COnCERt PROGRAMME AnniVERSARY SPECiAl SEASOn

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1 COnCERt PROGRAMME AnniVERSARY SPECiAl SEASOn

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3 Violin Recital Wed 24 Oct 2018 at 8.30 pm James Ehnes, violin Andrew Armstrong, piano PROGRAMME Beethoven Ravel Sonata Op.12 No mins Violin Sonata No. 2 in G major 18 mins INTERVAL 20 mins Brahms Corigliano Sonatensatz 6 mins Sonata for Violin and Piano 24 mins Fri 26 Oct 2018 at 8.30 pm Sat 27 Oct 2018 at 8.30 pm Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra Mark Wigglesworth, conductor James Ehnes, violin PROGRAMME VERDi BERG Overture to La Forza del destino 8 mins Violin Concerto 22 mins INTERVAL 20 mins SIBELIUS Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op mins All details are correct at time of printing. Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS reserves the right to vary without notice the artists and/or repertoire as necessary. Copyright 2018 by Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS (Co. No X). All rights reserved. No part of this programme may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the copyright owners.

4 Mark Wigglesworth conductor Internationally renowned and Olivier Awardwinning conductor Mark Wigglesworth is one of the outstanding musicians of his generation, as much at home in the opera house as the concert hall. Recognised for his masterly interpretations, his highly detailed performances combine a finely considered architectural structure with great sophistication and rare beauty. Through a broad repertoire ranging from Mozart to Boulez, he has forged enduring relationships with many orchestras and opera houses throughout the world. Sim Canetty Clarke His book The Silent Musician: Why Conducting Matters was published in October by Faber & Faber. Wigglesworth has enjoyed a long relationship with English National Opera (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Così fan Tutte, Falstaff, Katya Kabanova, Parsifal, The Force of Destiny, Magic Flute, Jenufa, Don Giovanni, and Lulu), and operatic engagements elsewhere include The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny), The Metropolitan Opera, New York (The Marriage of Figaro) as well as at The Bavarian State Opera, Semperoper Dresden, Teatro Real, The Netherlands Opera, La Monnaie, Welsh National Opera, Glyndebourne, and Opera Australia. In 2017, he received the Oliver Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera. On the concert platform, highlights include performances with the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony, and the Sydney Symphony. His recordings include a critically acclaimed complete cycle of the Shostakovich Symphonies with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Mahler s Sixth and Tenth symphonies, with the Melbourne Symphony, a disc of English music with the Sydney Symphony, Britten s Peter Grimes with Glyndebourne, and the Brahms Piano Concertos with Stephen Hough. He has written articles for The Guardian and The Independent, made a six-part TV series for the BBC entitled Everything to Play For, and held positions as Associate Conductor of the BBC Symphony, Principal Guest Conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony, Music Director of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and most recently Music Director of English National Opera. He is currently Principal Guest Conductor of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.

