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
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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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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
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
Visit the event page


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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VSO stocking stuffers!

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Triple Doubles Coming Soon!

The VSO is proud to announce the forthcoming release of Triple Doubles, a recording project spanning three years and starring the VSO, violinist Jaime Laredo, cellist Sharon Robinson, and conductors Sarah Hicks and Troy Peters. The CD features three double concerti written for Jaime and Sharon by composers David Ludwig, Daron Hagen, and Richard Danielpour. The CD is slated for release this November on Bridge Records. Pre-order your copy today! Keep reading!

Masterworks tickets for this Saturday: $25/$9

Rush tickets for this Saturday's Masterworks Opening Night are now available for $25 or $9 for students. Use this code at checkout: mw1rush. GET YOUR TICKETS. Or keep reading for the program.

Jaime Laredo, conductor
Vassily Primakov, piano

SAINT-SAENS Danse macabre
RACHMANINOFF Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
BERLIOZ Symphonie fantastique

The 2011/2012 Masterworks season begins with a Halloween-themed program guaranteed to send chills up your spine! In Saint-Saëns’ amusing Danse macabre, the xylophone portrays dancing skeletons, as Death plays on a violin tuned to a devilish pitch. Our frighteningly talented young piano soloist plays Rachmaninoff’s virtuosic Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, whose 24 variations weave an ever more diabolic spell on the listener. The Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) plainchant melody which appears in the Rhapsody also permeates Berlioz’ most famous work, Symphonie fantastique. The large forces required (8 timpani and 2 tubas, for starters) dramatize the composer’s strange and ghoulish visions, culminating in the wild Witches’ Sabbath finale. Feel free to come in costume! Keep reading!