Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra

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2 Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) gave its inaugural performance at Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS (DFP), Kuala Lumpur, on 17 August The initial search for outstanding musicians involved a worldwide audition tour. The result was a symphony orchestra made up of musicians from 25 nations a remarkable example of harmony among different cultures and nationalities. A host of internationally-acclaimed musicians has worked with the MPO, including Lorin Maazel, Sir Neville Marriner, Yehudi Menuhin, Joshua Bell, Harry Connick Jr. and Andrea Bocelli, many of whom have praised the MPO for its fine musical qualities and vitality. With each new season, the MPO continues to present a varied programme of orchestral music drawn from over three centuries, as well as the crowd-pleasing Specials, Pops, Family Fun Day, Chamber and Happy Hour series. It regularly presents specially commissioned new music and successfully collaborates with local and international artists. The MPO regularly visits the major cities of Malaysia. Internationally, it has been to Singapore, Japan and Korea (2001), Australia (2004), China (2006), Taiwan (2007), Japan (2009) and Vietnam (2013). The MPO s Education and Outreach Programme, ENCOUNTER, reaches beyond the concert platform to develop musical awareness, appreciation and skills through dedicated activities that include instrumental lessons, workshops and school concerts. ENCOUNTER also arranges memorable events in such diverse venues as orphanages, hospitals, rehabilitation centres and community centres. The MPO s commitment to furthering musical interest in the nation has been the creation of the Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (MPYO).The MPYO gave its inaugural concert at DFP on 25 August 2007, followed by a highlysuccessful tour of several cities in Peninsular Malaysia. In 2008, the MPYO toured Sabah and Sarawak, visited Singapore in 2009, and Brisbane, Australia, in As it celebrates its 17th Anniversary on 17 August 2015, the Orchestra remains steadfast in its mission to share the depth, power and beauty of great music. The MPO s main benefactor is PETRONAS and its patron is Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah Haji Mohd Ali.

3 Fri 4 Mar 2016 at 8.30 pm Sat 5 Mar 2016 at 8.30 pm Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra Kazuki Yamada, conductor Pacho Flores, trumpet PROGRAMME BRAHMS Serenade No. 2 in A major, Op mins HAYDN Trumpet Concerto in E flat major 13 mins Interval 20 mins ZEMLINSKY Die Seejungfrau (The Mermaid ) 45 mins

4 BIOGRAPHIES KAZUKI YAMADA Conductor Kazuki Yamada is Conductor and Artistic Director Designate of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, and Guest Conductor of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. In Japan, he holds positions as Conductor of the Japan Philharmonic, Music Partner with the Sendai Philharmonic and Ensemble Orchestral Kanazawa, and Music Director of the Yokohama Sinfonietta. Yamada appears regularly with the Orchestre de Paris, Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, St Petersburg, Helsinki and Czech Philharmonics, Gothenburg and Utah Symphonies, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, and Tonkünstler-Orchester at the Vienna Musikverein. He has worked with Emmanuel Ax, Boris Berezovsky, Håkan Hardenberger, Nobuko Imai, Daishin Kashimoto, Daniel Müller-Schott, Xavier de Maistre, Steven Osborne, Vadim Repin, Baiba Skride, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Simon Trpčeski and Alexander Kniazev. In the 2015/16 season, Yamada returns to the Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre Na-tional de France, Tonkünstler-Orchester, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, NHK and City of Birmingham Symphonies. His debuts include with the Staatskapelle Dresden, Bergen Philharmonic, West Australian Symphony Orchestra and at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. He continues his cycle of Mahler symphonies with the Japan Philharmonic. Active in the field of opera, he will be performing La Traviata, Carmen and Rusalka in Japan. Strongly supported by Seiji Ozawa, in 2012 he conducted a semi-staged production of Honegger s Jeanne d arc with the Saito-Kinen Orchestra. In 2015, the project was a huge hit in Côme de Bellescize s staged version at the Philharmonie hall in Paris with the Orchestre de Paris and actress Marion Cotillard. Yamada and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande are releasing recordings inspired by dance, French ballet and works of Manuel de Falla. In 2014, he released a disc of works by Glazunov, Kalinnikov and Khatchaturian with the Czech Philharmonic. He is the Music Director of Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus which has released ten CDs. Now a resident in Berlin, Yamada was born in Kanagawa, Japan, in In 2009, he was the winner of the 51st Besançon International Competition for young conductors.

