Tuesday Evening, April 5, 2016, at 8:00 Isaac Stern Auditorium / Ronald O. Perelman Stage Conductor’s Notes Q&A with Leon Botstein at 7:00 presents A Mass of Life LEON BOTSTEIN, Conductor FREDERICK DELIUS A Mass of Life Part I Animato Animoso Andante tranquillo con dolcezza Agitato ma moderato Andante molto tranquillo Intermission Part II: On the Mountains Introduction: Andante Con elevazione e vigore Andante Lento Lento molto Allegro, ma non troppo, con gravità Largo, con solennità SARAH FOX, Soprano AUDREY BABCOCK, Mezzo-soprano RODRICK DIXON, Tenor THOMAS CANNON, Baritone BARD FESTIVAL CHORALE JAMES BAGWELL, Director This performance is generously supported by the Delius Trust. This evening’s concert will run approximately two hours and ten minutes including one 20-minute intermission. American Symphony Orchestra welcomes the many organizations who participate in our Community Access Program, which provides free and low-cost tickets to underserved groups in New York’s five boroughs. For information on how you can support this program, please call (212) 868-9276. PLEASE SWITCH OFF YOUR CELL PHONES AND OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES.
Transcript
Tuesday Evening, April 5, 2016, at 8:00Isaac Stern Auditorium / Ronald O. Perelman StageConductor’s Notes Q&A with Leon Botstein at 7:00
presents
A Mass of LifeLEON BOTSTEIN, Conductor
FREDERICK DELIUS A Mass of LifePart IAnimatoAnimosoAndante tranquillo con dolcezzaAgitato ma moderatoAndante molto tranquillo
Intermission
Part II: On the MountainsIntroduction: AndanteCon elevazione e vigoreAndanteLentoLento moltoAllegro, ma non troppo, con gravitàLargo, con solennità
SARAH FOX, SopranoAUDREY BABCOCK, Mezzo-soprano
RODRICK DIXON, TenorTHOMAS CANNON, BaritoneBARD FESTIVAL CHORALEJAMES BAGWELL, Director
This performance is generously supported by the Delius Trust.
This evening’s concert will run approximately two hours and ten minutes including one 20-minute intermission.
American Symphony Orchestra welcomes the many organizations who participate in our CommunityAccess Program, which provides free and low-cost tickets to underserved groups in New York’s five
boroughs. For information on how you can support this program, please call (212) 868-9276.
PLEASE SWITCH OFF YOUR CELL PHONES AND OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES.
Wednesday, October 19, 2016Troubled Days of Peacewith the Bard Festival ChoraleTwo one-act operas with strikingly different reactions to tyranny.Ernst Krenek – Der Diktator (“The Dictator”)Richard Strauss – Friedenstag (“Day of Peace”)
Friday, November 18, 2016Bernstein and the BostoniansThis concert pays tribute to a group of composers known as the “Boston School” who lived,studied, taught, and composed in and around that city.Leonard Bernstein – Candide OvertureIrving Fine – Symphony Harold Shapero – Symphony for Classical OrchestraArthur Berger – Ideas of OrderRichard Wernick – …and a time for peace
Friday, February 10, 2017Prague Central: Great 20th-Cenutry Czech ComposersThough right in the center of the group of countries that defined the Western musical tradition,Czech composers often felt like outsiders looking in.Vítezslav Novák – In the TatrasBohuslav Martinu – Symphony No. 3Josef Suk – Fantastické scherzoErwin Schulhoff – Symphony No. 5
Friday, May 12, 2017The Apostleswith the Bard Festival ChoraleEngland’s greatest composer after Purcell wrote a magnificent but rarely-heard setting of theNew Testament, following the story of the Twelve through the Resurrection.Edward Elgar – The Apostles
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FROM THEMusic DirectorA Mass of Lifeby Leon Botstein
The life and work of Frederick Deliusdefy both characterization and compar-ison. His music is distinctive in thesense that its individuality is unmistak-able and its style reveals influences onlyobliquely. Delius was born a Britishsubject, and we have become used toassociating him with an “English” sen-sibility, but Delius suggests little ofwhat sounds English in the music ofElgar, for example. In fact there arethose who reject entirely the idea thatthere is anything particularly “English”about his music. Perhaps this is becausethere seems to be too much uneditedexpressiveness in Delius’ music; indeedthere is a fabric of sonority and har-monies we would more likely think ofas French. He did write a symphonicpoem in 1899 entitled Paris: Song of aGreat City and he took up residencethere eventually. Delius was in the habitof connecting landscape with musicalform. In terms of form, in his instrumen-tal and operatic music, one can thereforedetect the influence of Liszt and a Wag-nerian impulse towards extended musicalnarration, sustained by dense reliance onchromatic harmonies free of the rigorousformal and rhythmic traditions champi-oned by Max Reger.
Delius may have grown up in England,but his family was of German originand as an adult he only lived in Englandbriefly during World War I. But beforehe settled outside of Paris, he also livedin Florida and Virginia, nominally run-ning a citrus farm and pursuing musicas both student and teacher. This wasunusual for an aspiring European.America left an indelible impression onDelius—both its landscape and people,
notably the African-American popula-tion of the South. Delius’ training afterhe returned from America was largelyGerman, though among his staunchestadvocates were Scandinavians. But heattached himself to no school or styleand his improbable sojourns in Europeand North America ended up renderinghim an outsider everywhere: an Englishcomposer who lived in France, whosework was championed and published inGermany and who was as attached tothe poetry of Walt Whitman as he wasto that of Friedrich Nietzsche.
Delius’ uncompromising but intuitiveindividuality led not only to his being atthe margins of European musical lifeduring his lifetime, but an object ofcontroversy, which he remains. Fewcomposers seem to elicit such strongreactions. Delius’ partisans have beenand remain uncommonly vociferous.Most famous among them was SirThomas Beecham, who worked tire-lessly on Delius’ behalf. But the listincludes the conductor Fritz Cassirer,scion of one of Germany’s most illustri-ous extended families, and FlorentSchmitt, the French composer. Detrac-tors have found the music too mean-dering, too atmospheric and ill-formedand without any persuasive rhythmicpacing. Deryck Cooke, the eminent Eng-lish scholar who was one of the first toattempt a completion of the tenth sym-phony of Mahler, is reputed to havequipped that to admit to being a Deliuspartisan was akin to confessing to beinga drug addict.
Delius was born to a prosperous mer-chant family and struggled to persuadehis father to support a career in music.He essentially trained himself, withperiods of formal study (primarily in
Leipzig), but he was never a performerand he never entirely shed the image ofbeing perhaps nothing more than a self-trained gentleman amateur. Readersmay bristle at this or the followingcomparison, but in terms of reputation,context, and reception, Delius is sug-gestive of the career of Charles Ives inAmerica. Ives’ music is certainly Amer-ican in a way Delius’ is not English, butboth were innovators who lived at themargins of musical culture, operatingon their own, iconoclasts and fiercelyindependent individuals. Both had abiographical connection to the turn ofthe century world of business and thetensions between artistic sensibilities andthe world of commerce. Amateurismwas lauded and professionalism derided.Delius and Ives lived in a culture inwhich the central argument of ThomasMann’s masterpiece—the fate of theaesthetic in modernity—in the 1901novel Buddenbrooks resonated through-out Europe and North America, wellbeyond Mann’s native Bremen.
The mention of Thomas Mann is apt,since he and Delius came of age in the his-torical moment when Friedrich Nietzschewas the key influential philosophicalvoice for a new generation. Nietzsche’smost famous book, perhaps the finestpiece of German poetry to be writtensince the death of Goethe, Also SprachZarathustra, A Book for All or None,was a sensation when it first appeared in1883. It put forward a trans-valuationof the meaning of good and evil, chal-lenged the language of morality, lamentedthe influence of Christianity, pilloriedthe marketplace, journalism, social con-ventions, hierarchies of learning, the con-ceits of democracy, and celebrated thepotential of the individual, as artist—inthe world, in the present—without anyconcern for a mythic afterlife.
Delius was awestruck by this text. Itseemed to vindicate his personal life
journey. It confirmed his atheism andoffered a defense of his commitment tomusic. Nietzsche himself harboreddreams of becoming a composer, andno art form was as central to his out-look as music. It is therefore no wonderamong Delius’ finest works is the set-ting of Nietzsche’s text in the ironicform of a “Mass”; but this Mass is pre-cisely an inversion of the Christianorthodoxy implied by the title. Deliusemploys the ritual association of theword Mass against itself. For this“Mass” celebrates the human and tem-poral existence, not the promise ofdeath and salvation on the grounds thatlife on earth, in one’s body, is somehowa punishment, a temporary compromisewhose end will be, one hopes, the immor-tality of the soul.
A Mass of Life is one of the great choralworks of its time. Its infrequency inconcert is to be lamented. The reasonsfor its obscurity include of course itslogistical demands and Delius’ ownreputation and marginal place in thestandard repertory. But the reasons alsoinclude the text. Delius’ Whitman set-tings seem more inviting, since Whitmanis embraced as the true voice of Ameri-can patriotism. Nietzsche on the otherhand has gained a reputation as a destruc-tive voice, as an apologist for nihilismand violence, for the anti-social, for elit-ist snobbery, obscurantist thought, andabove all as an inspiration for the Nazis.
Nietzsche’s writings are truly hard tocategorize, and the disputes about hismeanings and influence will not cease.But only selected attributes about thetext inspired Delius. First, Nietzsche’slanguage is as musical as possibly canbe imagined. It sings and dances its wayoff the page. Second, one of the fewphilosophers and writers Nietzscheadmired deeply was Ralph WaldoEmerson. That fact links him oddly toAmerica, and thereby offers another
THE Programby Byron Adams
Frederick DeliusBorn January 29, 1862, in Bradford, EnglandDied June 10, 1934, in Grez-sur-Loing, France
A Mass of LifeComposed in 1904–05
Part II premiered on June 4, 1908, in Munich by the Hofkapelle München andthe Munich Choral Society conducted by Ludwig Hess
Complete work premiered on June 7, 1909, in London at the Queen’s Hall byBeecham Orchestra and the North Staffordshire District Choral Society conducted
by Thomas Beecham Performance time: Approximately two hours and ten minutes including intermission
Frederick Delius is thought of as aBritish composer only out of conve-nience: his restlessly cosmopolitan natureresists easy pigeonholes. That he wasborn in England is without doubt: bap-tized Fritz Delius, he was the son of astern, unbending wool dealer in theYorkshire town of Bradford. Delius’father, Julius, encouraged amateur music-making in the home without entertain-ing even the remote possibility of amusical career for either of his sons.However, the materialism and suffocat-ing strictness of the Delius home fomentedrebellion in young Fritz’s heart: he rebelleddecisively against his upbringing. This
narrative is hardly unusual in the annalsof music history, but young Delius’ com-pulsive wanderlust is astonishing. In 1884the untamable young Fritz somehow con-vinced his father to set him up with a trulyharebrained scheme—running a citrusplantation in northern Florida.
Delius, who changed his name to Frederickafter his tyrannical father’s death, spentvery little time cultivating fruit and agreat deal of time hunting alligators, lis-tening to the singing of the African-Americans, and studying music withthe organist of a prominent RomanCatholic church in Jacksonville. During
perspective on why Delius, an English-man who worked in America, who fell inlove with aspects of its non-aristocraticculture (consider Delius’ 1903 workAppalachia) including its most populist
poet, Whitman, would have been so sus-ceptible to the greatness of Nietzsche’sZarathustra, one of the few works ofliterature to have, for better or worse, adecisive historical impact.
this wild period, Delius may well havecontracted syphilis in the brothels forwhich Jacksonville was noted at the time.
Although Delius’ time in Florida wasrelatively short, it was on the banks ofthe Saint Johns River that he found hisvocation as a composer. Late in life, ablind and paralyzed composer recalledto his amanuensis, Eric Fenby, the mag-ical singing of the black farm workers:“They showed a truly wonderful senseof musicianship and harmonic resourcein the instinctive way that they treateda melody.” At such moments, Delius expe-rienced the ecstasy of pantheistic rapture.As he remembered long after, “Hearingtheir singing in such romantic surround-ings, it was then and there that I first feltthe urge to express myself in music.” Ashis biographer Philip Heseltine—laterknown as a composer who publishedunder the pseudonym “Peter Warlock”—wrote, “Delius is, indeed, a pantheisticmystic whose vision has been attainedby an all-embracing acceptation, a ‘yea-saying’ to life…the realization thatchange and death are only apparent.”
From America, Delius traveled toLeipzig, where he studied hard at thefamous conservatory there; later char-acterizations of Delius as a poeticalcomposer with an underdevelopedtechnique who could only write orches-tral miniatures were nonsense. Theencouragement of Norwegian com-poser Edvard Grieg further spurredDelius’ ambitions: he composed inces-santly, producing several unproducedoperas including The Magic Fountain(1895), which is set in Florida. As fasci-nated by Scandinavia as he was byFlorida, Delius exulted in the ruggednorthern landscape, hiking long distances
over harsh but magnificent terrain.During his travels, Delius also masteredseveral languages, including Danishand Norwegian.
It was on a visit to Norway that Deliusdiscovered the work of literature thathad the greatest impact on his musicand personality: Friederich Nietzsche’sAlso sprach Zarathustra (1883–85).Eric Fenby tells the story of thatmomentous encounter: “When, onewet day…he was looking for somethingto read in the library of a Norwegianfriend with whom he was staying dur-ing a walking tour, and had taken downa book, Thus Spake Zarathustra…hewas ripe for it. It was the very book hehad been seeking all along.” Nietzsche’svolume chimed with Delius’ deepestexperience of life, for, as Fenby notes,“Delius was always a pagan.”
The culmination of Delius’ obsessionwith Also sprach Zarathustra came in1905, when he completed his choralfresco, A Mass of Life. Using a text com-piled by the conductor Fritz Cassirer,Delius set Nietzsche’s words directly inGerman. (The score of Delius’ workwas published with the English title AMass of Life, across from the Germanone, Eine Messe des Lebens.) In hisskillful redaction, Cassirer included allof the most celebrated passages, includ-ing the Mitternachtslied Zarathustras(“O Mensch! Gib Acht”) that Mahlerset in his Third Symphony (1896). Castin 11 sections, A Mass of Life ends withan exuberant chorus: no “dying fall” here,but an exultant celebration intermingledwith the contemplation of eternity.
Byron Adams is a professor of musicologyat the University of California, Riverside.
THE ArtistsLeon Botstein has been music directorand principal conductor of the Ameri-can Symphony Orchestra since 1992.He is also music director of TheOrchestra Now, an innovative trainingorchestra composed of top musiciansfrom around the world. He is artisticdirector of Bard SummerScape and theBard Music Festival, which take placeat the Richard B. Fisher Center for thePerforming Arts at Bard College, wherehe has been president since 1975. Heis also conductor laureate of theJerusalem Symphony Orchestra, wherehe served as music director from2003–11.
Mr. Botstein’s recent engagementsinclude the Royal Philharmonic, Wies-baden, UNAM Mexico, and the SimonBolivar Orchestra in Caracas. He hasappeared with the Los Angeles Philhar-monic, Russian National Orchestra,Taipei Symphony, and the SinfónicaJuvenil de Caracas in Venezuela andJapan, the first non-Venezuelan con-ductor invited by El Sistema to con-duct on a tour. Upcoming engagementsinclude the Aspen Festival and theMagna Grecia Festival in Italy. He canbe heard on numerous recordings withthe London Symphony (including aGrammy-nominated recording of Popov’sFirst Symphony), the London Philhar-monic, NDR-Hamburg, and the Jeru -salem Symphony Orchestra. Many ofhis live performances with the Ameri-can Symphony Orchestra are avail-able online. His recording with theASO of Paul Hindemith’s The LongChristmas Dinner was named one ofthe top recordings of 2015 by numer-ous trade publications.
Mr. Botstein’s most recent book is VonBeethoven zu Berg: Das Gedächtnis derModerne (2013). He is the editor of TheMusical Quarterly and the author ofnumerous articles and books. He is cur-rently working on a sequel to Jefferson’sChildren, about the American educationsystem. Collections of his writings andother resources may be found online atLeonBotsteinMusicRoom.com. For hiscontributions to music he has receivedthe award of the American Academy ofArts and Letters and Harvard Univer-sity’s prestigious Centennial Award, aswell as the Cross of Honor, First Classfrom the government of Austria. Otherrecent awards include the Caroline P.and Charles W. Ireland Prize, the high-est award given by the University ofAlabama; the Bruckner Society’s JulioKilenyi Medal of Honor for his inter-pretations of that composer’s music;the Leonard Bernstein Award for theElevation of Music in Society; andCarnegie Foundation’s Academic Lead-ership Award. In 2011 he was inductedinto the American Philosophical Society.
LEON BOTSTEIN, Conductor
RIC
KALLAHER
Award-winning mezzo-soprano AudreyBabcock is quickly gaining acclaim forher performances as Carmen and herportrayals of Maddalena in Rigoletto. AsCarmen, Ms. Babcock made her Frenchdebut with the Festival Lyrique-en-Merand has performed the role with theFlorentine Opera Company; Opera SanAntonio; OperaDelaware; and the Nash -ville, Florida Grand, New York City,Toledo, and Utah festival operas. Shehas premiered several new operas, includ-ing the New York premiere of TobiasPicker’s Thérèse Raquin with DicapoOpera Theatre; the world premiere of
With Blood, With Ink at Fort WorthOpera; La Reina and The Poe Projectwith American Lyric Theater in NewYork; and appeared as Mother in Win-ter’s Child at Beth Morrison’s PrototypeFestival in New York City in 2015.
Other engagements for 2014–15 includedCarmen with Knoxville Opera andSuburban Symphony, and La Tragédiede Carmen with OperaDelaware. Addi-tional recent highlights include Mad-dalena in Rigoletto with Boston LyricOpera, Opera Omaha, Tulsa Opera,Florentine Opera Company, and Nash -ville Opera; Erika in Vanessa with Sara-sota Opera; Suzuki in Madama Butterflywith Tulsa Opera; Secretary in Menotti’sThe Consul with New Jersey State Opera;and Jo in Little Women with Utah Operaand Syracuse Opera, where she wonArtist of the Year.
Engagements for the 2015–16 seasoninclude Carmen with Anchorage Opera,Rosette in Manon with Dallas Opera,La Reina at the Prototype Festival, anda concert with Flamenco Sephardit.Future seasons include Maddalena inRigoletto with Palm Beach Opera andCarmen with Dayton Opera and FortWorth Opera.
AUDREY BABCOCK, Mezzo-sopranoLAURA M
ARIE
DUNCAN
THOMAS CANNON, Baritone
Thomas Cannon has participated inyoung artists’ programs at the Glimmer-glass Festival; Arizona Opera; Chau-tauqua Opera; Crested Butte MusicFestival; Dallas Opera; InternationalVocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel;Santa Fe Opera; Opera Roanoke; and theMusic Academy of the West. He hasappeared on the concert stage at CarnegieHall as soloist in Verdi’s Requiem to ben-efit victims of Japan’s earthquake; andwith the Cecilia Chorus of New York,singing Mozart’s Vesperae Solennes deConfessore and Schubert’s Stabat Mater.Elsewhere, he has performed a host oforatorio and orchestra works includingMozart’s Requiem, Rossini’s Petite MesseSolennelle, and Handel’s Messiah.
Mr. Cannon is a graduate of BaylorUniversity and The Juilliard School onfull scholarship. Notable teachers includeNico Castel, Joan Dornemann, MignonDunn, Marlena Kleinman Malas, andSherrill Milnes.
Mr. Cannon has garnered awards fromthe Dallas Opera Guild (Encourage-ment Award), Chautauqua Opera (GuildAward), the Anna Sosenko Assist Trust,Palm Beach Opera (finalist), OperaBirmingham (Encouragement Award),and the Metropolitan Opera NationalCouncil (regional finalist).
RODRICK DIXON, Tenor
Rodrick Dixon has performed withmany of the leading conductors, orches-tras, and opera companies throughoutNorth America, including Los AngelesOpera, Michigan Opera Theatre, TodiInternational Music Masters Festival,Portland Opera, Opera Columbus, Vir-ginia Opera, Cincinnati Opera, andOpera Southwest.
On the concert stage, Mr. Dixon is afrequent soloist of the Cincinnati MayFestival. Other organizations where hehas appeared include the Cleveland andPhiladelphia Orchestras, Los AngelesPhilharmonic, Ravinia Festival, AtlantaSymphony Orchestra, Bravo! Vail MusicFestival, Kimmel Center for the Perform-ing Arts, and the Longfellow Chorus for
a program of works by SamuelColeridge-Taylor, which was recorded
DAN D
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and included in a film about the com-poser. He has also performed at theSydney Festival in Australia and inMongolia at the Miss World competi-tion. The current season includes appear-ances with the Philadelphia Orchestrafor the world premiere of HannibalLokumbe’s One Land, One River, OnePeople in Philadelphia and at theSaratoga Performing Arts Center, andthe Cincinnati May Festival as featuredsoloist in a new work by Alvin Singleton.
Mr. Dixon has appeared on televisionin a number of PBS specials. He waspart of the original cast of Ragtime onBroadway, and in Show Boat at theAuditorium Theatre. He has alsoappeared on recordings of PBS GreatPerformances’ Cook, Dixon & YoungVolume One (Sony/BMG); the Christ-mas album Follow That Star; LiamLawton’s Sacred Land; Rodrick DixonLive in Concert; and a Christmasalbum with the Cincinnati Pops.
Sarah Fox was educated at GiggleswickSchool, London University, and theRoyal College of Music. A former win-ner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award andthe John Christie Award, she is also anhonorary fellow of Royal HollowayCollege, London University.
Roles at the Royal Opera House,Covent Garden have included Micaelain Carmen, Asteria in Tamerlano, Zer-lina in Don Giovanni, and Woglinde inDer Ring des Nibelungen. Other high-lights have included Susanna in Lenozze di Figaro for Glyndebourne andthe Royal Danish Opera, and Mimi in
La bohème for Opera North. Addi-tional roles include Ellen Orford inPeter Grimes, Servilia in Servilia, andIlia in Idomeneo. Her concert careerhas encompassed engagements in Den-ver, Minneapolis, New York, San Fran-cisco, Tel Aviv, and Tokyo as well astours throughout the UK and Europe.She has worked with many of the world’sleading orchestras, including the Acad-emy of Ancient Music, Berlin Philhar-monic, and Concerto Cologne. She hasappeared several times at the BBCProms, the Edinburgh Festival, and theThree Choirs Festival and is a regularguest with the Classical Opera Com-pany and at London’s Wigmore Hall.She performs frequently with John Wilsonand his Orchestra, is a regular guest onBBC Radio 2’s Friday Night is MusicNight, and has performed concertswith Rufus Wainwright in Europe.
Her discography includes Aminta in IlRe Pastore, The Complete Songs ofPoulenc Vols. 3–5, The Cole PorterSongbook, and Mahler’s SymphonyNo. 4 (Philharmonia/Mackerras andPhilharmonia/Maazel) for Signum Clas-sics; That’s Entertainment (John WilsonOrchestra/Wilson) for EMI Classics;and others.
SARAH FOX, Soprano
GRAHAM
E M
ELLANBY
Now in its 54th season, the AmericanSymphony Orchestra was founded in1962 by Leopold Stokowski, with amission of making orchestral music acces-sible and affordable for everyone. MusicDirector Leon Botstein expanded thatmission when he joined the ASO in 1992,creating thematic concerts that exploremusic from the perspective of the visualarts, literature, religion, and history, andreviving rarely-performed works thataudiences would otherwise never have achance to hear performed live.
The orchestra’s Vanguard Series con-sists of multiple concerts annually atCarnegie Hall. ASO also performs atthe Richard B. Fisher Center for thePerforming Arts at Bard College in Bard’s
SummerScape Festival and the BardMusic Festival. The orchestra has madeseveral tours of Asia and Europe, andhas performed in countless benefits fororganizations including the JerusalemFoundation and PBS.
Many of the world’s most accomplishedsoloists have performed with the ASO,including Yo-Yo Ma, Deborah Voigt,and Sarah Chang. The orchestra hasreleased several recordings on theTelarc, New World, Bridge, Koch, andVanguard labels, and many live perfor-mances are also available for digitaldownload. In many cases these are theonly existing recordings of some of therare works that have been rediscoveredin ASO performances.
THE AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The Bard Festival Chorale was formedin 2003 as the resident choir of theBard Music Festival. It consists of thefinest ensemble singers from New YorkCity and surrounding areas. Many of
its members have distinguished careersas soloists and as performers in a vari-ety of choral groups; all possess ashared enthusiasm for the explorationof new and unfamiliar music.
BARD FESTIVAL CHORALE
James Bagwell maintains an active inter-national schedule as a conductor ofchoral, operatic, and orchestral music.He was most recently named associateconductor of The Orchestra Now (T�N)and in 2009 was appointed principalguest conductor of the American Sym-phony Orchestra, leading them in con-certs at both Carnegie Hall and LincolnCenter. From 2009–15 he served as musicdirector of The Collegiate Chorale, withwhom he conducted a number of rarelyperformed operas-in-concert at CarnegieHall, including Bellini’s Beatrice diTenda, Rossini’s Möise et Pharaon, andBoito’s Mefistofele. He conducted the
New York premiere of Philip Glass’Toltec Symphony and Golijov’s Oceana,both at Carnegie Hall. His performanceof Kurt Weill’s Knickerbocker Holiday atAlice Tully Hall was recorded live forGaslight Records and is the only com-plete recording of this musical. Since2011 he has collaborated with singer andcomposer Natalie Merchant, conductinga number of major orchestras across thecountry, including the San Francisco andSeattle Symphonies.
Mr. Bagwell has trained choruses for anumber of major American and interna-tional orchestras, including the New York
JAMES BAGWELL, Director, Bard Festival Chorale
Philharmonic; Los Angeles Philharmonic;San Francisco, NHK (Japan), and St.Petersburg symphonies; and the BudapestFestival, Mostly Mozart Festival, Ameri-can Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony,Cincinnati Pops, and Indianapolis Sym-phony orchestras. Since 2003 he has beendirector of choruses for the Bard MusicFestival, conducting and preparing choralworks during the summer festival at theRichard B. Fisher Center for the Perform-ing Arts at Bard College.
He conducted some 25 productions asmusic director of Light Opera Okla-homa. At Bard SummerScape he has ledvarious theatrical works, most notablyThe Tender Land, which received glow-ing praise from The New York Times,The New Yorker, and Opera News.From 2005–10 he was music director ofThe Dessoff Choirs in New York, whounder his leadership made numerousappearances at Carnegie Hall in additionto their regular season.
Lynne Meloccaro, Executive DirectorOliver Inteeworn, General ManagerBrian J. Heck, Director of MarketingNicole M. de Jesús, Director of DevelopmentSebastian Danila, Library ManagerCarley Gooley, Marketing AssistantCarissa Shockley, Operations Assistant
James Bagwell, Principal Guest ConductorZachary Schwartzman, Assistant ConductorRichard Wilson, Composer-In-ResidenceJames Bagwell, Artistic Consultant
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GilmanJune O. GoldbergGordon GouldGreenwich House, Inc.Nathan GrossJohn L. HaggertyLaura HarrisEric S. HoltzPenelope HortHudson Guild, Inc. Sara HunsickerGeorge H. HutzlerJewish Communal FundJosé JiménezRonald S. KahnRobert and Susan KalishDr. Roses E. KatzRobert and Charlotte
KellyDavid KernahanIrving and Rhoda KleimanCaral G. and Robert A.
KleinDr. Carol LachmanShirley LeongLinda LopezWilliam LublinerJoyce F. LuchtenbergAlan MallachElizabeth MateoCarolyn McColleyAlan B. McDougallSally and Bruce McMillenClifford S. Miller
Phyllis and StanleyMishkin
Martin L. and LucyMiller Murray
Kenneth NassauMichael NasserKaren OlahClarence W. Olmstead,
Jr. and Kathleen F.Heenan
Roger and Lorelle PhillipsDavid R. Pozorski and
Anna M. RomanskiWayne H. ReaganJohn RoaneBonita RocheLeonard Rosen and
Phyllis RosenRochelle RubinsteinMichael T. RyanHenry SaltzmanPeter Lars Sandberg Albert SargentiSari Scheer and Samuel
KopelNina C. and Emil SchellerJoe Ruddick and Mary
Lou SchempSharon SchweidelGerald and Gloria ScorseMargret SellGeorgi ShimanovskyBruce Smith and Paul
CastellanoGertrude SteinbergSuzanne SteinbergHazel C. and Bernard
StraussHelen StudleyRobert SweeneyMargot K. TalentiTart-Wald FoundationCatherine TraykovskiSusan and Charles
TribbittMr. and Mrs. Jack
UllmanJanet WhalenVictor WheelerDonald W. Whipple
Larry A. WehrLeonard and Ellen ZablowAlfred ZollerMyra and Matthew
Zuckerbraun
FRIENDSAnonymous (4)Madelyn P. AshmanStephen BlumMona Yuter BrokawMrs. A. Peter BrownJoan BrunskillConnie ChenStephen J. and Elena
ChopekNancy L. ClipperRobert CohenConcerts MacMusicsonPatricia ContinoLois ConwayJudy Davis Thomas J. De StefanoSusanne DiamondRuth Dodziuk-Justitz
and Jozef DodziukBarton DominusJonathan F. DzikLee EvansAnne Stewart FitzroyExxonMobil FoundationDonald W. Fowle Helen GarciaGoldman, Sachs & Co. Robert Gottlieb
Michael and Ilene GottsMr. and Mrs. Sidney
GreenbergJohn HallDonald HargreavesJohn HelzerRobert HerbertGerald and Linda
HerskowitzDiana F. HobsonChristopher HollingerCyma HorowitzDrs. Russell and Barbara
HolsteinTheresa JohnsonGinger KarrenPeter KeilKaori KitaoPete KlostermanFrederick R. KochSeymour and Harriet
KoenigMr. and Mrs. Robert
LaPorteDavid LaurensonPatricia LucaWalter LeviJudd LevyJosé A. LopezSarah LuhbyNancy LuptonDr. Karen ManchesterRichard and Maryanne
MendelsohnJohn Metcalfe
Mark G. MiksicMyra MillerAlex MitchellDavid MortonMichael NassarLeonie NewmanSandra NovickMather PfeiffenbergerJane and Charles PrussackBruce RaynorMartin RichmanCatherine RoachJohn W. RoaneDr. and Mrs. Arnold
RosenLeslie SalzmanDr. and Mrs. Herbert C.
SchulbergThe Honorable Michael
D. StallmanPaul StumpfMadeline V. TaylorRenata and Burt WeinsteinJon WetterauDavid A. WilkinsonAnn and Doug WilliamKurt WissbrunDagmar and Wayne
YaddowLawrence YagodaMark and Gail Zarick
List current as of March 22, 2016
New York State Council on the Artswith the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo
and the New York State Legislature
The City of New YorkThe Honorable Bill De Blasio, MayorNYC Department of Cultural Affairs in
partnership with the New York CityCouncil
Music plays a special part in the lives of many New York residents. The American SymphonyOrchestra gratefully acknowledges the support of the following government agencies thathave made a difference in the culture of New York:
Since 1962 the American Symphony Orchestra has done something incredible: Present thewidest array of orchestral works, performed at exceptional levels of artistry—and offered atthe most accessible prices in New York City. Be they rare works or beloved masterpieces, noother orchestra dares to present the same depth of repertoire every single season.
But the ASO has urgent need of your support. Production costs for full-scale, orchestral con-certs are ever increasing, while public philanthropy for the arts has decreased at an alarm-ing rate. As always, we keep to our mission to maintain reasonable ticket prices, whichmeans ASO depends even more than most other orchestras on philanthropic contributions.
That’s why we must call on you—our audiences, artists, and community partners, who can-not imagine a world without opportunities to hear live Strauss, Muhly, Delius, or Reger.
Every dollar counts. Please donate at any level to safeguard the ASO’s distinctive program-ming now and ensure another season!
ANNUAL FUNDAnnual gifts support the Orchestra’s creative concert series and educational programs. Inappreciation, you will receive exclusive benefits that enhance your concert-going experienceand bring you closer to the Orchestra.
SUSTAINING GIFTSMake your annual gift last longer with monthly or quarterly installments. Sustaining giftsprovide the ASO with a dependable base of support and enable you to budget your giving.
MATCHING GIFTSMore than 15,000 companies match employees’ contributions to non-profit organizations.Contact your human resources department to see if your gift can be matched. Matching giftscan double or triple the impact of your contribution while you enjoy additional benefits.
CORPORATE SUPPORTHave your corporation underwrite an American Symphony Orchestra concert and enjoy themany benefits of the collaboration, including corporate visibility and brand recognition,employee discounts, and opportunities for client entertainment. We will be able to provideyou with individually tailored packages that will help you enhance your marketing efforts.For more information, please call 646.237.5022.
HOW TO DONATEMake your gift online: www.americansymphony.org/support
Please make checks payable to: American Symphony Orchestra
Mail to:American Symphony Orchestra263 West 38th Street, 10th FloorNew York, NY 10018
For questions or additional information: Nicole M. de Jesús, Director of Development,646.237.5022 or [email protected].
