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APPALACHIAN SPRING CONCERTS OF THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, AND FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2016, AT 7:30 P.M. TENNESSEE THEATRE Aram Demirjian, conductor Jeff Midkiff, mandolin Proud to support the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra in its 81st season of inspired performances Sponsored by: Linda Gay Blanc and Marshall Peterson This concert is performed in memory of Dr. Cornelius Greebe Gina and Fred Buffum Mary Cushman Charles Daily Mardel Fehrenbach Denise Gough Lynne and Charlie Harr Julie Howard and Ted Flickinger Elizabeth Margriet Koester Lorna and Dick Kolasheski INTERMISSION Stacy and Todd Moody Elizabeth Offringa Becky and Bob Paylor Mary Rayson Gina and John Rogers Atie and Bill Rotmeyer Georgiana Vines Edie and Gil Volk Cherie Williams 12 k n oxv i l le s ym ph ony orch estr a Variations on “America” (1891, orch., William Schuman, 1963) WILLIAM GRANT Still Symphony No. 1 (1895-1978)(Afro-American Symphony) (1930) I. Moderato assai II.Adagio III.Animato IV.Lento, con risoluzione Janet Mobley Jeannie and Jim Mungenast CHARLES IVES (1874-1954) JEFF MIDKIFF Mandolin Concerto (b. 1963) “From The Blue Ridge” (2011) Jeff Midkiff, mandolin AARON COPLAND (1900-1990) Appalachian Spring, Suite from the Ballet (1944) This concert will air on WUOT 91.9 FM on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016 and will rebroadcast on Monday, July 31, 2017. Performances of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra are made possible in part by grants from the City of Knoxville, the Knox County Government and by contributions to the Knoxville Symphony Society’s Annual Support Drive. This project is funded under an agreement with the TENNESSEE ARTS COMMISSION. Latecomers will be seated during the first convenient pause in the performance. The use of recording devices and/or cameras is strictly forbidden. Please remember to turn off all electronic devices and refrain from text messaging during the concert, Programs and artists subject to change. notes on the program Notes on the Program by Ken Meltzer Variations on “America” (1891, orch., William Schuman, 1963) Charles Ives was born in Danbury, Connecticut on October 20, 1874, and died in New York on May 19, 1954. William Schuman was born in New York on August 4, 1910, and died there on February 15, 1992. The first performance of Schuman’s orchestration of Ives’s Variations on “America” took place in New York on May 20, 1964, with André Kostelanetz conducting the New York Philharmonic. The Schumann orchestration is scored for two piccolos, three flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, xylophone, glockenspiel, castanets, bass drum, snare drum, triangle, cymbals, tambourine, and strings. Duration: 8 minutes Charles Ives originally composed his Variations on “America” (“My country, ‘tis of thee…”) for solo organ in 1891, and probably gave its first performance at the Methodist Church in Brewster, New York, on February 17, 1892. Even at this early stage of his life, Ives demonstrated the boundless enthusiasm for American music and iconoclastic approach that would make him a unique force. Years later, Ives recalled that when the melody of “America” was clearly presented in his composition, people would join in singing the anthem, “even if occasionally made the boys go marching down the aisles.” In 1963, Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) commissioned William Schuman to orchestrate Ives’s 1891 work. André Kostelanetz and the New York Philharmonic gave the orchestration’s premiere on May 20, 1964. Schuman’s masterful orchestration complements—and arguably even heightens—the ebullient spirit of Ives’s original. Schuman’s orchestration of Ives’s Variations on “America” is a worthy tribute by one great American composer to another. 14 k n oxv i l le s ym ph ony orch estr a notes on the program Symphony No. 1 (Afro-American Symphony) (1930) William Grant Still was born in Woodville, Mississippi, on May 11, 1895, and died in Los Angeles, California, on December 3, 1978. The first performance of the AfroAmerican Symphony took place in 1931, with Howard Hanson conducting the Rochester Philharmonic. The Afro-American Symphony is scored for piccolo, three flutes, two oboes, English horn, three clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbals, drum set, triangle, vibraphone, tenor banjo, celesta, and strings. Duration: 23 minutes William Grant Still, often referred to as the “Dean of African-American Composers,” was born in Woodville, Mississippi. He attended Wilberforce College and the Oberlin Conservatory. Still worked with W.C. Handy, and studied privately George Whitefield Chadwick and Edgar Varèse. William Grant Still composed successfully in a