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Kurt Weill’ s Lost in the Stars with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the world premiere of Giorgio Battistelli’ s opera, Wake for the Birmingham Opera Company.
Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Jonathon studied conducting at the Boston Conservatory of Music and London’ s Royal Academy of Music. In 2023, he was named a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music; an honour reserved for Academy alumni.
Demarre McGill
Demarre McGill
Demarre McGill is a celebrated flutist known for his lyrical expressiveness and technical mastery. Winner of the Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, he has performed as soloist with top orchestras including the Philadelphia, Seattle, and San Francisco Symphonies. He currently serves as Principal Flute of the Seattle Symphony.
In 2025 – 26, McGill appears with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music San Francisco, and several orchestras nationwide. An educator and mentor, he has taught at Aspen Music Festival, Curtis Summerfest, and the Sarasota and Stellenbosch Festivals.
A founding member of the Myriad Trio and McGill / McHale Trio, he champions inclusivity in classical music and is a frequent media presence, including Live from Lincoln Center and Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. McGill studied at Curtis and Juilliard and is a Yamaha Performing Artist.
Carlin Ma
Anthony McGill
Anthony McGill
“ McGill is an extraordinary player, with a quiver of skills and a palette of colors that only buttress what is a singular sensibility toward his instrument. The man is an artist.”— The Washington Post
Clarinetist Anthony McGill, Principal Clarinet of the New York Philharmonic, is one of classical music’ s most celebrated performers and advocates. Hailed by The New York Times for his“ brilliance, penetrating sound and rich character,” McGill was named Musical America’ s 2024 Instrumentalist of the Year and received the 2020 Avery Fisher Prize.
He appears regularly as a soloist with leading orchestras including the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics and the Chicago and Detroit Symphonies. He is a sought-after chamber musician and recording artist, collaborating with the Pacifica Quartet and pianist Gloria Chien on acclaimed albums like American Stories and Here With You.
An advocate for equity in classical music, McGill founded the # TakeTwoKnees movement and collaborates with the Equal Justice Initiative. He directs Juilliard’ s Music Advancement Program and teaches at Curtis. A Curtis graduate himself, McGill serves on several arts organization boards and is a Backun Artist.
Martin Romero
NOTES ON THE PROGRAM
By Heather O ' Donovan
Dmitri Shostakovich
Born: September 25, 1906, in Saint Petersburg, Russia Death: August 9, 1975, in Moscow, Soviet Union
FESTIVE OVERTURE, OP. 96 [ 1954 ]
Dmitri Shostakovich was ten years old when the revolutionary upheavals of 1917 began in his home of Petrograd( formerly, Saint Petersburg; later, Leningrad). That March, mass protests forced Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate the throne; eight months later, in October, Bolshevik forces seized power and established the communist USSR. Amid the years of civil war and authoritarian rule that followed, Shostakovich emerged as one of the most promising young composers in the nascent Soviet Union, a tense society beset by political violence, economic hardship, severe food shortages, and repression.
From the superficial pomp of Shostakovich’ s 1954 Festive Overture— composed to commemorate the 37th anniversary of the October Revolution— one might assume he was aligned with the Party agenda. Certainly, on paper, he was— and often in deed, as well. But the reality of Shostakovich’ s relationship with the regime was far more complex and tragic.
Though widely celebrated after the success of his First Symphony( 1926), Shostakovich saw his fortunes change in the early years of Joseph Stalin’ s Great Purge. In January 1936, Stalin attended a performance of the composer’ s opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. He left before the performance ended. Two days later, the Party-controlled newspaper Pravda published its now infamous review“ Muddle Instead of Music,” denouncing the composer’ s music as“ petty bourgeois […] cheap clowning.” To fall in line would be to artistically shackle himself— but what choice did Shostakovich have when millions were being arrested, exiled to
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