Tickets at RenoPhil.com or the Reno Phil Box Office.

you’ve waited long enough.

Classix One: RevivalOct 2 & 4, 2016

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRA2

ADVERTISINGOnStage Publications937-424-0529 | 866-503-1966e-mail: korlowski@onstagepublications.comwww.onstagepublications.com

This program is published in association with OnStage Publications, 1612 Prosser Avenue, Kettering, OH 45409. This program may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. JBI Publishing is a division of OnStage Publications, Inc. Contents © 2016.

All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.

INSIDEWHAT’S

LETTER FROM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR | II

BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND STAFF | III

PROGRAM | V

THEODORE KUCHAR BIOGRAPHY | VI

ORCHESTRA MEMBERS | IX

GUEST ARTISTS BIOGRAPHIES | X

PROGRAM NOTES | XII

THANKS TO OUR CONTRIBUTORS | XX

STAGEVIEW: your paperless program bookScan the code located above with your smart device for additional information on the show, or visit www.stageview.co/ren

NO APPS. NO DOWNLOADSAccess your program book quickly and securely without a cumbersome download.

SOCIAL INTERACTIONConnect to your favorite venue and performerswhile you sit in the audience.

PURCHASE TICKETSPurchase tickets for upcoming shows right from your seat.

RENO CHAMBERORCHESTRA

and STAGEVIEW

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRAII

moment of serenity? While there may be little we can do about the path society is racing down, you have the power to make choices in your own life. And you’ve made a very good one coming here tonight for this concert of the Reno Chamber Orchestra. A concert, as both a social and an individual experience, offers us many benefits. We relax our bodies, we become quiet, respectful and open our minds. We focus on a melody and show our heartfelt appreciation for its simple beauty when it ends. We walk out in awe of the unique inspiration of artists. In other words, we’ve celebrated something valuable within us and shared what is exceptional in life with each other as friends and neighbors. We all enjoy a meal of a burger and fries now and then, but the meals we remember are the ones made with care and enjoyed at leisure in a special setting. Great music in a venue like this can do similar wonders for your inner nourishment. Now it’s time to sit down and feed your heart and soul.

Bon appetit!

Gerard GibbsReno Chamber Orchestra

L E T T E R F R O M T H E E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R

Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons. You will find it is to the soul what a water bath is to the body. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

Right now your smart phone may be flashing at you while your mind is going off in a dozen

directions. It seems every day all day long hundreds of messages are traveling towards us at the speed of light. In the age of being incessantly ’plugged in’ to a restive electronic network, is there anywhere left to go where we can enjoy a

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRA III

B O A R D O F D I R E C T O R S A N D S T A F F

Reno Chamber Orchestra925 Riverside Drive, Suite 5Reno, NV 89503Phone (775) 348-9413Fax (775) 348-0643www.RenoChamberOrchestra.org

Member of the

BOARD OF DIRECTORSLester H. CohenPresident

Knute KnudsonFirst Vice President

James ConkeySecond Vice President

Fred JakolatSecretary

Patrick EllingsworthTreasurer

Karen Penner-JohnsonPast President

Joy BetzJill BrandinCatherine FarahiBarbara HallMarc JohnsonTrudy LarsonPeter LenzGail McAllisterMark MacDonaldMark MillerStephen MyersonJim NicholsCarol ParkhurstKathie PriebeJennifer SmithKaren Stout-GardnerJill M. Winter

STAFF:Gerard Gibbs, Executive Director

Bryan Wildman, Office and Ticket Manager

Joe Ross, Digital Marketing Manager

Dustin Budish, Personnel Manager

Kati Dayner, Operations & Library Assistant

Madalyn Tsugawa, Stage Manager

Nicole Heath, Summer Marketing Intern

This project is funded, in part, by a grant from

the Nevada Arts Council, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

These concerts have been made possible, in part, by the support of

The City of Reno Arts and Culture Commission.

The mission of the Reno Chamber Orchestra is to create intimate, inspirational musical experiences by engaging the community through vibrant music making by the Chamber Orchestra and chamber ensembles.

Superb Music. Shared Experience. Enriched Lives.

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRAIV

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRA V

PROGRAM“Viva Italia!” GIUSEPPE VERDI (1813-1901)Aida, Sinfonia (1871)

(as realized by Pietro Spada)

OTTORINO REPSIGHI (1879-1936 )Piano Concerto in A minor (1902)

ModertatoAdagio moltoPrestoAntonio Pompa-Baldi, piano

I N T E R M I S S I O N

FRANCIS POULENC (1899-1963)Concerto for Two Pianos in D minor FP 61 (1932)

Allegro ma non troppoLarghettoAllegro moltoAntonio Pompa-Baldi, pianoEmanuela Friscioni, piano

GIUSEPPE VERDI Giovanna d’Arco Overture (1845)

LUIGI CHERUBINI (1760-1842)Anacreon Overture (1803)

GIOACHINI ROSSINI (1792-1868)La gazza ladra Overture (1817)

Please disable all noise-making devices – cell phones, watches, etc. – during the performance.

As a courtesy to your fellow concertgoers, please refrain from using any devices (pads, phones, etc.) with lights during the performance.

Audio and video recordings of RCO concerts are strictly prohibited.

Respecting the allergies of your fellow concertgoers, please moderate the amount of perfume and other scent you wear to RCO performances. Thank you for your consideration.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2016, 7:30 P.M.SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2016, 2:00 P.M.

