S E A S ON SPON SOR

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Jan 16 & 17 I 8 pm

Centre In The Square, Kitchener

Edwin Outwater, conductor Mervon Mehta, actor ‡ Grand Philharmonic Choir Female Chorus* Brigit Wilson, actor ß Grand Philharmonic Children’s Choir Scott Belluz, countertenor ^ Carla Huhtanen, soprano ~ Henry Purcell (1659 - 1695) Suite No. 1, from The Fairy Queen, Z.629 1. Prelude 2. Rondeau 3. Jig 4. Hornpipe 5. Dance of the Fairies Suite No. 2, from The Fairy Queen, Z.629 1. Air 2. Monkey Dance 3. Dance for the Followers of the Night 4. Chaconne

15’

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958) Serenade to Music (orchestral version)

13’

INTERMISSION Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847) A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Ein Sommernachtstraum), op.21 & 61 *^~‡ß Overture 1. Scherzo (after Act I) 2. Act II, Sc I: “Over hill, over dale;” Entry of Oberon & Titania 3. Act II, Sc.2: “You Spotted Snakes, With Double Tongue” 4. Act II, Sc 2: “What thou seest, when thou dost wake” 5. Intermezzo, after Act II 6. Act III, Sc 1: “What hempen homespuns have we swaggering here” 7. Nocturne (end of Act III) 8. Act IV, Sc 1: “But first I will release the Fairy Queen” 9. Wedding March (after Act IV) 10. Act V, Sc 1: Dialogue and Funeral March 11. A Dance of Clowns 12. Reprise of Wedding March (exit of lovers) Finale. Dialogue & Song: “Through this house give glimmering light”

SI GNATURE SERI ES SPONSO R

PODIUM SPONSOR

P R O G R A M M I N G SPON SOR

62’

GU EST ART I ST SPON SOR

P H O T O : L A R RY W I L L I A M S O N

Edwin Outwater music director

Edwin Outwater is Music Director of Ontario’s Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony (KWS), Director of Summer Concerts at the San Francisco Symphony (SFS), and a regular guest conductor of the Chicago, San Francisco and New World Symphonies. Equally adept at interpreting canonical masterworks, premiering new commissions, and creating outside-the-box audience-building initiatives the American conductor is, as San Francisco Classical Voice recently observed, “headed for a top-tier future.” In the 2014-15 season, his eighth as Music Director of the KWS, Outwater leads the orchestra in a characteristically diverse array of programs. These include “The Mozart Phenomenon”; a collaboration with Time for Three; a program focusing on Stravinsky and another of works inspired by Shakespeare; music and comedy from composers including Rossini and PDQ Bach; and works by contemporary Canadian composers. He also continues the orchestra’s groundbreaking “Intersections” series of cross-cultural and interdisciplinary collaborations. In 2011, Outwater directed the KWS in its first commercial CD release in over a decade, From Here On Out on Analekta, with music by Nico Muhly, Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, and Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry, the last piece a KWS commission. This summer, in his inaugural season as Director of Summer Concerts at the SFS, Outwater directed jazzinflected works by Bernstein, Gershwin, and Ravel; an all-Beethoven program; and collaborations with pianist Makoto Ozone and Broadway star Cheyenne Jackson, among others. His work with the SFS continues later 4 I 2014/15 Season

this season when Outwater conducts the orchestra’s New Year’s Eve Masquerade Ball and family concerts, as well as collaborating with Nathaniel Stookey at the SFS’s new alternative performance space, SoundBox. He also conducts the Milwaukee Symphony, and returns to lead the Chicago Symphony and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. A native of Santa Monica, California, Edwin Outwater attended Harvard University, graduating with a degree in English; he received his master’s degree in conducting from UC Santa Barbara. Outwater was Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony from 2001-2006 where he worked closely with Michael Tilson Thomas, toured with the orchestra, and conducted numerous concerts. In 2004, his education programs at the San Francisco Symphony were given the Leonard Bernstein Award for Excellence in Educational Programming and his Chinese New Year Program was given the MET LIFE award for community outreach. In the United States, Outwater has also conducted the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, as well as the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Houston, Detroit, and Seattle, and the San Francisco and Cincinnati Operas. In Canada, he has conducted the National Arts Centre Orchestra, as well as the symphonies of Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Victoria. International appearances include the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the New Zealand Symphony, the Adelaide Symphony, the Malmö Symphony, the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, the Mexico City Philharmonic, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Xalapa, and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. www.edwinoutwater.com www.facebook.com/pages/Edwin-Outwater twitter.com/eoutwater

Scott Belluz countertenor

Canadian countertenor Scott Belluz is rapidly gaining recognition as an engaging vocal artist. Praised for his ‘warm, rich voice and impeccable coloratura,’ (La Marseillaise) Scott brings his committed artistry to repertoire ranging from 17th century to newly composed works.

biographies Choir, and Bach’s St. John Passion with Grand River Chorus in 2015.