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6 BIOGRAPHIES Francisco Pacho Flores is the first prize winner at the Maurice André, Philip Jones and Citta di Porcia international competitions. A product of the groundbreaking Venezuelan System of Youth and Children Orchestras (El Sistema), he is increasingly recognized for his outstanding performances and recordings that span the solo, chamber and orchestral repertories, and is equally at home with classical and folk genres. He has appeared with the Kiev and Osaka Philharmonics, St. Petersburg Camerata, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Orchestré de la Garde Républicaine, and the NHK and Tokyo Symphonies. He has given recitals at New York's Carnegie Hall, Paris Salle Pleyel, and Tokyo Opera City. A founding member of the Venezuelan Simón Bolívar Brass Quintet, he has toured with them in Europe, South America, the USA and Japan. Flores has played principal trumpet in the Simón Bolívar Orchestra, Saito Kinen Orchestra and Miami Symphony under the direction of Claudio Abbado, Sir Simon Rattle, Seiji Ozawa, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and Gustavo Dudamel. A founding director of the Latin American Trumpet Academy in Caracas, he mentors young musicians, is a frequent guest at conservatories and serves on juries at international competitions. An avid champion of new music, his repertoire includes commissions and premieres of works by Roger Boutry, Efraín Oscher, Giancarlo Castro, Santiago Báez and Juan Carlos Nuñez y Sergio Bernal. His first album, La trompeta Venezolana, was released by GUATACA Producciones. A Stomvi artist, Flores performs with instruments tailored specially for him by this firm and participates in the development and innovation of their instruments. He recently became an exclusive artist with Deutsche Grammophon. PACHO FLORES Trumpet

7 PROGRAMME NOTES Tonight s programme consists of three works each unique in some way. Brahms Serenade No. 2 may well be his least-known purely orchestral work, though no Brahms-lover could live without it. Haydn s Trumpet Concerto is not only his most famous concerto for any instrument, it is the most famous trumpet concerto in the entire repertory. Alexander Zemlinsky may not be a name known to most concertgoers, but few are going to be unmoved by the surging romanticism, splendiferous orchestration, and yearning melodies of Die Seejungfrau (The Mermaid), a 45-minute symphonic poem based on a fairy tale and drenched in hyper-romantic expressivity. JOHANNES BRAHMS ( ) Serenade No. 2 in A major, Op. 16 (1859) I. Allegro moderato II. Scherzo: Vivace III. Adagio non troppo IV. Quasi menuetto V. Rondo: Allegro The Background Brahms s Serenade No. 2 reflects a relaxed, intimate world of genial sentiments and warm sonorities, violas being the highest voice in the strings (no violins!), with clarinets and bassoons the predominant wind colours. It was first performed in 1860 by the Hamburg Philharmonic conducted by the composer. Brahms himself had high regard for the work, which is significant in light of his severe self-criticism. en.wikipedia.org The Music The Serenade s opening theme that soft, warm glow of clarinets and bassoons sets the tone for the entire work. Brahms will use this sonority more than any other in the Serenade. The second theme too goes initially to the clarinets, a gently rocking idea that seems distantly related to the Hungarian Dances. The second movement has been compared to the Czech furiant (a national dance) for its bouncing syncopations and cross-play of two beats against three. The deeply serious third movement is the darkest and most sombre of the five. Its most characteristic element is an ostinato (a steadily repeated, short melodic pattern) in the lower strings, over which winds develop a flowing theme. The beguiling fourth movement suggests a minuet without actually being one. The joyous, light-hearted finale includes an instrument exclusive to this movement, the piccolo, as well as some memorable folk-like tunes.

8 FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN ( ) Trumpet Concerto in E flat major (1796) I. Allegro II. Andante III. Allegro The Background Haydn wrote his Trumpet Concerto in 1796 as a vehicle for the Viennese trumpet player Anton Weidinger, who had recently invented a new instrument with keys, permitting much greater freedom en.wikipedia.org in melodic writing for the instrument. Up until this point, the trumpet s range of pitches was restricted to the overtones generated by the harmonic series. Weidinger s invention incorporated a system of five keys that could be operated by the player s left hand. These keys opened and closed holes drilled along the length of the tubing, much in the manner of a modern clarinet or saxophone. The Music The concerto opens with the main theme played not with fanfare and brilliance, but in the subdued tones of quiet violins. The soloist s first entry is not to this theme, but rather on a few warm-up notes during the orchestral exposition. The orchestra is no mere accompaniment to the soloist; the whole movement is solidly constructed on symphonic principles, almost on the level of a full-fledged symphony movement with trumpet obbligato. The second movement is typically songful in nature, and exploits the soloist s new-found ability to play lyrical chromatic lines in its middle range. The finale is chock full of sparkling humour, high spirits, dramatic surprises (sudden alternation of loud and soft, full texture and thin), harmonic detours, and bravura work for the soloist, a splendid and fitting conclusion to a path-breaking work. ALEXANDER ZEMLINSKY ( ) Die Seejungfrau (The Mermaid) ( ) I. Sehr mässig bewegt II. Sehr bewegt, rauschend III. Sehr gedehnt, mit schmerzvollem Ausdruck The Background Hans Christian Andersen s fairy tale The Little Mermaid, published in 1837, was but one of about 170 stories the great Dane wrote throughout the mid-nineteenth century, a collection that ranks among the finest achievements in world literature. Such is the popular attraction of this story, about an aquatic creature who longs to acquire a human soul, that her bronze statue, perched on a rock in Copenhagen s waterfront, has become Denmark s best known icon.

9 PROGRAMME NOTES In the early years of the twentieth century, the Viennese composer Alexander Zemlinsky set this story to music in a 45-minute symphonic poem of ravishing beauty and sumptuous orchestral colours. The first performance was given in Vienna on 25 January A rich tapestry of motifs unifies the work. The languorous solo violin, the first melodic material to evolve from the dark, primeval world suggested by the opening moments of the score, surely represents the little mermaid herself. The theme heard most often throughout Die Seejungfrau, the sea theme, is first encountered briefly in the unison woodwinds, then in the strings. Another melody, this one strongly reminiscent of a theme from the slow movement of Tchaikovsky s Fifth Symphony, might be associated with the mermaid's longing for immortality. The Music Briefly recounted, the story is this, divided into three parts to correspond with the divisions of Zemlinsky s music: Part I: Deep in the ocean lives the sea king with his six mermaid daughters, who learn about the world of men living up above from their grandmother. Each daughter is allowed a glimpse of this world upon reaching her fifteenth birthday. The youngest of these daughters also yearns for an immortal soul, just like men have. When it comes her turn to rise to the surface of the sea, she sees a ship bearing a handsome young prince. A storm breaks out and destroys the ship, and he is in danger of drowning. The mermaid brings the exhausted and unconscious prince to shore, but being a mermaid, she cannot leave the water, and when the prince revives, he believes that a human girl who has chanced to pass by was his saviour. Part II: The mermaid has fallen desperately in love with the prince, and is willing to make a great sacrifice to be with him. She goes to the sea witch, who gives her a potion that will replace her tail with human legs, but in the process will leave her without a tongue. After going through the terrible ordeal, she regains consciousness at the palace of the prince, who finds her and befriends her, but cannot offer her the love he reserves for the human girl he thinks saved him from drowning. As the mermaid is now mute, she cannot explain the truth to him, and the prince eventually marries his assumed rescuer, much to the grief of the little mermaid. Her quest for the prince s love, and her bid to become immortal through the eternal love of a human being, have both failed. Part III: The little mermaid is devastated at this turn of events. Once more the sea witch enters the picture. She presents a knife, which she instructs the mermaid to plunge into the prince, thus releasing blood that will turn her feet back into a tail so she can return to the sea world. The mermaid is about to follow these instructions, when, at the critical moment, she throws the knife away, plunges into the sea and begins to dissolve. As she looks up, she sees thousands of points of light, the daughters of the air flying about. The mermaid has, through her nobility of soul and honourable character, become one of them, and though these creatures are not yet immortal, they have the capacity to become so. The little mermaid has fulfilled her quest she will attain immortality, just like humans. Concert notes by Robert Markow

10 MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR vacant RESIDENT CONDUCTOR Ciarán McAuley first violin Co-Concertmaster Peter Daniš Ming Goh Zhenzhen Liang Sub- Vira Nyezhentseva Runa Baagöe Maho Daniš Miroslav Daniš Evgeny Kaplan Martijn Noomen Sherwin Thia Marcel Andriesii Tan Ka Ming *Ooi Khai Ern SECOND VIOLIN Timothy Peters Assistant Luisa Hyams Catalina Alvarez Chia-Nan Hung Anastasia Kiseleva Stefan Kocsis Ling Yunzhi Ionut Mazareanu Tan Poh Kim Yanbo Zhao Ai Jin Robert Kopelman *Liu Yi Retallick *Marco Roosink VIOLA Gábor Mokány Assistant Ayako Oya Fumiko Dobrinov Ong Lin Kern Carol Pendlebury Sun Yuan Thian Aiwen Fan Ran Eliza Fluder Julia Park Mahmoud Hussein *Eve Tang CELLO Csaba Kőrös Assistant Steven Retallick Sub- Attila Pasztor Gerald Davis Julie Dessureault Laurentiu Gherman Tan Poh Joo Elizabeth Tan Suyin Sejla Simon Mátyás Major *Roeland Duijne DOUBLE BASS Wolfgang Steike Joseph Pruessner Raffael Bietenhader Jun-Hee Chae Naohisa Furusawa John Kennedy Foo Yin Hong Andreas Dehner FLUTE Hristo Dobrinov Yukako Yamamoto Sub- Rachel Jenkyns PICCOLO Sonia Croucher OBOE Simon Emes *Kalev Kuljus Sub- Niels Dittmann COR ANGLAIS Denis Simonnet CLARINET Gonzalo Esteban *Luis Camara Sub-s Matthew Larsen *Catherine Cahill BASS CLARINET Chris Bosco BASSOON Alexandar Lenkov Sub- Orsolya Juhasz CONTRABASSOON Vladimir Stoyanov HORN Grzegorz Curyla James Schumacher Sub-s Laurence Davies Todor Popstoyanov Assistant Sim Chee Ghee *Ong Yong Hang TRUMPET William Theis Sub-s William Day *Jeffrey Missal Assistant John Bourque TROMBONE *Marques Young Sub-s Anthony Wise *Bill Thomas Bass Trombone Zachary Bond TUBA Brett Stemple TIMPANI Matthew Thomas PERCUSSION Matthew Prendergast Sub-s Darryl Littman Matthew Kantorski HARP Tan Keng Hong Sub *Bryan Lee Note: Sectional string players are listed alphabetically and rotate within their sections. *Extra musician.

11 Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Nor Raina Yeong Abdullah CEO S OFFICE Hanis Abdul Halim business & marketing management Carl Selvarajah BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT At Ziafrizani Chek Pa Fadzleen Fathy Nurartikah Ilyas Kartini Ratna Sari Ahmat Adam Nik Sara Hanis Mohd Sani MARKETING Yazmin Lim Abdullah Hisham Abdul Jalil Munshi Ariff Nurul Hidayah Abas Farah Diyana Ismail Natrah Omar CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT Asmahan Abdullah Faizol Ramli Music TALENT DEVELOPMENT & MANAGEMENT Soraya Mansor PLANNING, FINANCE & IT Mohd Hakimi Mohd Rosli Norhisham Abd Rahman Siti Nur Illyani Ahmad Fadzillah PROCUREMENT & CONTRACT Logiswary Raman Norhaszilawati Zainudin HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT & ADMINISTRATION Sharhida Saad Muknoazlida Mukhadzim Zatil Ismah Azmi Nor Afidah Nordin Nik Nurul Nadia Nik Abdullah TECHNICAL OPERATIONS Firoz Khan Mohd Zamir Mohd Isa Yasheera Ishak Shahrul Rizal M Ali Dayan Erwan Maharal Zolkarnain Sarman Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Nor Raina Yeong Abdullah general manager Timothy Tsukamoto general manager S OFFICE Ahmad Faris Ahmad Khairi ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT Shannon Ho Amy Yu Mei Ling Tham Ying Hui ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATION Gan Hui Wan MUSIC LIBRARY Khor Chin Yang Sharon Francis Lihan Ong Li-Huey EDUCATION & OUTREACH Shafrin Sabri Shireen Jasin Mokhtar MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC YOUTH ORCHESTRA Ahmad Muriz Che Rose Fadilah Kamal Francis

12 DEWAN FILHARMONIK PETRONAS LEVEL2, Tower 2, PETRONAS Twin Towers Kuala Lumpur City Centre, Kuala Lumpur dfp _ boxoffice@petronas.com.my Telephone: Online Tickets & Info: mpo.com.my fb.mpo.com.my malaysianphilharmonicorchestra MPO TV DEWAN FILHARMONIK PETRONAS X MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA H