UNLV Symphony Orchestra Taras Krysa, music director and conductor Jason Bonham, viola

College of Fine Arts presents a
UNLV Symphony Orchestra
Taras Krysa, music director and conductor
De Ann Letourneau, violin
Jason Bonham, viola
PROGRAM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756–1791)
Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola and orchestra
in E-flat Major, K. 364
Andante maestoso
Andante
Presto
De Ann Letourneau, violin
Jason Bonham, viola
INTERMISSION
John B Hedges
(b. 1974)
Spinnaker
Richard Strauss
(1864–1949)
Death and Transfiguration, Op. 24
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
7:30 p.m.
Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall
Performing Arts Center
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
PROGRAM NOTES
Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola and orchestra in E-flat Major, K. 364
Composed 1779
First Performance 1779
Instrumentation two oboes, two horns, violin solo, viola solo, strings
Sinfonia Concertante is widely regarded as one of Mozart’s greatest string concertos, this particularly being
for both solo violin and viola. One of the differences that sets apart this concerto from Mozart’s others is the viola
section being split into two different parts, much like the violin section. This leads to a richer sonority in the
orchestral fabric in the middle register. Another distinction of this piece is the viola part being in D major. Mozart
asks the viola player to tune their instrument up a half-step so that it would sound in E-Flat. His likely intention was
to bring a brighter edge to the viola sound to sound more equal to the solo violin.
The orchestra in this composition takes on a role that is both supportive and symbiotic to the soloist
elements. The operatic nature of Mozart’s writing is evident as the aria-esque first movement unfolds to introduce
both soloist and orchestra as a symphonic ensemble capable of reaching vocal quality and texture. The second
movement proves even more of the composer’s vocal style of writing as this movement contains the largest range
of performance speeds and textural depth. The final movement proves as a feature for the soloists as they are
asked to play fast technical passages often without the orchestra to demonstrate their high level of playing. After
these cadenza-like statements, the piece with a series of brilliant, cadential harmonies.
Death and Transfiguration, Op. 24
Composed 1888-November 1889
First Performance June 24, 1890 in Eisenbach, Germany
Instrumentation Three flutes, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons and
contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones and tuba, timpani, tam-tam, harp, and strings
Richard Strauss claimed that he was not afraid of death, yet he still held a fascination with the slowly ticking clock
of life. He said that he had wanted to compose music that depicted the dying hours of a man who sees his life
passing away before him, and that is what he did at only twenty-eight years of age. Composed as a tone poem, the
best depiction of Strauss’ interpretation of his music was found in a letter written to a friend in 1984:
It was about six years ago when the idea occurred to me to represent the death of a person who had
striven for the highest ideal goals, therefore possibly an artist, in a tone poem. The sick man lies in bed
asleep, breathing heavily and irregularly; agreeable dreams charm a smile on his features in spite of his
suffering; his sleep becomes lighter; he wakens; once again he is racked by terrible pain, his limbs shake
with fever—as the attack draws to a close and the pain subsides he reflects on his past life, his childhood
passes before him, his youth with its striving, its passions, and then, while the pain resumes, the fruit of his
path through life appears to him, the ideal, the Ideal which he has tried to realize, to represent in his art, but
which he has been unable to perfect, because it was not for any human being to perfect it. The hour of
death approaches, and the soul leaves the body, in order to find perfected in the most glorious form in the
eternal cosmos that which he could not fulfill here on earth.
The piece begins with the faltering sounds of a dying man’s heartbeat and the mood changes as he begins to sift
through his own memories and remembers his youth. The vibrant calls from the horn section represent him as a
young man, full of zeal and confidence. Later, there are also other moments full of passion and thick harmonic
textures that depict the times of romance in his life. When the tam-tam strikes, death has finally arrived and Strauss
brings together his previous themes for the dying man’s glorious finale.
Spinnaker
Composed 2001
First Performance UNLV Symphony Orchestra will perform the Western Hemisphere premiere of Spinnaker
Instrumentation flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, vibraphone, suspended cymbal, crotales,
two timpani, celeste, harp, and strings
Based on a childhood memory the meditative Spinnaker recounts the excitement and power of the large
sail on a racing sailboat as the constant, deliberate tug-of-war ends with the wind proving to powerful for a young
boy’s grip, leaving him in awe and admiration of the struggle. A first draft was written of the piece in Aldeburgh,
England during July of 2000 and first performed that summer at the Snape Maltings Concert Hall. It was
augmented and adapted for my Violin Concerto and subsequently the original version was revised as well to reflect
those changes. The current version was premiered in the 2001 Aldeburgh Festival with the composer conducting
the Britten Pears Contemporary Ensemble.
BIOGRAPHIES
Taras Krysa
Taras Krysa serves as the director of orchestras at UNLV and music director of the Henderson Symphony
Orchestra. Krysa was born in Kiev, Ukraine to a musical family and began his formal studies as a violinist at the
Moscow Conservatory. After moving to United States, Krysa continued his studies at Indiana University and
Northwestern University both in violin and conducting. His conducting teachers have included Victor Yampolsky,
Jorma Panula and David Zinman. As a violinist, Krysa has won positions with the New World Symphony
Orchestra and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras.
In recent seasons his conducting appearances have included National Ukrainian Symphony Orchestra,
Orchestra van het Osten, New World Symphony, St. Petersburg Symphony, Moscow Soloists, Slovak Sinfonietta,
Spoleto Festival Chamber Orchestra, Kiev Chamber Orchestra and the Lublin Philharmonic Orchestra. He has
made three critically acclaimed recordings for the Brilliant Classics label. Krysa has also served as Principal
Conductor of the Ukrainian State Symphony Orchestra, which he led on the several European tours with the
appearance at the Concertgebouw Hall.
De Ann Letourneau
De Ann Letourneau is the Concertmaster of the Las Vegas Philharmonic, Violinist for Celine Dion, member of
the “Showstoppers” and founding member of two new Chamber groups, Virtuosi West-a classical chamber
ensemble and Vertex3-a contemporary electronica group. An active soloist and chamber musician, she also
teaches and coaches young artists prepping for competition and auditions. She is on faculty at Nevada School of
the Arts for Chamber Studies. Her private teachers have included some of the great pedagogues including Dorothy
DeLay (CCM), David Cerone (Encore), Jascha Brodsky (Encore/Curtis) & Josef Gingold (IU).
Jason Bonham
Jason Bonham is known as a recitalist, chamber musician, orchestral musician and educator.
Currently, Jason is the Principal Violist with Las Vegas Philharmonic and Viola Faculty member at UNLV. He
has been a member or substitute member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra,
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and Ars Viva
Symphony Orchestra.
As a chamber musician he is a founding member of Virtuosi West and has performed with members of the
Emerson Quartet, Boston Chamber Society, Chicago Pro Musica, The New Russian Trio, The Beethoven Quartet,
Cavatina Trio and Fry Street Quartet.
In education, Jason is the Director of Orchestras at Tuacahn High School for the Performing Arts and was the
founder and Artistic Director of the Tuacahn Summer Arts Institute. He is also on faculty at Nevada School of the
Arts. Additionally, he served on various boards including the American Viola Society, Kayenta Arts Foundation and
the Chamber Music Society of Southern Utah. Currently he teaches viola at University of Nevada Las Vegas and in
the past has been a faculty member at Brigham Young University and Dixie State University.
His articles (both music and non-music related) have been published and discussed in the Journal of the
American Viola Society, Time Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, and many others.
His viola teachers include Roland Vamos, Albert Igolnikov, Charles Pikler, Helen Callus and David Dalton.
John B Hedges
The inspired and multifaceted music of composer John B Hedges has been performed throughout the U.S.
as well as Canada, France and England. He has been called “one of the most visual composers working today” and
his most recent compositions show a remarkable range: A Shipwreck Opera in One Act in collaboration with fiction
writer Aimee Bender; Exeter Riddles, a dramatic set of Anglo-Saxon choral works; On the Good Foot, a tribute to
the late James Brown for large chamber ensemble; and Fantasía sobre Yma Sumac, a concerto for clarinet &
orchestra inspired by the eclectic music of Peruvian songstress Yma Sumac. The latter was premiered by
clarinetist Victoria Luperi and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra where Hedges served as composer-in-residence
for the 2011-2012 season and was noted by several critics as the top performance of the season in the Dallas/Fort
Worth region. NewMusicUSA granted a residency for Hedges with the Richmond Symphony in 2013 for
performances of Prayers of Rain & Wind with bass soloist Joseph Conyers which resulted in the highest selling
Masterworks series in the Symphony's history. Most recently, the Sphinx Virtuosi commissioned and toured the
composer's work Raise Hymn, Praise Shout including performances in Miami's New World Center, Chicago's Harris
Theater and Carnegie Hall.
The son of a rock musician, Hedges began studying classical music composition at the University of
Pennsylvania and Westminster Choir College. He then completed post-graduate studies at the Curtis Institute of
Music where he studied with Richard Danielpour and Ned Rorem. Hedges spent summers at the Aspen Music
Festival where he studied with John Harbison and George Tsontakis and attended the Contemporary Composition
and Performance course at the Britten-Pears School (as both composer and conductor.) He subsequently returned
to the U.K. to apprentice with Oliver Knussen. In addition, he has participated in the Academie Musicale de
Villecroze in France, in the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s Composition and Conducting Institute and assisted
composer Tan Dun on the Metropolitan Opera premiere of ‘The First Emperor’.
THE UNLV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The Symphony Orchestra at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas is a student orchestra comprised of music majors
in the UNLV College of Fine Arts and non-music majors on both the graduate and undergraduate levels.
The mission of this performing ensemble is threefold:
1) to train music majors to become professional performers and teachers
2) to introduce non-music majors to higher quality musicianship
3) to enrich the cultural life of UNLV and the Las Vegas community
The UNLV orchestra presents a number of programs each season that include a variety of the orchestral standard
repertoire, ranging from early Baroque through modern contemporary. The UNLV Symphony Orchestra performs at
least one major work with a chorus every year as well as one complete opera. Student soloists are featured
throughout the year on either the Student Soloists Concert or else as guest artists for winning the annual Solo
Concerto Competition. The extensive list of guest conductors and soloists with UNLV Symphony Orchestra
includes Itzhak Perlman, Sarah Chang, Rachel Lee, Edgar Meyer and Hillary Hahn.
UNLV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL
Violin I
+Dmytro Nehrych
Sammi Ciarlo
Tammy Hung
Sarah Wright
Violin II
+Liz Bedrosian
Hunter Haynes
Ashley Riedy
Alexandria Pritchard
Oscar Fernandez
Aiea Shahid
Joseph Bauman
Vincente Gomez
Viola
+David Chavez
Valerie Reives
Micaela Nielson
Andrew Vasquez
Mariah Revis
Cello
+Katharine Smith
Lindsay Johnson
Bradley Taylor
Micheal Rompel
Bass
+Bennett Mason
Diana Obregon
Flute
^Lynn Tsai
Brandon Denman
Amber Epstein
Oboe
Sharon Nakama
Erika Hill
Rachel LaRance
^Daniel Nunez,
English Horn
Clarinet
^Ivan Ivanov
Jonathon Cannon
^Erin Vander Wyst,
Bass Cl.
Bassoons
Brock Norred
Bronson Foster
^Ashlea Sheridan,
Contrabassoon
Horns
^Linnie Hostetler
^Sarah Walton
Alina Eckersley
Michael Villarreal
^Tom Frauenshuh
Trumpets
^Micah Holt
Julio Vargas
Rudolph Jovero
Trombones
Tyler Barret
Juan C. Vasquez
Allan Quan,
Bass Trombone
Tuba
^Stephen Turner
Percussion
+Manny Gamazo
Samuel Friend
Eddie Yervinyan
+ Denotes Principal
^ Denotes Graduate Student