issue one - Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

Günther Herbig conductor
Günther Herbig left behind the challenging
political environment of East Germany
and moved to the United States in 1984,
where he has since conducted all of the
top-tier orchestras, including the New York
Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the
Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra,
and the Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco
Symphony Orchestras.
Posts Herbig has held include music director
of the Detroit Symphony and the Toronto
Symphony, Principal Guest Conductor of
both the Dallas Symphony and the BBC
Philharmonic Orchestra, and general music
director of both the Dresden Philharmonic
Orchestra and Berlin Symphony Orchestra.
Currently he is Artistic Advisor of the National
Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan and Principal
Guest Conductor of Las Palmas in the Grand
Canaries, Spain.
Key figures in his musical training include
Hermann Abendroth, Hermann Scherchen,
and Herbert von Karajan. He has recorded
over 100 works with a variety of East German
orchestras, Toronto Symphony, Orchestre de
Paris, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra, and others.
Dale Barltrop violin
Hailing from Brisbane, Australia, Dale Barltrop
has performed across North America, Europe
and Australia. He served as Principal Second
Violin in the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
for six years prior to being appointed
Concertmaster of the Vancouver Symphony.
As a soloist, Barltrop has performed with the
Bloomington Symphony, Maryland Chamber
Orchestra, University of Maryland Symphony
and back home with the Queensland
Orchestra and Queensland Pops Orchestra.
He served as Associate Concertmaster of the
Akron Symphony Orchestra and 1st violinist
of the Verklärte Quartet, which won the grand
prize at the 2003 Fischoff National Chamber
Music Competition.
Barltrop moved to the United States in
1998 to attend the University of Maryland
as a student of Gerald Fischbach and the
Guarneri Quartet. He continued his studies
at the Cleveland Institute of Music with
William Preucil. Barltrop has a keen interest
in teaching and has served on the faculty of
the National Orchestral Institute and worked
regularly with the Greater Twin Cities Youth
Symphonies.
Ludwig van Beethoven
b. Bonn, Germany / December 15, 1770
d. Vienna, Austria / March 26, 1827
Coriolan Overture, Op. 62
According to Plutarch, an historian of ancient
Rome, Coriolanus was a general whose
troops defeated a neighbouring tribe, the
Volscians. Coriolanus’ hatred of the uncouth
citizens who ruled his native city led him to
insult them, resulting in his exile. Driven by
his need for revenge, he joined the Volscians
to attack Rome. The city lay at his mercy, until
his foes sent his wife, mother and young son
to plead with him for clemency. Coriolanus
relented, and the Volscians, feeling betrayed,
slew him.
William Shakespeare used Plutarch’s writings
as the basis for a play, Coriolanus. Coriolan,
Heinrich Joseph von Collin’s stage version
of the story, opened in Vienna in 1802.
Beethoven composed his stirring Coriolan
Overture in 1807. By that time, Collin’s
play had vanished from the stage. It was
remounted the next month, however, largely
in order to profit from Beethoven’s superbly
dramatic musical evocation.
Robert Schumann
b. Zwickau, Germany / June 8, 1810
d. Endenich, Germany / July 29, 1856
Violin Concerto in D minor
Schumann composed this concerto in
September and October 1853. It took him
just 13 days, a typical result of his profoundly
manic-depressive condition. Four months
later, he attempted suicide by jumping into
the Rhine. He spent the remaining years of his
life confined to an asylum.
allegro 35