all venues) . . . Shirley Bidewell 

Gift Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . Barbara Morris 

Helen Dubas 

Lotteries in Malls . . . . . . Gloria Davies 

Reception Shifts. . . . . . . Gloria Davies 

Tea & Trumpets . . . . . . . Shirley Featherstone 

Marlene Strain 

Special Events 

Symphony of Style 2011 . . . Nancy Wu 

Anne Janmohamed 

Holland America 

Luncheon 2011 . . . . . . . . . . Sheila Foley 

Education & Community 

Musical Encounters . . . . . . . Isabella Morrow 

Hospitality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maria Estrope 

Scholarship . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pat Hoebig 

Membership 

Volunteer Hours . . . . . . . . . Angelina Bao 

Manager, Gift Shop 

and Volunteer Resources 

Shirley Bidewell 

Tel 604.684.9100 ext 240 

shirley@vancouversymphony.ca 

Assistant 

Gift Shop Manager 

Michelle Beldi 

allegro 63

BOOK YOUR SEATS TODAY–TICKETS SELL OUT EARLY! 

A Traditional 

Christmas! 

St. Andrew’s-Wesley CHURCH, Vancouver 

Thursday, December 8, 7:30pm 

Friday, December 9, 7:30pm 

Saturday, December 10, 4pm & 7:30pm 

Michael J. Fox Theatre, BURNABY 

Sunday, December 11, 7:30pm 

South Delta Baptist Church, DELTA 

Wednesday, December 14, 4pm & 7:30pm 

Bell Performing Arts Centre, Surrey 

Thursday, December 15, 4pm & 7:30pm 

Centennial Theatre, North Vancouver 

Friday, December 16, 4pm & 7:30pm 

Kay Meek Theatre, West Vancouver 

Saturday, December 17, 4pm & 7:30pm 



UBC Opera Ensemble 

EnChor 

The Lower Mainland’s most beloved 

Holiday Music Tradition! Secure your 

tickets now for a beautiful evening of 

heartwarming Christmas music and 

carols, with the Vancouver Symphony 

Orchestra, hosted by the inimitable 

Christopher Gaze and conducted by 

Pierre Simard. 

PRESENTING SPONSOR 

The VSO’s Traditional Christmas 

Concerts have been endowed bY a 

generous gift from Sheahan and 

Gerald McGavin, C.M., O.B.C. 

A TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS 

SECTION ADULT SENIOR STUDENT SUBSCRIBER 

A $ 36.50 $ 32.75 $32.75 $ 31.00 

Pierre Simard 

Christopher Gaze 

Tickets online at vancouversymphony.ca 

or call 604.876.3434

issue two - Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

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