The Start of a New Year

From Mr. Devlin:

As the year turns over, we are excited for YOPW to start up once again. We have been hard at work on Eric Nathan’s new piece, Glimpse, and it is a very exciting work! The concept is great: the piece opens with all of the themes that will emerge throughout the work presented in rapid succession. This is our “glimpse” into the piece. Then, Eric pauses on each, examines it, and allows them all to grow. It is a truly exciting work and one I am thrilled to be able to present to the audiences in Virginia and in New York.

The challenges of the work for the orchestra are many. Firstly, if you are able to hear one of the performances of the work, you will hear a very busy percussion section. Eric is great at utilizing all of the best characteristics of each instrument in the orchestra and he uses the bass drum, vibraphone and even in one place, the gong as soloists.

If you’re interested in hearing another one of Eric’s great pieces, check out the recording here: http://www.ericnathanmusic.com/DanceSuite.mp3

“Fast 5″ with Gabriel Lefkowitz

The Youth Symphony Orchestra is excited to welcome Gabriel Lefkowitz as the guest soloist for their November 18 concert.  Gabriel is the 25-year-old concertmaster of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and will join YSO for Ravel’s Tzigane.

Gabriel brings a wealth of performing experience with him.  In July 2004, he performed his original rendition of Amazing Grace at the opening night of the Democratic National Convention in Boston.  He isn’t just a symphony performer either.  He has performed with a variety of rock and indie bands in New York including Vampire Weekend.  In February 2010 he appeared with the group on Saturday Night Live!  You can see Gabriel’s full biography here.

Gabriel is no stranger to Youth Orchestras either.  Growing up in Boston, Gabriel spent 10 years performing with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras.  He is thrilled to be back performing with a Youth Orchestra and his good friend John Devlin.

We caught up with Gabriel earlier this week to get to know him better.  If you have any more questions for Gabriel outside of our “Fast Five” make sure to comment below!

When did you start playing the violin? Conducting? Composing?

I started playing violin when I was not quite 5. Composing when I was 18 (though I’d always enjoyed arranging pieces by ear to be played on violin). And conducting when I was 21.

What do you remember most about playing with the Boston Youth Symphony?

What I remember most about my ten years with BYS are hard work, great music, and awesome friends!

What is your favorite part about performing Ravel’s Tzigane with the YSO?

My favorite part about playing this piece with the YSO is watching the musicians in the orchestra observe and react to Maestro Devlin’s masterful accompanying!

What do you enjoy most about your job as concertmaster of the Knoxville Symphony?

What I love most about my job with the KSO is that playing great music is my job!

What do you do for fun when you’re not doing music?

When not doing musical things, I like to eat. A lot. Eating is the best.

Glimpse

From Mr. Devlin:

For this week’s blog post I wanted to talk a little bit about Eric Nathan, the composer whom YOPW has chosen to compose a piece that we will play at our Carnegie Hall concert in March. I also wanted to talk about why it is so important to continue to play new music by living composers.

Eric and I have been friends for over a decade now. He and I attended the Hoff-Barthelson Music School in Scarsdale, New York together as middle- and high-schoolers. Eric was a talented trumpet player and I was playing clarinet in the Festival Orchestra there. After we graduated, I followed Eric’s career with great interest and admiration as he started attending festivals like Aspen and Tanglewood (and winning their highest awards) and accumulating many professional honors. You can read all about Eric’s history at his website.

I have been lucky enough to premiere two of Eric’s orchestral works. Here is a Youtube video of our premiere (with the University of Maryland Repertory Orchestra) of Icarus Dreamt, a wonderfully theatrical piece that tells the mythical tale of Icarus in a new and exciting way:

Eric’s piece, Glimpse, is being specially crafted to the strengths of the YSO and will feature the same exciting style for which Eric is well-known. Eric’s combination of a modern sensibility, a classically-oriented aesthetic, and immaculate craftsmanship draws me to his music, and it is I have chosen to be an advocate for his compositions in any way that I can.