wide variety of genres, including symphonies, operas, sacred musical, assorted instrumental works, and popular songs, as well as television and film scores. William Grant Still also conducted, and made arrangements of spirituals. The Afro-American Symphony was one of Still’s early large-scale compositions. As he noted: Afro-American Symphony’s 1931 premiere. It marked the first time that a major American orchestra had performed a symphony by an African-American composer. Still’s Afro-American Symphony quickly received numerous further performances, including a 1935 Carnegie Hall concert by the New York Philharmonic. The Afro-American Symphony is in four movements, each with a subtitle provided by the composer: “Longings,” “Sorrows,” Humor,” and “Aspirations.” William Grant Still masterfully synthesizes his blues-oriented material with a traditional symphonic ensemble, augmented by such instruments as the banjo, vibraphone, and drum set. The end result is a beautiful, uplifting, and quintessentially American work, that sounds as fresh as the day it was first performed. Mandolin Concerto “From The Blue Ridge” (2011) Jeff Midkff was born in Roanoke, Virginia, in 1963. The first performance of the Mandolin Concerto, “From the Blue Ridge,” took place at the Roanoke Performing Arts Theater, October 3, 2011, with the composer as soloist, and David Stewart Wiley conducting the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra. In addition to the solo mandolin, the Concerto is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, and strings. Duration: 20 minutes Like so many works which are important to their creators, the Afro-American Symphony was forming over a period of years. Themes were occurring to me, were duly noted, and an overall form was slowly growing. I knew I wanted to write a symphony; I knew that it had to be an American work; and I wanted to demonstrate how the blues, so often considered a lowly expression, could be elevated to the highest musical level. American composer and conductor Howard Hanson led the Rochester Philharmonic in the Composed in 2011 in a commission from Music Director David Stewart Wiley and the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra. The first performance was opening night of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra’s Fall 2011 season. My love for playing the mandolin, and a lifetime doing so, began to take on new meaning and motivation just a few years ago. After decades of also performing as a clarinetist, and countless orchestral concert situations, I felt a deep-seated desire to bring my favorite instrument in line with that experience. I truly enjoy the color, language and structure of the symphony orchestra, and my many years as a clarinetist made me very familiar with it. At the same time, I enjoyed a highly improvisational approach to the mandolin that was uniquely my own. I had struggled to keep the two — orchestra and mandolin — a “safe” distance apart. But I knew I could say something with the mandolin on a symphonic scale. Deep down, I wanted to bring my most natural companion to the orchestra — two seemingly different worlds, together. The first movement, begins with the mandolin on swirling sixteenth notes, setting the stage with excitement and anticipation, as does the entire movement. The commission for the piece came to me in November when the falling leaves drew this opening scene. Indeed, the Blue Ridge’s beauty and importance to me would form the piece. The middle of the first movement moves to major tonality with woodwinds in a waltz-like dance before a return to the opening theme. The lyrical second movement, draws on more typical and familiar bluegrass melodies. Having grown up in Roanoke, moved away, and returned to Roanoke, I wanted the concerto to echo the emotions associated with home, and with going home. To get there, I looked no further than the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Roanoke Valley. “Wildwood Flower” by The Carter Family and Bill Monroe’s “Roanoke” are the thematic inspiration. The third movement is an upbeat, exciting, spontaneous and dynamic affair. It draws strongly upon jazz and bluegrass themes in a series of ideas in a sort of “controlled jam session” — one idea smoothly leading to another. Every section of the orchestra has a role to play with particularly expanded use of percussion setting up the different groves. —Jeff Midkiff http://www.jeffmidkiff.com/concerto.html k nox v i lle s ym ph o ny o rc h e s t ra 15 notes on the program Appalachian Spring, Suite from the Ballet (1944) Aaron Copland was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 14, 1900, and died in Tarrytown, New York, on December 2, 1990. The first performance of the ballet, Appalachian Spring, took place at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., on October 30, 1944. The premiere of Appalachian Spring, Suite from the Ballet, occurred in Carnegie Hall in New York City on October 4, 1945, with Artur Rodzinski conducting the New York Philharmonic. The Suite from Appalachian Spring is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, two trombones, timpani, xylophone, snare drum, bass drum, suspended cymbals, tabor, wood block, claves, glockenspiel, triangle, harp, piano, and strings. Duration: 23 minutes In 1943, the legendary American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham accepted a commission to stage new works for the Festival of the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation, held at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. For that event, Graham, in turn, commissioned music by three prominent contemporary composers—Paul Hindemith, Darius Milhaud, and Aaron Copland. 16 k n oxv i l le s ym ph ony orch estr a featured performer It was Graham who chose the title for Copland’s piece—Appalachian Spring, taken from the heading of a poem by Hart Crane. Copland began work on the score in June of 1943. Because of various delays, the premiere of Appalachian Spring (as well as of the Hindemith and Milhaud ballets) did not occur until October 30, 1944. Graham and Eric Hawkins danced the principal roles. Copland scored the original ballet for a chamber group of thirteen instruments. Subsequently, Copland arranged a Suite from Appalachian Spring for a larger ensemble. The Suite received its premiere in 1945. That same year, Appalachian Spring won both the Pulitzer Prize for music and the Music Critics Circle of New York award for outstanding theatrical work of the 1944-5 season. Appalachian Spring takes place in the early part of the 19th century, in the hills of Pennsylvania. The story concerns the wedding of a young farmer and his bride. The Suite is divided into eight sections, performed without pause. The penultimate section, depicting “Scenes of daily activity for the Bride and her Farmer-husband,” is Copland’s beloved set of variations on the Shaker hymn, “Simple Gifts.” The closing portion depicts the couple, “quiet and strong in their new house.” JEFF MIDKIFF A mandolinist and fiddler raised on bluegrass and a professional clarinetist, Jeff Midkiff is an outstanding musician who feels comfortable in more than one setting—musically and personally. “I feel at home in the Blue Ridge Mountains playing fiddle tunes,” Jeff Midkiff says, “but then again, I feel at home in a professional orchestra as well.” Jeff grew up where bluegrass and traditional string band music thrived. Given his first mandolin at the age of 7 by a neighbor (Sherman Poff, to whose memory Partners In Time is dedicated), he moved quickly into the world of fiddlers’ conventions and contests, winning his first mandolin competition before reaching his teens. As he grew older, he added the fiddle to his instrumental arsenal and joined the New Grass Revue—yet at the same time, he took up the clarinet and began to perform with his high including its self-titled Rebel Records debut in 1987. Shortly after that, he enrolled in graduate school’s symphonic band. school at Northern Illinois University, earning By the time he graduated he had his sights firmly his Master’s degree in clarinet at the end of the set on a musical career, and in 1981 Midkiff decade—but though the move meant leaving the began studies at Virginia Tech, eventually earning LRB, he continued to perform with an Illinois a degree in music education and performance. Yet bluegrass band, Bluegrass Express. even as he was immersing himself in the classical repertoire, he continued to gain attention as a Jeff Midkiff ’s concerto for mandolin and mandolin and fiddle player with the McPeak orchestra, “From the Blue Ridge,” was composed Brothers, a widely respected bluegrass group in 2011 in a commission from Music Director with whom he made his first serious recording David Stewart Wiley and the Roanoke Symphony in 1982 (five selections from that album are Orchestra. The first performance was opening included on Rebel Records’ McPeak Brothers: night of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra’s Fall 2011 season, and the Concer to has Classic Bluegrass CD). subsequently been performed with the Rochester In 1983 he joined the Lonesome River Band, Philharmonic, the Shreveport Symphony, and the which would eventually become one of bluegrass’s Williamsburg Symphonia and the Northwest most acclaimed groups. For the next five years, as Florida Symphony. Performances are scheduled he completed his education and started working with the Boulder Philharmonic and the Symphony as a music instructor, he performed with the of Southeast Texas, Beaumont. LRB, recording two albums with the group, k nox v i lle s ym ph o ny o rc h e s t ra 17