ANDRÉ WATTS RETURNS FOR RACH 2
Beethoven, Schubert, Debussy, Chopin and Gershwin.
Watts received a 2011 National Medal of Arts and, in June 2006, he was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame. He is also the recipient of the 1988 Avery Fisher Prize. At age 26, Watts was the youngest person ever to receive an honorary doctorate from Yale University, and he has since received numerous honors from highly respected schools including the University of Pennsylvania, Brandeis University, The Juilliard School of Music and his alma mater, the Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University.
Watts was appointed to the Jack I. and Dora B. Hamlin Endowed Chair in Music at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in 2004 and, in 2017, was named a Distinguished Professor, the highest academic rank the University bestows upon its faculty.
André Watts’ Hamburg Steinway piano is provided by Mary Schwendeman Concert Service.
André Watts last appeared with the BSO in February 2016, performing Mozart ' s Piano Concerto No. 9, Mario Venzago, conductor.
About the Concert
DREAMTIME ANCESTORS
Christopher Theofanidis
Born in Dallas, TX, December 18, 1967
Formerly on the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory, Christopher Theofanidis is one of the most popular and prolific of today’ s American composers. Born in Dallas, TX to Greek immigrant parents, he comes from a musical family; his father was also a composer, as well as a pianist and conductor. He earned degrees from the University of Houston, the Eastman School of Music and Yale University, where he now teaches. He enjoys a particularly close connection with Roberto Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Theofanidis admits his compositional approach is fairly conservative,
Christopher Theofanidis
emphasizing the principles that have ruled music for centuries: melody, instrumental color and the telling of a dramatic story.“ The harmonic palate for me is based on consonance and dissonance,” he says.“ Certain aspects appeal to me that are better realized in C major than they are in a chromatic language— like the state of bliss.” He is also deeply attracted to subjects with a strong spiritual dimension.
That is certainly the case with Dreamtime Ancestors, a work that was inspired by the“ Dreamtime” creation beliefs of the Australian Aborigines. Dedicated to the memory of American composer Stephen Paulus( 1949 – 2014), it was commissioned by New Music for America Consortium and will be played by orchestras in all 50 American states. It is in three movements, each prefaced by a brief spoken text about the Dreamtime and its beings.
As Theofanidis explains,“ According to these myths, we are all connected to each other via‘ dreamtime ancestors’ of the past, present and future. This connection is referred to as‘ all-at-once time.’ The Aborigines believe you can access this‘ all-at-once-time’ and talk to your ancestors— the most ancient ones and the ones farthest in the future.”
“ Songlines”:“ This movement starts with a meandering line in the cellos and basses, and it continues to weave throughout the movement, with melodies and shapes emerging from the line.”
MATTHEW FRIED
“ Rainbow Serpent”:“ This is one of the central figures in the Aboriginal people’ s creation stories, with cave art representing it going back ten thousand years. Rainbow Serpent was one of our ancestors, who carved the surface of the earth with rivers and valleys and left in its wake rainbows and stars. I tried to depict this with a long melodic line in the string section and vibraphone that leaves harmonic resonances in its wake.”
“ Each Stone Speaks a Poem”:“ This movement focuses on the idea that even the most inert objects have poetry in them and are part of our connection to that place. It is more earthy sounding. It begins with an arid three-note motive that eventually opens up into something more majestic. The end of the piece recalls materials from all three movements.”
Instrumentation: Two flutes including piccolo, two oboes, three clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp and strings.
FALSTAFF
Edward Elgar
Born in Broadheath, England, June 2, 1857; died in Worcester, England, February 23, 1934
By the beginning of 1913, Sir Edward Elgar was solidly entrenched as the greatest British composer of his day. A steady succession of important works, beginning with his Enigma Variations in 1899, had promoted him from a handto-mouth existence as a violinist and teacher in rural Worcestershire to an elegant mansion in London’ s exclusive Hampstead village, a knighthood and worldwide celebrity. Despite this, he suffered from paralyzing fits of depression after completing each work and a lack of confidence about moving on to the next.
Elgar was faced with a commission for a new orchestral work that he would conduct himself at the annual Leeds Festival in Yorkshire. In an effort to get his creative juices flowing again, his wife, Alice, suggested a
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