BCS May 2003 Newsletter

THE BEACH CITIES SYMPHONY

BARRY BRISK, MUSIC DIRECTOR

PRESENTS

ARTISTS OF THE FUTURE

MUSIC TEACHERS ASSOCIATION OF CALIFORNIA

CONCERTO COMPETITION WINNERS

FRIDAY, MAY 30, 2003

Marsee Auditorium, El Camino College

Crenshaw Blvd. at Redondo Beach Blvd.

FREE ADMISSION & FREE PARKING

concert time: 8:15 P.M.

pre-concert lecture: 7:30 P.M.

Information: (310) 379-9725 or (310) 539-4649

Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K. 414 (first movement): W. A. Mozart

Emmelyn Hsieh, soloist

Piano Concerto in G Major (first movement): Maurice Ravel

Ian Counts, soloist

Flute Concerto in G Major (first movement): Johann Joachim Quantz

Tammy Lee, soloist

Violin Concerto in E Minor (first movement): Felix Mendelssohn

Katrina Bobbs, soloist

Also featuring:

The Cartoon Suite (world première): Charles Fernandez

Romeo and Juliet, Fantasy Overture after Shakespeare: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

KATRINA BOBBS, age fourteen, began music lessons ten years ago with her

mother and since then has studied with Jennifer Johnson, Cheryl

Scheidermantle, Gail Mellert, and Henry Gronnier at the Colburn School of

Performing Arts. Katrina made her orchestral debut at age nine with the

Bellflower Orchestra and has since soloed with the Seattle Festival

Orchestra, Colburn Chamber Orchestra, CSUN Philharmonic, and the New West

Symphony. At age 12, she was the youngest winner in the Redlands Bowl Young

Artists Competition. She is co-concertmaster of the Colburn Chamber Orchestra

and has also been concertmaster of the Seattle Festival Orchestra, the YMF

Debut Camp Orchestra, and the CSUN Philharmonic. She has performed on

Classical Radio KMZT in the Young Musicians Foundation Chamber Series, and

with her sister Emma on National Public Radio’s “From the Top.” Besides

playing and listening to music, Katrina also enjoys dancing, rollerblading,

writing, and sleeping.

IAN COUNTS is a twelve-year-old seventh grader at St. John Fisher School

in Rancho Palos Verdes. He began formal piano lessons at age seven and

currently studies with Hyeja Chong Ganahl. Ian is a four-time prize winner in

Open categories in the Southwestern Youth Music Festival and was invited to

perform at the Music Teachers Association Annual Convention in 2002. In

October of last year, he won first place in the Partitas category at the

Southern California Junior Bach Festival Complete Works Audition.

Ian, who is a straight-A student, is a member of his school’s Academic

Decathlon team. Competing against 107 schools within the Archdiocese of Los

Angeles in February 2003, he placed third in the Mathematics Individual

Competition and, with his team, first among South Bay schools and sixth

overall. Last year he placed second in the Fine Arts Individual Competition.

Someday he hopes to combine his love for music with his interest in science.

EMMELYN HSIEH, who is eleven years old, is a straight-A fifth-grader at

Vista Grande Elementary School in Rancho Palos Verdes. She began her piano

studies at age five and for the past four years has been a student of Sylvia

Ho. Emmelyn has won numerous prizes in various categories of the Southwestern

Youth Music Festival and the Southern California Junior Bach Festival. Her

brother, Kevin, is a past Artist of the Future and soloed with the Beach

Cities Symphony in 2001.

In addition to playing the piano, Emmelyn enjoys reading, writing,

singing, and playing the flute. She has also studied dancing and ballet since

she was five, and she loves to go to musical plays. In her spare time at

home, she cares for one rabbit, two water turtles, one goldfish, a dozen

finches and, most recently, an African peach-faced lovebird.

TAMMY LEE, a sixteen-year-old student of Shirley Yamamoto, began her

flute studies in the third grade while attending Wood Elementary School in

Torrance. During that time she played in her school band and in the flute

choir at A-Muse in Palos Verdes. Tammy is currently a sophomore at the Orange

County High School of the Arts and is a member of the school wind ensemble.

Tammy is a two-time first-place trophy winner at the Southwestern Youth Music

Festival Competition. She also received the Best of the Day award at the 2001

Southern California All Branch Junior Bach Festival Regional Competition and

second place in the Bach Complete Works Competition. She has received

recognition in the Certificate of Merit program sponsored by the Music

Teachers Association of California and has been selected several times to

perform at their state convention.

Tammy plans to major in music in college and aspires eventually to be a

professional musician.

OTHER PROGRAM BIOGRAPHIES: May 30, 2003

BARRY BRISK

MUSIC DIRECTOR AND CONDUCTOR

Maestro Brisk is in his ninth season with the Beach Cities Symphony. A

frequent guest conductor for area orchestras, Brisk also plays viola in

several symphonies and teaches violin, viola, piano, and conducting. He has a

diploma in conducting from the Vienna University (formerly Academy) of Music,

where he studied with Hans Swarowsky, teacher of Zubin Mehta and Claudio

Abbado among others. Brisk has conducted the Vienna Symphony, Vienna Academy

Ballet Orchestra, Tonkunstler Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Burbank Chamber

Orchestra, West Los Angeles Symphony, Westside Symphony, Topanga Symphony,

American Youth Symphony, and at the Ojai Music Festival. He has conducted

opera and ballet and is listed in the International Who’s Who in Music. He

has published opera and book reviews and gives our pre-concert lectures each

concert evening.

Brisk is particularly proud of three of his former conducting students. David

Robertson is now Music Director of the Orchestre de Lyon, France. He has

conducted at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and appeared as guest

conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Steven Kerstein is Music Director

of the Burbank Philharmonic. Arlette Cardenes is conductor of the Culver

City Chamber Orchestra, and plays cello with the Beach Cities Symphony.

Maestro Brisk's family consists of his wife, Cathy, an expert on ancient

Greek and Roman coins; their son, Philip, who is working on a Ph.D. in

computer science at UCLA; Philip’s fiancée, Marilyn (they are getting married

on June 29th in the Virgin Islands); and three cats.

CHARLES FERNANDEZ

COMPOSER, THE CARTOON SUITE

Charles Fernandez was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. After

receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Music from Loyola University in that city,

he came to Los Angeles where he earned a Master’s Degree in Bassoon

Performance from UCLA. He also has an ACRM (Performer’s Diploma) from the

Royal College of Music in London. A former principal bassoonist with the

Beach Cities Symphony, he has performed as soloist with orchestras in New

Orleans, Los Angeles, London, Brighton, and New Ulm (Germany).

Since his arrival in Los Angeles, Mr. Fernandez has been working as a

composer, orchestrator, and bassoonist. His Disney credits include

“Bonkers,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” “101 Dalmatians,”

Toonsylvania,” “Doug’s First Movie,” “Casper,” and “All Dogs Go to Heaven

II.” His more serious compositions include “Elegy for Oboe and Strings,”

“Tone Poem for Clarinet and Strings,” and “The Statue.” The latter two

works were performed by the Beach Cities Symphony in 1994 and 1999 respectively.

His works as a composer and arranger are published by Margun Music

(Gunther Schuller) in Massachusetts and Trone Music in Los Angeles. They are

also distributed in England, France, and Germany.

PROGRAM NOTES

The Cartoon Suite

Charles Fernandez

Charles Fernandez is one of the talented studio composers in the L.A. area

who use music to create a mood to accompany a film or show. Imagine the

difficulty of creating just the right mood for the anvil to fall on a

character’s head or for the coyote to look down to the bottom of the canyon

and then go over the edge. Or imagine inventing the music to lend credibility

to a character like Wimpy disappearing behind the skinniest tree in the

forest.

The Cartoon Suite is a masterpiece. It sounds as though the cartoon for it

hasn’t been drawn yet, and it’s a piece that makes it difficult for the

performers to play with a straight face. Fernandez uses musical ideas that

sound as though they come right from The Jetsons, Rocky and Bullwinkle,

Popeye, Looney Tunes, and Mighty Mouse. Since many Beach Cities Symphony

musicians were raised on this kind of fare, the group understands the nuances

needed for The Cartoon Suite’s performance. You will hear action sequences

that set a scene in preparation for the on-screen “gag,” and the type of

musical narrative that accompanies a cartoon character’s double-takes,

surprise, and abject terror. Notice which instruments produce the funny

sounds, especially in the percussion section. (John Wisniewski)

Concerto in A Major for Piano and Orchestra, K. 414

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

This concerto, along with its two companions (K. 413 and K. 415), was the

first of the great series of Mozart’s Viennese keyboard concertos. Mozart

performed the three at his Lenten concerts of 1783. In 1781 he had left

Salzburg and taken up permanent residence in Vienna, attempting to establish

himself as a free-lance musician. This involved giving an extraordinary

number of concerts of his own music in which he also participated as a

performer.

In a much-quoted passage from a letter of December 28, 1782, Mozart described

his situation to his father: “Although I have so much to do that often I do

not know whether I am on my head or my heels, I spend the whole forenoon

giving lessons until two o’clock when we eat. After this meal, I must give my

poor stomach an hour for digestion. The evening is therefore the only time I

have for composing and of that I can never be sure, as I am often asked to

perform at the concerts. There are still two concertos wanting to make up the

series of subscription concertos. These concertos are a happy medium between

what is too easy and too difficult; they are very brilliant, pleasing to the

ear, and natural, without being vapid. There are also passages here and there

from which connoisseurs alone can derive satisfaction; but these passages are

written in such a way that the less discriminating cannot fail to be pleased,

though without knowing why.” Mozart was referring to this set of three

keyboard concertos (K. 413, 414, 415), of which only the work on tonight’s

program had been completed. (Dr. Robert Haag)

Concerto in G Major for Piano and Orchestra

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

This concerto and the better-known Concerto in D Major for left hand, the

latter written for Paul Wittgenstein who had lost his right arm in World War

One, were composed simultaneously between 1930 and 1932. Ravel intended to

première the G Major concerto himself, but illness and the technical demands

of the piece caused him to cede that honor to his protégée Marguerite Long.

The first performance took place on January 14, 1932, with the composer as

conductor of an all-Ravel concert.

The first movement captures our attention with the crack of a whip and has a

jazzy flavor throughout, punctuated by percussive effects in the solo part.

Ravel explained his intention to write this concerto “in the spirit of

Mozart and Saint-Saëns. Such music should, in my opinion, be relaxed and

brilliant, and not aim at depth and dramatic effects.” The original working

title was “Divertissement” ; i.e. “ diversion,” “amusement.” (Toni

Empringham)

Concerto in G Major for Flute and Orchestra

Johann Joachim Quantz (1697-1773)

Quantz began his musical career as an eight-year-old double bass player and

became proficient on the oboe, violin, trumpet, and harpsichord before

distinguishing himself as a composer and performer of works for flute. Born

in Germany, he studied in Dresden, Vienna, and Rome. Quantz became Crown

Prince Friedrich’s music teacher and later took up residence in Berlin after

Friedrich became King of Prussia in 1740. In addition to writing 300 flute

concertos and hundreds of compositions for flute in combination with other

instruments, in 1752 he published Essay of a Method for Playing the

Transverse Flute which is still in print today and provides valuable

information on 18th century musical technique. The elegant Concerto in G

Major demonstrates his position as a transitional figure between the late

Baroque and early Classical periods and provides a showcase for the

virtuosity of the soloist without relying on cadenzas. (T. E.)

Concerto in E Minor, Opus 64, for Violin and Orchestra

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847)

Mendelssohn’s E Minor violin concerto, one of the most popular in the

repertoire, was composed for Ferdinand David, one of the finest violinists of

the early nineteenth century. Mendelssohn admired David’s playing and had him

appointed concertmaster of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig which he had

taken over in 1835 and made into one of the best ensembles in Europe. David

in turn greatly admired Mendelssohn’s music and urged him to write a concerto

for him.

