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I've been a member of the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra since 2007 and it has been a great experience. A wonderful part of it has been the orchestra's warm and productive partnership with MassBay Community College. MassBay (which serves about 6,000 students) has been the home of the Wellesley Symphony since 1984. As part of our responsibilities as the Orchestra-in-Residence, we are part of MassBay's commencement ceremonies. We play a short concert prior to the start of the ceremonies, then the well-known processional, Elgar's Pomp & Circumstance, March #1, and recessional music at the close of the ceremony. The first commencement I played in, in 2008, was quite an eye opener. The enthusiasm of the MassBay grads, families, and friends is simply incredible. When one gets a sense of how hard these students work - many of the graduates have one job and most have two -- the journeys of many just to get to MassBay, much less to graduate, are quite inspirational. One extra treat is to accompany singers of the national anthem for commencement (standing in front of a good orchestra is one of the coolest experiences!) This past May we were pleased to play behind Tahlia Butler , who did a terrific job. It was wonderful to watch Tahlia working with Mark Latham, our music director, at rehearsal and the performance went off without a hitch. For commencement the orchestra is seated with just enough space that's shaped something like a shallow, wide crescent. Instead of being in the middle (behind the woodwinds, in front of the percussion for a typical concert,) we (trumpets) found ourselves against the tent in the far left just behind the lower strings. I suspect that the woodwinds were relieved to be out of the typical trumpet-induced mayhem, and we did have a rare thrill hanging out with the violas. Another big difference between commencements and anything else is the musical downtime. Once we're done with our 'pre' concert and procession music, we've got a lot of time to ourselves until we resume for the recessional. Some of the players read or talk -- for example, this year I learned a few things about double reeds while eavesdropping on a conversation between our principal oboist and principal bassoonist. For me it's mostly wandering outside the tent and chatting up MassBay staff and security and other WSO players. It's nice to get a chance to just talk with other players, some of whom (like those mysterious string players) I've never really met. Throughout all this we follow the progress of names in the program. Then, all-of-a-sudden, we need to find our way back into the tent for the recessional. This year we closed with the entire Pomp & Circumstance Marches #1 and #4; Elgar wrote five of them -- the performance of the first one in 1901 was a 'frantic success.' We hear that 'land of hope and glory' theme a lot, of course, but the piece overall is quite something. In any case, I say a quick trumpeter's prayer to not crack my first notes, and we're off to celebrate another great class of MassBay graduates. Chris Ten Eyck Principal Trumpet

In 1949, the American mythologist Joseph Campbell published his influential book The Hero with a Thousand Faces . Drawing on Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung’s theories of narrative archetypes, Campbell proposed that across thousands of years and throughout the globe, the human species has repeatedly told variations of the same fundamental story, a structure he called the “monomyth” or “The Hero’s Journey.” This concept identifies recurring narrative patterns across myths, legends, and folktales, revealing archetypal story arcs. Musicians have been aware of such a narrative structure far longer than Campbell’s research. For Western classical composers interested in writing programmatic music—that is, music intended to depict narrative—the thousands of stories that fit the mold of the archetypal hero’s journey have provided rich source material for composition. Today’s selection of music takes inspiration from stories that exemplify the hero's journey. Saga Dream  ( Saga-Drøm ) Op. 39 - Carl Nielsen Carl Nielsen’s Saga-Drøm (Danish for “Saga Dream”) draws inspiration from the Icelandic epic Njáls . This thirteenth-century story draws from real events and figures. It tells the story of various feuds between families that occurred in the Icelandic Commonwealth and explores themes of fatalism and masculinity. Nielsen’s eight-minute symphonic poem depicts only part of this epic. Nielsen’s composition focuses on Gunnar Hámundarson (a friend of the saga’s protagonists) and his two brothers, Kolskeg and Hjort, all of whom have been exiled. Exhausted, Gunnar collapses and falls into a deep sleep, where he begins to dream. Gunnar’s dream is not a restful one; he envisions a fatal wolf attack on the party, leaving Hjort dead. Gunnar’s dream state is reflected in the music. In an article published in the Danish periodical, Politiken , Nielsen wrote, “I have tried, in muted tones, to give voice to the strange ideas engendered in the dream. There are among other things four cadenzas for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and flute which run quite freely alongside one another, with no harmonic connection, and without my marking time. They are just like four streams of thought, each going its own way — differently and randomly for each performance — until they meet in a point of rest as if flowing into a lock where they are united.” The work was composed between 1907 and 1908, premiering on April 6, 1908, at the Odd Fellows Mansion in Copenhagen, Denmark.   “Flute Concerto” - Carl Nielsen Anyone who has gone through their music studies may recall the sense of achievement when their teacher placed a concerto on their music stand, indicating they had reached a certain level of technical and musical proficiency. They may also remember just how difficult learning concertos can be. (It should be noted that Nielsen’s concerto does not take inspiration from the hero's journey. However, perfecting a concerto may, at times, feel like a Herculean effort!) Concertos are more than just challenging pieces that test the player's abilities; they encapsulate the personalities of celebrated musicians from the past. Nielsen's concerto for flute serves as an apt example. In 1921, Nielsen attended a rehearsal of the Copenhagen Wind Quintet. Impressed by the ensemble's musicality, he decided to compose a concerto for each member of the quintet. He began with the flautist Holger Gilbert-Jespersen. The premiere of the concerto, which took place on October 21, 1926, in Paris at the Maison Gaveau, was a monumental success. Nielsen even remarked that the performance was among his "greatest experiences" as a composer. In attendance were renowned composers Maurice Ravel and Arthur Honegger, the latter of whom documented his account of the concert: "The famous Conservatory Orchestra played great [sic]  and the flute concerto was performed in a masterly manner and with a delicate tone - there was a standing ovation and soloist Gilbert Jespersen 'flûtiste de grande classe' - was called in several times." The concerto is considered to be in a neoclassical style but differs from the standard structure of concertos by having two movements instead of three.    Symphony No. 1  (“Titan”) - Gustav Mahler Closing this afternoon’s performance is a piece that ranks among the most adventurous of the notable Western classical composers’ first attempts at a symphony: Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D major . Mahler originally titled the symphony Titan  after the nine-hundred-and-something-page novel by German author Jean Paul. Mahler frequently stated that the symphony is not about the book; rather, the symphony takes inspiration from the general themes of the novel, namely, the hero's departure, transformation, and return. Paul’s book follows a young nobleman, Albano de Cesara, who, after leaving his somewhat sheltered upbringing, confronts various philosophical and emotional challenges through his interactions with different characters along his journey, which eventually lead him to question his worldview. Music historians have regarded Mahler’s symphony as being innovative in certain respects. Most notably, the larger tonal structure of the symphony has some noteworthy peculiarities. The piece moves through D major, A major, D minor, F minor, and concludes in D major. Mahler also indicated that the piece was conceived as a symphonic poem in two parts. This reframing of the structure is most evident in the second and third movements. A typical symphony will have the adagio in the second movement and the scherzo or trio in the third movement. Mahler inverts these in this symphony. Mahler had also originally conceived the work as having a different second movement; in the original version, the piece had five movements, which is highly unorthodox for a symphony. However, this movement was removed during the various revisions between the symphony’s premiere in 1889 at the Vigadó Concert Hall in Budapest and the performance with the Berlin Philharmonic seven years later in 1896. The symphony was among the most performed pieces by Mahler during the course of the composer’s lifetime. James Heazlewood-Dale

Carl August Nielsen (1865 – 3 October 1931 is widely recognized as Denmark's most prominent composer. Throughout his life Nielsen remained a fascinating mixture of earthy simplicity and intellectual sophistication, reading widely and keeping up to date with musical innovations. Initially he reacted against Wagner’s modernism, but in later years he was fascinated by what progressive-minded composers like Bartók, Schoenberg and Hindemith were doing. His very last works show him as keen as ever to extend his musical horizons, though without sacrificing the rootedness in nature that he’d inherited and nurtured as a child. (1) Jennifer Wright with Mark Latham conducting About his flute concerto, Carl Nielsen said that the composer has had to follow the mild character of the instrument if he did not want to run the risk of being called a barbarian. (2) But this concerto is not at all what one would think of as pastoral musings. As our soloist and principal flute, Jennifer Wright, notes: "You’ll hear a trio for flute, viola and French horn, and duets for flute with clarinet, bassoon and even bass trombone! The music is at times triumphant, tragic, playful and passionate." We hope you'll join us to hear this lovely concerto along with Nielsen's Saga Dream and Mahler's Symphony No. 1 'Titan' Notes: https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/c.asp?c=C438 https://www.carlnielsen.dk/gb/bio/#biography/art-and-consciousness.php

Saga-Drøm (Dreams of Saga) by Carl Nielsen Nielsen describes his composition in a 1927 interview in the newspaper Politiken . “I am so fond of the work. It is kept almost piano all the time and musically it is very radical. It depicts the dream of Gunnar of Hlidarende, the marvelous figure from Njal’s Saga who plundered and slaughtered, yet was still made of finer stuff and was ahead of his time. He dreams of a brighter, better future for mankind, and I have tried, in muted tones, to give voice to the strange ideas engendered in the dream.” A cadenza is a common feature in classical music, where the orchestra pauses for a solo instrument. These moments are often a linchpin of the piece, where a single player channels the music from one place to another. In Saga-Drøm, Nielsen introduces “four cadenzas for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and flute which run quite freely alongside one another, with no harmonic connection, and without my marking time. They are just like four streams of thought, each going its own way – differently and randomly for each performance – until they meet in a point of rest, as if flowing into a lock where they are united.” This wonderful moment flows into a fabulous chorale in the lower brass and winds, taking the piece to a noble ending. Join us to hear this, along with Nielsen's terrific flute concerto and Mahler's "Titan", Symphony No. 1. Sunday, May 11 at 2pm at MassBay in Wellesley. Tickets are 'pay what you can' - click here. sources: wikipedia repertoire-explorer.musikmph.de https://repertoire-explorer.musikmph.de/wp-content/uploads/vorworte_prefaces/1297.pdf

Sherborn Library, March 15 We are passionate about bringing live classical music to as many communities as possible. This season we have hosted outreach events at libraries in Wellesley, Needham, Dover, Framingham, and Sherborn. These events offer a fun, informal opportunity to showcase our instruments and music.  We are thrilled to connect with families who want to experience music up close—both for themselves and to introduce their children to classical, live music. Dover Public Library, March 1 Needham Public Library, March 1 Dover Public Library, March 1

Our family concert features music with strong melodies and drama. Music that evokes rivers and animals and the struggles of building community. Central to the program is Aaron Copland's "Appalachian Spring" - a story of a 19th century settlement, incorporating Shaker themes in Copland's signature style. Get tickets And we are very happy to present Maggie Bai, winner of the 2024 Michael H. Welles Young Soloist Competition, playing from Schumann's Piano Concerto No. 1 Rossini - Overture to  The Thievin g Magpie Smetana - The Moldau Handel - Largo , from Xerxes Grainger - Molly on the Shore Schumann - Piano Concerto, I. Allegro affettuoso, featuring Maggie Bai, piano Copland - Appalachian Spring We will also be joined by students from the Wellesley Public Schools Elementary School String Program.

Our February 9 concert features two great symphonies. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony No. 40, also known as the "Great G minor symphony" Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's epic Symphony No. 5. Please join us, Sunday February 9, at 2pm at MassBay Community College in Wellesley.

Music Director Mark Latham introduces the program for our Nov 3 concert : "Breathe" by Carlos Simon Samuel Barber's Concerto for Violincello and Orchestra, featuring Brent Selby . Leonard Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from "West Side Story" The concert is at 2 pm at MassBay Community College in Wellesley, on Rt 9, just west of Rt 95. Parking is plentiful and free, ticket prices are pay-what-you-can, with a reception after the concert.

The first is a free concert on Wednesday, January 15 at 8pm , presenting 6 outstanding soloists who auditioned at our Michael H. Welles Young Soloist Competition this past November (the competition winner, Maggie Bai, appear with us at our March 23 Family Concert.) The program includes selections for piano, violin, and bassoon with music of Saint-Saëns , Korngold, Rachmaninoff, and Weber, accompanied by the Wellesley Symphony. For this concert we are partnering with the Wellesley Food Pantry. Voluntary monetary donations will be gratefully received by a food pantry representative at the concert. Tickets are not required for this opportunity to see and support excellent young soloists, and help those in need this winter. Our next Sunday concert features two great symphonies: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony No. 40, also known as the "Great G minor symphony" and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's epic Symphony No. 5.

Please join us to help celebrate the holiday season, Saturday , December 14 at 2PM at MassBay Community College in Wellesley. A festive program awaits you with music old and new for the whole family. Soprano Rebecca Hains joins us in songs of the season, and narrates “T’was The Night Before Christmas”. The program includes music from "The Nutcracker", Strauss Jr.'s "Emperor Waltz", selections from the movie "Frozen" and much more. Tickets available here and at the door before the concert.

Praised internationally for her expressiveness and strong, secure voice, Rebecca Hains is versatile performer whose engagements have included stage roles such as Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance, International G&S Festival), Phyllis (Iolanthe, International G&S Festival), Marion (The Music Man, Claflin Hill Symphony), and The Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute, Mass Opera). An alumna of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, Rebecca received her musical training at Emmanuel College in Boston, where she studied communication and music. As a concert soloist, Rebecca's performances have included Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem with the New World Chorale, Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate with the Concord Ensemble, and Vivaldi’s Beatus Vir with the Nashua Symphony Orchestra. Additional highlights have included concerts with the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra (Gilbert & Sullivan arias in the Passport to England concert); the Longwood Symphony at Jordan Hall (performing music from The Lord of the Rings); Gabriel Faure's motet for soprano, "Pie Jesu" (Requiem, First Congregational Church of Harvard); and many performances with the Paul Madore Chorale, including Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and Orff’s Carmina Burana. She has also often performed Handel's Messiah in the northeast and mid-Atlantic. Rebecca has appeared as a soloist in regional musical theater and opera concerts, including the concert series of Longwood Opera, Mass Theatrica, the New England Gilbert and Sullivan Society, New England Light Opera, and Greater Worcester Opera. She has also presented solo recitals at venues including the First Parish of Lexington concert series; the Salem Arts Festival; the Newton Free Library; the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival in Gettysburg, PA; and the Peabody Institute Library. A professor of media and communication at Salem State University and a 2023-2024 Fulbright Scholar, Rebecca is a frequent soloist at the First Church in Salem, Unitarian Universalist.

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