5 James Ehnes violin James Ehnes has established himself as one of the most sought-after violinists on the international stage. Gifted with a rare combination of stunning virtuosity, serene lyricism and an unfaltering musicality, Ehnes is a favourite guest of many of B Ealovega the world s most respected conductors including Ashkenazy, Alsop, Davis, Denève, Elder, Fischer, Gardner, Järvi, Noseda, Robertson and Runnicles. Ehnes long list of orchestras includes the Boston, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Philharmonia, BBC and Czech Philharmonics, DSO Berlin and the NHK Symphony orchestras. Recent and future orchestral highlights include with the MET Orchestra at Carnegie Hall with Noseda, London Symphony with Alsop, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig with Shelley, Vienna Symphony with Elder, New York Philharmonic with Mena, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin with Slatkin, Chicago Symphony with Gaffigan, Orchestre National de France with Gardner, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Boston Symphony Orchestras with Denève, Frankfurt Radio Symphony with Orozco- Estrada, Pittsburgh Symphony with Honeck, Minnesota Orchestra with Vänskä, Sydney Symphony with Søndergård, Hong Kong Philharmonic with van Zweden and Oslo Philharmonic with Petrenko. In 2017, he premiered the Aaron-Jay Kernis Violin Concerto with the Toronto, Seattle and Dallas Symphony Orchestras. He was awarded the 2017 Royal Philharmonic Society Award in the Instrumentalist category. Alongside his concerto work, Ehnes maintains a busy recital schedule. He performs regularly at the Symphony Center Chicago, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Ravinia, Montreux, Chaise-Dieu, the White Nights Festival in St Petersburg, Festival de Pâques in Aix, and in 2009, made a debut at the Salzburg Festival. In 2016, he undertook a cross-canada recital tour to celebrate his 40th birthday. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with artists such as Andsnes, Lortie, Vogler and Yo-Yo Ma. In 2017, he made a debut at the Verbier Festival with artists including Pappano, Wang, Lugansky, Tamestit and Maisky. In 2010, he established the Ehnes Quartet with whom he performed in Europe. He is the Artistic Director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society. Ehnes has an extensive discography and has won many awards including a Gramophone Award for his 'live' recording of the Elgar Concerto with Sir Andrew Davis and the Philharmonia Orchestra. His recording of the Korngold, Barber and Walton violin concertos won the Grammy and JUNO awards. His recording of the Paganini Caprices earned him universal praise. His recording of the Bartók Concerti was nominated for a Gramophone Award. Recent releases include sonatas by Beethoven, Debussy, Elgar and Respighi, and concertos by Britten, Shostakovich and Prokofiev, and the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Andrew Manze.

6 Ehnes began violin studies at 4, became a protégé of the Canadian violinist Francis Chaplin at 9, made his orchestral debut with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal at 13 and graduated from The Juilliard School in 1997, winning the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and in 2010, was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada. Ehnes plays the Marsick Stradivarius of PROGRAMME NOTES Tonight s programme offers a particularly wide range of listening experiences. Verdi s overture is filled with long-arching, soaring melodies. Berg s concerto offers a glimpse into a composer s psyche as he grapples with images of life and death. Sibelius big, glorious, fifty-minute symphony presents a cosmos of contrasts: dark, sombre sonorities vs. bright, cheerful ones; swirling confusion and disarray vs. serenity and order; the sense of striving vs. arrival; and struggle vs. achievement. A true musical feast, to be sure! GIUSEPPE VERDI ( ) Overture to La Forza del destino (1869) The Background La Forza del destino, Verdi s twenty-second opera (just four more were to follow) was commissioned by the Imperial Opera of St. Petersburg, where it was premiered in The four-act work dealing with deception, revenge and magnanimity was based on the play Don Alvaro by Angel de Saavedra, which Francesco Piave fashioned into a libretto for Verdi. The composer wrote the famous overture for the 1869 revision of the opera, replacing the earlier prelude with one of his most extended and developed overtures. wikimedia.org The Music A number of the opera s most important themes are presented, hence providing a miniature synthesis of the drama. After three loud, unison brass chords (repeated), the ominous destiny motif associated with the heroine Leonora is heard. Underneath the potpourri of tunes that follow, this destiny motif continues to impose its threatening presence. A graceful andantino for flute, oboe and clarinet is later sung by Alvaro in Act IV, Scene 1. Violins playing very softly in octaves announce Leonora s rapturous Deh, non m abbandonar ; then comes a theme in the clarinet with harp accompaniment the duet for Leonora and the Father Superior. Grandiose brass writing brings the overture to a thrilling conclusion.

7 ALBAN BERG ( ) Violin Concerto (1935) Part I : Andante Allegretto Part II: Allegro Adagio The Background In early 1935, Berg was approached by the Russianborn American violinist Louis Krasner with a commission to write a concerto. Berg resisted, claiming he was not familiar enough with the violin medium. But a few weeks later came catastrophic news that stirred Berg to action. opera-online.com Manon Gropius, the daughter of Alma (Mahler s widow) and Walter Gropius (the famous architect), died from polio. Berg had loved Manon as if she were his own. She had been chosen to play the role of an angel in Max Reinhardt s upcoming production of Everyman in Salzburg. She never did play the angel, Berg lamented, though she became one. Hence the Violin Concerto s subtitle, Dem Andenken eines Engels ( To the Memory of an Angel ). The Music The concerto is laid out in two large parts, each subdivided into two sections played without pause. The opening of the first movement is presumably meant to depict Manon in all her tenderness, sensitivity and elegance. The second section (Allegretto) is marked to be played wienerisch (in a Viennese manner). Here is the lively and capricious Manon. Tragedy strikes in the second movement. Ragged, highly dissonant writing portrays the girl s struggle with death. The concerto s final section is the heart-rending Adagio, built from Johann Rudolf Ahle s chorale tune Es ist genug (It is enough) as harmonized by Bach in his Cantata BWV 60. An air of religious meditation settles over the music. Solo violin and a quartet of clarinets (an almost organ-like sonority) alternate in presenting phrases of the chorale tune. This material is developed, with the orchestration becoming ever denser as another great climax is approached. The tension dissipates, the solo violin ascends to ethereal heights, and the concerto to the memory of an angel ends in a mood of profound contemplation that simultaneously gazes directly at grief, backward to Bach, and upward to heaven. The premiere was given at a festival of The International Society of Contemporary Music in Barcelona on 19 March Hermann Scherchen conducted the Orquestra Pau Casals, and the soloist was, of course, Krasner.

8 JEAN SIBELIUS ( ) Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op.43 (1901) I. Allegretto II. Andante, ma rubato III. Vivacissimo IV. Finale: Allegro moderato The Background The Second is the most frequently performed of Sibelius seven symphonies and is the longest as well by a good margin. In the tensions arising from opposing elements of the score, the contrasts of mood, the continuous control of pace, the fusion of its component parts into an organic whole, and the vast sweep of its trajectory from humble beginnings to mighty apotheosis, the Second Symphony embraces a symphonic world of towering strength. Sibelius conducted the Helsinki Philharmonic in the first performance on 8 March The Music sibelius150.org The first movement opens with softly throbbing chords in the lower strings. This and several motifs heard in rapid succession make up the first theme group. A second, contrasting group begins with an oboe solo consisting of a sustained note followed by a flourish at the end. Sibelius is concerned not so much with long, broadly-arched themes as he is with arranging small fragments into a coherent whole as the movement unfolds. The second movement is drawn in sombre colours. A chant-like theme given initially to two bassoons in octaves over a pizzicato bass accompaniment is answered by a complementary theme for oboes and clarinets. Among the many themes and fragments Sibelius uses in this movement is a highly characteristic effect consisting of a loud chord (often in the brass) that diminishes in strength and ends with a mighty crescendo to even greater volume than before. The Scherzo might best be described as a whirling blizzard of sound. The central Trio section provides the greatest possible contrast in its idyllic, pastoral melody sung by the oboe. As in Beethoven s Fifth, the two final movements are directly connected; out of the transition material arises the Finale s noble, majestic first theme. Sibelius covers much emotional territory in this movement. In contrast to the optimistic, affirmative opening, a distinct mood of gloomy turbulence is created at several points by darkly swirling ostinatos in the lower strings. Resolution, triumph, and glory inform the massive final pages of the symphony as the brass intone the magnificent chorale theme for the last time. Concert Notes by Robert Markow

