Philharmonia Orchestra - Cal Performances

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Major support for Philharmonia Orchestra’s residency provided by The Bernard Osher Foundation, Patron Sponsors Gail and Dan Rubinfeld,

and generous donors to the Matías Tarnopolsky Fund for Cal Performances.Cal Performances’ 2018–19 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

Friday, March 15, 2019, 8pmZellerbach Hall

Philharmonia OrchestraEsa-Pekka Salonen, principal conductor & artistic advisor

Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductorTruls Mørk, cello

Jean SIBELIuS (1865–1957) e Oceanides (Aallottaret), Op. 73

Esa-Pekka SALONEN (b. 1958) Cello ConcertoTruls Mørk, celloElla Wahlström, sound design

INTERMISSION

Béla BARTóK (1881–1945) Concerto for Orchestra, BB 123Introduzione: Andante non troppo –

Allegro vivaceGiuoco delle coppie: Allegretto scherzandoElegia: Andante non troppoIntermezzo interrotto: AllegrettoFinale: Pesante – Presto

Tour supported by the Philharmonia Foundation and the generous donors to the Philharmonia’s Future 75 Campaign.

philharmonia.co.uk

Jean Sibelius e Oceanides (Aallottaret), Op. 73 In June 1913, the Helsinki papers reported thatJean Sibelius, the brightest ornament of Finnishculture, had declined an invitation to journeyto America to conduct some of his music,though he did agreed to accept membership in the National Music Society and provide thepublishing house of Silver Burdett with reeSongs for American School Children. A fewmonths later, Sibelius received another requestto visit America, this one from the magnani-mous patron of the arts Carl Stoeckel, who wasusing his fortune to operate a music festival ofthe highest quality on the grounds of his man-sion in Norfolk, Connecticut. e promise ofprincely personal and professional treatment,an attractive commission for a new orchestralwork, and a gnawing curiosity about the NewWorld were more than Sibelius cared to reject,and plans were made for him to travel toAmerica late in the spring of 1914. To fulfill thecommission, he first considered a choral work,but then decided on an orchestral tone poembased not on the Finnish legends codified in theKalevala that had inspired so many of his earlierpieces, but instead on the Greek myths of the“Oceanides,” the nymphs that inhabited therivers, streams, and waters of classical antiquity.He began work on e Oceanides during a visitto Berlin in January 1914, and completed thefirst version of the score in the spring at hishome in Järvenpää. It was dispatched immedi-ately to Mr. Stoeckel in America, though Sibeliusrevised the piece before it was premiered.

Sibelius le Helsinki on May 16, 1914 aboardthe Kaiser Wilhelm II of the North GermanLloyd Line for the long ocean voyage and arrived in New York on May 27th, full of talesabout “glorious nights on the Atlantic” and “50porpoises that slowly approached the ship andpassed it in a playful row.” Waiting for him atthe dock along with Mr. Stoeckel was a largebattery of newsmen eager to see and questionthe famous musician and report on his visit toan American public that had taken an intenseinterest in his compositions. (“I was quite as-tounded at being so well known in America.

I should never have believed it,” he said.) He wastaken to a fashionable New York hotel, wherehis host surprised him with the announcementthat Yale university wished to present him with an honorary doctorate on June 6th in NewHaven. On the next day, he was taken to theStoeckel’s rural Connecticut mansion, whichSibelius described as a “wonderful estate amongwooded hills, intersected by rivers and shim-mering streams…. It was as romantic and mysterious as it had been 200 years earlier.ere was an atmosphere of poetry over thelarge, sleeping woods that was unique.” Stoeckeltreated his guest lavishly. “I was surroundedwith everything that the luxury of the Americanupper classes had to offer,” Sibelius recalled. “I have never, before or aer, lived such a won-derful life.”

Sibelius’ concert, for which he chose the incidental music to King Kristian II, e Swan ofTuonela, Finlandia, and Valse Triste to share theprogram with the new Oceanides, was set forJune 6th. e best available resources were put at his disposal. “What an orchestra!” he exclaimed. “A hundred splendid musicians selected from the finest performers of the orches -tras of Boston and New York: the best orchestraI have ever conducted. Simply glorious!” epremiere, given before an invited audience fromthe worlds of music, culture, and society, was a brilliant success. “ere was such a wonderfulfestive atmosphere over it all from the momentI came in, when the audience rose and the or-chestra joined in with a thundering ‘fanfare,’”Sibelius wrote. “I noticed with emotion that theconductor’s desk was decorated with the Fin -nish and American colors. e audience con-sisted of close on 2,000 guests—a high-classaudience, representative of the best that Americapossessed among lovers of music, trained mu-sicians, and critics. A most inspiring setting forthe appearance of an artist.”

During the two weeks between the June 6thconcert and the convocation at Yale, Stoeckel,Sibelius continued, “arranged trips for me to adjacent towns…. On one of these journeys,Boston was visited, where a large dinner wasarranged at which I made the acquaintance

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of practically all the leading composers inAmerica: Chadwick, Hadley, Loeffler, etc. Fromthere, we returned to Norfolk, where my hostgave a banquet for 250 people. Among theguests was ex-President Ta, who was thenProfessor of Law at Yale university.” Sibelius’ lasttrip was to Niagara, where “the wild and beau-tiful spectacle of the scenery gave me inde-scribable pleasure.” en they drove to NewHaven for the “imposing ancient ceremonial.During the whole act my music was played….When it was all over, Spring Song [Op. 16] wasplayed. e first to congratulate me aer theceremony was Ta.” Sibelius spent the last fewdays of his visit in New York City, where thesummer heat and humidity tortured his Finnishconstitution, before he le, with promises to return to America a year hence. In advance of his landing in Copenhagen on July 2nd, newsreached the ship of the murder in Sarajevo. A month later, the Guns of August shattered ahalf-century of European peace with the firstblasts of e Great War. Sibelius never returnedto America.

e first title Sibelius chose for what becamee Oceanides was “Rondo of the Waves.” How -ever, he decided that that phrase cast the piecein too Impressionistic a light and changed it to clarify the work’s classical reference. (“eFinnish title of the work, Aalottaret [‘Daughtersof the Waves’], is merely a translation” and doesnot refer “to characters in the Kalevala,” he ex-plained.) e piece is in a vague rondo form,but it is most easily heard as a progression froma so, undulant beginning to a roaring depic-tion of a stormy northern sea and a return tocalm at the end. Like all of Sibelius’ great tonepoems, and, indeed, each of his symphonies,e Oceanides has a distinctive personality notmatched by any other of his works, nor by themusic of any other composer.

Esa-Pekka SalonenCello ConcertoSalonen’s Cello Concerto was co-commissionedin 2016 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,New York Philharmonic, Barbican Centre (Lon don), and Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg) for

Yo-Yo Ma, who premiered the work in Chicagoon March 9, 2017 under the baton of the com-poser, who wrote the following about it:

“Some of the ideas for my Cello Concertocan be traced back at least three decades, butthe actual material for the piece was mostly developed in the summer of 2015 when I de-cided to spend a few months researching fornew kinds of textures without a concrete planhow to use them. I decided to use some phrasesfrom my 2010 solo cello work … knock, breathe,shine … in the second and third movements, asI always felt that the music of the solo piece wasalmost orchestral in its scope and character, andwould function well within an orchestral envi-ronment.

“e first movement opens with what in mysketchbook had the title ‘chaos to line.’ Chaoshere must be understood metaphorically, as astylized version of the idea. I like the concept ofa simple thought emerging out of a complexlandscape. Almost like consciousness develop-ing from clouds of dust. is leads to the sec-ond semi-cosmological metaphor: a comet. I imagined the solo cello line as a trajectory ofa moving object in space being followed andemulated by other lines/instruments/movingobjects, a bit like a comet’s tail. In musical terms,it could be described as a canon [i.e., exact im-itation of a single melody by multiple voices]but not quite, as the imitation is not always literal or precise. e gestus remains however almost identical every time. Sometimes the im-itating cloud flies above the cello, sometimes inthe same register. It thins out to two lines and finally to one. ere are faster, more playful epi -sodes alternating with the cloud, and finally themovement gains enough speed for the balanceto tilt towards fast music. At the end a variationof the cloud returns.

“e second movement is very simple inform but more complex in texture. It starts witha wedge-form cloud [>] and ends with another[<], if one can imagine such a thing. e slowcello arches are looped to create harmony fromsingle lines. Sometimes the loops are dispersedin space. e middle section is a playful duetbetween the solo cello and the alto flute.

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“e third movement starts with a slow,brooding cello solo under the residue of the second wedge-cloud. e expression quicklybecomes more extroverted through a series ofaccelerandi. A rhythmic mantra starts to de-velop in the congas and bongos. It will appearoen later in the movement, mostly in the tim-pani. is music is oen dance-like, sometimesgesticulating wildly, perhaps from the sheer joyof no longer having anything to do with cloudsand processes. An acrobatic solo episode leadsto a fast tutti section where I imagined the or-chestra as some kind of gigantic lung, expand-ing and contracting first slowly but acceleratingto a point of mild hyperventilation, which leadsback to the dance-like material. Quixotic solocello episodes lead to a joyful coda based on the‘lung’ music, but now with a solo cello line.Finally the kinetic energy gently burns itself out,the rapid movement slows down, and the celloline climbs up to a stratospherically high B-flat,two centimeters to the le of the highest noteon the piano.”

Béla BartókConcerto for Orchestra, BB 123Béla Bartók came to America in October 1940,sick of body and afflicted of spirit. He had beenfrail all of his life, and the leukemia that was tocause his death five years later had already begunto erode his health. Adding to the trial of his medical condition was the war raging inEurope, a painful source of torment to one ofBartók’s ardent Hungarian patriotism. uponleaving his homeland, he not only relinquishedthe native country so dear to him, but also forfeited the secure financial and professional positions he had earned in Budapest. Com pro -mise in the face of Hitler’s brutal inhumanity,however, was never a possibility for a man ofBartók’s adamantine convictions. “He who stays on when he could leave may be said to acquiesce tacitly in everything that is happeninghere,” he wrote on the eve of his departure.“is journey [to America] is like plunging intothe unknown from what is known, but unbear-able.” Filled with apprehension, he made thedifficult overland trip to Lisbon, then sailed onto New York.

Sad to say, Bartók’s misgivings were justified.His financial support from Hungary was, ofcourse, cut off, and money worries aggravatedhis delicate physical condition. He held a mod-est post as a folk music researcher at Columbiauniversity for a number of months, but thatended when funding from a grant ran out.Bartók’s health declined enough to make pub-lic appearances impossible aer 1943. His chief disappointment, however, was the almost totalneglect of his compositions by the musicalcom munity. At the end of 1942 he lamented,“e quasi boycott of my works by the leadingorchestras continues; no performances eitherof old works or new ones. It is a shame—not for me, of course.” It is to the credit ofASCAP (American Society of Composers,Authors, and Publishers) that the organizationprovided money for the hospital care that enabled Bar tók to continue composing to thevery end of his life.

It was at that nadir in his fortunes that thecommission for the Concerto for Orchestra was presented to Bartók. Phillip Ramey related the circumstances: “By early 1943, things had gotten so bad that two old friends of Bartók, [vi-olinist] Joseph Szigeti and [conductor] FritzReiner, suggested to Sergei Koussevitzky [musicdirector of the Boston Symphony] that he com-mission an orchestral work in memory of hiswife, Natalie. Koussevitzky agreed and, onespring day, while Bartók was in a New Yorkhospital undergoing tests, he appeared unex-pectedly and startled the composer by offeringhim a commission for $1,000 on behalf of theKoussevitzky Foundation. Bartók, as fastidiousas ever, would initially only accept half of thatamount because he feared that his precarioushealth might prevent him from fulfilling Kous -sevitzky’s request.” e commission and anASCAP-sponsored stay at a sanatorium in Sara -nac Lake in upstate New York fortified Bartók’sstrength enough so that he could work on thisnew orchestral piece “practically night and day,”as he wrote to Szigeti. upon its premiere, theConcerto for Orchestra was an instant success.It was accepted immediately into the standardrepertory and led to a surge of interest in Bar -tók’s other music. He died less than a year aer

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this work, the last he completed for orchestra,was first heard, not realizing that he would soonbe acclaimed as one of the greatest composersof the 20th century.

“e title of this symphony-like work is ex-plained by its tendency to treat single instru-ments or instrument groups in a ‘concertant’ orsoloistic manner,” wrote the composer to clarifythe appellation of the score. Concerning theoverall structure of the concerto’s five move-ments, he noted, “e general mood of thework represents, apart from the jesting secondmovement, a gradual transition from the stern-ness of the first movement and the lugubriousdeath-song of the third, to the life-assertion of the last one.” e first and last movements,Bartók continued, “are in more or less regular

sonata form,” while “the second consists of achain of independent short sections by wind instruments introduced in five pairs (bassoons,oboes, clarinets, flutes, and muted trumpets). Akind of ‘trio’—a short chorale for brass instru-ments and snare drum—follows, aer whichthe five sections are recapitulated in a moreelaborate instrumentation…. e form of the fourth movement—an “interrupted inter-mezzo”—could be rendered by the symbols ‘A B A—interruption—B A.’” e interruptionto which Bartók referred is a parody of theGerman march theme from the first movementof Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7, Leningrad,which was in turn a mocking phrase based ona song from Lehár’s e Merry Widow.

© 2019 Dr. Richard E. Rodda

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Founded in 1945, the Philharmonia Orchestrais a world-class symphony orchestra for the 21stcentury. e orchestra’s home is SouthbankCentre’s Royal Festival Hall, in the heart ofLondon, where the Philharmonia has been resident since 1995 and presents a season ofaround 50 performances each year. under Prin -cipal Conductor & Artistic Advisor Esa-PekkaSalonen, the Philharmonia has created a seriesof critically acclaimed, visionary projects, distinctive for both their artistic scope and supporting live and digital content. Recent series include Stravinsky: Myths & Rituals(2016), which won a South Bank Sky ArtsAward. In 2019 Salonen presents his newest series with the orchestra, Weimar Berlin: Bitter -sweet Metropolis.

e Philharmonia is a resident orchestra at Bedford Corn Exchange, De Montfort Hall in Leicester, e Marlowe in Canterbury, eAnvil in Basingstoke, the ree Choirs Festivalin the West of England, and Garsington Opera.At the heart of these residencies is an educationprogram that empowers people in every com-munity to engage with, and participate in, or-chestral music.

Internationally, the Philharmonia is activeacross Europe, Asia, and the united States. In

2018–19, the orchestra performs extensively in Europe and undertakes three major interna-tional tours, to China and South Korea (Octo -ber 2018); to Cartagena in Colombia, in a jointdigital installation-live concert tour (January2019); and to the uSA (March 2019).

e Philharmonia’s international reputationin part derives from its extraordinary recordinglegacy, which in the last 10 years has been builton by its pioneering work with digital technol-ogy, most recently blazing a trail for classicalmusic in virtual reality. VR experiences featur-ing music by Sibelius, Mahler, and Beetho ven,placing the viewer at the heart of the orchestra,have been presented at Southbank Centre andinternationally.

e Philharmonia records and releases musicacross multiple channels and media. An app foriPad, e Orchestra, has sold tens of thousandsof copies; Hollywood composers choose torecord their scores for films, video games, andtelevision series with the orchestra; the Phil -harmonia is Classic FM’s “Orchestra on Tour”and broadcasts extensively on BBC Radio 3; and with Signum Records, the Philharmoniareleases live recordings of signature concerts.

Finnish conductor and composer Esa-PekkaSalonen has been Principal Conductor & Artis -

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

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Photo: Felix Broede

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tic Advisor of the orchestra since 2008. JakubHrůša and Santtu-Matias Rouvali are PrincipalGuest Conductors. Christoph von Dohnányi is Honorary Conductor for Life and VladimirAshkenazy is Conductor Laureate. Composerunsuk Chin is Artistic Director of the Music ofToday series.

e Philharmonia’s Principal InternationalPartner is Wuliangye.

For more information, please visit the orches-tra’s website at philharmonia.co.uk. A list of theorchestra’s staff will be found on p. 26b.

Esa-Pekka Salonen’s rest-less innovation drives himconstantly to repositionclassical music in the 21stcentury. He is known asboth a composer and con ductor and is currentlyPrincipal Conductor &

Ar tis tic Advisor for the Philharmonia Orches -tra and Conductor Laureate for both theSwedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and theLos Angeles Philharmonic, where he was MusicDirector from 1992 until 2009. In 2020 he willbecome Music Director of the San Fran ciscoSymphony. He is the Artist in Asso cia tion at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, wherehe will conduct his first full Ring cycle in futureseasons. is season, Salonen joined the Col -burn School faculty, where he will develop anddirect the pre-professional Negaunee Conduct -ing Program. He also co-founded the annualBaltic Sea Festival, serving as Artistic Directorfrom 2003 to 2018.

is season, 13 of Salonen’s works are pro-grammed around the world, from playful earlypieces to his melodically and rhythmically com-plex new works. Among them are Homunculus,for string quartet; Helix, at the MinnesotaOrchestra and Oslo Philharmonic; and LAVariations at the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He also conducts his own Pollux at the HelsinkiFestival and Maggio Fiorentino, and his CelloConcerto on tour with the Philharmonia and atthe Baltic Sea Festival, with Truls Mørk as

soloist. Last year the New York Philharmonicand the Barbican Centre shaped their pro-gramming around Salonen’s music as part of his composer residency in New York and a season-long Salonen focus in London.

e current season sees Salonen conductingthe Philharmonia Orchestra on tour acrossEurope, the united States, and Asia. Salonenwill also direct a new Ivo Van Hove productionof Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonnyat the Aix-en-Provence Festival in summer2019. Recent years have seen Salonen experi-ment with groundbreaking ways to presentmusic, with the first major virtual reality pro-duction from a uK symphony orchestra; theaward-winning RE-RITE and Universe of Soundinstallations; and the much-hailed iPad app, eOrchestra.

As Music Director of the Los Angeles Phil -har monic for 17 years, Salonen is widely cred-ited with revitalizing the organization. He wasinstrumental in helping the orchestra open WaltDisney Concert Hall; presided over countlesspremieres of contemporary work; began theEsa-Pekka Salonen Commissions Fund; andmade the orchestra one of the best-attendedand funded in the country. In spring 2019 hebrings a series that he created at the Philhar -monia to the LA Phil, presenting programs ofStravinsky’s “Myths,” “Rituals,” and “Faith.”

Salonen has an extensive and varied record-ing career. An album of Henri Dutilleux’sCorrespondances, recorded with the OrchestrePhilharmonique de Radio France in the pres-ence of the composer, was released in 2013 by Deutsche Grammophon on the composer’s97th birthday. Also that year, Sony completed aproject that began with Salonen and the LA Philnearly 30 years before: a two-disc set of the or-chestral works of Witold Lutosławski, releasedin what would have been the composer’s 100thyear. An album of five of his orchestral works isavailable on Sony. Salonen’s most recent record-ings include a disc of Stravinsky’s Persephone,released by Pentatone Music, and a 61-disc boxset of all Salonen’s recordings for Sony. isyear sees the much-anticipated release of Salo -nen’s Cello Concerto for Yo-Yo Ma.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

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Katja Tähjä

Truls Mørk, celloTruls Mørk’s compellingperformances, combiningfierce intensity, integrity,and grace, have estab-lished him as one of thepre-eminent cellists ofour time.

He is a celebrated artist who performs withthe most distinguished orchestras, including theNew York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia andCleveland orchestras, the Boston SymphonyOrchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.In Europe he has appeared with Orchestre deParis, the Berliner Philharmoniker, the RoyalConcertgebouw Orchestra, the Münchner Phil -harmoniker, Philharmonia, and the Gewand -hausorchester Leipzig. Conductor colla bor a tionsinclude Mariss Jansons, David Zinman, Man -fred Honeck, Esa-Pekka Salonen, GustavoDudamel, Sir Simon Rattle, Kent Nagano,Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Christoph Eschen -bach, among others.

Following his appearance at the 2018 BalticSea Festival, performing Esa-Pekka Salonen’sCello Concerto (conducted by the composer),Mørk performs the work again with Salonenand the Phil harmonia in London, and on thiscurrent tour of the united States, with stops atLincoln Center in New York City and the HillAuditorium in Ann Arbor (MI). He continuesto give regular recitals at major venues and

festivals throughout the world. Mørk has re-cently developed a collaboration with BehzodAbdurai mov, which will see them perform ontour in the uS and Europe.

A champion of contemporary music, Mørkhas given in excess of 30 premieres. ese in-clude Rautavaara ’s Towards the Hori zon withthe BBC Symphony Orchestra/ John Storgårds,Pavel Haas’ Cello Concerto with the ViennaPhilharmonic/ Jonathan Nott, Krzysz tof Pen -derecki’s Concerto for ree Cellos with theNHK Symphony Orchestra/ Charles Dutoit,and Hafliði Hallgrímsson’s Cello Con certo,co-commissioned by the Oslo Phil har monic,Ice land Symphony, and Scot tish Cham berOrchestra.

With an impressive recording output, Mørkhas recorded a number of the great cello con-certos for labels such as Virgin Clas sics, EMI,Deutsche Grammophon, Ondine, Arte Nova,and Chandos, many of which have won inter-national honors including the Gramo phone,Grammy, Midem, and ECHO Klassik awards.

Truls Mørk is managed by Harrison/ParrottLtd.

Philharmonia Orchestra US Tour ManagementOpus 3 Artists 470 Park Avenue South, 9th Floor NorthNew York, NY 10016 www.opus3artists.com

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

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Johs Boe

1st ViolinZsolt-Tihamér VisontaySarah OatesFabrizio FalascaEugene LeeSoong ChooMinhee LeeEleanor WilkinsonVictoria IrishAdrián VarelaKarin TilchLulu FullerErzsebet RaczCharlotte ReidCassandra HamiltonAlessandro CannizzaroCaroline Frenkel

2nd ViolinTamás SándorEmily DavisFiona CornallSamantha ReaganGideon RobinsonNuno CarapinaSophie CameronJulian MiloneJan RegulskiSusan HedgerHelen CochraneMarina GillamTeresa PopleEmma Oldfield

ViolaYukiko OguraNicholas BootimanSylvain SéaillesCheremie Hamilton-MillerCarol HultmarkMichael TurnerGijs KramersLinda KidwellStephanie EdmundsonEllen BlytheRebecca CarringtonLucia Ortiz Sauco

CelloTimothy WaldenKaren StephensonRichard BirchallEric VillemineyAnne BakerElla RundleAlexander RoltonYaroslava TrofymchukMiwa RossoTessa Seymour

BassTim Gibbs ††Christian GeldsetzerMichael FullerGareth SheppardSimon OliverJosie EllisPhilip NelsonMark O’ Leary

FluteSamuel Coles †June Scott Kristin Hammerseth

Alto FluteJune Scott

PiccoloKeith Bragg †Kristin Hammerseth

OboeTom Blomfield †Timothy Rundle ††Katherine Bryer

Cor AnglaisJill Crowther †

ClarinetMark van de Wiel †Jennifer McLarenJordan Black

E-Flat ClarinetJennifer McLaren

Bass ClarinetLaurent Ben Slimane †

Contra Bass Clarinet Laurent Ben Slimane †

BassoonRobin O’Neill †Shelly OrganFraser Gordon

Contra BassoonLuke WhiteheadFraser Gordon

HornNigel Black *Diego Incertis SanchezKira DohertyAlex WideCarsten WilliamsJonathan Maloney

TrumpetJason Evans *Mark Calder *Alistair Mackie *

Off-Stage TrumpetsRobert Farley †

TromboneByron Fulcher *Philip White

Bass Trombone James Buckle

TubaPeter Smith

Wagner TubaDiego Incertis SanchezRichard BerryJonathan MaloneyCarsten Williams

TimpaniAntoine SiguréElsa Bradley

PercussionEmmanuel CurtPaul StonemanPeter FryKevin HathwayElsa Bradley

HarpHeidi KrutzenStephanie Beck

PianoAlison Procter

CelesteJanet SimpsonAlison Procter

†† Professor at the Guildhall School of Musicand Drama

† Professor at the Royal Academy of Music

* Professor at the Royal College of Music

For Opus 3 ArtistsDavid V. Foster, president

and CEO Leonard Stein, senior

vice president, director,touring division

William Bowler, manager,artists & attractions

Tania Leong, associate, touring division

Irene Lönnblad, tour manager

omas F. Eirman, stage manager

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Philharmonia OrchestrauS Tour RosterEsa-Pekka Salonen, principal conductor and artistic advisor

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Saturday, March 16, 2019, 8pmZellerbach Hall


Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor

Arnold SCHOENBERG (1874–1951) Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), Op. 4

INTERMISSION

Anton BRuCKNER (1824–1896) Symphony No. 7 in E MajorAllegro moderatoAdagio: Sehr feierlich und sehr langsamScherzo: Sehr schnellFinale: Bewegt, doch nicht schnell


philharmonia.co.uk


and generous donors to the Matías Tarnopolsky Fund for Cal Performances.Additional support for tonight’s performance provided by

Annette Campbell-White and Ruediger Naumann-Etienne.Cal Performances’ 2018–19 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

Arnold SchoenbergVerklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), Op. 4At the age of 16, in 1890, Arnold Schoenbergdecided to become a professional musician,having already dabbled in composition, taughthimself to play the violin and cello, and parti -ci pated in some chamber music concerts withfriends. His father’s death just at that time threwhim into rather serious financial distress, how-ever, and he had to scratch out a livelihood aerleaving school in 1891 by working in a bankand conducting local choruses and theater or-chestras for a few schillings per performance.In 1893 he met Alexander Zemlinsky, who had already established a Viennese reputationas a composer, conductor, and teacher though he was only two years Schoenberg’s senior.Schoen berg showed his new friend some of hismanuscripts and Zemlinsky was so impressedwith his talent that he offered to take him on asa counterpoint student (this instruction turnedout to be Schoenberg’s only formal study), andsecured him a position in the cello section ofthe Polyhymnia Orchestra to help earn a littlemoney. Zemlinsky assumed the role of guardianto Schoenberg, introducing the young musicianto his circle of professional colleagues and con-stantly offering advice and encouragement. In1901 Schoenberg married Zemlinsky’s sister,Mathilde.

During the summer of 1899, Schoenberg andZemlinsky were on holiday in the mountain vil-lage of Payerbach, south of Vienna, and it wasthere that Schoenberg began a work for stringsextet based on a poem by Richard Dehmel:“Verklärte Nacht” (“Transfigured Night”), whichhad appeared three years earlier in a collectioncalled Weib und die Welt (Woman and theWorld). Dehmel was one of the most distin-guished German poets of the day, whose versesbridged the sensuous Impressionism of the pre-ceding generation and the intense spirituality ofencroaching Expres sionism. “Verklärte Nacht”matches well the Viennese fin-de-siècle tem-perament, when Sigmund Freud was intellec-tualizing sex with his systematic explorationsinto the subconscious and Gustav Klimt waspainting full-length portraits of his female sub-jects as he imagined they would look totally

nude before applying layers of elaborate, gold-sparkled costumes to finish the canvas. e fol-lowing excerpt from Dehmel’s poem appears inSchoen berg’s printed score:

“Two people walk through the bare, coldwoods; the moon runs along, they gaze at it.e moon runs over tall oaks, no cloudlet dullsthe heavenly light into which the black peaksreach. A woman’s voice speaks:

“‘I bear a child, but not by you. I walk in sinalongside you. I sinned against myself mightily.I believed no longer in good fortune but stillhad mighty longing for a full life, mother’s joyand duty; then I grew shameless, then horror-stricken, I let my sex be taken by a stranger andeven blessed myself for it. Now life has taken itsrevenge: Now I have met you, you.’

“She walks with clumsy gait. She gazes up-ward; the moon runs along. Her somber glancedrowns in the light. A man’s voice speaks:

“‘e child that you conceived be to yoursoul no burden. Oh look, how clear the universeglitters! ere is a glory around All, you driwith me on a cold sea, but a peculiar warmthsparkles from you in me, from me in you. It willtransfigure the strange child you will bear forme, from me; you brought the glory into me,you made myself into a child.’

“He holds her around her strong hips. eirbreath kisses in the air. Two people walkthrough the high, light night.”

Schoenberg glossed this richly emotionalpoem with music influenced by Wagner’s lushTristan chromaticism, Brahms’ intellectual rigor,and the intense expression of Romanticism tocreate a vast one-movement piece for pairs ofviolins, violas, and cellos that is virtually a programmatic tone poem, one of the few suchspecimens in the chamber music literature.When the work was completed in December,Zemlinsky urged the Tonkünstler Society ofVienna to produce the first performance, “but,”he recorded in his memoirs, “I had no luck. epiece was given ‘a trial’ and the result was ab-solutely negative. One member of the jury gavehis judgment in these words: ‘Why, that soundsas if someone had smudged up the score ofTristan while the ink was still wet!’” e officialreason the committee gave for rejecting the

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score was a single harmony in the closing measures that it could not find in any textbook.However, the Berlin publisher Dreilinienthought highly enough of Verklärte Nacht toprint it immediately in 1899, thus making it theearliest of Schoenberg’s published works. ework was finally presented on March 15, 1902when the augmented Arnold Rosé Quartet pre-miered it under the auspices of the TonkünstlerSociety (!). Schoenberg had already acquired areputation as an unrepentant modernist, andthe audience insisted on being put off by themusic’s ripe harmony and the lubricity of itssubject. e Hungarian violinist Francis Aranyireported that the premiere was greeted “withmuch blowing of whistles, heaving of rotteneggs, etc.,” but that Rosé valiantly took his bowsat the end “just as all hell broke loose.” Over a number of years, however, Verklärte Nachtcame to be viewed not as an avant-garde aber-ration but as one of the foremost creations ofthe Post-Romantic era. When Dehmel firstheard the work, in 1912 in Hamburg, he wroteSchoenberg a letter full of congratulations thatended with the lines:

O glorious sound! my words now ring,in tones to God re-echoing;To you this highest joy I owe;On earth no higher may we know.

Near the end of his life, when Schoenbergwas venerated (and vilified) as the patriarch ofserialism and modernity, he looked back in the famous essay “On revient toujours” (“OneAlways Returns”) with an almost touching nostalgia to the music of his youth. “It was notgiven to me to continue writing in the style ofVerklärte Nacht,” he explained. “Fate led mealong a harder path. But the wish to return tothe earlier style remained constantly with me.”en, aer admitting the undeniable influencesof Wagner and Brahms on the piece, he contin-ued, “Nevertheless, I do believe that a little bit ofSchoenberg may also be found in it, particularlyin the breadth of the melodies, in contrapuntaland motivic developments, and in the quasi-contrapuntal movement of harmonies and har-monic basses against the melody. Finally, there

are even passages of indeterminate harmony,which doubtless may be seen as portents for the future.” He does not mention the masteryof mood and programmatic association hebrought to this music, composed when he wasonly 25 years old.

Wrote Charles O’Connell of Verklärte Nacht,“Schoenberg’s musical version of the touchingpoem is singularly eloquent. e variety of ex-pression, the really tremendous climaxes, thewarmth and vigor and tenderness, the wonderof the transfiguration of love and forgivenesscombine to provide an unforgettable musicalexperience. With rigid economy of means, heinterprets musically the pain of guilt, the agonyof confession, and the terror of punishment; theageless mystery of gestation, the magnificenceof self-denial, and the serene loveliness of un-derstanding and compassion.”

