BEACH CITIES SYMPHONY
NEWSLETTER
VOLUME XI, NO. 4 May 2004
ARTISTS OF
THE FUTURE
CONCERT TIME: 8:15 P.M.
Pre-concert lecture: 7:30 P.M.
Marsee Auditorium, El Camino College
The Consecration of the House Overture
Ludvig van Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 8 in C Major, K.
246 (first movement) W. A. Mozart
Piano Concerto in A Minor, Opus 16
(first movement) Edvard Grieg
Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Major,
"Youth" (third movement) Dmitri
Kabalevsky
Symphonie espagnole, Op. 21 Edouard
Lalo
Les Preludes Franz
Liszt
MUSIC TEACHERS ASSOCIATION OF
CALIFORNIA,
2004 ARTISTS OF THE FUTURE
MICHELLE
HONG,
who is twelve years old, began taking piano lessons from Mihyang Keel seven
years ago. She won the Grand Prize at the MTAC Piano Ensemble Festival, first
prize at the California Association of Professional Music Teachers Sonata
Competition, and numerous awards at Southwest Youth Music Festival. She was a
repeat winner at the Cypress College Piano Competition, a branch winner at the
Southern California Bach Festival, and a winner of the Mozart Festival at Long
Beach Covenant Church. Michelle is in the seventh grade at Richardson Middle
School. She loves being involved in her church choir and other music
activities. In her leisure time she enjoys reading, watching movies with her
friends, cooking desserts, and roller-blading at the beach.
JANET
JAEHEE LEE
is a ten-year-old fifth grader at Towers Elementary School in Torrance. A student of Mihyang Keel for the past three
years, Janet has received numerous awards at the Southwest Youth Music
Festival, including first prize in Complete Works and second place in the
American Composers category in 2003. She was the regional winner at the
Southern California Junior Bach Festival in 2002. Janet is vice-president of
the student council at Towers. An A student, she excels in sports as well. She
plays basketball and tennis and enjoys soccer, baseball, hockey, football,
skiing, and swimming.
MONICA LIU began her piano studies at age five
and has been a student of Sylvia Ho for seven years. She is a repeat winner of
the Artists of the Future Competition. Monica won the MTAC State Concerto and
Solo Competitions (Southern Division) in 2001 and 2002. She is a nine-time
winner of the Southwestern Youth Music Festival Open categories, including
first place in Open Concerto and Open Solo. In February of 2001 she received a
scholarship to perform in a master class with pianist Gerald Robbins under the
auspices of the Jascha Heifetz Society. She was a first prize winner in the
Young Artists Competition sponsored by the Chinese-American Education
Association of Southern California in 1999, and won second place at the 2000
Cypress Piano Competition. In 2003 she was a winner at the Bach Branch and Bach
Regional Competitions. Now a thirteen-year-old honor roll eighth grader at
Palos Verdes Intermediate School, Monica also enjoys playing the flute,
participating in various ensembles, and being a member of the Palos Verdes
Regional Orchestra. Her other hobbies include dancing, painting, and reading.
CHIAI
TAJIMA
is fourteen years old and has studied violin with Gail Gerding Mellert since coming
to the United States two years ago. Chiai was a soloist with the Singapore
Symphony's Music Carousel at the ages of nine and ten. In 2003 she was chosen
to perform at a salon for the Asia America Symphony Association and was the
rehearsal soloist as well as concertmaster of the Asia America Youth Orchestra
under the direction of David Benoit. She will appear as soloist with that
orchestra in numerous venues this year.
She is also a first-place winner in the VOCE (Vocalist, Orchestra
Instrumentalist, Chamber Music Ensemble) Competition. Last summer she received
honorable mention in the Marrowstone Concerto Competition in Washington State
and performed at the Marrowstone Intern Concert. In addition, she was assistant
concertmaster of the festival orchestra. Chiai is currently a first violinist
with the Colburn Chamber Orchestra that performs in Disney Hall and on KMZT.