NIGHTINGALE CONCERT HALL

THEODORE KUCHAR, Music Director and Conductor

ANTONIO POMPA-BALDI, piano

EMANUELA FRISCIONI, piano

Support for these concerts has been provided by a generous grant from

The Nell J. Redfield Foundation

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRAVI

M U S I C D I R E C T O R A N D C O N D U C T O R B I O G R A P H Y

THEODORE KUCHAR

The multiple award-winning conductor Theodore Kuchar is the most recorded

conductor of his generation, with a discography totaling over 120 compact discs for the Naxos, Brilliant Classics, Ondine and Marco Polo labels. Highlights of 2016-17 include tours to the Far East with the Slovak Symphony Orchestra and Slovak Sinfonietta. January-March, 2017 he will direct a 44-concert tour of North America with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine under the auspices of Columbia Artists Management. He has served as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of two of Europe’s leading orchestras, the Janácek Philharmonic Orchestra (formerly the Czech Radio Orchestra) (2005-2013) and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine (1994-2004). In the 2011-12 season he commenced his tenure as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Venezuela. He served as Music Director and Conductor of the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra (2002-16) and the Reno Chamber Orchestra (2003-). Since January 2013 he has served as Principal Conductor of the Slovak Sinfonietta. An avid chamber musician, he served as the Artistic Director of The Australian Festival of Chamber Music (1990-2006), and presently serves as the Artistic Director of the Nevada Chamber Music Festival since 2005.

Mr. Kuchar’s numerous accolades include BBC Record of the Year, Australian Broadcasting Corporation Record of the Year, Chamber

Music America Record of the Year, Gramophone Magazine’s Editor’s Choice and a nomination for a Latin Grammy Award (in the category of Best Instrumental Performance of 2013 ). New releases in 2016-2017 include the complete symphonies of Ukrainian Boris Lyatoshynsky and Yevhen Stankovych (National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine), orchestral works by the Turkish composer Ulvi Camal Erkin (with the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra), and American composer Walter Saul.

He opened the 2015-16 season with no less than six separate programs in the first four weeks, totaling nearly 22,000 miles of travel, cities including Bayreuth, Cleveland, Fresno, Leipzig, Reno and Weimar. Highlights of the past several seasons have included a four-week, 20 concert tour of the USA with the Czech Symphony Orchestra while guest conducting engagements including the BBC Symphony, BBC National Symphony Orchestra of Wales (filling in on one day’s notice to conduct Josef Suk’s epic Asrael Symphony), Berlin Symphony, English Chamber Orchestra, Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. He has collaborated with major artists including James Galway, Jessye Norman, Lynn Harrell, Shlomo Mintz, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Sarah Chang, Mstislav Rostropovich, Joshua Bell, and Frederica von Stade, among others.

With the Janácek Philharmonic Orchestra, Kuchar has recorded 15 compact discs devoted to the complete symphonies of Carl Nielsen, the complete overtures and tone poems of Dvorak, and the complete orchestral works of Czech composer Bedrich Smetana for the Brilliant Classics label. Also completed for Brilliant Classics was a world premiere recording of Rachmaninov’s Fifth Piano Concerto, a reconstruction of that composer’s Second Symphony based on the composer’s earliest manuscripts, and the Piano Concertos of Ravel and Bartók. With the Janácek Philharmonic Orchestra, Kuchar has conducted tours of Australia, Germany, Italy, Korea, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and the USA.

During his tenure with the National Symphony Orchestra of the Ukraine, Kuchar conducted cycles of the complete symphony by Beethoven,

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRA VII

M U S I C D I R E C T O R A N D C O N D U C T O R B I O G R A P H Y

Bruckner, Mahler, Prokofiev, Schubert and Shostakovich, and led eleven international tours to Asia, Australia, Central Europe and the United Kingdom. Under Mr. Kuchar’s direction, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine became the most frequently recorded orchestra of the former Soviet Union. Between 1994 and 2004 the orchestra recorded over 80 compact discs for the Naxos and Marco Polo labels, including the complete symphonies of Kalinnikov, Lyatoshynsky, Martinu and Prokofiev, as well as major works of Dvorák, Glazunov, Mozart, Shchedrin, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky. They also recorded the symphonies and orchestral works of Ukraine’s leading contemporary symphonist, Yevhen Stankovych. The recording of Lyatoshynsky’s Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 was awarded ABC’s “Best International Recording of the Year” in 1994. Their recording of the complete works for violin and orchestra by Walter Piston for the Naxos label was hailed by Gramophone (January, 2000) as a “Record of the Year” for 1999. The complete symphonies of Prokofiev, on the Naxos label, are regarded by many critics as the most accomplished cycle available on compact disc.

Kuchar remains as strong an advocate of composers of the present day as he does of the great composers of the past. In addition to his recordings of contemporary works with the NSO of Ukraine, he has also conducted premieres of works by Lukas Foss (the Capriccio for

Cello and Orchestra, with Yo-Yo Ma as soloist), Giya Kancheli, Joseph Schwantner, Alfred Schnittke, Osvaldo Golijov and Rodion Shchedrin, among others.

Theodore Kuchar graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music and in 1981 he was awarded the Paul Fromm Fellowship from the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood and subsequently reinvited for the following summer. He continues to devote several periods annually to one of his most serious passions, the performance of chamber music and has been a participant at major international festivals, including Kuhmo, Lockenhaus, the Australian Festival of Chamber Music and the Nevada Chamber Music Festival. His colleagues have included James Buswell, Martin Chalifour, Sarah Chang, Lynn Harrell, Alexander Ivashkin, Truls Mork, Paul Neubauer, Irina Schnittke, and Thomas Zehetmair. In 1994, he participated with colleagues Oleh Krysa and Alexander Ivashkin in the world premiere of Penderecki’s String Trio in New York City. He has appeared as violist in recordings on the Naxos label of works by Alfred Schnittke (with Irina Schnittke and Mark Lubotsky – this recording was awarded the BBC’s “CD of the Year” award for 2002), Bohuslav Martinu and Walter Piston. The latter recording was awarded the Chamber Music America/WQXR “Record of the Year” for 2001.

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRAVIII

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRA IX

O R C H E S T R A M E M B E R S

SEPTEMBER 17 AND 18, 2016

Theodore Kuchar, Music Director and Conductor

Phillip Ruder, Concertmaster Emeritus

Andrea Lenz, Oboist Emerita

Marilyn Sevilla, Violinist Emerita

If you are interested in sponsoring a musician, please contact the RCO at (775) 348-9413 or info@renochamberorchestra.org.

VIOLINSRuth Lenz (Concertmaster)*

Sponsored by a Friend of Ruth Lenz and the RCO

Margeaux Maloney (Assoc. Concertmaster)* The Walter L. Dillard Memorial Chair

Olga Archdekin* The Kris and Patrick Ellingsworth Chair

Bruce McBeth* The Ursula and Richard Tracy Chair

Ivanka Dill*Hui Lim*Oliver Leitner

Carol Laube (Principal)* The Cecilia Lee Chair

Caryn Neidhold*David HaskinsNorman Lamont*Alison HarveyHeather GallagherJenna BauerAmy Lindsey

VIOLASDustin Budish (Principal)*

The Penelope Kirk and Knute Knudsen Chair

Tiantian Lan* The Philip Manwell Chair

Kati DaynerMichael Molnau

CELLOSPeter Lenz (Principal)*

The Cecelia Lee ChairEileen BrownellKaren Stout-Gardner*Barbara McMeen*

BASSESScott Faulkner (Principal)*Lani Oelerich

The Lillian and Steve Frank Chair

Nancy Hoffman*

FLUTESMary Miller (Principal)*

The Kris and Patrick Ellingsworth Chair

Mary Ann Lazzari*

OBOESRong-Huey Liu (Principal)*

The Marsha and Les Cohen Chair

Jesse Barrett* The Lise Lenz Drake Chair

CLARINETSPeter Nevin (Principal)

The Karen Penner-Johnson and Marc Johnson Chair

Karl Busch

BASSOONSLeyla Zamora (Principal)

Jimmie’s ChairWendy LaTouche

HORNSJohn Lenz (Principal)*

Remembering Jim WhippDeAunn DavisKris EngstronChristine Geiger

TRUMPETSPaul Lenz (Principal)*

The Gaia Brown and Lloyd Rogers Chair

Brad Hogarth

TROMBONESLeonard Neidhold (Principal)Hank CurreyAndy Williams

TUBARuss Dickman

TIMPANICarol Nelson (Principal)

The Penelope Kirk and Knute Knudsen Chair

PERCUSSIONKaren VibeEric MiddletonSharon Hickox

* Contract Musician

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRAX

G U E S T A R T I S T S B I O G R A P H I E S

ANTONIO POMPA-BALDI, PIANO

Born and raised in Foggia, Italy, Antonio Pompa-Baldi won the Cleveland International

Piano Competition in 1999 and embarked on a career that continues to extend across five continents. A top prize winner at the 1998 Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition of Paris, France, Antonio Pompa-Baldi also won a silver medal at the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Mr. Pompa-Baldi appears regularly at the world’s major concert venues including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Paris’ Salle Pleyel, Milan’s Sala Verdi, Shanghai’s Grand Theatre, and Boston’s Symphony Hall. He has performed in London, Tokyo, Seoul, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Kiev,

Auckland, Hong Kong, and Beijing, where he played a recital in the Forbidden City Concert Hall and conducted Master Classes at the China National Conservatory, being named Honorary Guest Professor of that institution. Pompa-Baldi has played with the Houston Symphony, Berliner Symphoniker, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Boston Pops, and Colorado Symphony, among many others. He has collaborated with great musicians and conductors such as Hans Graf, James Conlon, Louis Lane, Keith Lockhart, and Miguel Harth-Bedoya.

His extensive recording catalogue features 20 CDs and is constantly growing. Among his recordings, the entire piano repertoire of Grieg for Centaur Records in twelve CDs, a live recital of his award-winning Cliburn Competition performances on Harmonia Mundi, and “The Rascal and the Sparrow-Poulenc meets Piaf,” piano arrangements of songs by Francis Poulenc and Edith Piaf on the Steinway Label. His CD, “After a reading of Liszt,” is a tribute to Liszt recorded live in recital at the Stellenbosch Conservatory, and released by the South African label TwoPianists. For Centaur Records, he has also recorded an all-Schumann disc, an all-Rachmaninoff CD, as well as the Rheinberger Piano Sonatas. Pompa-Baldi is now recording the complete Hummel Piano Sonatas. The first two volumes are already available, with a third scheduled to be released in the near future.

In May 2014, Pompa-Baldi completed live performances of all the Rachmaninoff Concertos and Paganini Rhapsody with the Cape Town Philharmonic. In January 2015, he performed a recital at the First Lang Lang International Piano Festival in Shenzhen, China. In March 2015, he performed all the Beethoven Concertos in Fresno, CA, under the baton of Maestro Theodore Kuchar. Other recent notable engagements include the Cheyenne Symphony (Respighi Piano Concerto), Nova Scotia Symphony (Rachmaninoff Second and Third Piano Concertos), and recitals in Wenzhou and Xiamen (China), San Jose, CA, Ravello Festival, Todi International Music Masters festival, and the island of Sardinia, Italy. A Steinway artist, Mr. Pompa-Baldi is on the piano faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music.

He is the founder and faculty member of Todi International Music Masters, a summer Festival in Italy, and sits on the juries of the most prestigious

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRA XI

G U E S T A R T I S T S B I O G R A P H I E S

piano competitions of the world, including the Cleveland International Piano Competition, the Hilton Head Piano Competition, the International Edvard Grieg Piano Competition in Bergen, Norway, and the San Jose International Piano Competition.

EMANUELA FRISCIONI, PIANO

Emanuela Friscioni began studying piano in Italy at age five and made her debut at age nine.

She received a diploma in piano performance from the "Giuseppe Verdi" Conservatory in Milan, with full marks, and went on to study with Annamaria Pennella. Other teachers have included Paul Badura-Skoda, Aldo Ciccolini and Bruno Canino. Ms. Friscioni has won many national and international first prizes, including those at the Tortona, Moneglia, Camaiore, Chieti, and Kawai Piano Competitions. She has performed throughout Italy, in Switzerland, France and other European countries. She made her U.S. debut in July 2000 with Cleveland Orchestra violinist Gino Raffaelli. Since then, she has enjoyed a career that has seen her perform

solo recitals, orchestral engagements and chamber music appearances. Among her collaborations, she played Schubert's Quintet Op.114 "The Trout" with members of The Cleveland Orchestra and was again invited by Orchestra members in 2004 to play an all-Brahms program. Ms. Friscioni's recent performances have included Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto with the National Repertory Orchestra; Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the Canton Symphony; chamber music and solo performances at the Music in the Mountains festival; and Franck's Symphonic Variations with the Lakeside Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed recitals in California, New Mexico, New York and Ohio. Her piano duets with her husband, pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi, have earned them many prizes and wonderful reviews. Ms. Friscioni is also an accomplished professor of piano, first in Italy, where many of her pupils have won prizes and scholarships, and now in the U.S. As a teacher and artistic director, she founded and manages the Classical Piano Performance Academy at Cuyahoga Community College. She was appointed to the CIM faculty in 2004.

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRAXII

VERDIBy Chris Morrison

GIUSEPPE VERDIBorn: October 10, 1813, Le Roncole, Parma, ItalyDied: January 27, 1901, Milan, Italy

One of the most popular of all opera composers, with five works among the twenty most performed

operas worldwide, Verdi is recognized as having brought to the form unique melodic and vivid theatrical skills. He made a living as a conductor and teacher before writing his first opera in 1839. By the 1840s, works like Nabucco and Macbeth had enjoyed great success. But it was in the 1850s and early 1860s, with operas like Rigoletto, Il trovatore, and La traviata, that Verdi’s fame soared. Around this time he also became actively involved in politics. Long sympathetic with the Risorgimento movement that sought to unify Italy – his “Va, pensiero” from Nabucco practically became an unofficial national

anthem – he served as senator in both local and national parliaments. Around the time of Aida and the Requiem (1874), Verdi gave up opera composing for more than a decade, having written some twenty operas in sixteen years, but later returned with his masterpieces Otello and Falstaff.

Aida Sinfonia

Composed: 1871Duration: 11 minutesInstrumentation: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, strings

In November 1869, the Khedive of Egypt celebrated the completion of the Suez Canal by opening a new opera house in Cairo. Its first production was Verdi’s Rigoletto, which was such a hit that Verdi was asked to create a new work for Cairo with an Egyptian theme. Aida received its premiere on Christmas Eve of 1871, and this tale of the Ethiopian King’s daughter Aida and the love she and Amneris, the Pharoah’s daughter, have for the the Egyptian military commander Radamès was soon being performed across the globe, as it still is today.

For Aida’s Italian premiere in 1872, Verdi replaced its short prelude with a full-length overture. He eventually rejected that overture for what he called its “pretentious insipidity,” but it is still occasionally performed as the Aida Sinfonia. Its opening contrapuntal passage for the violins gradually coalesces into a sweet tune for the strings, followed by a more doleful one that builds to an orchestral climax. Rustlings from the strings accompany a new clarinet tune. Over pulsating woodwind chords, strings intone a solemn melody. With dramatic interjections, the clarinet’s melody reappears, and momentum builds to the Sinfonia’s dramatic final moments.

OTTORINO RESPIGHIBorn: July 9, 1879, Bologna, ItalyDied: April 18, 1936, Rome, Italy

Respighi’s vivid and colorful orchestral works, particularly the Roman trilogy (The Fountains

of Rome, The Pines of Rome, and Roman Festivals), are among the best loved and most frequently performed of the twentieth century. He received his first musical training in his hometown of Bologna, then moved to St. Petersburg, Russia, where he played viola in the city’s Imperial Orchestra and studied with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. He didn’t

P R O G R A M N O T E S

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRA XIII

RESPIGHI

start composing seriously until he was in his twenties. After a few years as a touring violinist and violist, he took a teaching post at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia, where he subsequently became director in 1924. But success as a composer led him to leave the Conservatorio two years later. From that point on Respighi devoted himself to composition, with the occasional foray into conducting and providing piano accompaniment for singers, including two very successful tours of the United States in 1925-26 and 1932.

Piano Concerto in A minor

Composed: 1902Duration: 22 minutesInstrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings, solo piano

Along with playing violin and viola, Respighi was also a fine, largely self-taught pianist. He composed four pieces for piano and orchestra, two in his later years – the Concerto in modo misolidio of 1925 and the Toccata from 1928 – and two student works, the Fantasia Slava of 1903 and the Concerto in A minor, written when Respighi was just twenty-two years old. This Concerto languished in obscurity for years, and was only published in 1941.

Over a quiet E from the low strings, the piano announces itself dramatically in the first movement with a rhapsodic solo. The piano writing is virtuosic, filled with big chords and intricate runs, and betrays the influence of composers like Rachmaninov – around the time he was writing the Concerto, Respighi was playing a fair amount of Russian music, including Rachmaninov’s, at the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatre. While much of the movement is dramatic, there are extended passages of rich lyricism. A three-note motive serves as something of a main theme, and is heard throughout the work. The movement ends peacefully as the winds quietly repeat some of the movement’s opening music.

After a slow central movement, dominated by a chorale-like theme in the piano, the finale opens with a lively Slavic-sounding melody over a busy accompaniment from the piano. The mood changes abruptly with a soaring lyrical theme from the strings, soon taken up by the piano. The Concerto ends with a yearning theme related to the idea that concludes the previous two movements; that melody is taken up by the piano before the work’s powerful coda.

FRANCIS POULENCBorn: January 7, 1899, Paris, FranceDied: January 30, 1963, Paris, France

Born into a wealthy family of pharmaceutical magnates, Poulenc started piano studies with his

mother at age five, later continuing with Ricardo Viñes, who became Poulenc’s musical and spiritual mentor. Poulenc became the leading composer of Les Six, the group of French composers that rejected Impressionism in favor of a more insouciant, irreverent style. During World War II, Poulenc remained in German-occupied France, briefly serving as a soldier and working with the French resistance. His music – including operas, ballets, concertos, chamber works, and songs – is marked by charm, humor, and a substantial melodic gift. Poulenc is also one of the most important twentieth century composers of religious music, having re-embraced

P R O G R A M N O T E S

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRAXIV

born Winnareta Singer, of Singer Sewing Machine fame). Poulenc and his longtime friend Jacques Fevrier were the pianists in the work’s first performance, on September 5, 1932 at the festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music in Venice, with Désire Defauw conducting. Poulenc was proud of the work, writing to musicologist Paul Collaer, “You will see for yourself what an enormous step forward it is from my previous work, and that I am really entering my great period.”

The first movement’s opening crash leads to furious runs from the pianos – Poulenc perhaps wouldn’t have minded the comparison to music accompanying a chase scene in a silent film – and an ensuing jolly series of melodic fragments. A gentle, lyrical interlude builds passionately to a concluding trill before the music turns jaunty again. Somber low strings and fierce pizzicati then introduce a mesmerizing tune from the pianos reminiscent of Indonesian gamelan (Poulenc had heard a Balinese gamelan at the 1931 Exposition Coloniale de Paris).

The pianos open the slow movement with a beautiful, openly Mozart-like theme, “because,” wrote Poulenc, “I have a fondness for the melodic line and I prefer Mozart to all other musicians.” Strings join in with a haunting theme. Soon the tempo increases with repeating chords from the piano accompanying a new idea. This central section leads to a brief reprise of the movement’s opening. A flourish with snare drum introduces the third movement’s scurrying main theme. The tone is light and sparkling as several new ideas are introduced, some evocative of the music hall. Ominous rumblings from the pianos and orchestra, and a romantic interlude near the end, do little to sidetrack the movement’s high spirits. A faster-paced reminiscence of the first movement’s gamelan section leads to the brilliant coda.

LUIGI CHERUBINIBorn: September 14, 1760, Florence, ItalyDied: March 15, 1842, Paris, France

Luigi Cherubini was once quite famous as a composer of operas and sacred works. After

establishing himself as an operatic composer in Italy and London, in 1785 Cherubini moved to Paris, where he lived for the rest of his life. His work with King Louis XVI’s brother (later crowned as Louis XVIII) led to a brief period of official and popular disfavor. Eventually he was appointed to what later became the Conservatoire National. In 1805, Cherubini traveled to Vienna, where he met Napoleon and briefly served as his music director.

P R O G R A M N O T E S

the faith of his youth in the 1930s after his close friend Pierre-Octave Ferroud was killed in a car accident. Author Jessica Duchen described Poulenc as “a fizzing, bubbling mass of Gallic energy who can move you to both laughter and tears within seconds. His language speaks clearly, directly and humanely to every generation.”

Concerto for Two Pianos in D minor

Composed: 1932Duration: 20 minutesInstrumentation: 2 flutes (1 doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (1 doubling English horn), 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, percussion, strings, two solo pianos

Composed during the summer of 1932, Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos was commissioned by the Princesse Edmond de Polignac (American-

POULENC

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRA XV

CHERUBINI

After suffering from years of depression during which he gave up music, he regained his inspiration through writing for the Church. Ultimately he composed seven Masses, two Requiems, and several shorter sacred works. In 1822 he became director of the Paris Conservatoire, and in 1841 was the first musician to be made a Commandeur de la Légion d’honneur. He is buried at Paris’s Père Lachaise Cemetery, a few feet away from his friend Frédéric Chopin.

Overture to Anacréon

Composed: 1803Duration: 10 minutesInstrumentation: 2 flutes (1 doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, strings

Anacréon, subtitled L’amour fugitif, is an opera-ballet in two acts that deals with a love affair of the Greek poet Anacreon with Corine, and the intercession in the affair by both Cupid and Venus. Premiered on October 4, 1803 by the Paris Opéra at the Salle Montansier, the work was immediately regarded as old-fashioned, and was a great failure However, the overture was much-lauded, and remained part of the repertoire of conductors like Arturo Toscanini and Otto Klemperer.

A forceful, grand gesture opens the Overture. Horns and woodwinds then set a more contemplative tone. Another outburst leads to the singing, yet sturdy, main theme. This builds in intensity, leading to a stormy section that seems to relent momentarily before another series of dramatic eruptions. A lively new theme, complete with horn calls, briefly takes over. The music becomes propulsive and exciting in its final moments.

GIUSEPPE VERDIOverture to Giovanna d’Arco

Composed: 1845Duration: 8 minutesInstrumentation: piccolo, flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, strings

Verdi’s seventh opera features a libretto by Temistocle Solera based on Friedrich von Schiller’s play Die Jungfrau von Orleans, which in turn was based loosely on the story of Joan of Arc (with changes – for instance, Joan falls in love with

P R O G R A M N O T E S

Charles VII of France, and dies in battle rather than being burned at the stake). Giovanna d’Arco received its premiere on February 15, 1845 in Milan, and enjoyed brief success in Italy before more or less disappearing from the stage. Modern performances have been relatively few.

The Overture starts quietly and mysteriously, the rumblings quickly building to a passionate series of cymbal-punctuated chords. A repeating figure from the flute, more orchestral energy, and a mysterious transition leads to a lovely melody introduced by the flute, over string pizzicati, and soon taken up and elaborated on by the other woodwinds. String tremolos then herald a lively new theme with a patriotic tone that carries the Overture to its exciting conclusion.

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRAXVI

in Algeri (The Italian Woman in Algiers) had made him Italy’s most famous composer. From 1815 to 1822 he was under contract to compose for opera houses in Naples. He wrote an amazing nineteen operas in those years for Naples and other Italian opera houses, including Otello, Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) and La cenerentola (Cinderella). Soon after completing a tour of Europe in 1822, he settled in Paris for five years, where he wrote his last opera, Guillaume Tell. He retired from opera composition a wealthy man at age 37, having produced 39 operas. In his remaining decades of relative seclusion, he continued to compose sacred works as well as numerous songs, piano miniatures, and chamber pieces dubbed “sins of my old age.”

Overture to La gazza ladra

Composed: 1817Duration: 10 minutesInstrumentation: flute, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, trombone, timpani, percussion, strings

La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie) was one of Rossini’s biggest successes at its first performance on May 31, 1817 at Milan’s La Scala. The opera deals with Ninetta, a servant girl accused of stealing a silver spoon. Just in time to save her life, it is revealed that the spoon had actually been stolen by a pet magpie that wanted to add the piece to her nest. This story derives from a real life tragedy: a young French woman was actually hanged for the bird’s “crime” (a “Magpie Mass” in her memory became an annual tradition in her home village).

Legend has it that the producer of La gazza ladra had to lock Rossini in a room the day before the work’s premiere to force him to finish the overture. As he wrote, Rossini threw each newly-completed page of the score out the window to copyists below. The overture opens with rolls from a pair of side drums that build to a rather playful march theme. A very familiar melody is soon introduced by the oboe. After a huge crescendo, the main themes are reworked in a short, stormy development before they return in their original guise for the overture’s climax.

GIOACCHINO ROSSINIb. February 29, 1792, Pesaro, Italyd. November 13, 1868, Paris, France

The operas of Gioacchino Rossini remain among the most beloved in the repertoire. Rossini

received his first musical training from his musician parents. Soon after graduating from the Liceo Musicale in Bologna he wrote his first complete opera, and by the age of twenty, works like L’Italiana

P R O G R A M N O T E S

ROSSINI

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRA XVII

Argenta Concert SeriesDMITRI ATAPINE & HYEYEON PARK, ARTISTIC DIRECTORS

All concerts take place in Nightingale Concert Hall Program subject to change without notice. Tickets: adult: $30; Student $5. Online. By phone: 775-784-6145. One hour prior to performance at NCH.

www.ArgentaConcerts.org

2016-2017: The Joy of Chamber Music

Thursday, October 6 7:30PM

Wu Han-Setzer-FinckelTrio

Dvořák Trio “Dumky” Schubert Trio No.2

Tuesday, November 8 7:30PM

Dover Quartet

Mozart Quartet K.589 Britten Quartet No.2

Beethoven Quartet Op.59 No.3

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRA XIX

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRAXX

GRAND PATRON $20,000+Anonymous (2)Bretzlaff FoundationCommunity Foundation of

Western NevadaE.L. Cord FoundationThelma B. and Thomas P. Hart

FoundationNevada Arts CouncilArthur and Mae Orvis FoundationNell J. Redfield FoundationHeidemarie Rochlin

PLATINUM BATON $10,000+Arts Consulting GroupCarol Franc Buck FoundationLes Cohen in Memory of Marsha CohenWilliam DouglassLillian and Stephen FrankGrand Sierra ResortMark and Pat MacDonaldKathleen PriebeRosemann Family FoundationGeorge and Ingrid RystTanglewood ProductionsUrsula and Richard TracyJill Winter

GOLD BATON $5,000+Madeline AckleyAtlantis Casino Resort SpaYvonne and Allen BradyCapital Public RadioCity of Reno Arts and

Culture CommissionMarilyn and Darrell CraigKris and Patrick EllingsworthBarbara HallMary Anne and James KidderThe Kennedy FoundationKNPB-TVKUNR-FMCecilia LeePhilip ManwellGail and Jack McAllisterNV EnergyKaren Penner-Johnson and Marc Johnson Cecile and Gordon PetersAnne and Christopher ReamRobert Z. Hawkins FoundationNancy RoseSiena HotelUniversity of Nevada, RenoWells Fargo FoundationRobbi WhippE.L. Wiegand Foundation

SILVER BATON $3,500+Carol Bond Schenk and

Dr. Sheldon SchenkGaia Brown and Lloyd RogersCleta DillardJames InnKathy and Fred JakolatPenelope Kirk and Knute KnudsonTrudy Larson and Ron Luschar

Jim and Jane NicholsCarol Parkhurst Sue and Dieter von HennigChristine and John Worthington

CONDUCTOR’S CIRCLE $2,000+Lynn BremerRobert and Brenda BrownLise DrakeG.E. FoundationSharon and Anthony GenoveseIBM Matching GrantMargaret Lewicki and Ernie GrossmanAnne HowardNancy and Brian KennedyPhyllis and Dr. Stephen LermanPat and Mark MillerStephen Myerson and Sharon ChabrowPaul NorrisJean and Dr. Richard ParkElsi and Richard ReinhardtReno Philharmonic OrchestraShell Matching GrantNancy Simkin and John MariniJohn Ben Snow Memorial TrustKaren Vibe and Karen GoodyAlison Wren

CONCERTMASTER’S CIRCLE $1,500+Linda CavanaghJudith ColeJames and Gail ConkeyCarroll and Jack GardnerNew Music for AmericaMark RichterRachel RosemannAngela and Bill Sell

PATRON $1,000+Classical TahoeLoretta and Cliff BaughmanJames and Gail ConkeyEileen and John EdgcombCatherine and John FarahiBarbara and Robert FoxMarianne and Ronald GibsonMarilyn HadleyCharles HatchMimi Ellis HoganJeane JonesKRNV-TVPeter LenzChris and Parky MayNevada HumanitiesPeppermill Resort Spa and CasinoMarshall PostmanAlberta SchwengberJennifer A. Smith and John ThayerCharles Stout FoundationCathy and Rick TrachokEugene Wait, Jr.

BENEFACTOR $750+Daryl DrakeMonica HoughtonChris MorrisonLois and Joe Parks

SPONSOR $500+Scott Barnes and Yann Ling-BarnesViki Matica and Doug BrewerCarol Franc BuckRoberta and Neal FergusonSusan Holly GallupGE Matching GrantKatherine and Stephen JenkinsAlan LiebmanDonald MelloLois and Joe ParksMignonne and Cal TinkhamJudith and Larry SimcoeMorgan StanleyBridget and Jeff WebsterJames WinnKathy WishartAnn WoodLinda Wyckoff

PARTNER $250+Kim Aldrich and Joe EvansLoretta AmaralJeane BrowneTerry Cox and Beth DaileyPhyllis M. DayNorman FlanaganAllen GardnerChef Bill and Trisha GilbertDavid GoodrichHarrah’s Lake TahoeBeverly HennenVictor HennyNancy HudsonBetty and Jim HulseElla and Edgar KleinerHannah KucharCarol LaubeJames MitchellHarold MorehouseJane and Robert SompsSharon and Jerry SmithJulia and Robert StoddardArlene and George SummerhillSheldon WerberVioletta and Ilia YambolievJanice and Norman Ziomek

FRIEND $150+ArgentaClaire AshkinSharon BasarathEdna BennaBeaujolais BistroBrüka TheatreValerie Cooke and Jamie FeltonBig Horn Olive OilSusan Boskoff and Brad Van WoertPatricia and Brent BoyntonCarol Edmund and Bob BeveridgeRuanne GentryBarbara and Hal GossJohn GreeneCynthia and Thomas HallJudy and Frank HartiganMyna and Fred KarkalikJane LaceyStephanie and Paul Lamboley

• Reflects contributions received from March 1, 2015 to August 1, 2016.• Includes contributions to RCO general fund, RCO Endowment, and in-kind contributions.

T H A N K S T O O U R C O N T R I B U T O R S

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRA XXI

T H A N K S T O O U R C O N T R I B U T O R S

Norm LamontAndrea Lenz and Scott FaulknerElizabeth LenzJudy LockwoodJan and Jim LoverinBarbara McMeenCaryn MeyersElaine MoserCarol Mousel and Larry HydeStuart MurtlandValerie and Stephen NelsonNevada Museum of ArtDavid OverturfCarol and John RaphelPhilip RuderAnita and John SaundersJean SchultzNeila SchumakerGary SchumerSierra Rose QuartetAnne and Don SimoneSharon and Rod SmithTerry and Robert SmithKaren Stout-GardnerUnbound Chamber Music FestivalPaul Ward and Kathy BatesJoyce Yano

INDIVIDUAL $50+Deborah BaileyRosa BerdrowThelma BeyeKathleen and Paul BissingerJan BrandtSandra and Dewitt BrownS. Stolich BrownElinor and David BugliKevin CarmanNancy and Martin ChalifourThe CheeseboardMichael CohenPixie and Carlton CoolidgeCatherine CronkhiteArdell DanielsJohn and Teresa DeanRandall and Kay DeanIvanka DillMary and Bruce DouglasKimberly ElliotJohn EmersonCrystal and Kingston EngKris and Larry EngstromJessica EscobarBarbara and William FeltnerNancy and Harvey FennellWilliam GlaserMelinda and Gerard GibbsGreat Full Gardens Café and EateryMarcia and Chuck GrowdonH. Pope Hamrick, Jr.Patricia and Johnathan HanburyCatherine Hancock Donna and Joseph HarveyJim HeinemeierCharles HollandHot August NightsHigh Sierra CoffeeIt’s All About the MusicJane JohnsonJohnny’s Ristorante ItlaianoTheodore KucharDenise and David LeitnerLinda Mandas

Rachel MaxeyAnne MeierJulie and Richard MooreSallie MoorePierre Mousset-JonesCaryn and Leonard NeidholdLinda NewbergLinda NicollNothing To ItLani and Ralph OelerichRaelynn and Wayne OmelNick PavloffJane RaleyJane Randall and Ronald WolfsonRhapsody SalonKarin and Henry SafritMarsha and Arthur SiegelSqueeze InSan Francisco SymphonySilver Peak Brewery and RestaurantJanet StichtElizabeth and James TenneyTrader Joe’sThe JungleDavid and Darby WalkerHelen WallaceBryan WildmanChristina and Peter WirthWolfdale’s Cuisine Unique RestaurantLindsay YaggiHarriet YoungZozo’s RistoranteDavid Zybert

In Celebration of Angela and Bill Sell’s 25th Wedding AnniversaryRobbi Whipp

In memory of Jeannette ChiapperoLynn BremerMarilyn HadleyJill WinterRobbi Whipp

In memory of Bonnie CodyRobbi Whipp

In memory of Marsha CohenKaren BensonLes CohenPhyllis DayJon GreeneMarilyn HadleyKaren Penner Johnson and Marc JohnsonElizabeth LenzPeggy and David LevinePat and Mark MacDonaldJane and Jim NicholsRaelynn and Wayne OmelNancy RoseIngrid and George RystMarsha and Arthur SiegelKaren Stout-GardnerJill Winter

In memory of Toni de SalvoMarilyn Hadley

In memory of Chris GarosMarilyn Hadley

In memory of Sarah Dixon HornbeckMarilyn Hadley

In memory of Mitzi HultinFifi Day

In memory of Walter KataiMarilyn HadleyLindsay KataiRobbi Whipp

In memory of Vahe KhochayanYvonne and Allen BradyLynn BremerKimberly ElliotCarol Mousel and Larry HydeLinda NicollRobbi WhippJill Winter

In memory of Jack RoseAnnonymousKathleen and Paul BissingerS. Stolich BrownNancy and Martin ChalifourMarsha and Les CohenPixie and Carlton CoolidgeJohn and Teresa DeanCrystal and Kingston EngAndrea Lenz and Scott FaulknerBarbara and William FeltnerNancy and Harvey FennellLillian and Steve FrankMarcia and Chuck GrowdonH. Pope HamrickBarbara HeffnerMimi Ellis HoganMonica HoughtonKaren Penner-Johnson and Marc JohnsonBrian and Nancy KennedyMary Anne and James KidderLori and John McGreevyLinda MandasDonald MelloCarol Mousel and Larry HydeAnne and Christopher ReamNancy RoseIngrid and George RystKarin and Henry SafritJean SchultzSue and Dieter von HennigDarby and David WalkerRobbi WhippJames WinnJill WinterChristine and John Worthington

In memory of Jacquelin SageFifi DayRobbi Whipp

In memory of Cyril WorbyMarilyn HadleyRobbi Whipp

In memory of Hilda WunnerEdna BennaMarilyn HadleyJill Winter

To contribute to the RCO: mail a check to RCO, 925 Riverside Dr. Ste. 5, Reno, NV 89503; call (775) 348-9413; or visit www.renochamberorchestra.org.

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRAXXII

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRA XXIII

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRAXXIV

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S

This program is yours with our compliments, thanks to the businesses whose advertisements are included and whose services to the RCO are cited throughout the program. Please give our business supporters an opportunity to serve you when you next need their products or

services, and be sure to tell them you saw them mentioned in the RCO program!

WE ARE GRATEFUL TO OUR LIFE MEMBERS:Yvonne and Allen BradyLynn BremerSusan CadenaMarsha* and Les CohenCleta and Walter* DillardTrudy LarsonElizabeth and Gilbert* LenzBarbara Long*Nancy and Jack* RoseVera SternToni Tennille and Daryl DragonSue and Dieter von HennigRobbi and Jim* WhippJill M. Winter*In memoriam

PRE-CONCERT TALKSThe RCO invites you to attend pre-concert talks prior to each of this season’s programs. These informative and entertaining presentations start 45 minutes before each of our performances – Saturday at 6:45 p.m. and Sunday at 1:15 p.m. – and take place inside Nightingale Concert Hall. Gerard Gibbs, RCO Executive Director, moderates these informal interviews that feature RCO Music Director Theodore Kuchar and our guest artists. The pre-concert talks provide you an excellent introduction to the music you’ll hear played by the RCO. This program is made possible in part by a grant from Nevada Humanities, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

THE RCO ALSO EXTENDS ITS THANKS TO:

All of the RCO’s great volunteers

Tanglewood Productions for making our archival recordings

RCO photographer Stuart Murtland

Karl Remick and The Magic Explained for maintaining our office computers

The Reno Philharmonic, for sharing its music stands and other equipment for RCO rehearsals.

P L A N N E D G I V I N G

HELP ENSURE THE RCO’S FINANCIAL HEALTHYour investment in the Reno Chamber Orchestra will help ensure continuing funding for our concerts and programs in future years. Including the RCO in your financial and estate planning may also provide you tax advantages and/or a regular income stream.

Your gift can take many forms:• Securities • Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust• Bequest through a will, estate plan, or

family trust• Life Insurance• IRA or retirement plan assets

There are other possibilities as well. Always consult your attorney or tax advisor to discuss any effects your gift will have on your personal tax or estate situation.

If you have already made arrangements concerning the RCO, we would ask you to let us know. Your information will be held in strictest confidence.

For more information, call the RCO at (775) 348-9413.

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRA 3

THE ANNUALNUMBER OF

HEART ATTACKSCOULD TAKE YOUR

BREATH AWAY.

SO COULDJUST ONE

HEART ATTACK.

Shortness of breath and difficulty breathing are just two warning signsof a heart attack. Call 911 if you experience any warning sign. Learn the other signs at americanheart.org or call us at 1-800-AHA-USA1.

© 2002, American Heart Association.

RENO CHAMBER ORCHESTRA4