Anton BrucknerSymphony No. 7 in E MajorAnton Bruckner was an unlikely figure to be atthe center of 19th-century music’s fiercest feud.He was a country bumpkin—with his shabbypeasant clothes, his rural dialect, his painfulshyness with women, his naive view of life—in one of the world’s most sophisticated cities,Vienna. Bruckner had the glory—and thecurse—to have included himself among the ardent disciples of Richard Wagner, and his fatewas indissolubly bound up with that of his idolfrom the time he dedicated his ird Symphonyto him in 1877. While “Bayreuth Fever” was in-fecting most of Western civilization during thelast quarter of the 19th century, there was astrong anti-Wagner clique in Vienna headed by the critic Eduard Hanslick, a virulent spokes -man against emotional and programmatic display in music who championed the cause ofBrahms and never missed a chance to fire ablazing barb at the Wagner camp. Bruckner,teaching and composing in Vienna within easyrange of Hanslick’s vitriolic pen, was one of hisfavorite targets. He called Bruckner’s music“unnatural,” “sickly,” “inflated,” and “decayed,”and intrigued to stop the performance of hisworks whenever possible. Bruckner felt thatmuch of the rejection his symphonies suffered

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could be attributed to Hanslick’s slashing re-views. When honor and renown finally came to the composer late in his life, the AustrianEmperor, Franz Joseph, asked the old man whathe would like more than anything else. Bruck -ner requested that the Emperor make Hanslickstop saying nasty things about his music. It islittle wonder that Bruckner sent an unusual re-quest to the Vienna Philharmonic Society aerthey had scheduled his Seventh Symphony forits Viennese premiere in the wake of the work’ssuccess in Germany. He thanked the Society forits kind consideration, but asked them to with-draw the performance “…[because] of the in-fluential critics who would be likely to damagemy dawning success in Germany.” It was theadoration of Wagner and his music that bothfueled his creativity and caused him to suffer atthe hands of the most powerful critic of his day.

Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony is intimatelylinked with his devotion to Wagner. Like all of his instrumental works, it aims at adaptingWagner’s theories and harmonic and instru-mental techniques to absolute music, and se-curing a place for them in the symphony. Inaddition to this pervasive, general influence, theSeventh Symphony bears an even more directconnection with the Master of Bayreuth. Abouta year aer Bruckner had begun work on thescore in September 1881, reports of Wagner’sdeteriorating health began to filter back toVienna from Venice, where Wagner had goneto escape the harsh German climate. Brucknerlater wrote to his friend and devoted pupil FelixMottl concerning the fall of 1882, “At one time,I came home and was very sad. I thought to myself, it is impossible that the Master can livelong. It was then that the music for the Adagioof my Symphony came into my head.” To makethe tribute unmistakable, Bruckner made thedominant orchestral sonority in the movementa quartet of “Wagner tubas” (brass instrumentsof rich, burnished tone color that are a cross between the horn and the euphonium), whichwere designed especially by Wagner for use inhis operas. Most of the slow movement was already sketched when the news of Wagner’sdeath on February 13, 1883 reached Bruckner,and he added the concluding section specifi-

cally as a memorial to his idol. Later, he referredto this magnificent Adagio as “Funeral Music—a Dirge to Wagner’s Memory.” It was fitting thatthis music should also have been played a dozenyears later at Bruckner’s own funeral in Viennaand his burial in St. Florian.

Aer the death of Wagner, Bruckner wentahead with the Seventh Symphony, and completed the score in September 1883. Hededicated the work to “Mad” King Ludwig ofBa varia, Wagner’s most important patron.Arthur Nikisch, then only 29 and already mov-ing into a dominant position as one of the era’sgreat conductors, planned the premiere forLeipzig in June 1884, but the performance hadto be put off twice. Not only did Nikisch have to overcome the resistance of the anti-Wagner/Bruckner faction, but he also had to deal withthe conservative Gewandhaus administration,which refused to have anything to do with theaffair, and insisted that it be moved to theMunicipal eater. ey missed staging a hit,the first unspoiled acclaim Bruckner had everknown. A good deal of the symphony’s successmust be credited to Nikisch, not just because hegave a splendid reading of the new work, butalso because he invited the local critics to hishome a few days before the premiere so hecould familiarize them with the music at thepiano. Bruckner was moved and overjoyed byhis reception in Leipzig, as one unnamed criticreported: “One could see from the trembling ofhis lips, and the sparkling moisture in his eyes,how difficult it was for the old gentleman to suppress his deep emotion. His homely buthonest countenance beamed with a warm innerhappiness such as can appear only on the face ofone who is too good-hearted to succumb to bit-terness even under the pressure of the most disheartening circumstances. Having heard thiswork and now seeing him in person, we askedourselves in amazement, ‘How is it possible thathe could remain so long unknown to us?’”

e Seventh Symphony made a triumphantprocession through the major German cities.e Munich premiere in early 1885 was so rap-turously received that its conductor, HermannLevi, called the composition “the most signifi-cant symphonic work since [the death of Bee -

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thoven in] 1827.” ough the symphony re-ceived the expected critical battering when itreached Vien na, the public was finally willing togrant the patient Bruckner his due, and he wasrecalled to the stage three or four times aer eachmovement by the applause. Among the audienceat the Viennese premiere was Johann Strauss theYounger, King of the Waltz, who desperatelywanted to write a successful grand opera and berecognized as a “serious composer.” Strauss senta telegram to Bruckner with a terse, but mean-ingful message: “Am much moved—it was thegreatest impression of my life.”

e opening movement is on the grand, ar-chitectural scale that characterizes the greatestworks of Bruckner. Its three themes occupybroad paragraphs that give the music a tran-scendent spaciousness unmatched by the cre-ations of any other composer. e first theme ispresented immediately by the cellos and solohorn above a tremulous accompaniment in theviolins. Bruckner liked to tell the story that thismelody came to him in a dream, which he con-sidered a good omen. Kapellmeister Dorm, anold friend from Linz, he would say, appeared to him while he slept, whistled this tune, andprophesied, “With this theme, you will makeyour fortune.” Bruckner immediately hoppedout of bed, lit a candle, and wrote down the pre-cious melody. e nocturnal inspiration provedeffective because Dorm’s words came true asthis work carried Bruckner’s name across themusical world. e long opening theme is suc-ceeded by a second, more lyrical motive with a turn figure (a favorite melodic device of Wag -ner) played by oboe and clarinet over a re-peated-note background in the horns andtrumpets. Aer one of Bruckner’s characteristic,ringing brass climaxes, the movement’s thirdtheme appears, a quiet but somewhat heavypeasant dance presented in near-unison bywoodwinds and strings. e development sec-tion begins with an inversion of the openingtheme played by clarinet, aer which the vari-ous melodies of the exposition are again as-sayed. e recapitulation commences quietlyand without preparation, and includes the ear-lier themes in heightened settings. e coda isbased on the first motive and rises to a won-

drous, stentorian close that seems to rattle thevery gates of Heaven.

e Adagio, Bruckner’s moving memorialtribute to Wagner, consists of two large stanzasof music that alternate to form a five-part musi-cal structure: A–B–A–B–A. e “A” section isdominated by a solemn chorale for the quartetof Wagner tubas that passes into the full or chestra aer the opening phrases. e contrastingmusic is brighter in mood, with a hint of the lilting Austrian country dance, the Ländler. etension is controlled through the movementwith consummate mastery by pacing each re-turn of the chorale theme so that it is richer intexture and more magnificent in sonority thanthe preceding presentation.

e third movement is one of Bruckner’sgreat, whirling scherzos. A powerful, ostinato-like rhythm in the strings supports the open-interval theme presented by the trumpet andthe legato answering phrase sounded by theclarinet. ese three motives are combined anddeveloped with an irresistible urgency as theScherzo unfolds. e trio, slower in tempo andsweeter in mood, derives from a lyrical melodyentrusted to the string choir.

e finale is based on two thematic elements:a heavily dotted motive played in the first meas-ure by violins and a hymnal theme for stringsover a wide-ranging pizzicato bass line. emovement follows a broad sonata outline, withsome glorious orchestral climaxes based on thedotted-rhythm melody. To round out the work’sstructure, the opening theme of the first move-ment is superimposed on the closing pages ofthe finale to create one of music’s most over-whelming bursts of orchestral sound.

—©2019 Dr. Richard E. Rodda

For the history of the Philharmonia Orchestra,and background on Esa-Pekka Salonen, pleasesee pp. 18b–19b.

Philharmonia Orchestra US Tour ManagementOpus 3 Artists 470 Park Avenue South, 9th Floor NorthNew York, NY 10016 www.opus3artists.com

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Esa-Pekka Salonen

Sunday, March 17, 2019, 3pmZellerbach Hall


Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductorAna María Martínez, soprano

uC Berkeley Chamber Chorus; Dr. Wei Cheng, music directorVolti; Robert Geary, artistic director

Jimmy LóPEZ (b. 1978) Dreamers, Oratorio for Soprano, Mixed Chorus, and Orchestra (World Premiere)

Libretto by Nilo CruzAna María Martínez, sopranouC Berkeley Chamber ChorusVolti

INTERMISSION

Igor STRAVINSKY (1882–1971) e Firebird (Zhar’-ptitsa; L’oiseau de feu) IntroductionKastchei’s Enchanted Gardene Firebird Enters, Pursued by Ivan Tsareviche Firebird’s DanceIvan Tsarevich Captures the Firebirde Firebird Begs to be ReleasedEntrance of the irteen Enchanted Princessese Princesses Play with the Golden Apples (Scherzo)Ivan Tsarevich Appearse Princesses’ Khorovod (Round Dance)DaybreakIvan Tsarevich Enters Kastchei’s PalaceEntrance of Kastchei the ImmortalDialogue between Kastchei and Ivan Tsareviche Princesses Plead for Mercye Firebird EntersDance of Kastchei’s Retinue

under the Firebird’s Magic SpellInfernal Dance of Kastchei and His Subjectse Firebird’s LullabyKastchei AwakensKastchei’s DeathKastchei’s Spell Is Broken


philharmonia.co.uk

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Jimmy López

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Dreamers: Oratorio for Soprano, Mixed Chorus, and Orchestraurgent, relevant, necessary; those are some ofthe words that were constantly in my mind as I was writing Dreamers. When Nilo Cruz and I first approached the subject, the sociopoliticalclimate in the uS and the world at large wasmuch different and the prospect was brighter,but later on, as things took an unexpected turn,we were faced with the decision to either with-draw from tackling this issue or confronting itfrom a newly gained perspective. Obviously, wechose the latter, and this choice led us to an in-credibly intense emotional journey.

Inspired by the Hewlett Foundation guide-lines, Nilo and I, together with Cal Perfor -mances, sought to create a work that could be both relevant to our times and to the city ofBerkeley, where I reside. As part of my research,I found out that on November 8th, 1971, Berke -ley passed the first resolution in the nation protecting sailors resisting the Vietnam War,therefore allowing local authorities to refuse tocooperate with federal authorities in instanceswhere the law went against their conscience.Berkeley was therefore the original SanctuaryCity. is concept has since been expanded to include legal protections to refugees and immigrants.

anks to the university of California atBerkeley, from which I obtained my PhD in2012, we were able to interview many so-called“dreamers,” immigrants who were brought tothe uS as children and whose legal status hasremained in limbo due to the fact that their par-ents arrived in the country illegally. roughtheir testimonies we were able to hear about thetravails of crossing the border, the difficulties of

assimilating into a completely different culture,and the uncertainty that the future now holdsfor them and their families. eir experiencesare vastly different and I couldn’t help but thinkthat the umbrella term “dreamers” by which wenow refer to them is as artificial as the word “il-legal.” First, they prefer to be called undocu-mented, and second, these labels are an attemptto set them apart from us as “the others” whenin reality they are not different from you or me.Aer gathering these testimonies, Nilo set towork on creating a unifying narrative that couldencompass these vastly contrasting experiences.rough Nilo’s deeply imaginative and poeticlanguage we are able to expand our under-standing of the issue as he presents it to us firstfrom a grand, timeless, and universal perspec-tive. He then gradually narrows his focus tospecific stories, bringing us down to earth, fig-uratively speaking, and finally taking us awayand letting us rise above, so we can once againsee the whole picture.

ese past few months have been among themost rewarding and most intense creativelyspeaking, not only because of the limited timeI had to write this piece, but also because I hadto deal with the enormous responsibility oftackling an issue that was making (and contin-ues to make) headlines all the time. e orato-rio is divided into six separate movements, eachdifferent from the others in terms of texture andorchestration, shiing the spotlight from so-prano to chorus to orchestra as three equal narrators in the story. Just as Nilo shis betweenfirst, second, and third person seamlessly, I haveused an array of text-setting techniques thatvary from word painting, to motif quoting, toassociating words or phrases with specific in-


and generous donors to the Matías Tarnopolsky Fund for Cal Performances.Dreamers was co-commissioned by Cal Performances and Washington Performing Arts,

with additional commissioning support from Stanford Live and University Musical Society.Dreamers was created with funding from a Hewlett Foundation 50 Arts Commission,

the Koret Foundation, and Patron Sponsors Liz and Greg Lutz, and by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Cal Performances’ 2018–19 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

struments and/or combinations of instruments.ultimately, my goal was to create music thatcould give the text an effective emotional frame,enfolding listeners and allowing them to em-pathize with the stories being told. But at thesame time, and as is always my aim, I wanted tocreate music that could generate excitement onits own, even if the text were not to be uttered atall. In other words, instead of complementingeach other, I want the words and the music tobuild on each other, crescendoing to a pointwhere emotions can finally overflow; catharsis.

My sincere gratitude goes to everyone in-volved in this project, starting with the com-missioners: Cal Performances, the William andFlora Hewlett Foundation, Washington Per -forming Arts, university Musical Society, andStanford Live. I would also like to personallythank Matías Tarnopolsky and Rob Bailis for entrusting me with this commission, andSabrina Klein for facilitating my encounterswith “dreamers” throughout the research phase; my dear friends Robin Estrada and MatthewSzemela for their invaluable help whenever Ihad questions related to vocal and string writ-ing, respectively; and of course, my sincerethanks go to all the “dreamers” who valiantlyand generously came forth and shared their stories with us. Without them this work wouldsimply not be possible. My deep gratitude alsogoes to my husband and immediate chosenfamily for their unwavering support and patience through what turned out to be some of the busiest months I have had in over adecade. I look forward to working with the musicians of London’s Philharmonia Orchestraand their brilliant conductor, Esa-Pekka Salo -nen, and with superstar soprano Ana MaríaMartínez.

is work is dedicated to all dreamersaround the world who le their homes insearch of a better life in the hopes that theirnewly adopted homeland would grant them thebasic rights and privileges that every human onEarth should have access to.

—Jimmy López © 2018

Igor Stravinskye Firebird (Zhar’-ptitsa; L’oiseau de feu)Fireworks. ere could not have been a moreappropriate title for the work that launched the meteoric career of Igor Stravinsky. He wrotethat glittering orchestral miniature in 1908,while still under the tutelage of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and it shows all the dazzling instru-mental technique the student acquired from histeacher. ough the reception of Fireworks wascool when it was first performed at the SilotiConcerts in Saint Petersburg on February 6,1909, there was one member of the audiencewho listened with heightened interest. SergeDiaghilev was forming his Ballet Russe com-pany at just that time, and he recognized inStravinsky a talent to be watched. Diaghilev approached the 27-year-old Stravinsky, and re-quested orchestral transcriptions of short piecesby Chopin and Grieg that would be used in thefirst Paris season of the Ballet Russe. Stravinskydid his work well and on time.

During that same winter, plans were begin-ning to stir in the creative wing of the BalletRusse for a Russian folk ballet—somethingfilled with legend and magic and fantasy. ecomposer Nikolai Tcherepnin was associatedwith the Ballet Russe, and it was assumed thathe would compose the music for a plot derivedfrom several traditional Russian sources. How -ever, Tcherepnin was given to inexplicablechanges of mood and was losing interest in bal-let at the time, so he withdrew from the project.Diaghilev then wrote to his old harmony pro-fessor, Anatoly Liadov, and asked him to con-sider taking on the task, informing him that the date for the premiere of the new work wasfirmly set for less than a year away. Aer toomany weeks with no word from the dilatorycomposer, Diaghilev paid him a visit, and wasgreeted with Liadov’s report on his progress: “It won’t be long now,” Diaghilev was told. “It’s well on its way. I have just today bought themanuscript paper.” Realizing that e Firebirdwould never get off the ground at such a rate,Diaghilev inquired whether Stravinsky had anyinterest in taking over for Liadov. ough in-volved in another project (he had just com-pleted the first act of the opera e Nightingale),

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he was eager to work with the wonderful talentthat had assembled under Diaghilev’s banner,and agreed. Aer some delicate negotiationswith Liadov, Stravinsky was officially awardedthe commission in December, though his ea-gerness was so great that he had begun com-posing the music a month earlier.

It is well that Stravinsky had a head start, be-cause he had less than six months to completethe score. In his Chronicles, he wrote, “Althoughalarmed by the fact that this was a commissionwith a fixed date, and afraid that I should fail tocomplete the work in time—I was still unawareof my own capabilities—I accepted the order. Itwas highly flattering to me to be chosen fromamong musicians of my generation, and to beallowed to collaborate in so important an en-terprise side by side with personages who weregenerally recognized as masters in their ownspheres.” It soon became clear that Stravinskybelonged to that company of masters. Duringone rehearsal, Diaghilev whispered into the earof the prima ballerina, Tamara Karsavina, “Markhim well. He is a man on the eve of celebrity.”Diaghilev was as good a prophet as an impre-sario. e Firebird, which Stravinsky regardedas his first mature composition, was a stunningsuccess at its premiere. With this score, and theepochal Petrushka of the following year and eRite of Spring of 1913, Stravinsky went in justfive years from an obscure student composer inRussia to one of the most famous musicians in the world. With somewhat uncharacteristicunderstatement, he said, “e Firebird radicallyaltered my life.”

e work has remained the most popularStravinsky ever wrote. He conducted this scorein its various versions “nearly a thousand times,”realizing that it was “a mainstay in my life as aconductor.” It was the first work he ever led inpublic. e celebrity of e Firebird even spilledover into Tin Pan Alley. Back in 1946, duringthe days when concert music was being regu-larly mined in search of hit tunes, the theme ofthe “Princesses’ Dance” was turned into a slowfoxtrot, equipped with a sufficiently maudlinlyric, and launched into the world under thetitle “Summer Moon.” At least one person waspaying attention, because Stravinsky recalled,

in his Expositions and Developments, “I wasonce addressed by a man in an American rail-way dining car, and quite seriously, as ‘Mr.Fireberg.’”

e story of the ballet deals with the glitter-ing Firebird and the evil ogre Kastchei, whocaptures maidens and turns men to stone if theyenter his domain. Kastchei is immortal as longas his soul, which is preserved in the form of anegg in a casket, remains intact. e plot showshow Prince Ivan wanders into Kastchei’s gardenin pursuit of the Firebird; he captures it and ex-acts a feather before letting it go. Ivan meets agroup of Kastchei’s captive maidens and falls in love with one of them. e princesses returnto Kastchei’s palace. Ivan breaks open the gatesto follow them inside, but he is captured by theogre’s guardian monsters. He waves the magicfeather, and the Firebird reappears to help himsmash Kastchei’s vital egg; the ogre immediatelyexpires. All the captives are freed, and Ivan andhis Tsarevna are wed.

Stravinsky wrote of e Firebird, “[It] belongsto the styles of its time. It is more vigorous thanmost of the composed folk music of the period,but it is also not very original. ese are all good conditions for a success.” e composerhimself cited the influences of Tchaikovsky,Mendelssohn, and, especially, Rimsky-Korsakovon the music, and this work also continues theRussian tradition of glowing orchestral essaysthat traces its origin to Glinka. e instru-mental techniques Stravinsky employed in the score show the complete mastery of orchestralsonorities he learned from Rimsky-Korsakov,and that aspect of the ballet drew admirationeven from Richard Strauss. “I was more proudof some of the orchestration than of the musicitself,” Stravinsky explained. Further reinforc-ing the underlying Russian nature of e Fire -bird is Stravinsky’s use of two folk melodiesfrom Rimsky’s edition of 100 Russian FolkSongs. ese are heard as the themes for thePrincesses’ Dance and the Finale.

Despite its strong roots in the Romantic tra-dition, however, this score stands on the brinkof the new musical world of the 20th century.e composer noted the Finale contains his firstuse of the rhythmic irregularity that was to be-

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come such an important touchstone of his art.(“Rhythm and motion, not the element of feel-ing, are the foundations of musical art,” he laterdeclared.) To portray the fantastic world ofKastchei, Stravinsky devised music “of an ori-ental character” employing harmonic cross-relations and tritones that seeded many wonder -ful tonal adventures beginning with his verynext work, Petrushka. (It must, in fairness, bepointed out that some of the harmonic ideas forthis music can be traced to Rimsky-Korsakov’scolorful opera of 1907, e Golden Cockerel.)Even the use of orchestral tone color was for-ward-looking in the way it utilized, in RomanVlad’s description, “the unpolished effect of puretimbres. We get the feeling that the orchestra isbeing taken to pieces and analyzed.” As withBeethoven’s Second Symphony of a century ear-lier, there exists in e Firebird both the sum-mation of the old and the promise of the new.

e music from e Firebird is most familiarin the form of the suites Stravinsky drew in lateryears from the score. However, only a perform-ance of the original, complete score, such as that given at this concert, allows the uniquebrilliance of Stravinsky’s vision and its realiza-

tion to be fully appreciated, “for,” wrote PierreBoulez, “it [i.e., the complete score] strikes meas indissolubly linked to the musical thoughtthat gave it birth.” David Drew was more spe-cific in noting the qualities of the full-lengthballet: “e Firebird is a big work in every sense;the structure embraces many small componentparts, yet the articulation of the whole is somasterful that the total impression is quite freefrom any suggestion of fragmentariness. Itmight be objected that the inclusion of num-bers omitted from the suites does not add any-thing of great musical substance. is is true;but it is not the point. What matters is that thenecessary links are restored to the music and—still more important—the crucial events in themusic drama are established in their propertime-relationship. In a sense the omission of interludes from e Firebird is analogous to theomission of recitatives from a classical opera.One notes, incidentally, that although Stravin -sky never used again the same method of construction, he is careful to ensure in each ofhis subsequent ballets that there are points ofmusical rest.”

—©2019 Dr. Richard E. Rodda

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For the history of the Philharmonia Orchestra,and background on Esa-Pekka Salonen, pleasesee pp. 18b–19b.

Award-winning composer Jimmy LópezBellido is considered “one of the most inter-esting young composers anywhere today”(Chicago Sun-Times), and an “expert in orches-tration” (New York Times) with a distinct voicethat is “adventurous and winning” (DenverPost). His works have been performed by lead-ing orchestras around the world including theChicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra,Boston Symphony, Sydney Symphony Orches -tra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Helsinki Phil -harmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de RadioFrance, and the national symphony orches trasof Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and Spain,among others, and his music has been heard inprestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, the

Sydney Opera House, the Gewandhaus Leipzig,Kennedy Center, and during the Youth Olym -pic Games in Singapore. His music has beenfeatured in numerous festivals, includingTanglewood, Aspen, Grant Park, Darmstadt,and Donaueschingen.

As part of its Renée Fleming initiative, theLyric Opera of Chicago commissioned Lópezto write a full-length opera based on AnnPatchett’ bestselling novel Bel Canto, which premiered on December 7, 2015 to wide criticalacclaim. Bel Canto became the bestselling operaof the Lyric’s 2015–16 season, and went on toearn a nomination in the 2016 InternationalOpera Awards. It was recently broadcastthroughout the uS on PBS’ Great Performances.López’s work Fiesta! has been performed almost80 times worldwide, from Australia to Siberia,making it one of the most performed contem-porary orchestral works composed in the past

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

decade. López is Composer-in-Residence at theHouston Symphony until the 2019–20 season.

He has been awarded numerous prizes,among them the TuMI uSA Award 2016,Musician of the Year 2015 from Opera Peru andEl Comercio; Honorable Mention at the 2015Barlow Prize Competition; Special Mention at the 2015 Casa de las Américas CompositionPrize; 2014 Antara Prize in recognition for hisoutstanding career; 2013 Prince Prize fromthe Prince Charitable Trusts; First Prize at the2012 and 2011 Nicola de Lorenzo Music Com -position Contest; 2009 Georges Ladd Prix deParis; Kranichsteiner Musikpreis at the 2008Darmstadt International Summer Course forNew Music; 2008 Morton Gould Young Com -poser Award from ASCAP; Honorable Mentionat the 2005 Irino Composition Prize in Japan;First Prize at the ALEA III 2003 InternationalComposition Competition; and the OrchestraPrize at the 2002 CCA International Composi -tion Competition in Taiwan.

López is a member of Suomen Säveltäjät(Society of Finnish Composers), ASCAP(American Society of Composers, Authors, andPublishers), Circomper (Circle of Composersof Peru), and the San Francisco Chapter of theRecording Academy (Grammy Awards). Analbum dedicated to his orchestral works was re-

leased in August 2015 by the Harmonia Mun -di label. All works were recorded by conduc-tor Miguel Harth-Bedoya, the Norwegian RadioOrchestra, and cellist Jesús Castro-Balbi.

López studied with Enrique Iturriaga from1998–2000 at the National Conservatory ofMusic in Lima, and with Veli-Matti Puumalaand Eero Hämeenniemi from 2000–07 at theSibelius Academy in Helsinki, from where heobtained his master’s degree in music. He com-pleted his PhD in music at uC Berkeley in Mayof 2012 with Edmund Campion. López is pub-lished by Filarmonika Music Publishing.

Nilo Cruz is a Cuban-American playwrightwhose work has been produced widely aroundthe united States and Europe. His plays havebeen seen at McCarter eatre, New York’sShakes peare Festival’s Public eatre, Man hat -tan eatre Club, Arena Stage, Victory Gar -dens, Repertorio Español, South Coast Rep,Arena Stage, Mark Taper Forum, VictoryGardens, New York eatre Workshop, Magiceatre, Minneapolis Children’s eatre, Ore -gon Shakespeare Festival, Florida Stage, andmany others. Internationally, his plays havebeen produced in Canada, England, France,Australia, Germany, Belarus, Costa Rica,Colom bia, Panama, and in cities through-

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

24b

UC Berkeley Chamber ChorusDr. Wei Cheng, director

e uC Berkeley Chamber Chorus is the university’s premier concert choir. Known for offering its singers and audiences an engaging musical experience,

each year the chorus performs a cappella and choral-instrumental works in a variety of settings; it is particularly acclaimed for its readings of early and contemporary music.

SopranoElaine Arriola

Katherine Baranek Elizabeth Corson Christine Gold Jennifer Huang

Jennifer LiuArlyss Hays

Alison Mackey Indu Pereira

Emma Powell Kivia Sugiarto

AltoJayne Chang

Alexandra Dolgashev Emily Drummond

Victor Gold Carolyn Hawkshaw

Justin Hong Amy Liu

Brie Martin Mariah Ronningen

Paige Tagliafico Rosie Ward

TenorMicah Brush Isaac Chap

Clay Halbert Yi Lin

Sean McGovern Tyler Pereira

Kimball Strong Winston Yin

BassJacob Andreas William Bassett

Jakob Dahl Luke Dzwonczyk

Barry Fung Eric Gai

Jonathan Liu Zach Manlapid Ezra Setiasabda

Kevin Shen

out Spain. In 2003 he won the Pulitzer Prize andthe Steinberg Award for Drama and was nom-inated for a Tony Award for his play Anna in the Tropics. In 2009 he won the Helen Merrill and the Laura Pels Mid-career PlaywritingAwards as well as the Fontanals-Cisneros uSAFellowship in literature.

Cruz penned the libretto to com poserJimmy López’s opera Bel Canto, which received its world premiere at the Lyric Opera of Chi cago on December 7, 2015. He is also a fre quent collaborator with the Latin Grammy-winning Peruvian-American composer Gabri -ela Lena Frank. To date, they have completed aset of orchestral songs, La centinela y la paloma(e Keeper and the Dove), for soprano Dawnupshaw and the St. Paul Chamber Orches -tra (which premiered under the baton of JoanaCar neiro in February 2011); e Saint Makerfor soprano Jessica Rivera, mezzo-sopranoRachel Callo way, the San Francisco GirlsChorus, and the Berkeley Symphony (May2013); and Journey of the Shadow for narratorand ensemble (San Francisco Cham ber Or -chestra, April 2013).

Grammy Award-winning Puerto Rican so-prano Ana María Martínez is considered oneof the foremost sopranos of her time, with aninternational career that spans the world’s most

important opera houses and concert halls.Opera News’ recent cover story on Martínez declared that her “soprano harkens back to thegolden age. Her range is even, from a duskychest-voice through a claret-colored middleand up to radiant top, and is impressive in itsquiet moments as it is at full power.” In the2018–19 season, Martínez returns to the LosAngeles Opera as both Elisabetta in Don Carloand Solea in El Gato Montes opposite PlácidoDomingo. She joins the Vienna Staats oper forCio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly and returnsto the Houston Grand Opera in the title role inFlorencia en el Amazonas.

Career highlights include the title role inPuccini’s Madama Butterfly and Musetta in Labohème at the Metropolitan Opera; the titlerole in Rusalka with the Glyndebourne Festivaland Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires; Luisa Millerand the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro withBayer ische Staatsoper; Violetta in La Traviata,Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, and Cio-Cio Sanwith the Royal Opera House Covent Garden;Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with the SanFrancisco Opera; Nedda in I Pagliacci, Tatyanain Eugene Onegin, Marguerite in Faust, Fiordi -ligi in Cosí fan tutte, and Rusalka with LyricOpera of Chicago; Amelia in Simon Bocca -negra, opposite Domingo, Mimi, Vio letta,Nedda, and Carmen, all with the Los Angeles

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

PLAYBILL24c

VoltiRobert Geary, artistic director • Barbara Heroux, executive director

Volti is a professional vocal new-music ensemble usually comprising 16 to 24 voices,with additional singers added for Dreamers.

— www.VoltiSF.org —Soprano

Caitlin Tabancay AustinYuhi Aizawa Combatti

Alice Del SimoneAmy Foote

Nina Anne GreeleyCatherine Heagerty

Clarissa LyonsJessica MeyersAndrea Mich

Gitanjali MurthyKatrina Zosseder

AltoMegan D’Andrea

Sue FlemingMonica FrameKacey MartonJudith MurioVictoria PostRachel RushPatricia Sakai

Blythe TaiSusan ampi

Katrina TurmanCeleste Winant

TenorBen Barr

Edward BettsWill BettsRich Gross

Jeffrey HoweDavid Kurtenbach

Ben LaboyAllen PriceTim Silva

BassJeff BennettSidney ChenPeter DennisPaul Flynn

Philip SaundersJames Schenkel

Chung-Wai SoongMark SumnerNick Volkert

Eric Tuan, rehearsal pianist

Opera; and Cio-Cio San, Margerite, and Car men with the Houston Grand Opera. High - lights of orchestral appearances include per formances with the Berlin Philharmonic,New York Philharmonic, Boston SymphonyOrches tra, Filharmonica della Scala, PuertoRico Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, Tchai -kovsky Symphony in Moscow, the Or ques traSinfonica Brasiliera in Rio de Janeiro, and theBBC Symphony.

Ana María Martínez appears by arrangementwith IMG Artists.

e UC Berkeley Chamber Chorus, sponsoredby the Department of Music, is the university’spremier concert choir. Known for offering itssingers and audiences an engaging musical ex-perience, each year the chorus performs a cap-pella and choral-instrumental works in a varietyof settings; it is particularly acclaimed for itsreadings of early and contemporary music. eChamber Chorus’ approximately 35 singers arecompetitively selected from singer-musicians in the greater campus community. Some of thegroup’s most distinguished performances in-clude Handel’s L’Allegro with the Mark MorrisDance Group and Philharmonia Baroque Or -chestra; Morton Feldman’s Rothko Chapel withthe Abel–Steinberg–Winant Trio; James Mac -Millan’s Seven Last Words with the BerkeleySymphony under Joana Carneiro; works byHenry Purcell under the direction of MatthewOltman (emeritus director of Chanticleer); andBerg’s Wozzeck under Esa-Pekka Salonen inBerkeley and in Los Angeles at Disney Hall. InMarch 2014, the chorus was one of three pres-tigious uS choirs to sing a program of contem-porary a cappella music at Carnegie Hall. euCB Chamber Chorus has also appeared inconcert tours to the East Coast, Canada, andEurope. Its performances have been featured inbroadcasts of Voice of America, Public RadioInter na tional, and Austrian Radio. Critics fromthe New York Times, Washington Post, SanFrancisco Chronicle, and Opera News alike havepraised the chorus as “excellent,” “splendid,”“electric.” “e uC Chamber Chorus leaves nosyllable unarticulated and no musical marvelunexplored” (San Francisco Examiner). Among

the chorus’ recordings, its Handel Susannahon the Harmonia Mundi label won a GrandPrix du Disque.

is is Dr. Wei Cheng’s first semester asDirector of Choral Activities at uC Berkeley,where she conducts the uCB Chamber Chorusand university Chorus, and teaches conducting.Originally from Beijing, China, she completedher master’s and doctoral degrees in choral conducting at College-Conservatory of Music,university of Cincinnati. Dr. Cheng is an activeclinician, performer, adjudicator, and educatorin both the uS and China. Before coming toBerkeley, she was Associate Professor, Directorof Choral Activities at Denison university(Granville, OH), where her choirs frequentlycollaborated with local schools and communitychoruses, toured internationally, and performedwith world-class musicians and ensembles suchas Bobby McFerrin, Phillippe Entren mont, andthe Munich Symphony Orchestra.

