Concert Program - Oakland Symphony

G U E S TA RT I S T SG U E S TSARA DAVIS BUECHNERNOAH GALVINJONATHAN COZARTSNJara Davis Buechner is one of the leading concertpianists of our time. She has been praised worldwideas a musician of “intelligence, integrity, and allencompassing technical prowess” (New York Times).Japan’s InTune magazine says: “When it comes toclarity, flawless tempo selection, phrasing and precisecontrol of timbre, Buechner has no superior.”In her twenties, Buechner won the Gold Medal at the1984 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition,and was a Bronze Medalist of the 1986 TchaikovskyInternational Piano Competition in Moscow. Withan active repertoire of more than 100 piano concertosranging from A (Albeníz) to Z (Zimbalist)–one of thelargest of any concert pianist today–she has appeared assoloist with many of the world’s prominent orchestras.Audiences throughout North America have applaudedBuechner’s recitals in venues such as Carnegie Hall,Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, and the HollywoodBowl; and she enjoys wide success throughout Asia,where she tours annually.Buechner’s numerous CD and DVD recordings havereceived prominent critical acclaim. She can be seenand heard on numerous live video and audio recordingson her website and YouTube Channel; and she hascreated many essays in written, spoken and film formaton her blog Sara Says. She is a Professor of Piano atTemple University in Philadelphia, and an HonoraryVisiting Professor of Music at the University ofShanghai. Sara Davis Buechner is a Yamaha Artist.18OAKLAND SYMPHONYoah Galvin is an American actor, best known forplaying Kenny O’Neal in the ABC sitcom TheReal O’Neals. Before starring on The Real O’Neals, healso appeared Off Broadway at theaters such as theSignature, Playwrights Horizons, MCC, the Vineyard,The Public, The Culture Project, The Flea, the wildproject, New York Theater Workshop, the BarrowStreet Theater, Rattlestick, Ensemble Studio Theater,and many others. He is a recipient of AudiofileMagazine Earphones Award for his narration of HollisSeamon’s novel Somebody Up There Hates You. Hisother audiobook work includes Perks of Being aWallflower, Matthew Quick’s Forgive Me, LeonardPeacock, and more. Additional credits include thecelebrated short films Promised Land and Welcome tothe Wayne. He currently lives in both New York City,New York, and Los Angeles, California.onathan Charles “Jon” Cozart, known by his onlinealias Paint, is an American YouTube personality,musician, and comedian.Cozart’s video Harry Potter in 99 seconds helped himbecome a YouTube phenomenon with over fourmillion followers.In 2015, Cozart performed his own one-man showLaughter Ever After at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.His live performance of musical comedy was wellreviewed by attendees, stating “Jon Cozart delightswith his witty, heartfelt music.” In 2016, Cozart joinedfellow YouTube musicians Dodie Clark, Tessa Violet,and Rusty Clanton for selected shows of the smalland intimate Transatlantic Tour along the east coast.In 2017, he hosted the 2017 Streamy Awards.A RT I S T SYOUTH SPEAKS - PRE CONCERTLOBBY PERFORMERSSince 1996, Youth Speaks has created safe spaces thatchallenge young people to find, develop, publiclypresent, and apply their voices as creators of societalchange. As one of the world’s leading presenters ofSpoken Word performance, education, and youthdevelopment programs, Youth Speaks produces localand national youth poetry slams, festivals, and readingseries, alongside a comprehensive slate of arts-ineducation programs during the school day, in the afterschool hours and on weekends all across the Bay Area.Cozart was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and raised inHouston, Texas. After graduating from Cypress CreekHigh School in 2010, he moved to Austin, Texas, andstudied film at the University of Texas. Cozart tookpiano lessons as a child and has two brothers and a sister.OAKLAND SYMPHONY19

P R O G R A MN OT E SP R O G R A MN OT E Smoving with song, singing a heavenly music. Thelistener would float down the aisle, moving upwardslowly at first and then progressing at a quicker pace,rising towards an immense ceiling which would opento the sky as this journey progressed, the speed of thetraveler would increase, rushing forward and upward.I wanted to create the sensation of contemplationand quiet peace at the beginning, moving towards thefeeling of celebration and ecstatic expansion of the soul,all the while singing along with that heavenly music.BARBERFirst Essay for Orchestra, Op. 12SAMUEL BARBER(1910-1981)Composers Samuel Barber and Gian CarloMenotti first visited conductor Arturo Toscaniniin 1933. There were other visits, during one ofwhich Toscanini mentioned his desire to perform awork by Barber.Four years later, Toscanini was planning the first seasonof the newly formed NBC Symphony Orchestra. Heasked Artur Rodzinski to recommend an Americanwork to program. Rodzinski suggested somethingby Barber.By spring, 1938, Barber sent Toscanini the FirstEssay for Orchestra, and also the Adagio for Strings, anarrangement of the first half of the second movementof his string quartet. Toscanini sent the scores backwithout comment. Barber assumed the great conductordidn’t like the works, and cast about for someone elseto play them.That summer Menotti visited Toscanini, who inquiredwhy Barber was absent. Menotti replied that hisfriend was sick. “I don’t believe that,” said Toscanini.“He’s mad at me. Tell him not to be mad. I’m goingto play one of his pieces, I’m going to play both.”The maestro had memorized the music. Toscaniniand the NBC Orchestra introduced both works onNovember 5, 1938.20OAKLAND SYMPHONYBRITTENSerenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings,Op. 31BENJAMIN BRITTEN(1913-1976)Britten wrote the Serenade in 1943 for his partner,tenor Peter Pears, and the twenty-two-year-oldDennis Brain. Brain was then principal horn player inthe RAF Orchestra, which was playing Britten’s musicon various radio programs.The first performance of the Serenade took place atWigmore Hall in London on October 15, 1943, withPears and Brain as soloists and Walter Goehr conducting.William Glock recalled his predecessor as music criticfor the Observer “being able to hear Brahms’ maturestworks as they came out . In Benjamin Britten we haveat last a composer who offers us visions as great as these.His new Serenade surpasses everything else of his instrength and feeling.” Notes by Charley Samson, copyright 2018.HIGDONblue cathedralJENNIFER HIGDON(b. 1962)Born in Brooklyn, Higdon grew up in Atlanta,Georgia, and Seymour, Tennessee, and now lives inPhiladelphia, where she teaches at the Curtis Instituteof Music. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2010.blue cathedral Blue like the sky. Where all possibilitiessoar. Cathedrals a place of thought, growth, spiritualexpression serving as a symbolic doorway into andout of this world. Blue represents all potential andthe progression of journeys. Cathedrals represent aplace of beginnings, endings, solitude, fellowship,contemplation, knowledge and growth. As I waswriting this piece, I found myself imagining a journeythrough a glass cathedral in the sky. Because the wallswould be transparent, I saw the image of clouds andblueness permeating from the outside of this church.In my mind’s eye, the listener would enter from theback of the sanctuary, floating along the corridoramongst giant crystal pillars, moving in a contemplativestance. The stained glass windows’ figures would startThese were my thoughts when the Curtis Instituteof Music commissioned me to write a work tocommemorate its 75th anniversary. Curtis is a houseof knowledge–a place to reach towards that beautifulexpression of the soul which comes through music. Ibegan writing this piece at a unique juncture in mylife and found myself pondering the question of whatmakes a life. The recent loss of my younger brother,Andrew Blue, made me reflect on the amazing journeysthat we all make in our lives, crossing paths with somany individuals singularly and collectively, learningand growing each step of the way. This piece representsthe expression of the individual and the group ourinner travels and the places our souls carry us, thelessons we learn, and the growth we experience. Intribute to my brother, I feature solos for the clarinet (theinstrument he played) and the flute (the instrument Iplay). Because I am the older sibling, it is the flute thatappears first in this dialogue. At the end of the work, thetwo instruments continue their dialogue, but it is theflute that drops out and the clarinet that continues onin the upward progressing journey.This is a story that commemorates living and passingthrough places of knowledge and of sharing and of thatsong called life.This work was commissioned and premiered in 2000 bythe Curtis Institute of Music. Notes by Jennifer HigdonOAKLAND SYMPHONY21

P R O G R A MN OT E SSAINT-SAËNSROSSER AND SOHNEPiano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, With The Right Music: A Song CycleOp. 22TIM ROSSER AND CHARLIE SOHNECAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS(1835-1921)World Premiere, Commissioned byOakland SymphonySWaint-Saëns had known Anton Rubinstein forten years when, in 1868, Rubinstein began shiftinghis focus to conducting. “I haven’t conducted anorchestra in Paris yet,” he complained to Saint-Saëns.“Let’s put on a concerto that will give me an opportunityof taking the baton.” Saint-Saëns made inquiries anddiscovered that the Salle Pleyel would be free in threeweeks. “Very well,” he said, “in those three weeks I’llwrite a concerto for the occasion.”The work was introduced on May 13, 1868, withRubinstein conducting and Saint-Saëns as soloist.“Not having had the time to practice it sufficiently forperformance,” said Saint-Saëns, “I played very badly,and except for the scherzo, which was an immediatesuccess, it did not go well. The general opinion wasthat the first part lacked coherence and the finale wasa complete failure.” Pianist Sigismond Stojowski oncedescribed the Concerto: “It begins with Bach and endswith Offenbach.” Notes by Charley Samson, copyright 2018.ith The Right Music is about the experiences thatshape who we are during our tumultuous andthrilling adolescent years. It’s about a boy’s struggle,first to understand himself and then to gain theconfidence to express the whole of who he is. Whileself-discovery can be an ultimately positive journey,self-awareness brings with it self-consciousness, andknowing yourself is only truly valuable if it comeswith self-acceptance. Adam’s journey through thepiece is aided by the experiences he has with Sarah,Jason and Dylan—three kids who, either intentionallyor not, allow Adam to discover these different sidesof himself, while also affecting the person he willbecome. While With The Right Music is intendedas a universal coming of age story, it also is veryspecifically a gay story. We’re thrilled, particularlyin a political climate where difference is oftenattacked rather than celebrated, that there are placeslike the Oakland Symphony, who will take an eveningout of their season to celebrate the very specificchallenges and triumphs of a particular community.Through the acknowledgment of our diversity, we alsocome to better understand our common humanity. Notes by Tim Rosser and Charlie Sohne22OAKLAND SYMPHONYOAKLAND SYMPHONY23

Career highlights also include Pang (Turandot) with Nashville Opera and Pacific Symphony; the title role in Candide with Emerald City Opera; The Burrowing Mole (The Fantastic Mr. Fox) with both Opera San Antonio and Odyssey Opera; Remendado (Carmen) with Pacific Symphony and Fort Worth Opera; and Fenton (Falstaf) with Mercury Opera Rochester. In f