So, why is this kind of relationship important, and why do I want to have the YSO play new music? When people think about new music, they often cringe, and they may even instinctively leave their semi-comfortable concert hall seats to head to the parking lot (I’ve seen this many times!). Well, times are changing. For much of the 1960′s-1980′s, new music was intentionally written to be difficult and complex to listen to. This left much of the mainstream audience in the lurch and catered to a more “niche” style of music appreciator.

Recently, we have started to see a shift back towards a classical sensibility in new music, and I think this is extremely important to cultivate. Eric is a champion for this style of writing, and I want to foster a belief that new music can be this way. In addition, I strongly believe that we need hindsight of about 75 years to judge music’s value. Also, it helps if the composer is dead. But, actually.

What I mean by this is that it helps us to judge the worth of any particular piece if we can fit it into the composer’s oeuvre. This ability gives us context,  scope, and a sense of place. We know Beethoven’s early style, his middle, “heroic” period, and his “weird,” I mean, “late” style. If Beethoven had only written his late quartets and piano sonatas, would those pieces be as highly regarded as they are? NO. It is their juxtaposition against his earlier works that ingratiates the later works to the average listener.

Also, good works tend to receive more performances than bad works. Nowadays, new compositions tend to receive only one performance. Conductors (myself included) line up to premiere a piece, but give the second performance of a new piece?… usually–no thanks. Those pieces that do receive second and third and thirtieth performances tend to be those gems of any particular period. So, let’s have lots and lots of new music, and let’s commission composers whom we believe in. Then, let’s see which of this music has stood the test of time and see which pieces are still being played in 75 years. Is Eric the next Shostakovich, Copland, or Bartok? Maybe he is… but he needs orchestras to play his music and money to eat in order that we might find out. Here’s to Eric and to new music!

How a Season is Born

From Mr. Devlin:

So, this blog post will focus on what it takes to put together an orchestral season. For a youth orchestra, the challenge is especially difficult, because we don’t know the size or the makeup of the orchestra until just before the season gets started since our auditions take place the week before we start rehearsals.

Let’s start at the end…here is the YOPW final programming:

Concert #1, Hylton Performing Arts Center, 11/18/12

Mendelssohn: Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Ravel: Tzigane, Gabriel Lefkowitz, soloist
Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture

Concert #2, Hylton Performing Arts Center, 2/10/13

Weber: Overture to Der Freischütz
Ravel: Suite from Mother Goose (Excerpts), Mike Jacko, conductor
Nathan: Glimpse
Brahms: Symphony no. 4, movement 1

Concert #3, Madison Ave. Atrium, New York City, 3/28/13

Mozart: Overture to Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Debussy: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Weber: Overture to Der Freischütz
Nathan: Glimpse
Ravel: Suite from Mother Goose (Excerpts), Mike Jacko, conductor
Brahms: Symphony no. 4, movement 1

Concert #4, Carnegie Hall, 3/29/13

Mozart: Overture to Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Nathan: Glimpse
Brahms: Symphony no. 4, movement 1

Concert #5, Gar-Field High School, 5/5/13

Debussy: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, Mike Jacko, conductor
Mozart: Bassoon Concerto in B-flat Major, movement 1, Kai Rocke, soloist
Mozart: Overture to Die Entführung aus dem Serail

There are many considerations at work here. The main three are: cost, difficulty, and instrumentation. As the youth orchestra has a small budget, we must work within the confines of mostly public domain music. As you can see, we actually are spending no money on music rental this year, everything we are playing is in the public domain with the exception of Glimpse. I decided to commission Eric Nathan with the money we had allotted to music costs this year because I thought the season came together nicely without needing to incorporate rental-only music and that having a commissioned work to present, especially at the Carnegie Hall concert, would be a great thing for the orchestra.

Secondly, I had to consider the difficulty of the pieces. Because I was programming for a youth orchestra, I had to make sure the season has a trajectory that makes sense for high school players. Some of these pieces: the Mendelssohn, the Tchaikovsky, and the Debussy, are youth orchestra standards. They work well as teaching pieces and they equip the players with the tools they need to play the traditional German, Russian and French styles of music. The Brahms and the Nathan will be stretches and will challenge the orchestra in a great way.

I also had to make sure to program for this orchestra. We have limited brass players, but quite a large string section, talented percussionists and a wonderful harp player. I wanted to feature the strength of the orchestra and you will see that trend throughout. We even offer a concerto featuring our outstanding principal bassoon, Kai Rocke, which will be a highlight of our last concert.

Given these concerns, I have put together a season that I think is balanced and that will make the orchestra shine. Please leave comments and let me know what you think!

Meet the Preparatory Orchestra Conductor

Today we begin our newest blog series: Meet the Conductors!  This week we get to know  YOPW’s Preparatory Orchestra conductor, Lisa Kline.  If you have any questions for Ms. Kline, make sure to post them in the comment section.  Enjoy!

From Ms. Kline:

Currently , I am the proud mom of my youngest daughter who plays in the Repertory Orchestra this year.  On the other end of the spectrum, my oldest daughter is studying violin performance as a sophomore at Carnegie Mellon School of Music in Pittsburgh—she used to play in YOPW!!  I also have a daughter in high school who enjoys pursuits other than instrumental music…so, as a parent, I have lived through much of what all my students’ parents may be experiencing.  I think that gives me a unique perspective into what is really involved in supporting a young musician, whether they are “serious” or not so serious!  I was a Suzuki violin mom for many years as well.

I enjoy working with the YOPW for many reasons—it’s such a pleasure to see students grow and mature over the years—especially when they still come and say hello to me on Monday evenings after they’ve gone on to more advanced levels!  I really love teaching beginners, because it is there first orchestral experience and I want to help shape it to be a positive one.  Their growth that first year or two is just so amazing!  It is also a terrific bonus to have an assistant on Monday evenings (thanks Amanda!) and to get to know the parents on such a continuing level throughout the years.

My approach towards Preparatory Orchestra is to set high expectations for everyone and try to make it fun along the way.

What people may not know about me is that I have a Bichon puppy and I enjoy country music and camping!

Carnegie, Here We Come!

From Mr. Devlin:

So, it’s official, the YOPW is going to play in Carnegie Hall in March. Everyone knows that Carnegie is a big deal, but why?? Isn’t the Metropolitan Opera down the street in Lincoln Center? For that matter, so is the New York Philharmonic! So why is Carnegie Hall, a place with no major resident ensemble, considered the concert-hall gem of America?

Well, I was browsing the Carnegie Hall website to do some research for this post and came across this phenomenal history of the hall: Carnegie History.

Check is out– it is so interesting! In addition, if you’re a member of the YSO, you will have an idea of the type of events that have taken place on that stage that have made it so special for so many.

Here is a video of one of my favorite Carnegie Hall projects: Leonard Bernstein’s Young Peoples’ Concerts. Bernstein organized a large series of concerts aimed at attracting young people to the symphony. He would use the NY Philharmonic to demonstrate music as he gave lectures that would appeal to children. They are a staple in New York’s musical history and I think you’ll enjoy!

Happy Birthday Shostakovich!

From Mr. Devlin:

Today is Dmitri Shostakovich’s birthday. To me, he is the greatest musician who ever lived. This man fought against a repressive empire, struggled every day of his life for artistic freedom and wrote music that gave a repressed people an outlet for commiseration, pride, and most importantly, hope.

If you don’t know about Shostakovich’s life story, do what most academics do… go to his Wikipedia page. There is so much great information there and I’ve attached YouTube links to my two favorite Shostakovich pieces. I hope you can be moved by them in the same way that I am: