Delphi Chamber Orchestra

Friday October 14, 2011

PROGRAMSeason Opening Concert

Delphi Chamber Orchestra Gregory Robbins Music Director

Friday October 14th, 2011 at 8:00 PM

Gregory Robbins ConductorStefan Jackiw Violin

Beethoven:

Overture to Egmont Op. 84Symphony #8 in F Op. 93

INTERMISSION

Violin Concerto in D Op. 61Allegro ma non troppoLarghettoRondo

This evening’s program will last approx. 90 minutes

The Delphi Chamber Orchestra would like to thank Battell Chapel for the use of their beautiful space.

Notes on the ProgramBy Paul Nemeth

Beethoven composed incidental music to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s 1788 play Egmont between 1809 and 1810, setting it chronologically between the sixth and seventh symphonies. Goethe’s play takes place in the mid-16th century where Count Egmont of the Netherlands is fighting against the invasion of the Duke of Alba. Count Egmont is sentenced to death but refuses to step down and give up his fight and ideals. He dies as a martyr, which in itself is seen as a victory. The Sturm und Drang style of literature fit well with Beethoven’s own heroic middle period style and the political themes he explored in Fidelio. Goethe, upon hear-ing Beethoven’s work, declared that “Beethoven has followed my intentions with admirable genius”.

Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major, Op.61 was com-posed in 1806 for Beethoven’s friend Franz Clement. Beethoven first met Clement in 1794 when he was only 14 and a child prod-igy. The premiere was not a success, perhaps due to Beethoven’s late finish of the work or Clement’s lack of preparation of the solo part, and only became an established work in the 1840’s, four decades after the premiere, due to the efforts of Joseph Joachim and Felix Mendelssohn. Much like Beethoven expanded the form of the symphony to great lengths in his Eroica symphony that premiered the year before, his Violin Concerto gives the orches-tra a larger, more prominent role than was given in the past with an expanded form that makes the whole concerto last around 45 minutes.

Notes on the Program Beethoven composed his Symphony No.8 in F major, Op.93 in 1812 in only four months following the completion of his seventh symphony. The shortest of Beethoven’s symphonies, it is generally light-hearted in mood and owes its devious twists and turns in regards to harmony and form to Beethoven’s teacher Haydn. Its instrumentation is also smaller, being the same as the first, second, and fourth symphonies. The symphony lacks a true slow movement and instead has both an “Allegretto scherzando” (widely believed to be an imitation of a metronome) and a “Tempo di Menuetto”, which hearkens back to Mozart and Haydn. De-spite the humorous aspect of the symphony, Beethoven composed the work during one of the darkest periods of his life. His deaf-ness worsening, and he had recently parted from his “Immortal Beloved,” which is one of the few relationships that Beethoven is known to have had. During the same period, he also tried to prevent his brother Johann’s marriage to a housemaid, which was ultimately unsuccessful. The last symphony from his middle pe-riod, it would be followed by the only symphony in his late style, the monumental ninth symphony 12 years later.

About the Artists

Violinist Stefan Jackiw is recognized as one of his generation’s most significant artists, captivating audiences with playing that combines poetry and purity with an impeccable technique. Hailed for “talent that’s off the scale” (Washington Post) Jackiw has ap-peared as soloist with the Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco symphony orchestras, among others, and he has collaborated with such renowned conductors as Marin Alsop, Andrew Davis, Hannu Lintu, Ludovic Morlot, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Mikhail Pletnev, Gerard Schwarz and Yuri Temirkanov. His solo performance of Mendels-sohn Concerto with the YouTube Symphony Orchestra at Austra-lia’s Sydney Opera House in March was seen live on YouTube by more than 30 million people worldwide.

During the 2011/12 season Jackiw makes his debut with the Atlanta Symphony under Nicholas McGegan and the Rotterdam Philharmonic in France led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He enjoys return engagements with the Chicago Symphony (Trevor Pin-nock), Toronto Symphony (Christopher Koenig) and Rochester Philharmonic (Arild Remmereit). Additional highlights include recitals at the Kennedy Center under the auspices of the Washing-ton Performing Arts Society and in Chicago with pianist Jeremy Denk, presented by the Chicago Symphony.

(continued on next page)

About the Artists(continued) Jackiw is also an active recitalist and chamber musician. He has performed in numerous important festivals and concert series, including the Aspen Music Festival, Ravinia Festival, Caramoor Inter-national Music Festival, Celebrity Series of Boston, New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival and Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Louvre Recital Series in Paris. He is a regular participant at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Bravo! Vail Valley Music and Bard Music Festivals. At the opening night of Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall in New York, Jackiw was the only young artist invited to perform, playing alongside such art-ists as Emanuel Ax, Renée Fleming, Evgeny Kissin, and James Levine. Jackiw was a founding member of the Tessera Quartet, an emerging New York-based ensemble formed under the guidance of the Juilliard String Quartet.

On disc, Jackiw is garnering acclaim for his debut album of the Brahms Violin Sonatas with pianist Max Levinson (Sony). Fanfare maga-zine proclaimed, “Jackiw is fantastic … This is now the recording of Brahms’s violin sonatas to have.”

Born in 1985 to physicist parents of Korean and German descent, Stefan Jackiw began playing the violin at the age of four. His teachers have included Zinaida Gilels, Michèle Auclair, and Donald Weilerstein. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University, as well as an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory. In 2002, the young artist was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. He makes his home in New York City.

About the ArtistsGregory Robbins enjoys a multi-faceted career as a conduc-tor, double bassist, composer, and teacher. He is the founder and music director of the Delphi Chamber Orchestra. As a bassist, he has performed with orchestras in such diverse venues as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and Alice Tulley Hall. He was seen most recently as a member of the 2011 YouTube Symphony Orchestra the Sydney Opera House in a concert which was viewed live by 33 million people.

His conducting mentors have included Michael Charry, Toshiyuki Shimada, and Shinik Hahm. Currently a student at Yale School of Music, he studies with Don Palma. Former teachers have included Orin O’Brien, David Grossman, and Linda McKnight

His hobbies and interests include excercising, Yoga, eating meals that other people cook, and hanging out with his awesome brothers and sister: Becky, Jesse, Rory, Geoffrey, Jacob, and Luke

The Delphi Chamber Orchestra was founded in 2011 by Gregory Robbins. Its mission is to revolutionize the way people experience classical music. Drawing on recent advances in digital and social media, the Delphi Chamber Orchestra will be able pro-vide not only live concerts of the highest quality, but new ways for audiences to connect with behind the scenes activities, rehearsal footage, interviews, and more. It draws its talent from the finest conservatories in the world, such as Yale School of Music, The Cleveland Institute, Juilliard, Curtis, Manhattan School of Music, Colburn, and others.

Members of the OrchestraGregory Robbins, Music Director

Violins:Geoffrey Herd (CM)Hen-Shuo Steven ChangGowoon ChoiVictor Fournelle-BlainWonyoung JungEun-young JungLaura Keller(p)Hye Jin KohSolomon LiangMichelle LimEdson ScheidAmy SchroederChristian SitzmannEdward Tan

Viola:Kendra James(p)Colin BrookesTimothy LaCrosseJessica LiJane Mitchell

Cello:Qizhen Liu(p)Jia CaoChristopher HwangWeipeng LiuAlvin Wong

Double Bass:Nicholas Jones(p)Paul NemethJonathan McWilliamsMatthew Rosenthall

Flute:Ginevra Petrucci (p)Cho Long Kang

Oboe:Kaitlin Taylor (p)Alexandra Detyniecki

Clarinet:Wai Lau, (p)Gleb Kanasevich

Bassoon:Yuki Katayama, (p)Elizabeth Garrett

French Horn:Ian Petruzzi (p)Patrick JankowskiCraig HubbardJessica Lascoe

Trumpet:Paul Futer (p)David Wharton

Percussion:Cristobal Gajardo (p)Adam Rosenblatt

Harp:Kristan Toczko

Please visit us online at: www.delphichamberorchestra.com