For the past five years, Target Corporation has
generously supported our annual Artists of the Future concert. The Beach Cities
Symphony Association wishes to thank Target in Torrance, their employee team,
and Team Leader Harold Whitehead for their dedication to fostering young talent
in the musical arts.
We also thank our members and advertisers for
their 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. Check next season's schedule later in this newsletter to see
what Music Director Barry Brisk has planned for your enjoyment.
STERLING OCCASION:
ARTISTS OF THE FUTURE
CELEBRATE A MILESTONE
This year the
Beach Cities Symphony commemorates the 25th anniversary of
showcasing the winners of the Music Teachers of California South Bay Branch
Artists of the Future Competition for Soloist with Orchestra. Every year in
late January or early February, a select group of talented young musicians
auditions to be one of the three or four chosen for this highly esteemed event.
Occasionally the winners have come from the same family; Joshua and Timothy
Braun (1996 & 1999), Norine and Eric Chang (both 1998), and Kevin and
Emmelyn Hsieh (2001 & 2003) are the most recent examples. Over the years
many of these talented young people have gone on to professional careers, and
music has remained an important part of their lives.
According to Anli
Tong, who has chaired the event since 1998, the Artists of the Future
Competition is prestigious for several reasons. While there is no minimum age
for entrants, the maximum age has been lowered to 18 for instrumentalists and
21 for vocalists, thus eliminating college-level music majors while encouraging
students advanced enough to perform a concerto or its equivalent. Another
feature that adds prestige is the venue. Marsee Auditorium can accommodate an
audience of 1,800 and is acoustically superior to most school or church halls
where other such events take place. The chance to play or sing with a full
symphony orchestra in this setting motivates the best teachers to become
members of MTAC's South Bay Branch. On the other hand, the high standards of
the contest limit the number of entrants.
This
year 21 students auditioned at Kawai America Corporations showroom in Rancho
Dominguez for three judges recruited from outside MTAC's South Bay membership:
Peter Marsh, June Lusk Nelson, and Peter Yazbeck. Judges are asked to rate each
entrant in artistry, technique, tempo, intonation, and stage presence. However,
there is no strict point system, and the most important factor is the overall
impression the student makes at the time of the audition. In addition to the
winners, the judges choose one or two alternates and award honorable mentions
to the runners-up.
The benefits of
practicing and auditioning, followed by rehearsing and performing with the
orchestra, were expressed by Kevin Jung, who played with the Symphony as a
15-year-old high school sophomore in 1999 and later used the experience as the
basis for his personal essay in applying to the University of California:
"With the skills that I have learned from twelve years of piano practice
and performance, I will be able to do well in an engineering major. The piano
and computers are connected in that both require the same path to the finished
product. Pianists will spend their whole lives practicing for one performance,
and programmers will spend countless amounts of time working on a single
program that does not take much time to run. It is a constant process of
learning, revision, and perfection."
In 1979, the
inaugural program consisted of eight soloists, including flutists Maria Jaque
and Erin Prouty, and soprano Susan Dietz. (In later years the number of
soloists was reduced to fit a maximum playing time of 60 minutes, with
orchestral works added to balance the program.) Today, Erin plays flute in the
Beach Cities Symphony and serves on its Board of Directors. Maria teaches flute
privately and at El Camino College. Susan has sung with the San Francisco, Long
Beach, and Orange County Opera Companies, and has been resident soloist at
Wayfarers Chapel for the past 25 years. She also teaches piano at Dietz Brother
Music in Manhattan Beach. Doubtless she speaks for all winners in saying,
"Please thank the Symphony for helping me when I was young. It still means
a lot to me and I am proud to have been a part of the competition so many years
ago."
BEACH CITIES SYMPHONY 2004-2005 CONCERT SEASON
L. van Beethoven:
Fidelio Overture, Op. 72B
Alexander
Arutunian: Concerto for Trumpet & Orchestra; John Cather, soloist
Gustav Mahler:
Symphony No. 4 in G Major; Jessica Tunick, soprano
Richard Strauss:
Serenade for Winds, Op. 7
Sergei Rachmaninoff,
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini; Sylvia Ho, soloist
Sergei Prokofiev:
Romeo & Juliet, Suite No. 2
W. A. Mozart: Don
Giovanni Overture, K. 527
Camille
Saint-Saens: Piano Concerto in F Major, Op. 103; Sebastian Koch, soloist
Antonin Dvorak:
Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, Op. 70
Georges Bizet:
Carmen Suite No. 1
MTAC Artists of
the Future soloists: to be announced
Paul Dukas: The
Sorcerer s Apprentice
Post Office Box 248
Redondo Beach CA 90277-0248
Information line: 310-379-9725 or 310-539-4649 or info@BeachCitiesSymphony.org
Visit our web page: http://BeachCitiesSymphony.org
Sign up to receive reminders of upcoming concerts with a blank e-mail to BeachCitiesSymphony-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Text: Toni Empringham
Graphics: Ralph Dame
Editor/Advisor: Margaret McWilliams
The BCSA is an Amazon.com Associate. When you use our link to purchase
CDs, books, etc. from Amazon, not only do you receive a discount, but also part
of the purchase price goes directly to the Symphony as a referral fee. The link
is http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/beachcitiessymph.
Beach Cities
Symphony
May 2004 News
PROGRAM NOTES
by Dr. Robert Haag
The Consecration of the House Overture, Opus 124 by Ludwig van
Beethoven (1770-1827)
Beethoven's
festive overture was composed for the inauguration of the remodeled Theater in
der Josefstadt in Vienna, October 3, 1822. This charming little theater had
been famous since Mozart's time as a suburban house of traditional Austrian
folk comedy. In Beethoven's day the entire suburb of Josefstadt was separated
from Vienna proper by the massive ancient city wall. In the 20th century, its
fame revived by Max Reinhardt's brilliant productions, the theater stands
almost in the center of Vienna and is still in daily use.
Piano Concerto in C Major, K. 246 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756-1791)
The
piano was Mozart's preferred instrument, and the concerto was his preferred
form. He wrote 21 original piano concertos, in addition to seven that are
essentially transcriptions of other composers' works. Many of these he wrote
for himself, and they are particularly congenial to his manner of playing. The
C Major concerto, K. 246 (the first of four in that key) written while the
composer was still living in Salzburg, was dedicated to the Countess Londron, a
pupil and patron, and shows glimmers of the great concertos of his Vienna days.
Piano Concerto in A Minor, Opus 16 by Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Edvard
Grieg, called the "Chopin of the North" by one of his colleagues, was
25 and newly married when he composed his only piano concerto. In the summer of
1868 he went with his wife and baby daughter to a secluded country cottage in
Denmark where he wrote the concerto. It was first performed in Copenhagen on
April 2, 1869. Grieg may have benefited by the advice of Liszt, whom he visited
early the next year. Liszt was enthusiastic but suggested some changes that
Grieg incorporated before publishing the score. Even after publication Grieg
made further changes, and he continued to touch up the score until late in
life. Meanwhile it became and remains one of the most popular piano concertos.
Piano Concerto No. 3, Opus 50 by Dmitri Kabalevsky (1904-1987)
Dmitri
Kabalevsky's career was tied closely to the dicta of the Communist Party, of
which he became a member in 1940. As such he suffered few of the difficulties
that attended his contemporaries Prokofiev and Shostakovich. His best-known
composition, The Comedians, is filled with melodic and rhythmic virtuosity that
made him popular with the Party. This Piano Concerto is the last of a trilogy
of concertos, the others being for violin and for cello, all of which embody
these stylistic traits and are geared toward younger players.
Symphonie espagnole, Opus 21 by Edouard Lalo (1823-1892)
Most
of the great violin concertos of the 19th century were written with specific performers
in Mind: Beethoven with Clement, Mendelssohn with David, Brahms with Joachim,
and Lalo with Pablo Sarasate. Although born in Spain, Sarasate was trained in
France, which became his adopted country. Lalo, though born in France, came of
pure Spanish ancestry on both sides. He, too, was trained in France, and his
music, despite touches of Iberian exoticism, is part of the mainstream of
French music.
Lalo
had a long, uphill climb to recognition, partly because of the frivolous state
of French musical taste during the Second Empire. He was 50 before he achieved
fame through the triumphant premiere of his Violin Concerto, Opus 20, dedicated
to and first performed by Sarasate. Symphonie espagnole, Opus 21, also
dedicated to Sarasate, was given its first performance by the Spanish virtuoso
in Paris on February 7, 1878. It was an instant triumph and is the only one of
Lalo's works that has remained popular to the present day.
Les Preludes Symphonic Poem by Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Among
the many musical achievements of Franz Liszt is that of creating the tone poem,
of which Les Preludes is certainly one of the most popular in the symphonic
literature. The tone poem is usually a one-movement composition for orchestra
inspired by a non-musical source such as a painting, a literary work, a drama,
or a piece of literature (hence the descriptive term "poem"). Often
it has something to do with a country, such as its folk tunes or national
symbols like rivers or mountains. Liszt himself conducted the first performance
of Les Preludes in Weimar on February 28, 1854. The literary source of the work
is popularly ascribed to the 19th century French poet Lamartine. Liszt himself
prefaced his score with a paragraph of his own which begins, "What else is
life but a series of preludes to that unknown hymn the first and solemn note of
which is intoned by Death?"
MUSIC DIRECTOR AND CONDUCTOR
Maestro Brisk, who is in his tenth season with the Beach
Cities Symphony, is enjoying the second longest tenure as Music Director in the
54-year history of the orchestra. A
frequent guest conductor for other Southern California 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 Whos 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; Philips wife, Marilyn (they were
married on June 29th in the Virgin Islands); Homer, a Siamese fighting fish
named after Homer Simpson; and two goldfish in separate tanks.
PIANO SOLOIST
Michelle Hong, who is twelve years old, began taking piano
lessons from Mihyang Keel seven years ago. She won the Grand Prize at the MTAC
Piano Ensemble Festival, first prize at the California Association of
Professional Music Teachers Sonata Competition, and numerous awards at the
Southwest Youth Music Festival. She was a repeat winner at the Cypress College
Piano Competition, a branch winner at the Southern California Bach Festival,
and a winner of the Mozart Festival at Long Beach Covenant Church.
Michelle is in the seventh grade at Richardson Middle
School. Her academic achievements include awards in the Spelling Bee, the
Storytelling Contest, the ELEA speech meet, and the Reflection Writing Contest.
She loves being involved in her church choir and other music activities. In her
leisure time she enjoys reading, watching movies with her friends, cooking
desserts, and roller-blading at the beach. She is an avid sports fan who often
attends ball games with her dad and has seen the Lakers, Clippers, Angels, and
Dodgers among other teams.
PIANO SOLOIST
Janet Jaehee Lee is a ten-year-old fifth grader at
Towers Elementary School in Torrance. A
student of Mihyang Keel for the past three years, Janet has received numerous
awards at the Southwest Youth Music Festival, including first prize in Complete
Works and second place in the American Composers category in 2003. She was the
regional winner at the Southern California Junior Bach Festival in 2002.
Janet is vice-president of the student council at
Towers. As a top academician she has performed in the High Achieving Students
musical program, Ugly Ducklings, at her school. She is a member of Rolling
Hills Covenant Church and has performed in musicals there. An A student, she
excels in sports as well. She plays basketball and tennis and enjoys soccer,
baseball, hockey, football, skiing, and swimming. An avid reader, Janet
received an award from her local library as one of the top ten readers of the
most books.
PIANO SOLOIST
Monica Liu began her piano studies at age five and
has been a student of Sylvia Ho for seven years. She is a repeat winner of the
Artists of the Future Competition; In May of 2001 she performed the first
movement of Mozarts Piano Concerto No. 27. Monica won the MTAC State Concerto
and Solo Competitions (Southern Division) in 2001 and 2002. She is a nine-time
winner of the Southwestern Youth Music Festival Open categories, including
first place in Open Concerto and Open Solo. In February of 2001 she was
selected as a scholarship recipient to perform in a master class with pianist
Gerald Robbins under the auspices of the Jascha Heifetz Society. She was a
first prizewinner in the Young Artists Competition sponsored by the
Chinese-American Education Association of Southern California in 1999 and won
second place at the 2000 Cypress Piano Competition. In 2003 she was a winner at
the Bach Branch and Bach Regional Competitions.
Now a thirteen-year-old honor roll eighth grader at
Palos Verdes Intermediate School, Monica also enjoys playing the flute,
participating in various ensembles, and being a member of the Palos Verdes
Regional Orchestra. Her other hobbies include dancing, painting, and reading.
VIOLIN SOLOIST
Fourteen-year-old Chiai Tajima has studied violin with
Gail Gerding Mellert since coming to the United States two years ago. Chiai was
a soloist with the Singapore Symphonys Music Carousel at the ages of nine and
ten. In 2003 she was chosen to perform at a salon for the Asia America Symphony
Association and was the rehearsal soloist as well as concertmaster of the Asia
America Youth Orchestra under the direction of David Benoit. She will appear as
soloist with that orchestra in numerous venues this year. She is also a
first-place winner in the VOCE (Vocalist, Orchestra Instrumentalist, Chamber
Music Ensemble) Competition. Last summer she received honorable mention in the
Marrowstone Concerto Competition in Washington State and performed at the
Marrowstone Intern Concert. In addition, she was assistant concertmaster of the
festival orchestra.
Chiai is a first violinist with the Colburn Chamber
Orchestra under the direction of Ronald Leonard and has performed on the stage
of Walt Disney Concert Hall with that group. She also plays on broadcasts and
will be heard with the Colburn ensemble on KMZT this May.
Program
THE BEACH CITIES SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
1949-2004
BARRY BRISK
Music Director and Conductor
FOURTH CONCERT - 54th
SEASON
Friday May 28, 2004 - 8:15 p.m.
Pre-concert Lecture - 7:30 p.m.
El Camino College - Marsee Auditorium Torrance, California
Janet Lee, piano
soloist
Monica Liu, piano
soloist
Michelle Hong,
piano soloist
Chiai Tajima, violin soloist
MARTIN WOOD Chairman of the Board
Consecration of
the House Overture, Opus 124 Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Concerto No.
8 in C Major, K. 246 (first movement) W. A. Mozart
Janet Lee, piano
soloist
Piano Concerto in
A Minor, Opus 16 (first movement) Edvard Grieg
Monica Liu, piano
soloist
DRAWING FOR DOOR PRIZES
Piano Concerto No.
3 in D Major, Opus 50,
Youth (third
movement)
Dimitri Kabalevsky
Michelle Hong, piano soloist
Chiai Tajima,
violin soloist
Anli Lin Tong, Chair of
Artists of the Future ◘ Joseph Ganahl, President of MTAC South Bay
Les Prιludes
Franz Liszt
· Please No flash photos
during performance ·
Following
tonights concert, there will be a reception for solo artists and guests,
program sponsors, orchestra members and guests, and all members and guests of
the Beach Cities Symphony Association. It will be held in the upstairs lobby.
ANNOUNCING
OUR 55th CONCERT SEASON 2004-2005
Fidelio Overture, Op. 72B L. van Beethoven
Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra ..A.Artunian
John Cather, trumpet soloist
Symphony No. 4 in G Major G. Mahler
Jessica Tunick, soprano
Serenade for Winds, Op. 7 .R. Strauss
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini .S. Rachmaninoff
Sylvia Ho, piano soloist
Romeo and Juliet, Suite No. 2 ...S. Prokofiev
Don Giovanni Overture, K. 527 .W. A. Mozart
Piano Concerto in F Major, Op. 103 .C. Saint-Saλns
Sebastian Koch, piano soloist
Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70 .A. Dvorαk
Carmen Suite No. 1 .G. Bizet
MTAC Artists of the Future soloists: to be announced
The Sorcerers Apprentice ..P. Dukas