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From The Americas “Breathe” by Carlos Simon Carlos Simon’s compositional voice has been heard loud and clear in the past several years. In August of 2024, the composer from Washington   released his first full-length orchestral album, Four Symphonic Works , featuring the National Symphony Orchestra. Simon’s album Requiem for the Enslaved  was nominated for the 2023 Grammy Award for “Best Contemporary Classical Composition.” His piece “brea(d)th,” which the New York Times heralded as “the most important commission of Simon’s career so far,” was a response to the murder of George Floyd and, in the words of the composer, “America’s unfulfilled promises and history of systemic oppression against Black Americans.” Opening this afternoon’s concert is Simon’s “Breathe,” a 2021 commission by the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. The inspiration for “Breathe”   comes from the writings of Howard Thurman, a renowned theologian, civil rights activist, and mentor of many figures in the civil rights movement, notably Martin Luther King Jr. Thurman’s book, Meditations of the Heart  is a text Simon frequently returns to. As Simon writes, “I was deeply inspired by one section entitled ‘Still Dews of Quietness’, which urges one to ‘stay put for a spell’. Through his [Thurman’s] words, I wanted to take the gesture further by writing a piece that encourages others to simply reflect and breathe.”   Samuel Barber's Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra, Op. 22, featuring Brent Selby The story of a Western classical composition can so easily focus solely on the composer. In reality, music-making is highly collaborative and involves the participation of many individuals. In the case of Samuel Barber's Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra, Serge Koussevitzky, the conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1924-1949, initiated the idea; John Nicholas Brown, a Boston Symphony Orchestra trustee, funded the commission; Samuel Barber composed the piece; cellist Raya Garbousova gave its debut performance. Wanting to showcase Garbousova, a fellow Russian who immigrated to the United States in 1939, Koussevitsky suggested that Barber compose a cello concerto. Barber began the compositional process by asking Garbousova to perform her repertoire to gain an understanding of her style and unique approach to the instrument. Garbousova premiered the piece with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall on April 5, 1946. Despite Barber winning the New York Music Critics’ Circle Award in 1947 for the piece, it has only recently surfaced in the concert hall repertoire. Historians have pointed to its difficulty as a reason it is seldom performed. For instance, Leonard Rose, the famed cello pedagogue, claimed that it was among the most difficult concertos he’d ever attempted; Yo-Yo Ma and Lynn Harrell have echoed similar sentiments. The concerto’s technical demands, however, haven’t deterred today’s soloist, Brent Selby (Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, Portland Symphony Orchestra, and Boston Lyric Opera), from performing it for this afternoon’s program.   Symphonic Dances from West Side Story  - Leonard Bernstein When West Side Story  made its Broadway debut on September 26, 1957, it was heralded as a monumental success in mid-century musical theater, revered for its bridging of European and “authentic” American musical stage drama.   Set in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City, during the 1950s, the musical is inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet . Many of Leonard Bernstein’s and Stephen Sondheim’s compositions quickly became standards, notably “America,” “I Feel Pretty,” and “Somewhere.” Three years later, Bernstein, along with Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal (the two orchestrators for the Broadway production), began working on a symphonic suite using various excerpts of the larger work for the suite’s individual movements. The two-and-a-half hour-long original stage production of West Side Story  was compressed into a roughly 23-minute instrumental symphonic suite. Pay particular attention to the orchestra’s percussion section throughout the suite. To accentuate the influence of popular dances, Bernstein, Ramin, and Kostal included myriad percussion instruments in the orchestration, particularly those in Latin American dance music. The impressive array of percussion instruments includes bongo, conga, cowbell, glockenspiel, gourd, guiro, maraca, marimba, tam-tam, tambourine, timbale, vibraphone, woodblock, and xylophone. To this day, Bernstein’s place in popular culture remains firm. In 2021, Steven Spielberg directed the third film adaptation of West Side Story , and Maestro , starring Bradley Cooper, was released in 2023 and received seven Academy Awards. ~ James Heazlewood-Dale

Featuring Breathe by Carlos Simon, Samuel Barber's Cello Concerto, featuring Brent Selby, and Symphonic Dances from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein. Carlos Simon is the Composer Chair for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and is the Composer in Residence for the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. Breathe was commissioned in 2021 for the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. Of this piece, Simon writes : One of my favorite books to read and re-read has been Meditations of the Heart written by renowned theologian, Howard Thurman. A spiritual advisor to many including Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurman was a prolific writer and preacher who lived in San Francisco for a large part of his life. Meditations of the Heart is a collection of meditations and prayers on the beauty of humanity. I was deeply inspired by one section entitled “Still Dews of Quietness”, which urges one to “stay put for a spell”. Through his words, I wanted to take the gesture further by writing a piece that encourages others to simply reflect and breathe. We're excited to welcome our cello soloist, Brent Selby , to perform Samuel Barber's   Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra  This work was completed in 1945 and premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1946. When Samuel Barber was asked for a program note for a performance in 1950, he upheld adamantly “the wishes of the composer that no analysis be printed.” On another occasion, Barber stated that the Concerto stands on “its own musical terms, which do not call for verbal description or analysis.” You can see what you think via the above link -- we think it's well worth hearing. Lastly on the program is Leonard Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story .   This features nine themes from the iconic musical adapted for large symphony orchestra. The story centers on the star-crossed love despite the deep seated rivalry between two gangs. The musical was an instant hit in 1957 on Broadway and has been performed all over the world. It is recognized for its innovations in dance, music and theatrical style, and has been remade many times over.

“Overture” from La Forza del Destino (The Power of Fate)  - Giuseppe Verdi This afternoon’s performance begins with a popular concert opener: the overture to Giuseppe Verdi’s acclaimed opera, La Forza del Destino (The Power of Fate) . An adaptation of Ángel de Saavedra’s Spanish drama, Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino , Verdi’s opera about fate tells the story of two star-crossed lovers, Don Alvaro and Donna Leonora. In Verdi’s opera, fate—a theme that is musically represented by the very opening notes of the overture—constantly intervenes throughout the opera, preventing Leonora and Alvaro from being together. After mediocre ticket sales for its performances in Russia, New York, Vienna, Buenos Aires, and London, Verdi was compelled to revise the opera. By the time of its run in Milan’s La Scala in 1869, Verdi had revised the libretto, various scenes, the ending, and, notably for today’s performance, the overture. Despite how frequently the opera is performed today, it has an unusual history of misfortunes. The opera’s premiere at the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in Saint Petersburg was delayed after the soprano who was to perform the role of Donna Leonora became ill. In 1865, after a few years of the opera running, De Saavedra, the author of the source material, died. Almost a century later, in 1960, acclaimed baritone singer Leonard Warren collapsed and died during a performance at the Met. The superstition surrounding the opera deterred the famed tenor, Luciano Pavarotti, from ever performing the opera.   “Fate Now Conquers” - Carlos Simon Ludwig van Beethoven’s output has been the source of inspiration for innumerable pieces of concert music. In the case of Carlos Simon’s composition, “Fate Now Conquers,” it was not just Beethoven’s notes that provided a muse, but his writing. In his journal, Beethoven quotes Homer’s Iliad : “But Fate now conquers; I am hers; and yet not she shall share. In my renown; that life is left to every noble spirit And that some great deed shall beget that all lives shall inherit.” Taking inspiration from this journal entry, Simon composed a five-minute piece that uses the harmonic structure of the second movement from Beethoven’s celebrated seventh symphony. In speaking further about the inspiration for “Fate Now Conquers” and why Beethoven may have quoted such a powerful passage in his journal, Simon notes how Beethoven grappled with various obstacles throughout his lifetime, notably his deafness. Simon sought to represent the great German composer’s desire to prevail over his ailment; however, “In the end, it seems that Beethoven relinquished to fate. Fate now conquers.”   “The Unanswered Question” - Charles Ives The ways in which musical ideas flow across the various instruments in the orchestra is one of the many joys of listening to concert music. Effective orchestration—a compositional technique that concerns how musical ideas are assigned to instruments or instrumental groups—establishes a compelling dialogue between instruments that draws us in as listeners. But how complex can a musical conversation be? How might, for example, a discussion on existentialism unfold? This is something that Connecticut-born composer Charles Ives explores in his piece “The Unanswered Question.” Considered one of the foremost figures of twentieth-century concert music, Ives won the admiration of Gustav Mahler, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Bernard Herrmann, Arnold Schoenberg, and even Frank Zappa. Igor Stravinsky has offered insights into Ives’s compositional influence: “Polytonality; atonality; tone clusters; perspectivistic effects; chance; statistical composition; permutation; add-a-part, practical-joke, and improvisatory music” were “Ives’s discoveries a half-century ago as he quietly set about devouring the contemporary cake before the rest of us even found a seat at the same table.” Yet, it wasn’t until later in his career that Ives received such recognition. He had stopped composing altogether by 1926 and, instead, chose to focus on revising many of his earlier compositions. “The Unanswered Question” is an apt example. Composed in 1908 and revised between 1930 and 1935, “The Unanswered Question” was not performed until 1946. Ives establishes a conversation between the members of the orchestra. Over the subdued string parts, a solo trumpet (Chris Ten Eyck) asks what Ives describes as “The Perennial Question of Existence,” while four woodwind players attempt to respond. As the piece develops, dissonance ensues, reflecting the frustration of the interlocutors. Each of these three instrumental groups—the strings, the solo trumpet, and the woodwinds—perform their parts at different tempos, resulting in a unique rendition of the piece each and every time.   “The Unquestioned Answer” - Cindy McTee Contrast is at the center of Cindy McTee’s “The Unquestioned Answer.” In the words of the composer, “I have always been particularly attracted to the idea that disparate musical elements - tonal and atonal, placid and frenetic - can not only coexist but also illuminate and complement one another.” The aforementioned Charles Ives was one such composer who embraced musical contrast. Drawing from Ives’s work, in McTee’s “The Unquestioned Answer,” consonant string parts contrast with the dissonant brass passages. Here, the instruments engage in a conversation similar to that of the disgruntled members of the ensemble in “The Unanswered Question.”  The work was commissioned by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and premiered on November 21, 2010. In addition to being a response to Ives’s work, it also is a tribute to another composer, Elaine Lebenbom, who was the first woman composer to earn a degree from the University of Michigan and who focused on composing pieces that celebrated and reflected the lived experience of Jewish women.   Symphony No. 12  - Dmitri Shostakovich The final piece for this afternoon’s concert is one of Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich’s lesser-recognized symphonies, Symphony No. 12, subtitled The Year 1917. It is a programmatic symphony in that its musical elements (titles, subtitles, structure, and ideas) are informed by extra-musical elements. Shostakovich’s symphony depicts and celebrates Vladimir Lenin’s rise to power. Shostakovich had announced his plans to compose a dedicatory piece to Lenin at various points in his career. While this project was closest to coming to fruition in 1959 (the 90th anniversary of Lenin’s birthday), Shostakovich missed the deadline. It wasn’t until October 1st, 1961, that the symphony was complete, with two performances of the work on the same day: One by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Yevgeny Mravinsky and the other a few hours earlier at Kuybyshev by the Kuybyshev State Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Abram Stasevich.               Described as a folk heroic epic, the programmatic symphony has four uninterrupted movements. The first, “Revolutionary Petrograd,” includes several quotations: a revolutionary song and the Polish composition The Warsaw March.  The second movement, “Razliv,” is named after Lenin’s headquarters in Razliv. “Aurora,” the title of the third movement, is the name of the cruiser that fired at the Winter Palace, marking the beginning of the Russian Revolution. The fourth and final movement, “The Dawn of Humanity,” includes a funeral march that transforms into a celebratory theme, reflecting Soviet life under the new leadership of Lenin.   - James Heazlewood-Dale