Dr. Cheng has been awarded conducting fel-lowships and has performed in many choral-conducting workshops in this country andabroad. She has studied under mas ter teachersincluding Helmuth Rilling, Dale War land, JonWashburn, Steven Cleo bury, Simon Carring -ton, Richard Westenberg, and Fiora Con tino.

As an active performer, Dr. Cheng’s mainprofessional activities are centered in China. Shehas been a frequent guest conductor with theYoung People’s Chamber Choir at the NationalCenter for Performing Arts, Beijing—the mostprestigious performance venue in the country—and has conducted numerous other Chinese ensembles. In addition, she has been a guest lec-turer and master teacher at major conservato-ries throughout the country.

As a clinician, Dr. Cheng has worked with agegroups ranging from children’s choir to conser-vatory choirs, both in America and China. Herprofessional interests include contemporarychoral repertoire, conducting technique forwomen conductors, and choral music in China.She considers it her professional mission to develop and promote Western choral music inChina, where she frequently gives conductingmaster classes and lectures.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

25a

Ana María MartínezPhoto by Tom Specht

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

25c

Volti, one of the leading professional vocal ensembles in the united States, has a primary purpose of performing contemporary Ameri -can music. Having commissioned more than100 new works by emerging as well as estab-lished composers, Volti is a seven-time winnerof the prestigious ASCAP Award for Adventur -ous Pro gramming of Contemporary Music.Volti is currently celebrating its 40th seasonunder the direction of founding artistic directorRobert Geary.

Recent projects include the premiere andsubsequent performances of Kurt Rohde’s DeathWith Interruptions with Le Coast ChamberEnsemble; recording with the Kronos Quartet;the second performance of John Luther Adams’Become Desert with the Seattle Symphony forCal Performances; the premiere of Laurie SanMartin’s Witches and the West Coast premiereof Gregory Spears’ e Tower and the Gardenwith Le Coast Chamber Ensemble; and a col-laboration with ODC/Dance in Joby Talbot’sPath of Miracles.

Volti’s next performance will be the 40thAnni versary Gala Concert and CD ReleaseParty, May 4, 2019, at Noe Valley Ministry inSan Francisco, featuring works by Robin Estra -da, Tonia Ko, Forrest Pierce, Kirke Mechem, and the world premiere of So Let Us by MarkWinges. Other upcoming projects include col-laborations with the San Francisco ChamberOrchestra in the premiere of Michael Gilbert -son’s Denial, and with the Del Sol String Quartetin a major work by Huang Ruo based on the po-etry of Chinese detainees on Angel Island dur-ing the Chinese Exclusion Act years.

To learn more, please visit VoltiSF.org.

Robert Geary, founding artistic director ofVolti, the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir,and the Golden Gate International Choral Festi -val, also serves as artistic director of the SanFrancisco Choral Society. His multi-dimen-sional commitment to the choral arts over morethan 40 years has led him and his choirs to na-tional and international prominence. under hisdirection since its founding in 1979, Volti hasbecome recognized as one of the leading new-music ensembles in the united States. For over

30 years he has overseen the development of thePiedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, an innova-tive education and performance program with arecord of success in competition at the highestinternational standard. With his guiding vision,the Golden Gate International Children’s andYouth Choral Festival has become part of the in-ternational choral environment, bringing thou-sands of young singers from dozens of countriesto California for performances and competitions.For more than 25 years he has led the San Fran -cisco Choral Society to a robust position as akeeper of the traditional repertoire and an in-novative force in the commissioning and per-formance of new works for chorus and orchestra.

Geary’s dedication to today’s choral music hasencouraged the careers of several leading com-posers and has led to more than 200 new works.He has conducted and served as a clinician indozens of countries, and his choirs have per-formed by invitation for the national confer-ences of Chorus America, the American ChoralDirectors Association, the Organization ofAmerican Kodaly Educators, and the CollegeMusic Society. ey have also appeared at nu-merous festivals internationally and here in theunited States, where they have performed forSoundWave, Switchboard, Oregon Bach Festi -val, Festival Napa Valley, Bard Music West,Newport Music Festival, and the first annual na-tional New Music Gathering in 2015.

His choirs can be heard on recordings withlabels including Other Minds, Harmonia Mun - di, Koch International, Swiss International Radio,Ablaze, and Innova. ey have performed forradio, television, opera, symphony, and musicfestivals nationally and internationally. Gearyhas prepared choirs for leading conductors including JoAnn Falletta, Helmuth Rilling, KurtHerbert Adler, Robert Shaw, Edo de Waart,Krzysztof Penderecki, Herbert Blom stedt, Dale Warland, Kent Nagano, Michael Morgan,Michael Tilson omas, and Ludovic Morlot.

Philharmonia US Tour ManagementOpus 3 Artists 470 Park Avenue South, 9th Floor NorthNew York, NY 10016 www.opus3artists.com

Esa-Pekka SalonenPhoto by Clive Barda

Philharmonia OrchestraAdministrationHelen Sprott, managing directorJennifer Pattison, head of business plan

implementationPosition Vacant, executive assistant to the

senior management team

ConcertsFiona Martin, deputy managing directorJonathan Mayes, director, residencies and

regional programEmily Granozio, manager, recordings

and projectsGemma Charlton, tours and projects managerJo Harvey, concerts and projects managerJuliette Reid, residencies and projects

coordinatorEllie Phillips, concerts and tours assistantMelanie Sanders, personal assistant to

Esa-Pekka SalonenCath Welsby, orchestra personnel managerDavid Thomas, assistant orchestra personnel

managerMartin Sargeson, orchestra librarianElliot Samphier, assistant orchestra librarian

and auditions administratorNathan Lowis, stage/transport managerBarry Brown, assistant stage/transport manager

DevelopmentJonathan Kuhles, development directorSarah Atkinson, head of individual givingJennifer Pattison, head of trusts and foundationsDavid Sutherland, corporate partnerships

managerPatrick Reardon-Morgan, friends and online

giving managerAlice Macrae, partnerships and events

coordinatorBen Carr, individual giving assistantLaura Furner, development assistant

MarketingTim Woodall, marketing directorKatie Vickers, marketing managerMurray Goulstone, box office managerEmily McGroarty, marketing manager,

residencies and recordingsNikolaj Schubert, marketing and press

coordinatorAleksandra Wysmyk, designerLucy Breaks, program editorThe Corner Shop PR, media relations consultant

Audience DevelopmentTom Spurgin, audience development manager

DigitalThomas Gillet, head of digitalLuke Ritchie, head of digital innovation

and partnershipsMarina Vidor, digital producerWilliam Gregg, developerAsh Brown, digital production manager

EducationAlexandra Brierley, director of educationYasmin Hemmings, learning and participation

producerCatherine Bullough, community and outreach

managerElisa Mare, education assistant

FinanceJohn Whiterow, interim finance director

and company secretaryFrancisca Onwuka, financial controllerChristina Macpherson, players’ fees

administratorAneke De Sousa Caires, finance officer

Philharmonia Apprenticeship ProgramRevell Dixon, digital and education projects

apprenticeLuke Treherne, marketing and fundraising

apprentice

ArchiveMichael Hurwitz, archivist

26b

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I. THE FIRST AND LONGEST JOURNEY

SOPRANOBefore…Before the divide of lands…Before everything and nothing, there was the willthe will to migrate.

CHORuSe will.

SOPRANOIt came with the yearn of a leaf, three clouds,and a woman who dreamtshe was walkingtowards the edgeof the world.

And the right to migrate…

CHORuSto migrate

SOPRANO…was granted…

CHORuSwas granted

SOPRANOby the Lord of the Shells,known as the lord of the roads.

CHORuSYears before…fearless and barefootwomen and mentook their first stepsand journeyed night and day.

Years before…fearless and barefootwomen and mentook their first steps.

Years before…Years before…Women and menwalked for centuries,alongside of the pumaand the shadow of the eagle.

DreamersOratorio for Soprano, Mixed Chorus, and Orchestra (World Premiere)

Jimmy López, composerNilo Cruz, librettist

LIBRETTO

LIBRETTO

SOPRANOAnd they were followedby those who saw the spark of hopein their eyes…

And the roadswere boundless,never-ending…

And the roadswere pavedby their footsteps.

Years before…Years before…

CHORuSAnd they settled in placesdeemed sacredand blessed, under the watchful eyes of their gods.under the watchful eyes…

SOPRANOBut who can tell this storyto the children who came along the highway?

CHORuSalong the highway?

SOPRANOe boy,

CHORuSe boy

SOPRANO…now a man,

CHORuSa man

SOPRANO…who crossed the border…

CHORuSthe border

SOPRANO…wearing shoes too smallfor his dreams.

e girl,

CHORuSthe girl

SOPRANO…now a woman,

CHORuSwoman

SOPRANO…who had hopes braided into her hair.Oh, tell me,

CHORuSTell me,

SOPRANO…tell me.

CHORuStell me.

SOPRANOIs there a placefor this girl, who had lightin her hands?

27a

LIBRETTO

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CHORuSIs there a place for this boy,who had starsin his eyes?

SOPRANOYears before…Years before…

CHORuSBefore…

And they settled in placesdeemed sacredand blessed, under the watchful eyes of their gods.under the watchful eyes…

II. BORDERS AND BOUNDARIES

CHORuSLook now…Land of everyone and no one. Divided, fenced and walle d. Look now…Land of the eagle…Land of ancestors…Land of the Navajo.Land stolen.Land wounded, and mended.

Land labored…Land toiled...Land rescued.Land saved.Land labored…by natives,by strangers, by history, by migrants,by exiles,by the deadand the living…

Harvested land,by blood and sweat…Harvested land,by bruised handsof peasants and slaves.

Land of the men who worefeathers of wisdom…Land of the men who worewigs of justice… Ennobling existence,and clutching honesty.Decreeing the law,the letters that guide the land of the free…of the free.

LIBRETTO

27c

III. CHILDREN

CHORuSChildren…barely two years of age.Children…as young as four summers…Children…tender as dawnChildren…as ancient as God.Children…a new promise.Children…a new joy in the air.Children…lively and playful.Children…waiting to be embraced.