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10 MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA CORPORATE SUITE PREMIUM MEMBERS RESIDENT CONDUCTOR Naohisa Furusawa FIRST VIOLIN Co-Concertmaster Peter Daniš Principal Ming Goh Zhenzhen Liang Maho Daniš Martijn Noomen Sherwin Thia Runa Baagöe Miroslav Daniš Evgeny Kaplan Marcel Andriesii Tan Ka Ming Petia Atanasova *Marian Gaspar *Marco Roosink SECOND VIOLIN Timothy Peters Assistant Principal Luisa Hyams Stefan Kocsis Anastasia Kiseleva Catalina Alvarez Ionuț Mazareanu Chia-Nan Hung Yanbo Zhao Ling Yunzhi Robert Kopelman *Yoshino Takeshita *Yu Tao-Ming *Tan Poh Kim VIOLA Gábor Mokány Ong Lin Kern Sun Yuan Fan Ran Thian Ai Wen Emil Csonka *Nemesi Judit *Matilda Brunstrom *Rebecca Saxby *Fumiko Dobrinov *Ling Li Yen CELLO Csaba Körös Assistant Principal Steven Retallick Sub-Principal Mátyás Major Gerald Davis Laurențiu Gherman Julie Dessureault Elizabeth Tan Suyin Sejla Simon *Chen Cao *Nasran Nawi DOUBLE BASS Wolfgang Steike John Kennedy Jun-Hee Chae Naohisa Furusawa Raffael Bietenhader Andreas Dehner *Heinz-Peter Graf *Douglas Rutherford FLUTE *Jessica Jade Han Yukako Yamamoto Sub-Principal Rachel Jenkyns PICCOLO Principal Sonia Croucher OBOE Simon Emes *Angel Luis Sanchez Sub-Principals Niels Dittmann *Bernice Lee Wen Ting CLARINET Gonzalo Esteban David Dias da Silva Sub-Principal Matthew Larsen BASS CLARINET Principal Chris Bosco SAXOPHONE *Matthew Styles BASSOON Alexandar Lenkov *Jasen Atanasov Sub-Principal Denis Plangger CONTRABASSOON Principal Vladimir Stoyanov HORN Grzegorz Curyla James Schumacher Sub-Principals Laurence Davies Barkin Sönmezer *Aleksander Pokrywka Assistant Principal Sim Chee Ghee TRUMPET *Matthew Philip Baker William Theis Sub-Principal Jeffrey Missal Assistant Principal Matthew Dempsey TROMBONE s Fernando Borja *Marques Young *Alejandro Diaz Pineda BASS TROMBONE Principal *Jose Benavent Esparza TUBA *Daniel Honaker TIMPANI Matthew Thomas PERCUSSION Matthew Prendergast Sub-Principals Joshua Vonderheide *Tan Su Yin HARP Principals Tan Keng Hong *Bryan Lee Kit Meng CORPORATE SUITE CLUB MEMBER PARTNER HOTELS Note: Sectional string players are rotated within their sections. *Extra musician.

11 Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Sareen Risham BUSINESS & MARKETING MANAGEMENT Yazmin Lim Abdullah BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Wan Yuzaini Wan Yahya At Ziafrizani Chek Pa Nurartikah Ilyas Kartini Ratna Sari Ahmat Adam Aishah Sarah Ismail Affendee MARKETING Munshi Ariff Abu Hassan Hisham Abdul Jalil Farah Diyana Ismail Noor Sarul Intan Salim Muhammad Shahrir Aizat Ahmad Kusolehin Adha Kamaruddin CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT Yayuk Yulianawati Rila Jalwati Mohd Noor Music TALENT DEVELOPMENT & MANAGEMENT Soraya Mansor PLANNING, FINANCE & IT Mohd Hakimi Mohd Rosli Norhisham Abd Rahman Siti Nur Ilyani Ahmad Fadzillah Nurfharah Farhana Hashimi PROCUREMENT & CONTRACT Logiswary Raman Norhaszilawati Zainudin HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT & ADMINISTRATION Sharhida Saad Mas Arinah Hamzah Muknoazlida Mukhadzim Nor Afidah Nordin Nik Nurul Nadia Nik Abdullah TECHNICAL OPERATIONS Firoz Khan Mohd Yunus Mohd Zamir Mohd Isa Shahrul Rizal Mohd Ali Dayan Erwan Maharal Zolkarnain Sarman Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Sareen Risham general Manager Khor Chin Yang Soraya Mansor general Manager's office Timmy Ong ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATION/ ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT/ MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC YOUTH ORCHESTRA Ahmad Muriz Che Rose Sharon Francis Lihan Fadilah Kamal Francis Shireen Jasin Mokhtar Katherine Tan Jia Yiing MUSIC LIBRARY Ong Li-Huey Wong Seong Seong Muhammad Zaid Azzim Mohd Diah EDUCATION & OUTREACH Shireen Jasin Mokhtar Shafrin Sabri DEWAN FILHARMONIK PETRONAS X MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA H

12 Box Office: Ground Floor, Tower 2, PETRONAS Twin Towers Kuala Lumpur City Centre Kuala Lumpur Telephone: Online Tickets & Info: mpo.com.my malaysianphilharmonicorchestra DEWAN FILHARMONIK PETRONAS X MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA H