Program notes: Mozart Requiem & Fauré Requiem

This monumental program is presented in celebration of Mozart’s 256th birthday and Robert De Cormier’s 90th birthday, both of which take place in January, 2012. Among all the famous requiems, Fauré’s Requiem stands out for its serenity and soothing gentleness. He composed it, he said, not for a specific occasion but “purely for the pleasure of it.” And pure pleasure it is. The story behind the creation of Mozart’s sublime Requiem has been sensationalized by the movie Amadeus. The reality is plenty dramatic enough: his family was desperate for the commission fee, and Mozart was struggling to finish the work when he died of renal failure. Though the Requiem was completed by a student, its heart-wrenching beauty is quintessential Mozart. The VSO will present this program on Saturday, January 28, at the Flynn Center in Burlington and Sunday, January 29, at the Paramount Theatre in Rutland. Keep reading for the program notes.


2011/2012 Masterworks Series III
Saturday, January 28, 2012, 8:00 p.m.
Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, Burlington
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2011/2012 Sunday Matinee Series II
Sunday, January 29, 2012, 4:00 p.m.
Paramount Theatre, Rutland
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Robert De Cormier, conductor; Jonita Lattimore, soprano; Susan Platts, alto; Richard Clement, tenor; Kevin Deas, bass; VSO Chorus
MOZART Requiem
FAURE Requiem


Requiem, K. 626
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Much ink has been spent on the circumstances surrounding the composition of Mozart's Requiem. All the romantic embellishments including the poisoning of Mozart by rival Salieri and Mozart's conviction that he was writing a requiem for himself at the behest of some messenger of death have been rounded up and deliciously portrayed on stage and screen in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus, (which, not incidentally, precipitated a renewed interest in the performance of the Requiem). These scenarios, as well as the one that has Mozart rehearsing the Requiem on the last day of his life with family friends and bursting into tears during the first few bars of the Lacrymosa, are as specious as they are irresistible. Death was a far more commonplace and less romanticized occurrence in 1791 than today. Mozart and his beloved sister "Nannerl" were the only two of Leopold's seven children who survived to adulthood. Mozart and Constanze had six children, of whom only two lived longer than six months. Any manner of malaise could result in death, and the attitude of the time toward this constant possibility had to be more accepting in order to go on with daily life. As Mozart said in a letter to his ailing father in 1787, "Since death, when you come to think of it, is actually the ultimate purpose of our life, I have got to know this true, best friend of man so well that his image not only no longer frightens me, but calms and comforts me! And I thank God that He has given me the boon of providing an opportunity to get to know Him as the key to our true happiness. I never go to bed without considering that, young as I am, perhaps I shall not see the next day."

In life, Mozart's impoverishment made him only too familiar with the physical and psychological stressors of exhaustion, poor nutrition, and the exigencies of supporting his recently expanded family. With the reversal of his fortune in his last years, no work offered could he refuse. Three commissions came his way in 1791. The first was from actor friend and fellow Freemason Emanuel Schikaneder for an opera in German, The Magic Flute. Work on this had started when the summer brought another commission, this one an "intrigue opera" (La clemenza di Tito) for a celebration in Prague of the coronation of the Austrian emperor Leopold II as King of Bohemia. The third commission came by way of an emissary shortly before the coronation. He offered Mozart an unsigned letter full of flatteries and an inquiry as to whether the composer would consider writing a requiem, and for how much and how soon. With half of the requested amount placed immediately in hand and the balance to be paid on delivery, Mozart felt no need to ask questions about the source.

The mysterious intermediary was Franz Anton Leutgeb, steward of Count Franz Walsegg Stuppach. The Count had lost his wife the previous February, and the requiem was to be in her honor. A music lover, Walsegg had concerts in his home twice a week, and delighted in copying over original scores of other composers and having his guests guess their origin. "Usually we guessed the Count himself, because he did in fact occasionally compose a few trifles; he would smile at that and be pleased that he had (or so he believed) succeeded in mystifying us,” wrote one of his guests.

Mozart worked on the Requiem that summer, interrupted by the need to finish both operas. Falling ill in October at the height of The Magic Flute's popularity, he took to his bed and died of renal failure on December 5, 1791. That he foresaw his own death is given the lie by the fact that the title page of the Requiem autograph bears the date 1792 in his own hand: clearly he had planned to finish the work. In the end, he completed only the Requiem and Kyrie, and sketched the Dies Irae through the Hostias. The widowed Constanze, desperate for income, engaged one of Mozart's pupils to finish the work. Franz Xaver Süssmayer completed the orchestration and wrote the final movements (probably making use of sketches left by his teacher). The work was given to Walsegg, who gave it its first performance in 1793.

-- Hilary Hatch


Requiem, Op. 48
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)

Fauré composed his best-known work, Requiem, in 1887, purely, as he said, for the pleasure of it. The first performance took place at the fashionable church of The Madeleine in Paris where he was choirmaster, on January 16, 1888. The work at that time consisted of five movements, the Introit and Kyrie, Sanctus, Pie Jesu, Agnus Dei, and In Paradisum. It was scored for chamber chorus and an orchestra consisting of solo violin, divided violas, divided cellos, basses, harp, timpani, and organ.

An expanded version which included the Offertory, written in 1889, and the Libera Me, composed as an independent composition as early as 1877, had its first performance in January of 1893. Bassoons, horns, and optional trumpets were added for that performance. A third and final version of the Requiem was published in 1900. This symphonic version for large choir and full orchestra was probably created at the request of the publisher, Julien Hamelle, who felt the piece would be more popular with large forces.

Of all the requiems, from Mozart’s to Britten’s, Fauré’s stands out for its serenity and soothing gentleness. As a choirmaster and organist, Fauré constantly sought to create a new kind of church music. He wanted something other than the operatic bel canto style which was popular in Paris at the time, and apart from the outsized, large-scale Germanic Romantic style which dominated the rest of Europe. The most dramatic moment in the piece is the Dies Irae, Dies Illa (“that day, day of wrath”). Remember the setting by Berlioz with its four brass bands or Verdi with two sets of off-stage trumpets? Fauré limits himself to sixteen bars and just two horns to announce “that day,” not as a separate movement but only as it appears in the Libera Me. Drawing inspiration from the tunes and rhythms of Gregorian chant, he uses subtle gradations in dynamic, color, and harmony to achieve the effects he wants.

In an interview in 1902, Fauré commented: “It has been said that my Requiem does not express the fear of death, and someone has called it a lullaby of death. But it is thus that I see death: a happy deliverance, an aspiration towards happiness above, rather than as a painful experience. The music of Gounod has been criticized for its overinclination towards human tenderness. But his nature predisposed him to feel this way. Is it not necessary to accept the artist’s nature? As to my Requiem, perhaps I have also instinctively sought to escape from what is thought right and proper, after all the years of accompanying burial services on the organ! I know it all by heart. I wanted to write something different.”

I. INTROIT AND KYRIE
Eternal rest grant them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. A hymn, O God, becometh Thee in Sion, and a vow shall be paid to Thee in Jerusalem. O Lord, hear my prayer, all flesh shall come to Thee. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.

II. OFFERTORY
O Lord Jesus Christ, King of Glory, deliver the souls of the departed from the pains of Hell and from the deep pit; save them from the mouth of the lion, nor allow the dark lake to swallow them up, nor darkness to enshroud them. With our prayers, O Lord, we offer a sacrifice of praise; do Thou receive it on behalf of those souls whom we this day commemorate. Grant, O Lord, that they may pass from death to life, which Thou didst promise to Abraham and to his seed. Amen.

III. SANCTUS
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. Glory be to Thee, O Lord, Hosanna in the highest.

IV. PIE JESU
Blessed Jesus, O Lord, grant them rest; grant them eternal rest.

V. AGNUS DEI
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, give them rest. Let perpetual light shine upon them together with Thy saints for Thou art good. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.

VI. LIBERA ME
Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death in that awful day when heaven and earth shall be moved, when Thou shalt come to judge the world by fire. Trembling, I stand before Thee, and I fear the trial that shall be at hand and the wrath to come. That day, a day of wrath, of calamity and misery, a great day and exceeding bitter. Eternal rest grant them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. Deliver me, O Lord.

VII. IN PARADISUM
May the angels receive thee in paradise; at thy coming may the martyrs receive thee, and bring thee into the Holy City Jerusalem. There may the choir of angels receive thee and with Lazarus, once a beggar, may thou have eternal rest.


Jonita Lattimore, soprano

Jonita Lattimore, a lyric soprano of immense vocal range and expressive musicality, has garnered plaudits for her vivid portrayals of roles ranging from Micaela to Jackie O as well as oratorio performances with major orchestras across the United States and abroad. John von Rhein from the Chicago Tribune calls Lattimore’s soprano a “richly upholstered voice with secure line and coloratura.” She “is surely destined for great things.” Her performance in Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with Concertante di Chicago was praised by the same paper for her “dusky low notes and effortless clarion upper range.” Her latest CD, Only Heaven, a collaboration of five singers, (PS Classics) was called “the most distinctive music heard all season” (USA Today), producing “spine chills and teary eyes” (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram).

Lattimore made her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut in Kurt Weill’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, and was also seen on Lyric’s stage as Micaela in Bizet’s Carmen. She recently performed the role of Countess Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro with Tulsa Opera, and debuted in the title role in the world premiere and recording of James Niblock’s Ruth at Blue Lake Fine Arts Festival. With Houston Grand Opera she appeared as Marguerite in Faust, First Lady in Die Zauberflöte, and presented the world premieres of Harvey Milk, The Book of the Tibetan Dead, and Jackie O, which was recorded on Decca. She made her Paris debut at the Bastille Opera as Serena in Porgy and Bess.

2011/12 offers returns to the Orequesta Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and the Mozart Requiem with both Vermont Symphony and Louisiana Philharmonic. Among the 2010/11 highlights figured Haydn’s Paukenmesse with the Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico and concerts with the Charlotte Symphony. The 2009/10 season included a debut with Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico and returns to the Houston Symphony, Huntsville Symphony, Grant Park Music Festival and Chicago Sinfonietta. During the 2008-09 season, Lattimore sang Serena in the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of Porgy and Bess, the Fauré Requiem with Eugene Symphony and Verdi’s Requiem with the Virginia and Colorado symphonies. During the summer, she returned once again to the Grant Park Music Festival, this time in Torke’s Plans.

An artist profile of Jonita Lattimore was aired on Artbeat Chicago, an arts television program on WTTW-Chicago’s Public Broadcast System entitled Home Grown Diva; and she is featured on WTTW’s Opera Philes, a program of favorite opera arias and ensembles. She is the soprano soloist in Robert Avalon’s Sextet de Julia de Burgos, recorded on Centaur.


Susan Platts, alto

British-born Canadian mezzo-soprano Susan Platts brings a uniquely rich and wide-ranging voice to concert and recital repertoire for alto and mezzo-soprano. She is particularly esteemed for her interpretations of the Mahler symphonies and song cycles.

In May of 2004, as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, world-renowned soprano Jessye Norman chose Ms Platts as her protégée from 26 international candidates, and has continued to mentor her ever since. With the generous support of Rolex, Ms. Platts recently commissioned a work for mezzo-soprano and orchestra from celebrated Canadian composer Marjan Mozetich: Under the Watchful Sky, comprised of three songs using ancient Chinese texts from Shi Jing (“The Book of Songs”) that explore the universal passions and tribulations of humankind, was premiered by the Québec Symphony under Yoav Talmi in November 2010.

Ms. Platts has performed at Teatro alla Scala, Teatro di San Carlo, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center as well as with the Philadelphia, CBC Radio, Cleveland and Minnesota Orchestras, Orchestre de Paris, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Montreal, Toronto, American, Detroit, Milwaukee and Houston Symphonies, Les Violons du Roy, Los Angeles and St. Paul Chamber Orchestras. She has collaborated with many conductors including Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Roberto Abbado, Leon Botstein, Sir Andrew Davis, Andreas Delfs, Christoph Eschenbach, Jane Glover, Eliahu Inbal, Jeffrey Kahane, Bernard Labadie, Kent Nagano, Peter Oundjian, Itzhak Perlman, Bramwell Tovey, Osmo Vänska and Pinchas Zuckerman. Ms Platts has appeared on many distinguished art-song series including twice for both the Vocal Arts Society at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and Ladies Morning Musical Club in Montreal, and both the Frick Collection on Lincoln Center “Art of the Song” series in New York City.

Ms. Platts has recorded Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde for Fontec Records with Gary Bertini conducting the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, a CD of dramatic sacred art songs with pianist Dalton Baldwin, Gustav Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Smithsonian Chamber Players and Santa Fe Pro Musica for Dorian Records and Brahms Zwei Gesänge with Steven Dann and Lambert Orkis on the ATMA label. Her first solo disc of songs by Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms on the ATMA label enjoyed considerable critical acclaim.


Richard Clement, tenor

Grammy-winning American tenor Richard Clement has performed with most of America’s major orchestras and music directors, bringing tonal beauty and superb musicality to repertoire from the baroque to the contemporary. He recently earned particular acclaim for the title role of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius with the North Carolina Symphony and Sacramento Choral Arts Society and Orchestra. In addition he premiered--and recorded--Theofanides' The Here and Now with Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony, including performances in Atlanta and at New York’s Carnegie Hall (he has also sung Messiah and concert performances of John Adams’ Doctor Atomic with them). Among the most in-demand tenors for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, invitations include the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; New Jersey, Milwaukee, San Antonio, Oregon, Memphis, San Diego, Baltimore, Nashville, Phoenix, Colorado and Toledo Symphonies. He sang Elijah with the Memphis and Charlotte Symphonies; the Verdi Requiem with the Santa Rosa and New Jersey Symphonies and Chautauqua Music Festival Orchestra; Beethoven's Missa solemnis with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and National Arts Centre Orchestra; and Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with the Colorado and Puerto Rico Symphonies. In addition Mr. Clement has performed Belmonte in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony; Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with Jeffrey Kahane and the Colorado Symphony; Orff’s Carmina Burana with Neeme Järvi and the Detroit Symphony, and two Mozart programs with Boston’s Händel & Haydn Society under Grant Llewellyn. He also sang Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht and Second Symphony with Kurt Masur and the Israel Philharmonic; Toch’s Cantata of the Bitter Herbs with the Czech Philharmonic; the Mozart Requiem with the Saint Louis and Delaware Symphonies; Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony; Kernis’ Millenium Symphony with the Minnesota Orchestra; Tippett’s A Child of Our Time with Jeffrey Kahane and the Santa Rosa Symphony; The Bells with Leon Botstein and the American Symphony in Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall; Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ and Beethoven’s Missa solemnis with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has been guest soloist with the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras; Houston, Toronto, San Francisco and Cincinnati Symphonies, and collaborated with such conductors as Wolfgang Sawallisch, Jesús López-Cobos, Bobby McFerrin, Daniel Harding, Christopher Hogwood, Carlo Rizzi, John Mauceri, Marin Alsop, Hugh Wolff and James Conlon.

Festival engagements include Tanglewood (concert performance of Act III of Verdi’s Falstaff), Beethoven #9 at both Grant Park and the Hollywood Bowl, and the Bach B Minor Mass with Seiji Ozawa at Japan’s Saito Kinen Festival.

Mr. Clement’s considerable operatic credentials include Pedrillo in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Sir Colin Davis and the New York Philharmonic; Tamino in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at Belgium’s De Vlaamse Opera and with the Colorado Symphony. At the Vancouver Opera his roles include Nanki-Poo (The Mikado), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Little Bat (Susannah) and Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni); Ernesto (Don Pasquale) at Glimmerglass Opera; Vanya (Katya Kabanova) and To-No-Chujo (Tale of the Genji) at Opera Theater of St. Louis; Belmonte (Entführung) with the Boston Baroque; Lensky (Eugen Onegin) and Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore) at Opera Festival of New Jersey; Candide, Lockwood (Wuthering Heights) and Fenton (Falstaff) at Boston Lyric Opera; and Albert Herring with the Atlanta Opera.

Mr. Clement studied voice at Georgia State University and the Cincinnati Conservatory, where he received his Master of Music degree. He was a Tanglewood Music Festival Fellow, has been a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio and was a recipient of the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Jacobson Study Grant. Recordings include Britten’s War Requiem with the Washington Choral Society, Bartók’s Cantata Profana with the Atlanta Symphony (both Grammy winners) and Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame. Mr. Clement is currently on staff as a visiting lecturer at Atlanta's Georgia State University.


Kevin Deas, bass

Kevin Deas has gained international acclaim as one of America’s leading basses. Lauded for his “burnished sound, clarity of diction and sincerity of expression” and “fervent intensity” by Chicago Tribune critic John von Rhein, Deas has been variously called “exemplary” (Denver Post), “especially fine” (Washington Post) and possessing “a resourceful range of expression” (The Cincinnati Enquirer). He is perhaps most acclaimed for his signature portrayal of the title role in Porgy and Bess, having sung it with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco, Atlanta, San Diego, Utah, Houston, Baltimore and Montreal symphonies and the Ravinia and Saratoga festivals.

2011/12 brings repeat visits to the National Philharmonic, return engagements with Boston Baroque, Musica Sacra, Oratorio Society of New York and Princeton Pro Musica, as well as the Requiem by both Fauré and Mozart with the Vermont Symphony and a Dvorak program with the Buffalo Philharmonic and North Carolina Symphony.

Deas’ 2010/11 season highlights consisted of appearances with the Calgary Philharmonic in Porgy and Bess, Boston Baroque with Messiah, a Richmond Symphony Beethoven Symphony No. 9, St. John Passion at the Winter Park Festival, Philip Glass’ Passion of Ramakrishna with Pacific Symphony, Paukenmesse with Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the National Symphony of Costa Rica on occasion of the orchestra’s 70th anniversary.

Other recent highlights include Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony under the baton of Daniel Barenboim with Filarmonica della Scala in Accra celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of Ghana, Copland’s Old American Songs and Mozart's Marriage of Figaro with the Chicago Symphony, Messiah with the Cleveland Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic and Handel & Haydn Society, an opening performance at the Newport Jazz Festival with the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Colorado Symphony and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and performances of Brubeck’s To Hope! in Salzburg and Vienna. He also sang at Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival and Carnegie Hall, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius with the Chicago Symphony and Barenboim, Mozart’s Requiem with the Atlanta Symphony, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas with the Houston Symphony.

A strong proponent of contemporary music, Kevin Deas was heard at Italy’s Spoleto Festival in a new production of Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors in honor of the composer's eighty-fifth birthday, videotaped for worldwide release. His 20-year collaboration with Dave Brubeck have taken him to Salzburg, Vienna and Moscow in To Hope! and his Gates of Justice were presented in a gala performance in New York during the 95/96 season. He also performed Tippet's Child of our Time with the Vancouver Symphony and in 1992 debuted with the Chicago Symphony in a concert version of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X by Anthony Davis, later repeated in New York and recorded.

Kevin Deas’ list of recordings is as varied as it is impressive: He has recorded for Decca/London Die Meistersinger with the Chicago Symphony under the late Sir Georg Solti and Varèse's Ecuatorial with the ASKO Ensemble under the baton of Ricardo Chailly. Other releases include Bach's B minor Mass and Handel's Acis & Galatea on Vox Classics and Dave Brubeck's To Hope! with the Cathedral Choral Society on the Telarc label.

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Farmers' Night: a FREE concert on January 25

World-renowned conductor Andrew Massey leads the VSO in a Farmers' Night program that includes music of Gluck, Fauré, Bach, and Wagner. VSO English horn Ann Greenawalt and principal trumpet Mark Emery are featured in Copland’s popular Quiet City, and there is a part for the audience in Purcell’s clever “Fantasia upon One Note.” This delightful concert is part of the Vermont State House Farmers' Night series. These free concerts are presented in the Legislative Chambers. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the seats are offered on a first-come, first-served basis, so arrive early. Keep reading for the program and some biographical notes.

David M. Wilson Memorial Farmers' Night Concert
Wednesday, January 25
Doors at 6:30 p.m.
Concert at 7:30 p.m.
Free and open to the public

Andrew Massey, conductor
Ann Greenawalt, English horn
Mark Emery, trumpet

GLUCK Overture to Orpheus
FAURE Nocturne from Shylock, Op. 57
COPLAND Quiet City
J.S. BACH Air on the G String
PURCELL Fantasia upon One Note
WAGNER Siegfried Idyll

Andrew Massey lives in Montgomery Center, VT, although his musical activities take him far and wide. Last summer he was conducting the Indonesian National Symphony Orchestra in Jakarta, also visiting Bali and Singapore. He recently conducted the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong on the first tour by a Chinese Orchestra to Italy, and last year directed a concert of new Icelandic music in Reykjavik; a concert at which every composer featured was both alive and present.

Andrew grew up in England, studying at Oxford University, composing and conducting, until he moved to the USA in 1978 to become Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra under Lorin Maazel. Since then he has been Associate Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and New Orleans Symphony, Resident Conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony, and Music Director of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Fresno Philharmonic, Toledo Symphony, Oregon Mozart Players, Racine Symphony, and the Michigan Chamber Orchestra. He has guest conducted widely, and appeared with soloists such as Rostropovich, Ella Fitzgerald, Viktoria Mullova, Gil Shaham, Claudio Arrau, Ivan Moravec, Ida Haendel, Hilary Hahn.

He conducted the Vermont Symphony first in 2007, and is delighted to return. In Vermont, he also leads the orchestra at Middlebury College, appears this season with the Burlington Chamber Orchestra, and directed a memorial concert on 9/11/2011 with the Green Mountain Mahler Festival, featuring Mahler’s second symphony, and his own memorial composition Early Mourning.

The violin concerto, Another Spring, composed as a companion piece for Vivaldi, was performed recently in Wisconsin, and he has several compositions in the pipeline, along with essays on the hidden message of Britten’s War Requiem, and on music by Webern, Mahler, and Beethoven.

Like so many in Vermont, he lives hidden away in the hills, listening to the wind move through the forest, hearing the Hermit thrush, delighted to be able to drive to the airport encountering no traffic lights. His wife, Sabra, heads the Mountain Fiber Folk Cooperative, and his grown children live in Florida and England.


Ann Greenawalt, oboe, holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in performance from the Juilliard School. At Juilliard she was fortunate to have the opportunity to study English horn with Thomas Stacy, principal English horn with the New York Philharmonic. In 1989 she became a member of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra when she won the contracted English horn position. In addition, she teaches privately, and performs with Opera North and the Burlington Choral Society. Since moving to Vermont in 1984, she has also played with the Hanover Chamber Orchestra, the Vermont Mozart Festival, and the New England Bach Festival. Ann works part-time at Ellis Music Company, a business founded by her father-in-law, Richard Ellis. She resides in South Royalton, Vermont with her husband, trumpeter David Ellis, and has two grown children, Emily and Miles.



Mark Emery, trumpet, grew up in California and Oregon. After hearing a brass quintet perform at his school, he fell in love with the trumpet, and began learning how to read music while singing hymns in church. He earned his B.M. from Portland State University in 1998.

Mark is a graduate of New England Conservatory and the Tanglewood Music Center, where he received the "Roger Voisin Trumpet Award." In addition to playing principal trumpet with Vermont Symphony and Opera North in Lebanon, NH, Mark has performed with National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, has toured and recorded with the Boston Pops Orchestra under Keith Lockhart, and has performed extensively with the Boston Symphony, including six Carnegie Hall performances and dozens of concerts at Tanglewood under the greatest conductors in the world. Mark can be heard on recordings by Vermont Symphony, Boston Pops, Oregon Symphony, Callithumpian New Music Consort, Huntington Brass, and Innovata Brass.

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Jill and the Beanstalk

Holiday Pops: Fun and Games is our festive three-concert tour to Barre, Burlington, and Rutland, December 9-11. The program -- in addition to pieces showcasing the youthful side of the season -- features a composition by a Vermont student. Her name is Eileen Kocherlakota (pictured) and her piece is a musical fractured fairy tale, Jill and the Beanstalk. Keep reading for a full description of the piece, Eileen's bio, and the complete tour schedule.

Eileen Kocherlakota is 14 years old, and a freshman at Burlington High School. Music has been a big part of her life ever since she started playing violin when she was 5 years old. Currently she studies violin with Evelyn Read and plays in the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association (VYOA). She started composing with the Vermont MIDI Project (VMP) when she was in fourth grade. She recently took music theory lessons with Erik Nielson and completed the theory courses offered by VYOA. She would like to thank Ms. Greene and Ms. Nolan, her music teachers in elementary and middle school, who fostered her interest in composition. She thanks Erik Nielsen, Matt Podd, and Zach Sheets, all composer mentors with the Vermont MIDI Project and Sandi MacLeod, Executive Director of VMP. She especially thanks her family for supporting her all the way.

The Vermont MIDI Project is a non-profit organization supporting young composers through a variety of technology tools. VMP enlists professional composers to provide feedback to students in an online mentoring website and supports teachers in music composition. Live performance opportunities of student compositions are offered through the Opus concerts and with organizations such as the VSO. Visit the website for more information.

Jill and the Beanstalk is a fractured fairy tale based on “Jack and the Beanstalk.” This updated rendition is told through music with narration throughout the piece. It is like another piece Eileen Kocherlakota wrote, based on the fairytale, ”Cinderella,” which was for a small ensemble of brass, piano and percussion. In Jill and the Beanstalk, similar to Peter and the Wolf, different instruments representing different characters. Jill’s theme is played by clarinets, the witch trading beans is represented by violins 1 and 2, the giantess’ dancing is numbly highlighted with flutes and a piccolo, and the giant comes to life with timpani and low brass. Please enjoy!

2011 Holiday Pops I: "Fun & Games"
The National Life Group Holiday Pops Concert
Friday, December 9, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Barre Opera House, Barre
Anthony Princiotti, conductor
Visit the event page


2011 Holiday Pops II: "Fun & Games"
Saturday, December 10, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, Burlington
Anthony Princiotti, conductor
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2011/2012 Sunday Matinee Series I/2011 Holiday Pops III
Sunday, December 11, 2011, 3:00 p.m.
Paramount Theatre, Rutland
Anthony Princiotti, conductor
Holiday Pops: Fun and Games
Visit the event page Keep reading!

Carnival of the Animals a huge success!

Our orchestral youth concert this week at the Flynn Center in Burlington was a huge hit! Carnival of the Animals surprised and delighted over 1200 schoolchildren from around the state, some coming from as far as Windsor! Student Charles Wu wowed the audience with both his piano AND saxophone skills, the artist mural backdrop was stunning, and Champlain Elementary took home the Symphony Bear. The purpose of the VSO's SymphonyKids Educational Outreach Programs is to explore the delights of classical music with Vermont school children, and to inspire them with a lifelong enthusiasm for music through a variety of high-quality, educational, and FUN programs. In 2010/2011 SymphonyKids reached 30,223 students or 53% of the statewide K-8 population. This impressive statistic is made up of 248 presentations serving 199 schools in 166 towns (66% of the 251 towns in Vermont, not all of which have schools). Keep reading for upcoming SymphonyKids programs around the state.

DrumShtick Percussion Trio
December 8, 2011
Bennington Elementary 9:15 AM
Monument Elementary (Bennington) 11 AM
North Bennington Graded School 1:30 PM

Fanfare Brass Trio
December 16, 2011
Weybrigde Elementary 9 AM
Ripton Central School 10:45 AM
Beeman Elementary (New Haven) 12:45 PM

Symphony Reel String Trio
January 6, 2012
Thatcher Brook Elementary (Waterbury) 9 & 10 AM
Moretown Elementary 1 PM

Musical Petting Zoo
January 9, 2012
Waterville Elementary Time TBA
Eden Elementary Time TBA

Ah! Cappella Vocal Quartet
January 20, 2012
Sheldon Elementary 9 AM
Highgate Elementary 10:15 AM
Fairfield Elementary 1 PM Keep reading!

We're giving away free tickets on Facebook today!

Get a friend to like our page and you BOTH win free tickets. Or, if you are a new fan, you get free tickets. Visit our Facebook page for details. If you miss out on the contest, do not despair, $25 rush tickets are still available through FlynnTix. Simply use the following discount code during checkout: prokofiev. Keep reading for the concert program.

Masterworks Series II
Saturday, December 3, 8 PM
Anthony Princiotti, conductor
Katherine Winterstein, violin

BEETHOVEN Coriolan Overture
PROKOFIEV Violin Concerto No. 2
SCHUMANN Symphony No. 2

Coriolanus and Beethoven were both passionate, imperious, and iron-willed—so it’s no surprise that the Coriolan Overture is powerful music! Concertmaster Katherine Winterstein is featured in Sergei Prokofiev’s second concerto, a piece which uses Russian-inspired melodic elements--brilliantly orchestrated--and displays the composer’s trademark ironic sense of humor. Schumann’s second symphony was written as he continued to wrestle with mental illness. His staunch wife Clara championed her beloved genius’s progress as he wrote music that is marked with “fire, imagination, freshness, and originality.”
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2011 VSO Brass Quintet and Counterpoint Holiday Concert Tickets Available TODAY*!

Tickets are now available for our 2011 VSO Brass Quintet and Counterpoint Holiday Concerts, happening in five communities around the state: Warren, Jay, Grafton, Manchester, and Brandon. These concerts are presented in intimate spaces and feature the twelve-member Counterpoint chorus and the VSO Brass Quintet joining forces to regale audiences with festive tunes sure to imbue holiday spirit. Conductor Nathaniel G. Lew leads in a program featuring works fit for the season. Keep reading for the complete schedule. Tickets for these concerts go fast, so be sure to secure your seats today.


*Please note tickets for the Grafton concert will not be available until Saturday, December 3.

2011 VSO Brass Quintet and Counterpoint Holiday Concerts
Thursday, December 15, 7:30 p.m.
Warren United Church, Warren
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2011 VSO Brass Quintet and Counterpoint Holiday Concerts
Friday, December 16, 7:30 p.m.
International Room at Jay Peak Resort, Jay
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2011 VSO Brass Quintet and Counterpoint Holiday Concerts
Saturday, December 17, 5:00 p.m.
The White Church, Grafton
*Please note tickets for the Grafton concert will not be available until Saturday, December 3.
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2011 VSO Brass Quintet and Counterpoint Holiday Concerts
Sunday, December 18, 4:00 p.m.
First Congregational Church, Manchester
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2011 VSO Brass Quintet and Counterpoint Holiday Concerts
Monday, December 19, 7:00 p.m.
Brandon Congregational Church, Brandon
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2011 Holiday Pops: Fun and Games

Apart from the eggnog…Christmas IS for kids! Celebrate Christmas 2011 with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra as we take a look at the youthful side of the holiday. Music that reflects a child’s sense of wonder and delight includes Bizet’s “Children’s Games,” the March of the Toys from Babes in Toyland, excerpts from Hansel & Gretel, and of course the Little Drummer Boy. After the Nutcracker’s Mouse King does battle with the tin soldiers, we debut a fractured fairy tale composed by a Vermont teenager. “Sleighride” and an audience singalong are musical stocking stuffers! Keep reading for the program, complete schedule and links to the individual events. Happy Holidays from the VSO!

Anthony Princiotti, conductor

ANDERSON Sleighride
BIZET Jeux d’enfants (Children’s Games)
EILEEN KOCHERLAKOTA Jill and the Beanstalk
TCHAIKOVSKY Excerpts from The Nutcracker
HUMPERDINCK Hansel and Gretel
DAVIS, arr. Wright Little Drummer Boy (Carol of the Drum)
TRADITIONAL Christmas Pop Singalong
SOUSA, arr. Smith Jingle Bells Forever

2011 Holiday Pops I: "Fun & Games"
The National Life Group Holiday Pops Concert
Friday, December 9, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Barre Opera House, Barre
Anthony Princiotti, conductor
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2011 Holiday Pops II: "Fun & Games"
Saturday, December 10, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, Burlington
Anthony Princiotti, conductor
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2011/2012 Sunday Matinee Series I/2011 Holiday Pops III
Sunday, December 11, 2011, 3:00 p.m.
Paramount Theatre, Rutland
Anthony Princiotti, conductor
Holiday Pops: Fun and Games
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Program notes: December 3

The VSO will present the third installment of its Masterworks Series at the Flynn Center in Burlington on Saturday, December 3, with a program conducted by Anthony Princiotti and featuring Concertmistress Katherine Winterstein playing Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2. Other works on the program include Beethoven's Coriolan Overture and Schumann's Symphony No. 2. Incidentally, these pieces are opuses 63, 62, and 61, respectively. We didn't plan that. Keep reading for the program notes or click here to purchase tickets. You can also learn more on our website.



Coriolan Overture, Op. 62
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

The Coriolanus of this work is the hero not of the Shakespeare play but of a tragedy by Heinrich von Collin, a Viennese dramatist of the day. Premiered in Vienna in 1802, the play was very successful, mainly due to the actors. By the time Beethoven wrote his overture, in 1807, Coriolan was seldom produced, and his composition came to be accepted almost from the start as a concert overture. Coriolanus, a Roman general of proud and reckless bravery, is exiled for his arrogant contempt towards the plebeians. In revenge, he joins Rome’s enemies, the Volscians, and leads them in an attack on his native city. Although he scorns many peace emissaries, his resolution finally waivers when his wife and son are sent to plead with him. In Collin’s version of the story, he yields to their pleas and then commits suicide. Beethoven did not attempt to outline the entire play; rather, he seized upon the critical moment of decision in the plot and translated it into music of power and nobility. Some commentators have noted that Coriolanus’ character—passionate, imperious, and iron-willed—had much in common with the composer’s.


Violin Concerto No. 2 in g minor, Op. 63
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)

At the age of 12, Prokofiev entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory, producing at his examination a portfolio of compositions including four operas, two sonatas, a symphony, and various piano pieces. He was immediately accepted to study under Liadov and Rimsky-Korsakov. By 1914, at the close of his student days, the virtuoso pianist had already written two of his five piano concertos and his first violin concerto.

Prokofiev left his native Russia as the events of the Revolution unfolded, traveling through Japan and arriving in the United States in 1918. Meeting with a less-than enthusiastic reception in America, he left in disgust and settled in Paris. Prokofiev visited Russia in 1927, and returned for good in 1932. It was Stravinsky’s dry observation that Prokofiev’s return to his homeland was “a sacrifice to the bitch goddess, and nothing else. He had no success in the United States or Europe for several seasons, and while his visit to Russia had been a triumph…he was politically naïve…and when he finally understood his position there, it was too late.”

The “position” which Stravinsky mentioned referred to the widely-held belief that Stalinism (and its demand for music that glorified the Soviet worker) was responsible for the paralysis of creative urges in Russian composers. During the 1930s, Shostakovich and many others would be severely criticized by Stalin, and revolutionary Russia would turn out banal and uniform music born of fear. But the 1930s proved to be one of the most productive periods of Prokofiev’s life, and when he was asked in 1937 how it was that he could live and work under Soviet totalitarianism, he replied:

“I care nothing for politics—I’m a composer first and last. Any government that lets me write my music in peace, publishes everything I compose before the ink is dry, and performs every note that comes from my pen, is all right with me. In Europe we all have to fish for performances, cajole conductors and theater directors; in Russia they come to me—I can hardly keep up with the demand. What’s more, I have a comfortable flat in Moscow, a delightful dacha in the country, and a brand-new car. My boys go to a fine English school in Moscow….”

How do we account for Prokofiev’s seeming immunity in the face of crushing political pressures? It appears that the composer did not remain untouched by outside influences, but that much of what gave his music its personal stamp could remain with fewer modifications that required of other composers. His two violin concertos, written some 30 years apart, treat the solo instrument in essentially the same way. Each displays his ironic sense of humor, and his habit, especially in lyrical passages, of abruptly modulating to distant keys, or “tonal dislocation,” as some Soviet critics names it. Above all, each features the brilliant orchestration which gives Prokofiev’s music its characteristic stamp.

The concerto is in three movements:

I. Allegro moderato. The opening theme is heard in unaccompanied violin, and with the entrance of the orchestra we hear the first example of the abrupt modulation (from the opening g minor to b minor) that is a hallmark of Prokofiev. A second theme undergoes a like “dislocation,” and the two themes are used in the development.

II. Andante assai. Over pizzicato strings the solo violin sings the lyrical these which forms the basic material of the movement; once again, the harmonic twists and deft orchestration are unmistakably characteristic. A last recollection of the refrain is heard in the French horn.

III. Allegro ben marcato. A flash of the old Prokofiev returns with the incisive rhythms of the rondo finale. Bold effects and virtuoso solo writing stand out against the sparse scoring for the orchestra.


Symphony No. 2 in C Major
Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856)


Even in a time when Romantic excess excused a great deal of eccentric behavior, Schumann's family profile gave every indication that mental instability was part of his inheritance. His father August, like Robert shy and retiring, was a bookseller who enjoyed nothing more than sitting alone in his study smoking pipe after pipe while writing romantic novels. It was said that he had a "nervous disorder" and was quite deranged by the time of his death when Schumann was sixteen. Schumann's sister was mentally and physically challenged, and committed suicide at the age of nineteen. It is no wonder that poor Robert grew up with the fear (tragically realized) that he, too, would become insane.

Throughout his youth, Schumann certainly gave every indication of being, at the least, "high-strung.” As a child he would creep to the piano in the middle of the night, where playing a series of chords would move him to bitter tears. The work of the Romantic writer Jean Paul was his gospel, and Schumann was the truest believer. At eighteen, he wrote to a friend: "If everybody read Jean Paul we should be better but more unhappy. Sometimes he almost clouds my mind, but the rainbow of peace and the natural strength of man bring sweet tears, and the heart comes through its ordeal marvelously purified and softened." The influence of Paul moved Schumann to create, and he tried both literature and composition at the piano. In the words of biographer Brion, "Nourished by the poets of that wonderful period, Schumann's work might well be regarded as a musical transcription of their work; but it went so much further, to become the supreme product of the German Romantic soul, revealing its genius at its most intense and most perfect." While Schumann played with his muses, the one person in the family who seemed to be fully functioning in her role was busy planning Robert's future; thus was Schumann sent by his mother to Leipzig to study law.

Some psychologists have expressed the belief that madness is an essential aspect of genius and that poetry, art and music are the external expressions of delusions. Regardless, the line between visionary and lunatic is a fine one, as the unfortunate Schumann was to demonstrate. Once he arrived in Leipzig, the active music world there was for him an irresistible magnet; law studies went out the window, and Schumann moved in with piano teacher Friedrich Wieck to study, practice and compose. His career as a pianist was cut short when Schumann invented a contraption to strengthen an injured finger and ended up rendering two fingers of his right hand all but useless. Undaunted, he moved directly into composing, an activity for which he was scantily trained. Lack of training was and never would be the slightest obstacle to Schumann's visions for music. He began to write whatever appealed to him, and started his own music magazine, the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. Through the forum of music criticism Schumann was to offer some of his most enduring contributions to music, from the "discovery " of Chopin to the nurturing of Brahms.

And then, of course, there was Clara. Clara Wieck was a prodigious talent who would evolve into one of the music world's great artists. But when Robert Schumann asked for her hand, she was his teacher's most promising pupil, and the teacher's eighteen-year-old daughter as well--two good reasons for Friedrich Wieck to carefully appraise the unsuccessful, radical idealist and find him a poor match for Clara. In spite of her father's every effort, the two were not to be kept apart and married in 1840 without his permission.

The first months of marriage were filled with the flush of youthful enthusiasm, and Schumann strove to make his new bride happy. One of her most ardent desires was that he be a symphonist..."It would be best if he composed for orchestra. His imagination cannot find sufficient scope on the piano...His compositions are all orchestral in feeling...My highest wish is that he should compose for orchestra--that is his field. May I bring him to it!" For all her brilliance, love clouded Clara's eyes when it came to Robert's strengths and weaknesses. He did not understand the instruments of the orchestra the way he did the piano, and was not truly equipped to translate the beauty of his ideas through an orchestral palette. His symphonies endure, flawed though they may be, as tribute to the freshness and exuberance of his genius.

Schumann's First Symphony was written in his first year of marriage during a period of creative energy and abundant optimism, and the next few years saw several efforts at orchestral works. In 1843 Schumann joined Mendelssohn as a teacher of piano, composition, and score reading at the newly founded Conservatory in Leipzig, and the following year saw a joint concert tour in Russia for Clara and Schumann. Inexorably, though, the dark forces of Schumann's mental illness had begun to manifest themselves. Ten years earlier Schumann had suffered a brush with melancholy, and feared for his sanity. He made no secret of his instability to Clara, who may well have seen herself as a much-needed guide through life for her beloved genius; in fact, he referred to her as his "right hand.” In 1844, depression, memory lapses, and finally a complete breakdown forced Schumann to give up all work. At the suggestion of a physician, they moved to the familiarity and quiet of Dresden, where Schumann began wrestling with his demons in the arena of his Second Symphony.

"I sketched it when I was still in a state of physical suffering; nay, I may say it was, so to speak, the resistance of the spirit which exercised a visible influence here, and through which I sought to contend with my bodily state." This sketch came together in one week in December, but the completion of the work struggled through ups and downs until October 1846, all the while Clara championing her Robert: "Where does he get all his fire, his imagination, his freshness, his originality? One asks that again and again, and one cannot but say that he is one of the elect, to be gifted with such creative power." Between the premiere of the work by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Mendelssohn on November 5, 1846 and its repetition eleven days later, Schumann made many alterations to his voicing and orchestration, most notably the addition of three trombones to the score.

The work, Schumann's longest symphony, is in four movements:

I. Sostenuto assai - Allegro ma non troppo - A trumpet motto opens the work, a "call to arms" which identifies the struggle at hand and recurs throughout the movement. The tempo increases, and the music illustrates Schumann's words: "The first movement is full of...struggle and is very capricious and refractory."

II. Scherzo: Allegro vivace - It was this scherzo which provided Schumann with a lesson in orchestration from Mendelssohn. Opening with a fiery whirling theme in the violins, Schumann continued to use the violins in the first trio section until Mendelssohn suggested the use of the naturally contrasting woodwinds. A second trio section is followed by a reprise of the opening material in combination with the fanfare of the very beginning of the Symphony.

III. Adagio espressivo - This is some of the most beloved of Schumann's orchestral writing, a beautiful melody heard first in the violins, then shared with oboe and the "melancholy bassoon". A fugal subject provides contrast, and the movement ends with the opening theme in major.

IV. Allegro molto vivace - The vigor of the closing movement is a reflection of Schumann's return to health: "In the finale, I first began to feel like myself again; and indeed, I was much better after I had completed the work." Recollections of the Adagio theme are heard, and the trumpet motto returns near the end, at first soft and then victorious.

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