Mendelssohn started work on the concerto in 1838 but had to lay it aside

because of other priorities. David kept at him. “It is nice of you to keep

pressing me,” wrote Mendelssohn the following year. “But the task is not

easy. You want it to be brilliant, but how do I do this? The whole of the

first solo is to be for the E String!” David continued to coax and to serve

as an invaluable technical guide until the score ws finished in September of

1844. It was first played at a Gewandhaus concert on March 13, 1845, with

David as soloist and Niels Gade conducting. (R.H.)

Romeo and Juliet, Fantasy Overture after Shakespeare

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

The composers who have been inspired, or thought they were inspired, by

Shakespeare make an endless list. And in that list, Tchaikovsky is one of the

very few whose music speaks with the elemental passion and strife that grip

us as do the words of Shakespeare. Yet incredible as it may seem, Romeo and

Juliet was only the fourth of Tchaikovsky’s published orchestral works. He

composed it when he was 29, and it stands out among his works--a sudden blaze

of inspiration.

A major influence on the work was the composer Mili Balakirev, whom

Tchaikovsky greatly admired and to whom he had dedicated his symphonic poem

Fate. Balakirev not only suggested the Shakespearean subject but also

actually wrote out a detailed program for the Romeo and a corresponding

outline of the musical form, including the series of keys he thought would be

appropriate. Balakirev had much to criticize in the original version of

Tchaikovsky’s work, which was completed in 1869. He objected especially to

the original introduction as lacking in beauty and power and not even

sketching the character of Friar Lawrence. Tchaikovsky duly wrote a new

introduction in his revision of 1870, to Balakirev’s complete satisfaction,

and made several corresponding changes where the music of the introduction

recurs in the score. In 1880 Tchaikovsky revised his score for the last time,

but his chief changes were the addition of dynamic markings.

The first performance of Romeo and Juliet was conducted by Nicholas

Rubinstein at a concert of the Musical Society of Moscow on March 16, 1870.

(R.H.)

BCS Financial Support

Since 1999, Target Corporation has funded our annual Artists of the

Future concert and generously supported our mission to bring fine music to

the South Bay without charging admission. The Beach Cities Symphony

Association wishes to thank Target in Torrance, their employee team, and

Team Leader Harold Whitehead for their continuing dedication to fostering

young talent in the musical arts.

We also thank you, our members and advertisers, for your individual

support. While many unpaid volunteers make sure our organization functions

smoothly, our subscribers help us to maintain our reputation as one of the

finest community orchestras in Southern California by providing funds for the

unavoidable costs associated with presenting four high-quality concerts every year.

With this mailing you will find an envelope for your 2003-04 membership

subscription. Music Director Barry Brisk has, as usual, planned an

interesting and ambitious series of concerts for the upcoming season, as you

can see on the facing page. To make sure you remain on our mailing list for

the newsletter and concert reminders, and to be eligible for prize drawings,

our post-concert receptions, and other members’ benefits, renew your

subscription now. Of course your contribution is fully tax deductible.

And speaking of prize drawings, the lucky winners at our concert on March

14 were Philip Alexander and Nancy Means, who received CDs; Emma King,

who took home the floral centerpiece; and Wendell Covalt, who won the raffle for

a gift certificate at California Pizza Kitchen in Manhattan Beach.

BY LOVE POSSESSED

Our concert on May 30 ends with Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet,

subtitled Fantasy Overture after Shakespeare. The story is familiar to most

of us: two young members of warring families meet by accident and instantly

fall in love. They marry secretly, hoping to overcome the forces of society

that oppose their union. However, they are instead overwhelmed by accidents

of birth and circumstance. Intensifying the tragedy, each dies by an act of

suicide precipitated by the thought of losing the other. Romeo drinks poison

after finding Juliet in her family’s crypt and not realizing she is in a coma

from which she will soon recover. Juliet awakes to find her lover’s body

beside her and, unable to conceive of life without him, fatally stabs herself

with his dagger.

Harold Bloom has explained the universal appeal of Romeo and Juliet

as lying in their “uncompromising mutual love that perishes of its own

idealism and intensity.” More to the point is the appeal of the poetry which

the lovers inspire in one another during their brief time together. On first

seeing Juliet, Romeo exclaims how “She doth teach the torches to burn bright!

It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night/ Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s

ear.” And later, in the famous balcony scene, he declaims memorably: “But

soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is

the sun!” For her part, Juliet looks forward to the consummation of their

marriage (and unwittingly to its tragic end) in these words: “Give me my

Romeo; and when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And

he will make the face of heaven so fine/That all the world will be in love

with night,...” The magic of Shakespeare’s language helps us get over flaws

such as the plot’s over-reliance on unlucky coincidence, the impossibly short

time span of the action (barely five days), and the tedious speeches of

Mercutio, Friar Lawrence, Juliet’s nurse, and a handful of forgettable minor

characters.

Romeo and Juliet belongs to Shakespeare’s early period. The first of his

tragedies, written when he was barely in his 30s, the play shows an artist

honing his craft and discovering his unique, astonishing power. Similarly,

Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet was the 29-year-old composer’s first

masterpiece. Rimsky-Korsakov later rhapsodized about its main melody: “How

very inspirational it is! What ineffable beauty, what burning passion! It is

one of the finest themes in all of Russian music!” Tchaikovsky’s biographer

John Warrack calls this same melody “thrilling” and “ravishing,” and he

goes on to describe how Shakespeare provided Tchaikovsky with a dramatic

theme that haunted the composer throughout his life and gave him a subject to

which he returned in his greatest works: “the crushing of love by a hostile fate.”

Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet is arguably the most famous as well as the

most beautiful rendition of Shakespeare’s play into a musical composition.

Don’t miss the chance to hear this live performance that closes our 2002-03

season on an elegant, elegiac note.

OUR 2003-2004 CONCERT SEASON

October 24, 2003

Antonio Salieri, Concerto for Flute & Oboe:

Rhondda Dayton, flute soloist; Larry Tunick, oboe soloist

Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 4, Romantic

January 23, 2004

Grigore Nica, Elegia for Violin & Orchestra.

Rebecca Rutkowski, violin soloist

Frédéric Chopin, Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Opus 21:

Anli Lin Tong, piano soloist

Richard Wagner: Ring of the Nibelungen, four excerpts

Rhinegold: Entry of the Gods into Valhalla

Valkyrie: Wotan’s Farewell and Magic Fire Music

Siegfried: Forest Murmurs

Twilight of the Gods: Siegfried’s Rhine Journey

March 19, 2004

George Gershwin, Cuban Overture

Edward MacDowell, Piano Concerto No. 2:

Akiko Dohi, piano soloist

William Grant Still, Afro-American Symphony

May 21, 2004

Leroy Southers, Serenade (world première)

Artists of the Future soloists: to be announced

Ludwig van Beethoven, Consecration of the House Overture

WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST BEACH CITIES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION MEMBERS:

C. Dawn Aulenbrock

Jim Aviani

Joyce Block-Miller

Richard Boothe

Wonna Chang

John Elijah Chow

Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Eskenazi

Dr. Gerald N. Felando

Dean T. Francois

Anna Greenberg

Gary Hall

Meg James

Connie Jappel

Hal Kaufman

Nobuo Kawahara

Kathryn & Matt Lourtie

William McInerney

Ellen Ong

Peg O’Regan

Karen Renton

Bill Rueda

MATCHING FUNDS CORPORATIONS:

Arco

Best Foods

Honeywell (Allied Signal)

Los Angeles Times

Mattel

TRW

Thank you for supporting our organization!

Beach Cities Symphony Assn.

Post Office Box 248

Redondo Beach CA 90277-0248

Information line: 310-379-9725 or 310-539-4649

Visit our web page: http://beachcitiessymphony.org/

mailto:BeachCitiesSymphony-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Text: Toni Empringham

Graphics: Ralph Dame

Editor/Advisor: Margaret McWilliams

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