DARTMOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAFilippo Ciabatti conductor

Saturday, November 5, 2016 • 8 pm Spaulding Auditorium • Dartmouth College

This performance is made possible in part by the William D. 1905 and Besse M. Blatner Fund No. 1, the Lane 1928 and Elizabeth C. Dwinell Fund No. 2, the Admiral Gene W. Markey 1918 Memorial Fund, the Roesch Family Fund in Support of Instrumental Ensembles, the Arthur R. Virgin 1900 Fund No. 1 for the Advancement of Music and the Friends of the Symphony Orchestra.

presents

Carnival Overture, Op. 92 (1892)Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904)In March 1891, during Dvořák’s last year in Bohemia before his famous American expedition, the composer began work on a triptych of concert overtures to which he initially gave the Wagnerian title, “Nature, Life, and Love.” United by common melodic and philosophical themes, the pieces were intended as a three-movement exploration of the mysterious forces of nature, represented musically through a shared melody. Though Dvořák eventually published the works as three separate pieces with new titles, the overtures retain the inquisitive spirit of the original cycle. The center work (“Life” in the original triptych) he titled Carnival, and its glittering ebullience and unrestrained passion have earned it lasting popularity among audiences, and a distinguished position among the composer’s great orchestral works.

From the start, the overture bursts with frenzied energy. Sparkling percussion and flashy syncopa-tion illuminate the wild dances of a nighttime

festival. Dvořák’s own program for the piece describes “shouts of joy” mingling with the “clangor of instruments” on every side; indeed, the celebration seems relentless until a contem-plative interlude between the exposition and development offers a sudden departure from the mania of the carnival and from traditional sonata-allegro form. Here, away from the clamor, solo flute and English horn imply the whispered dialogue of lovers among shimmering strings; the clarinet responds with a wistful melody— the unifying Nature theme from the original triptych. But the irrepressible dance returns, and as the insistent tambourine leads the frenzy, the line between celebration and hysteria blurs, and the carnival continues into the night. Concerto for flute and orchestra (1926)Carl Nielsen (1865-1931)At the time of the composition of his Concerto for flute and orchestra, Carl Nielsen was virtually unknown outside of his native Denmark. However, in the last half-century his works have seen a dramatic surge in popularity, and today his

PROGRAMCarnival Overture Antonin Dvorák (1851-1904)

Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, FS 119 Carl Nielsen (1865-1931)

I. Allegro moderato II. Allegretto - Adagio ma non troppo - Allegretto - Poco adagio - Tempo di Marcia

Cheryl Chang ‘18 flute

Symphony No. 5 in D minor Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)

I. Moderato – Allegro non troppo II. Allegretto III. Largo IV. Allegro non troppo

PROGRAM NOTES

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oeuvre is universally celebrated for its wit and neoclassical charm. His Flute Concerto in particular has become the arguable cornerstone of twentieth-century concertante repertoire for flute, and in hearing the piece today it is difficult to imagine a time when Nielsen’s works were ignored.

Written for Holger Gilbert-Gespersen, the flautist of the Copenhagen Wind Quintet and Nielsen’s close friend, the concerto exemplifies the composer’s unmistakably whimsical style. An abrupt, stormy gesture introduces the opening Allegro moderato with gravity and drama, but this atmosphere soon evaporates with the entrance of the solo flute to reveal a more playful character, reminiscent of the earthy charms of folk music. The movement is filled with the sort of humor that makes Nielsen’s neoclassicism so endearing. The bass trombone, timpani, low clarinet and bassoon, certainly unlikely companions to the sweetly soaring flute, each hold prominent dialogues with the soloist, particularly in the extended cadenza section. In similar fashion, the Allegretto tinges traditional classical dance forms with impish dissonances and other joking expressions between passages of unrestrained Romantic sentiment. In the final bars, brutish timpani and impolite bass trombone glissandi accompany the exuberant flute in a concluding gesture that is more cheeky than triumphant.

Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47 (1937)Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)Historians estimate that more than one million people were murdered by the Soviet government during the Stalinist Terror of 1936-1938. Some suffered public denunciation and execution as enemies of the state; countless others were killed in secret. Still more were worked to death in the gulags; many simply disappeared. At a January 1936 performance of his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District with Joseph Stalin in

attendance, a young and self-assured Dmitri Shostakovich had little idea of the unmitigated misery which Stalin’s new machine of repression would inflict on his country, and much less of the imminent terror which would characterize the composer’s personal relationship with the regime for the rest of his lifetime.

Two days after the opera’s performance, the state-run newspaper Pravda published an official review with the headline “Muddle Instead of Music,” in which Shostakovich’s work was condemned as a vulgar, dissonant piece of “formalism,” the Communist Party’s catch-all label for anything too Western, too esoteric or in any way un-Soviet. Chillingly, the article threatened that for Shostakovich, things could “end very badly.” A later interview with a Pravda editor revealed that Shostakovich had been selected as a target long before Stalin attended Lady Macbeth. In one of the dictator’s sadistic calculations the composer was labeled an enemy less for his style than his popularity; the denunciation of Shostakovich more than any other composer would frighten Soviet musicians into conforming with the ideologies of socialist realism. Pravda’s campaign of defamation was relentless. As performances of Shostakovich’s works dwindled, he fell into a state of constant dread, publishing no major works for nearly two years. He watched as the people closest to him fell victim to the Stalinist Purge: his mother-in-law, uncle, sister and brother-in-law were all arrested and imprisoned; composers who spoke up in his defense disappeared in the night.

Then, on November 21, 1937, Shostakovich revealed his Fifth Symphony. Through its traditional form, heroic narrative and seemingly straightforward language, he restored his relationship with Stalin’s oppressive regime. But even as the Symphony’s triumphant surface appeased the Party, on a subversive level it spoke

PROGRAM NOTES CONTINUED

for the countless victims of its cruelty, for the innumerable prisoners of the gulags, for the dissidents killed in secret and for all those still surviving under the perpetual threat of annihila-tion. It is this dexterous manipulation of multiple compelling levels of meaning which earns the Fifth Symphony its place among the supreme artistic achievements of the twentieth century.

The first movement describes a desolate landscape with a jagged string figure over which a violin melody tiptoes unsteadily. Grim determination drives the precarious journey at the piano’s entrance during the second thematic group, which later accelerates into a sarcastic military march: each footfall rings with hollow confidence. In the recapitulation, solo flute and horn offer an enticing vision of glory, but the celesta’s haunting chromaticism in the coda reveals the unfathomable distance separating the composer from that paradise.

The second movement is reminiscent of Mahler’s bitterest scherzos; oafish strings followed by screeching woodwinds introduce a cumbersome waltz which, despite the most saccharine efforts from the solo violin, never becomes genuine. The following Largo, however, proves to be the most painfully sincere passage in the entire symphony. Here Shostakovich speaks to the grieving: the

strings first emulate hushed funeral chants and then unrestrained sobs which vanish without hope, leaving an expectant violin tremolo. One lonely woodwind after another emerges to sing a harrowing melody, a cry for help in the night. As the pleading becomes more insistent, a drawn-out crescendo leads to a searing expression of agony: four repeated screams punctuated by the xylophone beg for an end to the suffering. Two solemn major chords in the strings conclude the movement with a whispered “Amen.”

Arrogant brass and thunderous timpani immediately throw us into the finale: a brutal clash of military forces is followed by endless fanfares boasting victory in D major. The obsessive coda with its mindless repetition continually raises questions of the sincerity of this final triumph. Is Shostakovich celebrating the supremacy of the Soviet Union, or his personal victory over Stalin’s oppression? Others interpret the finale as a sar-castic caricature of Soviet pride, complete with the goose-stepping parade of an idiotic Red Army. This much is certain: we must avoid simplistic absolutes in deciphering the Fifth, and recognize that Shostakovich’s genius lies between the opposing layers of meaning, in the murky sphere of contradiction.

Program notes by Grant Cook ‘19

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ABOUT THE ARTISTSCheryl Chang ‘18 flute began studying flute at the age of seven and is now under the direction of Ai Goldsmith in California and Professor Alex Ogle at Dartmouth. She has previously performed in and soloed with her local youth orchestra, San Jose Youth Symphony, and has toured France as a soloist with Lynbrook High School’s Wind Ensemble. Chang has participated in the California Band

Director’s Association All-State Wind Symphony and All-State Orchestra, as well as the Santa Clara County Honor Band, with which she performed as a soloist. She most recently won the best overall performance prize in the Culley Concerto Competition, sponsored by the Hopkins Center for the Arts.

Chang is currently a junior at Dartmouth

ABOUT THE ARTISTS CONTINUEDCollege, pursuing a double major in biology and music. In addition to academic and musical pursuits, Chang is an Undergraduate Advisor, a member of the powerlifting club and a Cancer and Patient Services member. She plans to attend medical school after graduating, but hopes to keep music a constant part of her life.

Chang would like to thank the members of DSO for this opportunity, as well as Michael Zsoldos, Alex Ogle, Filippo Ciabatti and Gregory Hayes for their hard work and commit-ment to this performance.

Filippo Ciabatti conductor is a native of Florence, Italy, and holds degrees in orchestral conducting, choral conducting and piano performance from institutions in Italy and the US.

A 2015 Opera North Young Artist (assistant conductor, pianist), Ciabatti made his debut as an Opera North guest conductor with Tosca in 2016. In June 2016 he returned to the Opera Academy at the Scuola Italia per Giovani Cantanti Lirici in Piobbico, Italy, as the assistant music director and vocal coach.

In February 2016, Ciabatti made his debut for the Lyric Theatre at Illinois, conducting Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Christopher Gillett. In May 2015, he made

his South American debut conducting the Universidad Central Symphony Orchestra in Bogota, Colombia, where he also taught masterclasses in orchestra and Italian opera. With La Nuova Aurora Opera (Illinois), he conducted full productions of Handel’s Rodrigo (2015) and Purcell’s King Arthur (2016).

As an orchestral conductor, Ciabatti has guest-conducted many orchestras including the Sangamon Valley Symphony Orchestra, Lamont Symphony Orchestra, East Central Illinois Youth Orchestra, University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra and Truman State Symphony Orchestra. He served as music director at the Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Champaign, IL.

Ciabatti has been a pianist and vocal coach at the Cherubini Conservatory, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and Florence Opera Academy in Italy, and has performed with singers including Adriana Marfisi and Silvia Bossa. He has played for masterclasses of Renée Fleming, Nathan Gunn, William Matteuzzi, Donald George and Isabel Leonard.

Ciabatti studied with such prominent teachers as Mark Stringer, Michael Luig, David Effron and Lawrence Golan in conducting workshops in Europe and the US. He completed his doctoral degree in orchestral conducting with Donald Schleicher at the University of Illinois.

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HOP BACKSTAGE

An insider’s view of the Hop, by Dartmouth students and staff

Violin IKayvon Coffey ‘17*Orestis Lykouropoulos ‘17 Betty Kim ‘20Ellen Kim ‘17Michael Zhu ‘20Zoe Yu ‘19Katie Wee ‘19Alyssa Gao ‘20Bryan Shin ‘20Laura Barthold ‘19David Horak C Violin 2Christopher Park ‘17Prajan Divakar GRMarshall Peng ‘20Molly Ryan ‘17Neerja Thakkar ‘19Eric Rappeport CNicole Tiao ‘20

ViolaEleni Mora ‘18Benjamin Lee ‘19Michelle Chen ‘19Leslie Sonder FElaine Chiu ‘17Marcia Cassidy F

CelloJoe Brackbill ‘18Richard Lu ‘20Ellen Smalley ‘19Kevin Xu ‘18Evan Morgan ‘19Sara McElheny ‘17Dominik Cooreman ‘18Gabriella Horton ‘20Caroline Tally CRuth Heindel GR

FluteDaisy Xu ‘19Dorothy Qu ‘19Paula Chen ‘17Anela Arifi ‘20

OboeCourtney Stump ‘20

ClarinetJoshua Warzecha ‘17Grant Cook ‘19Diane Ge ‘19Allen Yang ‘20

BassoonKyu Kim ‘18Sydney Zhou ‘19Kevin Yang ‘20

HornKarel Raska ‘20Michael Huang ‘20

TromboneCharlie Johnson ‘19Fisher Katlin ‘19

DARTMOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAFilippo Ciabatti conductor

Molly Ryan ’17, Neerja Thakkar ’19 managersLeslie Sonder librarian

GR=Arts and Sciences Graduate Student F=Faculty C=Community; *=Concertmaster

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE GLEE CLUB sun NOV 6 • 2 pm • ROLLINS CHAPEL

Nolan Gasser’s Repast, a compelling 2014 oratorio based on a true story from the 1960s Civil Rights struggle, plus works by William Billings, Moses Hogan and Aaron Copland.

For tickets or more info, call the Box Office at 603.646.2422 or visit hop.dartmouth.edu. Share your experiences! #HopkinsCenter

VILLIERS QUARTET with SALLY PINKAS piano sat NOV 12 • 8 pm • ROLLINS CHAPEL

Program includes works by Purcell, Sibelius, Saxton and, with pianist Sally Pinkas, Frank Bridge’s Piano Quintet in D minor.

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE WIND ENSEMBLE fri NOV 11 • 8 pm • SPAULDING AUDITORIUM

Program includes works by Wagner, Holst and Stravinsky—composers who brought the wind band into the concert hall.

MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP & THE SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE

LAYLA AND MAJNUN fri JAN 6 • 8 pm sat JAN 7 • 2 & 8 pm • THE MOORE THEATER

Ancient Persian love story comes to life in stunning new chamber opera.

HANDEL SOCIETY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE tue NOV 15 • 7 pm • SPAULDING AUDITORIUM

Program includes Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, the world premiere of Dominic DiOrio’s I Tell the Story and works by Arvo Pärt.

For tickets or more info, call the Box Office at 603.646.2422 or visit hop.dartmouth.edu. Share your experiences! #HopkinsCenter

D A RT M O UTHRECYCLES

Recycling bin provided in the lobby. Thank you.

Assistive Listening Devices available in the lobby.

R

Please turn off your cell phone inside the theater.

Jay Cary ‘68, T’71 Business and Administrative Officer Joseph Clifford Director of Audience Engagement

Margaret Lawrence Director of Programming

Joshua Price Kol ‘93 Director of Student Performance Programs/ Interim General Manager Sydney Stowe Acting Director of Hopkins Center Film

HOPKINS CENTER DIRECTORATE

Maria Laskaris ‘84 Interim Director

HOPKINS CENTER BOARD OF OVERSEERS

Austin M. Beutner ’82, P’19 Kenneth L. Burns H’93

Barbara J. Couch Allan H. Glick ’60, T’61, P’88, GP’19

Barry Grove ’73 Caroline Diamond Harrison ’86, P’16, P’18

Kelly Fowler Hunter ’83, T’88, P’13, P’15, P’19

Robert H. Manegold ’75, P’02, P’06Michael A. Marriott ’84, P’18Nini MeyerHans C. Morris ’80, P’11, P’14 Chair of the Board Laurel J. Richie ’81 Trustee RepresentativeRobert S. Weil ’40, P’73 HonoraryJennifer A. Williams ’85

Kate Adams, Advisor on Student RelationsKeely Ayres, Senior Production ManagerRebecca Bailey, Publicity CoordinatorLouis Burkot, Jr., Director, Glee Club Todd Campbell, Production Manager Mora Cantlin, Audience Engagement Assistant Sarah Case, Theater Department Academic AssistantAileen Chaltain, Senior Box Office Manager Filippo Ciabatti, Director, Dartmouth Symphony OrchestraJanet Collins, Woodworking Assistant InstructorWalter Cunningham, Director, Gospel ChoirMegan Dean, Business Office AssistantMargaret Devine-Sullivan, Theater Department AdministratorAnn Marks DiLalla, Community Venture Initiative CoordinatorTerry Duane, Marketing Studio ManagerRobert Duff, Director, Handel SocietyGregory Elder, Woodworking Instructor/DirectorJohanna Evans ‘10, Acting Manager, Hopkins Center Film Crystal Fielding, Piano & Keyboard Technician Sherry Fiore, Donor Relations Officer Corey Fitch, Digital Content CoordinatorMary Gaetz, Outreach Coordinator Sean Gao ‘13, Coordinator of Student ProgramsJeff Georgantes, Jewelry/Metals Instructor/DirectorDonald Glasgo, Director, Barbary Coast Jazz EnsembleDavid Haggerty, Master Technician

Mark Hanneman, Production ManagerAbbey Harlow, Membership Program Coordinator Case Hathaway-Zepeda ’09, Jewelry Artist-in-ResidenceLisa Hayes, Assistant Director for FacilitiesRyan Hebert, Box Office ManagerSarah Heimann, Assistant Ceramics InstructorKaren Henderson, Programming AssistantTodd Hendricks, Master Technician John Heginbotham, Dance Artist-in-ResidenceKerry Keegan, Box Office AssistantIngrid Knudsen, Business SpecialistStephen Langley, Ensembles AssistantLaura Larrick, Advisor on Student RelationsKevin Malenda, Master Technician Matthew M. Marsit, Director, Wind Ensemble/Marching Band Patti Moffitt, Executive Assistant to the Director Stephanie Pacheco, Outreach Manager Sally Pinkas, Pianist-in-ResidenceJean Reichert, Operations AssistantAshlee Robinson, Marketing Studio Graphic DesignerColin Roebuck, Master TechnicianEden Sabala, Events ManagerHafiz Shabazz, Director, World Music Percussion EnsembleErin Smith, Outreach CoordinatorJenny Swanson, Ceramics Instructor/DirectorBrandea Turner, Senior Events ManagerSarah Westney, Production Office Business Coordinator Patrick Wilkinson, Box Office Manager