This season will include music by Giuseppe Verdi, Charles Ives, Dmitri Shostakovitch, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Samuel Barber, and Gustav Mahler with current composers including Carlos Simon and Cindy McTee.  Please note that seating is now general admission, so selecting seats during your ticket purchase is no longer necessary.

Dear Friends and Family of the WSO, Our beloved, wonderful and long-time former principal clarinetist, Dianne Mahany, died on June 12, 2024. Dianne was with the WSO from 2001-2016, and on the Board of Directors from 2003-2018.    Dianne also managed our Michael H. Welles Young Soloist Competition from 2002-2019 and helped me enormously when I took that over.    Dianne's love of chamber music provided inspiration for many of the WSO musicians. She attended the Chamber Music Conference of the East for several decades, serving on their Board of Directors and as Treasurer.   Dianne will be sorely missed, especially her joie de vivre and infectious laugh.   The funeral mass for Dianne will be held at Our Lady of Fatima Church, 160 Concord Rd, Sudbury, MA on Wednesday, June 26 at noon.  Burial will follow the service, followed by a reception at the church.  The mass will also be livestreamed – you can find a link here:   Mass Online — The Ascension Parish   To read more about Dianne’s wonderful life, please see:  https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/sudbury-ma/dianne-mahany-11857253   In lieu of flowers, please donate to the charity of your choice in Dianne’s name.   Best wishes, Carol

Enjoy! Tickets can be purchased online. We are offering a pay-what-you-can system. You can select the price you would like to pay for your tickets. We recommend $30 per ticket. Wearing a mask is recommended but not required. No dress code. The orchestra members traditionally wear formal black outfits, but you can wear whatever you like! Please silence your phone during the concert. Applauding between movements is OK! All of our concerts are open to people of all ages! Repeat #1 - enjoy the music!

Please join internationally acclaimed double bassists Susan Hagen (you recently heard her perform with the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra) and David Heyes (UK) Thursday, 25 April at 7:30pm for an hour-long concert entitled "Koussevitzky Connections" - this concert is part of a 10-day long tour to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Serge Koussevitzky, the famous composer, double bassist, and conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1924-1949. They will perform new commissions and old classics on Koussevitzky's bass in what is sure to be an entertaining and fun concert.   Proceeds will benefit the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra. There will be a reception to follow to meet the musicians.     The concert takes place at the Wellesley Village Church, 2 Central Street, Wellesley. Tickets are $35 per person; a ticket to access the livestreamed concert is $10. The link to purchase tickets is:  https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?ticketing=wso   Tickets will also be available at the door. Parking is available on the street and in 2 public parking lots within easy walking distance.

Our May 5 season finale celebrates the WSO’s 75th anniversary, showcasing music inspired by woodprints and paintings. This concert features xylophone soloist Casey Voss and two blockbuster works. Alan Hovhaness'  Fantasy on Japanese Woodprints  was written for xylophone and orchestra. The Fantasy is varied and colorful, drawing upon techniques borrowed from Japanese music while incorporating the composer's Armenian influences. Modest Mussorgsky's  Pictures At An Exhibition  depicts an exhibition of works by architect and painter Viktor Hartmann with each movement of the suite based on an individual work. Written for piano, this work has become a staple of piano and orchestra repertoire and frequently adapted by musicians of many genres -- from Emerson, Lake & Palmer to the synthesized version by Tomita, and many others. We'll perform the orchestration by Maurice Ravel.  Inspired by the altarpiece of the Church of St. Anthony at Isenheim, Paul Hindemith created the opera  Mathis Der Maler  (Matthias the Painter) in the early 1930s. The opera portrays Matthias's struggle for artistic freedom of expression in the repressive climate of his day, mirroring Hindemith's own struggle as the Nazis attained power and repressed dissent. Hindemith wasn't able to perform the opera but did create this symphony, which became his most famous work, and one of the most impressive orchestral showpieces ever. To enhance your enjoyment of this marvelous composition that was inspired by Matthais Grünewald's incredible 12-panel Isenheim Altarpiece, we have invited Frederick Ilchman, Chair of European Art at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts to help us understand the connections between Grünewald's exquisitely detailed paintings and Hindemith's evocative music.   We invite you and your family to experience this music with us. Our ticketing system operates on a “pay what you can” basis, and parking is both plentiful and free. Please join us at our reception after the concert. We're looking forward to seeing you on  Sunday, May 5 at 3:00 pm. To make sure everybody in our community can access this concert, we are offering a  pay-what-you-can-system . You select the price you would like to pay for your tickets. We recommend $30 per ticket. The MassBay auditorium is at  50 Oakland Street, Wellesley Hills , just off Rt 9, two miles west of Rt 95 -- directions can be found  here . Our staff and volunteers can help you purchase tickets, check in, and show you to your seat when you arrive at MassBay. The Wellesley Symphony and MassBay Community College have lifted COVID-19 vaccination and masking requirements as of June 2023.  Please find MassBay's latest guidance here. We are excited to have you join us as we explore the wonderful world of classical music together!

MassBay Community College and the Wellesley Symphony are proud to present a benefit concert to raise funds for both organizations on Wednesday, May 29, 2024 at 6:00 pm, at MassBay Community College, 50 Oakland Street, Wellesley. The Wellesley Symphony is a non-profit organization and has been a community orchestra since its founding in 1948. This past season we celebrated our 75th anniversary, and our 40th season as orchestra-in-residence at MassBay! This concert, "Colors of Culture", features music from around the world and special guests, the Fireside Barbershop Quartet. After a rousing Viennese waltz by Johann Strauss, the orchestra will perform Florence Price's final composition (arranged by William Grant Still for full orchestra), Dances in the Canebrakes. Gabriela Ortiz' composition Kauyumari evokes the Mexican folktale about a magical deer. The music is literally throbbing with emotion! This piece will be followed by the return of our featured vocalists - the Fireside Barbershop Quartet. After intermission, a change of pace as we perform the second movement of Beethoven's 7th Symphony - this movement was such a hit at the premiere performance in 1813 that the audience demanded it be repeated. A quick trip to Spain follows our sojourn in Beethoven's Vienna as we dance to Manuel de Falla's "Spanish Dance" from La Vida Breve, one of de Falla's operas. Following 2 more beautiful songs from the Fireside Barbershop Quartet, including the lovely "Somewhere" from Bernstein's West Side Story, we will return to Spain to end our performance, via a French composer, Georges Bizet, with some beautiful excerpts from his most famous opera, Carmen. We hope that this trip around the world of music and beauty will bring you joy. As our music director, Mark Latham, has said at every concert, to be present at a live music performance is a unique and wonderful experience. The excellent musicians of the WSO, 95% of whom are volunteers, love to learn about the music and to perform it for you. We are passionate about our mission: With exuberance and joy, the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra shares our belief that live music brings all people together. This concert embodies that mission. We look forward to seeing you at the concert and at the reception following the performance. Tickets are $100. There will be a reception following the concert. Parking is plentiful and free.

The Wellesley Symphony Orchestra is proud to present our annual Family Concert as we celebrate and feature young musicians and entertain everyone in the family with the timeless musical story, "Peter and the Wolf". Our concert begins with Johann Strauss' masterpiece, the overture to Die Fledermaus . This operetta, known as “The Bat,” revolves around mistaken identity (including a man disguised as a bat) and practical jokes that spiral out of control. For Strauss, renowned as The Waltz King, this brought his melodic brilliance to the opera stage. Dancing in the aisles is encouraged! A group of elementary school string students from the Wellesley Public Schools will join the string section of the WSO and perform 2 short pieces. Their leader is our very own principal cellist, Seth MacLeod. We are thrilled to present , the winner of our 2023 Michael H. Welles Young Soloist Competition, who will play the first movement of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3. Beethoven struggled with this piano concerto for years -- not wanting to overstep his previously published first and second concertos, he held back releasing his 3rd, writing "Musical policy necessitates keeping the best concertos to oneself for a while." We're delighted that Adalia Wen will perform this great work for you. Serge Prokofiev was commissioned to write a symphony for children in 1938. Dissatisfied with the story offered to him, he wrote a story of a boy capturing a wolf. The first draft of the music took just a week, with the orchestration following shortly after. The result is the classic narrated piece Peter and the Wolf, where orchestral instruments vividly depict this fun story. We welcome back Brian Hagar-McKee as our narrator and master of ceremonies. We invite you and your family to enjoy this music with us. To make sure everybody in our community can access this concert, we are offering a pay-what-you-can-system. You select the price you would like to pay for your tickets. We recommend $30 per ticket. Tickets are available online ( www.wellesleysymphony.org ), or at the door the day of the concert. MassBay Community College is located at 50 Oakland Street, Wellesley Hills, just off Rt. 9 East. Parking is both plentiful and free. Please join us at our reception after the concert. We are excited to have you join us as we explore the wonderful world of classical music together!

We are excited to share that our Outreach Program is back after its pandemic hiatus. Our schedule is as follows: Public events: Feb. 4, Wellesley Free Library March 2, Weston Public Library April 13, Framingham Public Library Other events April 1, Wellesley Friendly Aid We look forward to seeing you!

Six Outstanding Contestants from our 2023 Michael H. Welles Young Soloist Competition  The Wellesley Symphony Orchestra Presents A Special Concert on Wednesday, January 17, 2024, 8:00 pm at MassBay Community College Our annual competition for young soloists is always a highlight of the year for the judges, and 2023 was no exception. We auditioned 28 incredibly talented young musicians and had a difficult time picking a winner. We did decide on a winner, Adalia Wen, a 16-year-old pianist who will enchant you with her performance of the first movement of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, op. 37 on March 24, 2024, as the featured soloist at our family concert.  There were several other outstanding players in the running, but we couldn't have that many winners! Knowing how hard all of the students worked on their pieces, we decided to give 6 outstanding contestants the opportunity to play their concerto movement with the orchestra at one short concert. The orchestra will take about an hour to play through our parts, and then we will welcome these 6 students on the stage to stand in front of us and perform for you! The WSO has partnered with Music for Food, a musician-led initiative to fight hunger in our local communities. We have selected the Wellesley Food Pantry as the recipient of all donations at the concert on January 17 (monetary only). Admission to the concert is free. MassBay Community College is located at 50 Oakland Street, Wellesley (off Rt. 9 East). There is plenty of free parking! We hope you will join us for this special event!