SOPRANOChildren barely two years of age.Children as young as four summers.Children as tender as dawn…as ancient as God.Children, a new promise…a new joy in the air.Children lively and playfulwaiting to be embraced.

CHORuSChildren…arriving, unfolding…

SOPRANOChildren…arriving, unfolding…

CHORuS…like petals before a wire fence.

Children…with almond eyes.who gaze upona reluctant world.

SOPRANOChildren…with delicate legs,already stainedby the defeated grass.Future warriorswho dare to teach usmanners and compassion.

CHORuSChildren smuggled outbecause they didn’tdeserve to be killed. Children saved from the arms of harm. Children rescuedas if they were an extinct race. Children smuggled outbecause they didn’tdeserve to be killed. Children!

SOPRANOChildren smuggled outbecause they didn’tdeserve to be killed.

CHORuSkilled!

SOPRANOChildren saved from the arms of harm.

CHORuSharm!

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SOPRANOChildren rescuedas if they were an extinct race.

CHORuSharm!children!

SOPRANOWho dares to arrest them?

CHORuSdares!

SOPRANOWho can sleep in peacehearing them cry in the night?

CHORuScry!

SOPRANOChildren, imprisoned,interrogated.

CHORuSimprisoned!

SOPRANOLittle fingers that just learned to count.

CHORuScount

SOPRANOLittle hands that just learnedto play and dress…

CHORuSdress

SOPRANO…a doll.

CHORuSLittle mouths, which barely learnedhow to say, mother, father, yes and no.

Who has stopped the normfor the young and the innocent?Who has put an end to their lullabies?

Who has denied themkisses on their forehead?

SOPRANOWho has stopped them from being children?

CHORuSWho has stopped them from being children?

SOPRANO Hush now!Come near…Cross over,aer your namehas been clearedby the guardsof the rain.You don’t need a travel permit, if you have been a migrant like them. unless you deny…

CHORuS deny

SOPRANO…all those…

LIBRETTO

28b

CHORuSall those

SOPRANO…who came before you,

CHORuSbefore you

SOPRANO…and those who came before them.

CHORuSthose who came

SOPRANOAnd your blood is colorless,and your eyes are sightless. Emerge…Come forth.

CHORuSCome forth, meet the children,who are now women and men.

SOPRANOCome close…render a moment to meet those who are called dreamers.ose who are denied the rightto reside in our land. One by one…

CHORuS (Men)Germán…Miguel…

SOPRANO Name by name…

CHORuS (Women)Suzana…Valeria…

SOPRANOStory by story…

CHORuS (Men)Enrique…Zaríf…

SOPRANODay by day…

CHORuS (Women)Sofía…Octavia...

SOPRANOAdvance! Come near!

CHORuSAdvance! Come near!Meet thosein search of a dream. ose who followed the right to migrate. e right given to a fish and a bird. e right of thosein search of a dream.A dream…

LIBRETTO

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IV. A DREAMER WHO STUDIED LINGUISTICS

SOPRANOAlthough I have lived here all of my life,I live in silence,in my mouth,with the secret that I am landless.

CHORuSsilence…secret…landless

SOPRANOI came in with a passportthat wasn’t mine.It was two or three in the morning,when I arrivedat check point.

I was the boy who feignedto be asleepin the back seatof a truck.

I was the onewho traveledwith a familyunknown to me,and I was twelve.

I grew up and educated myself,while scorn multiplied all around me. I grew up as more agents with rifles appearedto hunt down people like me.

Deceitful war! undeclared!And yet asserted!Deceitful war!Fraudulent!Treacherous and conniving!

I lived in shame,

CHORuSshame

SOPRANOI lived in fear,

CHORuSfear

SOPRANO…knowing that if I said too muchI would expose my self.

I camouflaged myself…

CHORuSfear

SOPRANO…with words in school.

CHORuSshame

SOPRANOI blended with other students.I armed myself with books.

CHORuSfear…shame…

LIBRETTO

29a

SOPRANOI immersed myself in the science of languageto understand the color and the faith in what we say.

Twelve years have passedsince I crossed the checkpoint.Twelve years have passedand I’m still…

CHORuSstill

SOPRANO…in the perpetual motion of search,

CHORuSsearch

SOPRANO…and the stillness of uncertainty.

And I fight without weapon,without fear,the same war.

V. SUEÑOS

CHORuSSueños…sueños…sueños…El mundo vende sueños.

Dreams…dreams…dreamse world sells dreams.

Sueños que no miden fronteras y distancias. Sueños que de todohacen motivo parael viaje.

Dreams that do not measureborders and distance. Dreams that find in everything an occasion for the journey.

Sueños que saltanríos y montañas.Sueños que corren por barro y arena. Que buscan luz más allá de la mirada.

Dreams that leap overrivers and mountains.Dreams that runthrough mud and sand. at look for lightbeyond the gaze.

(ree Mezzo-Sopranos)“¿Y dónde duermen los sueños?”

“And where do dreams sleep?”

(ree Tenors)—preguntó un niño.

asked a boy.

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PLAYBILL29b

(Soprano)“No duermen.Se deshilan frente al sastre que cose un trajey una camisa.”

“ey don’t sleep.ey unravel before the tailorwho mends a shirtand a suit.”

(ree Mezzo-Sopranos)Brotanante una mujer,que corta un limón.

ey blossombefore a womanwho peels a lemon.

CHORuS (Tutti)Y la madre del niño compróuno de esos sueños.Se lo vendióel traficante de seres una noche muerta.

And the mother of the child boughtone of those dreams.It was sold to herby the trafficker of dreamson a stale night.

(Men)El niño tenía sólodos años,y crecía cercade un basurero.

e boy was only two years oldand growingnext to a dumpster.

(Women)Su casa fue hechade escombrosy de todas las cosasque encontrarona su alrededor.

His house wasmade of scrapsand broken bitsthey found around them.

CHORuS (Tutti)Y el niño vio como fábricas enormesahogaron la tierradonde nació.

And the boy saw howhuge factoriesdrowned the soilwhere he was born.

Fábricas blancasy monstruosas,traídas del norte,donde su madrelaboraba por sólo un dólar al dia.

Monstrous and white factories,brought from the North,where his motherused to work for onlya dollar a day.

(Baritone)“un dólar.”

“A dollar.”

LIBRETTO

29c

CHORuS (Men)El niño vio llegar a los vendedoresde sueños.¿Cómo entraron? ¿Quién les dio permiso?

e boy saw when the vendors of dreamsarrived.How did they come in?Who gave them permission?

CHORuS (Tutti)Llegaron con blancos polvos y fusiles.Eran los traficantes de seres,que espantaban a los pájaros,y pisoteaban a muerte las mariposas.Así su vida se hizo un realismo mágico,

ey appeared with white powder andguns.

ey were the dreadful traffickers of beings,who would frighten off the birdsand trample to death the butterflies.at is how his life becamemagic realism,

(ree Baritones)…cuando su madrecompró un sueño,y dijo…

…when his mother bought a dream,and said…

(ree Sopranos)“Vamos hijo. Vamos al norte”

“Come on, son. We are going north.”

CHORuSY la madre y el niñocaminaron de prisa,por las calles, a través del rumor de las máquinas,y los pájaros asustados.

And the mother and the child walked hastily, through the streets, through the rumor of the machines, and the frightened birds.

(Women)Y bajaron a la orilla del ríodonde el niño vio a un hombreque tenía mirada de cielo y camino.Y su madre miró hacia arriba y dijo…

And they went down to the riverbank where the boy saw a man who had a look of sky and road.And his mother looked up and said…

(ree Sopranos)“¡Bendito sea Dios!”

“Blessed be God!”

CHORuS (Tutti)¡Bendito sea Dios!

Blessed be God!

(Solo Baritone) “¡Pronto! ¡Dése prisa!”

Quickly! Hurry!

CHORuS (Women)— El hombre gritó

— e man shouted.

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(Solo Mezzo-Soprano)“¿A dónde vamos?”

“Where are we going?”

CHORuS (Men)— El niño preguntó,

— e boy asked,

(Women)Y la madre dijo…“A seguir un sueño. un sueño. Sólo un sueño.”

And the mother answered…“To follow a dream. A dream. Only a

dream.”

CHORuS (Tutti)Y fue entonces que corrieronbajo la cimbra de luz.Y cuando creían haber alcanzado el otro lado, fueron detenidos por soldados.

And it was then that they ran and ranunder the arch of light. And when they thought they had reached the other side, they were detained by soldiers.

El niño se atóal brazo de la madre.Y la madre rasgó el airecuando cuatro rifles le apuntaron a la frente.

e child held onto his mother’s arm.

And the mother slashed the airwhen four rifles pointed at her forehead.

Y el niño se asustóhasta perder el sentido.Y la madre luchócontra los soldadoshasta perder toda su fuerza.

And the boy got so frightened that he lost consciousness.And the mother fought against the soldiers until she lost all her strength.

Desde aquel momentola madre busca y buscaa su niño.El niño cuya piellleva olor a nieblay desierto.

From that moment on,the mother searches and looks for her child.e boy whose skincarries the smell of mistand desert.

LIBRETTO

30b

VI. AFTER

SOPRANOAer… Aer the age of lies…Aer the age of deceit…Aer the sad trade of mankindand migration…

Aer more walls…aer more guards…more infrared lights…more barking of dogs…more bullets and guns…aer summers and winters…Aer the dust had settledthe roads ariseonce againfrom under the ground.From under the leaves…from under the buried sorrows… the roads emerge…

CHORuSe roads emerge…ey open out.e paths that beheld the footprint of the Mayan,

SOPRANO…the agony of the slave,the tears of a farmer,the cry of a raped girl…Oh world!Oh America!You are the brown boywho is being deported.

CHORuSYou!

SOPRANOYou are the black girlwho was shot.

CHORuSYou!

SOPRANOYou are the politician,who hunts mothers and fathers.

CHORuSYou!

SOPRANOYou are…

CHORuSYou!

SOPRANO…the businessman,who fears the future child.

CHORuSOh world!Oh America!e roads are reborn.ey open out.

SOPRANOe roads emerge.ey open out, extend, expand…

CHORuSe roads extend.e roads expandfrom South to North,from East to West…

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SOPRANOe roads scatter, urge, weaving dreams,auguring hope,welcoming shadows, colors, voices, facesas new as time.For no one…

CHORuSno one

SOPRANO…can stop…

CHORuScan stop

SOPRANO…the road from taking the form of freedom,to guide…

CHORuSto guide

SOPRANO…the warrior,the mother, the child,

CHORuSthe child

SOPRANO…the dreamer,

CHORuSthe dreamer

SOPRANO…the dreamer.

CHORuS Because nothing can stop the wind from blowing…Because nothing can stop the sea from flowing…

SOPRANONothing…nothing…no one…No one can stop the dreamer.

CHORuSDream. Dream. Dream. Dream on.

Philharmonia Orchestra - Cal Performances

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