Scott Belluz has received great acclaim for his performances in the world premieres of numerous Canadian operatic works including: the title role in Omar Daniel’s The Shadow with Tapestry New Opera, L’Oiseau in Gilles Tremblay’s Opéra Féerie with Chants Libres, Damien in R. Murray Schafer’s The Children’s Crusade with Soundstreams Canada, as well as Opera Briefs and Opera To Go with Tapestry New Opera. Recent operatic performances have also included Orlando/Lunaire with Opera Erratica, L’humana fragilita and Pisandro in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria with Chicago Opera Theatre, Athamas in Handel’s Semele with Pacific Opera Victoria, Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Banff Centre for the Arts and Medoro in Handel’s Orlando in a French touring production. On the concert stage, Scott performed in Salsa Baroque: Music of Latin America and Spain of the 17th and 18th Century with Ensemble Caprice, a program which has also been released on CD by the Analekta label. Other recent concert performances include: Handel’s Messiah with the Thunder Bay Symphony, Handel’s Tamerlano with Opera in Concert, Bach’s Magnificat with the Ottawa Choral Society, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater in Aix en Provence, and recitals in Marseille, Avignon, Toulon, and St. Remy de Provence. Scott Belluz displayed his versatility in “The Dublin Messiah” with Aradia Ensemble and in the 2012 world premiere of “From the House of Mirth” (Sharman/Alex PochGoldin), choreographed by James Kudelka, for ColemanLemieux Compagnie. Scott starred in “A Synonym for Love”, the sexy update of a Handel cantata with Toronto’s Volcano Theatre. Future performances for Scott include Bach Cantata No. 147 with Kingston Chamber

Carla Huhtanen soprano

Carla launched her career in Italy and France, singing at Teatro La Fenice (Venice) in Gershwin’s Lady, Be Good! and Cherubini’s Anacréon in 2000-01. She sang Angelica in Händel’s Orlando and the title role in Purcell’s Fairy Queen in Marseille, also performing in Aix-en-Provence, Tarascon, Toulon, Avignon and Chartres. Carla debuted in the UK at Garsington Opera – Lisetta in La Gazzetta, Serpetta in La Finta Giardiniera and with London’s Mostly Mozart series at the Barbican. Other European highlights include Bernstein’s Candide with the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Valletta festival in Malta, and a concert tour of the UK the Welsh National Opera Orchestra and in Germany with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. One of Now! Magazine’s Top Ten Theatre Artists of 2008 and a 2010 Dora Award nominee, she performs regularly with Opera Atelier (Susanna, Blonde, Drusilla, Minerva) and Tapestry New Opera (The Shadow, Opera to Go) in Toronto. She sang Salonen’s Five Images after Sappho with the KitchenerWaterloo Symphony and she premiered Pulitzer-prize winning Paul Moravec’s Blizzard Voices with Opera Omaha. Much in demand as an interpreter of modern and contemporary music, she has sung concerts featuring the works of Crumb, Rehnqvist, Leroux, and Scelsi. Upcoming engagements include projects with Queen of Puddings Music Theatre, Array New Music, and Blonde with Edmonton Opera. See our entire season at kwsymphony.ca I 5

Stephanie Rothenberg Photo: Don Dixon

biographies

Mervon Mehta actor

Canadian actor Mervon Mehta received his theatrical training under the late Sanford Meisner in New York and spent the next several years performing in New York as a member of the Neighborhood Group Theatre, in regional theatre and on television. In 1987 he returned to Canada where he appeared in Hamlet (Laertes) at the Persephone Theatre in Saskatoon, in Julius Caesar (Marulus/Messala), the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, Taming of the Shrew (Lucentio) at Skylight Theatre in Toronto, The Secret Garden (Craven) at Young People’s Theatre in Toronto and Fiddler on the Roof (Perchik) in Sudbury. He spent two seasons at the Stratford Festival appearing in Richard Monet’s Romeo and Juliet (Paris), The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Valentine), The Tempest, The Rules of the Game and Michael Langham’s critically acclaimed production of Timon of Athens starring Brian Bedford. Other favourite roles include Rodolpho in A View from the Bridge, Stanley in Brighton Beach Memoirs, Bernie in Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love and Cuirette in Michel Tremblay’s Hosanna. On television he has been seen in The Untouchables, Choices (with George C. Scott), and on several daytime soap operas. He moved to Chicago in 1993 and appeared in The Seagull (Treplev) at Touchstone Theatre, in Once in a Lifetime (Jerry) at the Court Theatre, and in The Cure at Troy (Neoptolemus) directed by the late Bernie Sahlins at Steppenwolf Theatre. Mehta also appeared regularly at Chicago’s Apple Tree Theatre including leading roles as Armenian Holocaust survivor Aram Tomassian in Beast on the Moon and as Jewish Holocaust denier Bernard Cooper in Denial.

As narrator he has appeared under the batons of conductors Lawrence Foster, Christoph Eschenbach and his father, Zubin Mehta performing such works as Beethoven’s Egmont (Los Angeles Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, National Arts Center Orchestra and the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, England); Leonard Bernstein’s Kaddish Symphony (Houston Symphony, Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon, Munich Philharmonic, Maggio Musicale in Florence, Hungarian National Orchestra in Budapest; Walton’s Henry V (Lisbon); Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht (Chicago Symphony); Schoenberg’s Survivor from Warsaw (Monte Carlo Symphony); and Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Lisbon). Mehta, his wife Carey and son Zed, reside in Toronto where he is Executive Director of Performing Arts at the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Brigit Wilson actor

Brigit is returning this spring for her 10th season with the Stratford Festival. She will appear as the Bawd in “Pericles” and as Doll Common in “The Alchemist.” Other productions for the Stratford Festival: The Swanne: George III, All’s Well That Ends Well, Quiet in The Land, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Pericles, The Count of Monte Christo, Triumph of Love, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Orpheus Descending, The Merchant of Venice, The Comedy of Errors, An Ideal Husband, Three Sisters, Bartholomew Fair, Peter Pan, The Grapes of Wrath, King John, Christina the Girl King, Mother Courage and Her Children. Elsewhere: The Passion of Narcisse Mondoux, Come Back to the Five & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (Grand Theatre) Enron See our entire season at kwsymphony.ca I 7

(Theatre Calgary) The Merry Wives of Windsor, Glorious, Man of La Mancha (TBTB) The Ballad of Stompin’ Tom Conners, Another Seasons Harvest (Blyth Festival) The Odd Couple (Segal Centre) Orpheus Descending (MTC & Mirvish Productions) Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (Five & Dime Productions) (Dora Nomination). TV: 4 seasons as Harriet Sims on The Campbells,The Hitchhiker, Street Legal, Parole Board, Verdict, and various commercials. Film: Beyond Innocence, Anne of Avonlea, The Marriage Bed, Echoes in the Darkness, and Lustre.

Grand Philharmonic Choir Women’s Chorus The women of the Grand Philharmonic Choir comprise the soprano, mezzo-soprano and alto singers in this Kitchener-based symphonic choir of more than 100 auditioned singers. Most of the singers live in Waterloo Region, but some travel from as far as Toronto, Stratford and Hamilton to rehearse and perform under the direction of artistic director Mark Vuorinen. The Grand Philharmonic Choir often appears as guest artists with the KitchenerWaterloo Symphony and also presents its own season of four concerts a year, showcasing the great choral-orchestral masterworks with professional orchestra and top soloists. Find out more about the choir on its website: www. grandphilchoir.com

Grand Philharmonic Children’s Choir The Grand Philharmonic Children’s Choir was started in 1987 to give young children aged 7 to 14 a chance to appreciate and perform choral music and is directed by Andrea deBoer-Jones. The choir has its own concert series and regularly performs with the Grand Philharmonic Choir and with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. Music education is very important to us. At our regular rehearsals, we provide our young singers with voice production, theory, music literacy and ear training. The choir has its own concert series as well as working with 8 I 2014/15 Season

other organizations. We also get together for retreats and fun social activities, including participating in the Canada’s Wonderland Music Festival in June 2011 and May 2014. We have sung with with Celtic tenor John McDermott and country superstar Kenny Rogers. Other highlights include performing with TorQ Percussion Quartet from Toronto and annual performances with the KitchenerWaterloo Symphony in their Yuletide Pops concerts. We have competed at National Music Fest, Kiwanis Music Festival and recently travelled to Cincinnati for the Queen City Music Festival. We are especially proud to have produced our first CD in 2013, having written the title track, “We will find an answer” with Jim Papoulis.

PROGRAM NOTES HENRY PURCELL (1659-1695) Suites Nos. 1 and 2 from The Fairy Queen, Z.629 (1692) Purcell’s stage works, including The Fairy Queen, include much spoken word, with its songs falling as self-contained separate numbers between the dialogue. The instrumental numbers are also frequently self-contained, with an overture opening the production, ‘Act Tunes’ coming between the acts, and a ‘First Music’ and ‘Second Music’ as musical interludes elsewhere. Acting, singing and dancing in these, essentially, multi-media productions would be rehearsed separately. Then the whole production would be pulled together at the last minute. Although the productions were sometimes referred to as opera, the term ‘semi-opera’ would soon be used – once the idea of continuous, throughcomposed sung music gained a firm foothold in the 18th century theatres of London. It was only in 1708, shortly after Purcell’s death, that London got its first opera house. The Fairy Queen is based on Shakespeare and its playbook, first published in 1791, was titled The Fayery Queene, or Midsomers Nights Dreame. It is the last of Purcell’s works for theatre and its original production was by far the most extravagant. While Dioclesian (1690) and King Arthur (1691) both include comedy in

Purcell’s hands, only The Fairy Queen takes it further into slapstick and cross-dressing. In the original production, Oberon and Titania, the Fairy King and Queen, were played by child actors and dancing monkeys appeared on stage, accompanying Bottom the Weaver, with his ass’s head. The stage prompter John Downes, who wrote a history of the Restoration stage in 1708, recalled that ‘Court and Town were wonderfully satisfy’d’ after the first performance at London’s Dorset Theatre in 1692. Unfortunately, though, he added: ‘the expenses in setting it out being so great, the Company got very little by it.’ In opera, some things don’t change. RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958) Serenade to Music (orchestral version) (1938/9) How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! Here will we sit and let the sounds of music creep in our ears. Soft stillness and the night Become touches of sweet harmony. These famous lines – from the final scene of The Merchant of Venice – open the Serenade to Music by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. Shakespeare’s young lovers not only serenade one another, but music itself, in the careful selection of 33 lines made by the composer. The composer then takes the serenading further still as he serenades the renowned English conductor Sir Henry Wood to mark his 50 years as a conductor. The resulting score, premièred October 5, 1938 as a setting for 16 solo voices and orchestra, represents some of the finest and most characteristic music by this most English of composers. Its essence is captured in the orchestral version that Vaughan Williams made and Wood also premièred a little over a year later. The ecstatic opening prologue with its soaring high violin line recalls The Lark Ascending and the work’s sonorous, richly scored, weighty, slow-moving harmonies evoke the feeling of a symphonic slow movement.

FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847) Overture and Incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 21 and 61 (1826/1843) “In the plays of Shakespeare every man sees himself,” the English Romantic poet and critic Samuel Taylor Coleridge famously said. For Coleridge and the 19th century Romantics, knowing oneself meant knowing Shakespeare. And this, the Romantics took to with gusto. “Hamlet is not you or I; he is all of us. Hamlet is not a man; he is man,” declared French novelist Victor Hugo in 1835. Where today we might view a DVD image of a Kenneth Branagh, a Leonardo DiCaprio or a Claire Danes to bring Shakespeare into contemporary culture, the Romantics mostly read Shakespeare and saw productions in the theatre, often in translation. Throughout German-speaking Europe, the translations of Schlegel and, later, Tieck raised Shakespeare to the level of German classic. “Shakespeare stands like a magician above the world, instantly probing the depths, mysteries, and perplexities of human character,” Schlegel wrote. And it was Schlegel’s translation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream that enthralled the 17 year-old Felix Mendelssohn and fired his imagination. “I have grown accustomed to composing in our garden,” he wrote to his sister in July 1826. “Today or tomorrow I am going to dream there the Midsummer Night’s Dream. It is a tremendous audacity.” That the resulting overture and the incidental music he added years later succeed in matching the spirit of Shakespeare with music has been recognised by generations of music lovers. In the second part of tonight’s concert, we have a rare opportunity to admire the poetry and originality of Mendelssohn’s sound-world alongside Shakespeare’s lines that inspired it. “I have never heard anything more deeply Shakespearean than your music,” French composer Hector Berlioz told his German colleague, bestowing the highest praise from one composer to another. — Notes © Keith Horner 2015. Comments welcomed: [email protected]

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