IVES: VARIATIONS ON "AMERICA"

Variations on a National Hymn, “America” (1891)
CHARLES IVES (1874-1954)
ORCHESTRATED (1963) BY WILLIAM SCHUMAN (1910-1992) 

In 1889, Ives’ beloved hometown of Danbury, Connecticut was incorporated as a city. Civic celebrations were held in June, with a concert produced by Ives’ father, George, at Taylor’s Opera House as the culmination of the festivities. Ives’ memory of that gala performance, especially of its inspiring closing selection, was stirred two years later, in 1891, when he played the Variations on “God Save the King” (i.e., the same tune as America, which had served as the festivity’s grand finale) by the German composer J.C.H. Rinck on the organ of Danbury’s Baptist Church. Soon thereafter Ives wrote his own set of organ variations on the melody. He was seventeen. Though conventional in structure, Ives’ Variations on “America” are hardly orthodox in content, ranging from hymn to march to polonaise. The most startling part of the score is the short polytonal interlude in which blazing dissonances are created though the simultaneous use of several keys. Even father George, avowed experimentalist that he was (he would, for example, accompany his son on the home piano in one key and have the boy sing the melody in another), warned Charlie that he should leave out this section at a performance in Brewster, New York because the rehearsals in Danbury had shown that it “made the boys laugh out loud and get noisy.” The interlude remained.

GERSHWIN: PORGY AND BESS: A SYMPHONIC PICTURE

Porgy and Bess, A Symphonic Picture (1934-1935)
GEORGE GERSHWIN (1898-1937)
ARRANGED (1941) BY ROBERT RUSSELL BENNETT (1894-1981)

Porgy and Bess is set in the 1930s in Catfish Row, an African American tenement in Charleston. The curtain rises on Clara singing a lullaby (Summertime) to her child. Crown quarrels with Robbins during a crap game, kills him and escapes. Robbins is mourned by his wife, Serena (My Man’s Gone Now). Crown’s girl, Bess, finds refuge with the cripple, Porgy, who loves her devotedly. They sing of their happiness (I Got Plenty o’ Nothin’ and Bess, You Is My Woman Now). During a picnic on Kittiwah Island, Sportin’ Life, the local dope peddler, describes his cynical attitude toward religion (It Ain’t Necessarily So). Crown, who has been hiding on the island, confronts Bess and persuades her to stay with him.  Having fallen sick, she returns to Porgy, who nurses her back to health. They reassure each other of their love (I Loves You, Porgy). During a storm, Crown returns to Catfish Row. Porgy strangles his rival. The police suspect Porgy and arrest him. Sportin’ Life tempts Bess to accompany him to New York with a package of his “happy dust.” Released from jail a few days later, Porgy learns that Bess has gone. Undaunted, he sets off in his goat cart to follow her (Oh, Lawd, I’m On My Way).

BERNSTEIN: SYMPHONIC DANCES FROM WEST SIDE STORY

Symphonic Dances from West Side Story (1957)
LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918-1990)

West Side Story was among the first musicals to explore a serious subject with wide social implications. More than just the story of the tragic lives of ordinary people in a grubby section of New York, it was concerned with urban violence, juvenile delinquency, clan hatred and young love. The show was criticized as harshly realistic by some who advocated an entirely escapist function for the musical, since it depicted things that were not appropriately shown on the Broadway stage. However, most recognized that it expanded the scope of the musical through references both to classical literature (Romeo and Juliet) as well as the pressing problems of modern society. Much of the show’s electric atmosphere was generated by its brilliant dance sequences, for which Jerome Robbins won the 1957-1958 Tony Award for choreography.

GERSHWIN: AN AMERICAN IN PARIS

An American in Paris (1928)
GEORGE GERSHWIN (1898-1937)

In 1928, George Gershwin was not only the toast of Broadway, but also of all America, Britain and many spots in Europe. He had produced a string of successful shows (Rosalie and Funny Face were both running on Broadway that spring), composed two of the most popular concert pieces in recent memory (Rhapsody in Blue and the Piano Concerto in F), and was leading a life that would have made the most glamorous socialite jealous. The pace-setting Rhapsody in Blue of 1924 had shown a way to bridge the worlds of jazz and serious music, a direction Gershwin followed further in the exuberant yet haunting Piano Concerto in F the following year. He was eager to move further into the concert world, and during a side trip in March 1926 to Paris from London, where he was preparing the English premiere of Lady Be Good, he hit upon an idea, a “walking theme” he called it, that seemed to capture the impression of an American visitor to the city “as he strolls about, listens to the various street noises, and absorbs the French atmosphere.” Late in 1927, a commission for a new orchestral composition from Walter Damrosch, music director of the New York Symphony and conductor of the sensational premiere of the Concerto in F, caused Gershwin to gather up his Parisian sketches, and by January 1928, he was at work on the score: An American in Paris. When he returned to New York in late June, he discovered that the New York Symphony had announced the premiere for the upcoming season, so he worked on the piece throughout the autumn and finished the orchestration only a month before the premiere, on December 13, 1928. An American in Paris, though met with a mixed critical reception, proved to be a great success with the public, and it quickly became clear that Gershwin had scored yet another hit.

Bramwell Tovey, Conductor

Grammy and Juno award-winning conductor and composer Bramwell Tovey has most recently added the title of Artistic Director of Calgary Opera Company to his role as Principal Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra and Artistic Advisor to the Rhode Island Philharmonic.

Following an exceptional 18 year tenure as Music Director of the Vancouver Symphony, which concluded in summer 2018, he now returns as the orchestra's Music Director Emeritus. Under his leadership the VSO toured China, Korea, across Canada and the United States. His VSO innovations included the establishment of the VSO School of Music, the VSO's annual festival of contemporary music and the VSO Orchestral Institute at Whistler, a comprehensive summer orchestral training program for young musicians held in the scenic mountain resort of Whistler in British Columbia.

During 2018/2019 his guest appearances include the Chicago, St. Louis, Houston, Indianapolis, and Toronto symphonies, and special Christmas programs with The Philadelphia Orchestra. In January he will return to the Winnipeg Symphony's New Music Festival which he initiated during his tenure there.

In 2003 Bramwell Tovey won the Juno Award for Best Classical Composition for his choral and brass work Requiem for a Charred Skull. His song cycle, Ancestral Voices, which addresses the issue of Reconciliation, was written for acclaimed Kwagiulth mezzo-soprano Marion Newman and premiered in June 2017. His trumpet concerto, Songs of the Paradise Saloon, was commissioned by the Toronto Symphony for principal trumpet, Andrew McCandless and performed in 2014 by Alison Balsom with the LA Philharmonic, the Philadelphia and the London Philharmonic Orchestras. A recording of his opera, The Inventor, commissioned by Calgary Opera, features the original cast, members of UBC Opera and the VSO. His concerto for Orchestra will receive its world premiere in April to commemorate the VSO's Centenary, and a new violin concerto for James Ehnes has been commissioned by the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Ottawa and will receive its premiere at the NAC in March.

Mr. Tovey was the recipient of the Oskar Morawetz 2015 Prize for Excellence in Music Performance. He was previously Music Director of Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg where he led the world premiere of Penderecki's Eighth Symphony on the opening of the principality's new concert hall, the Philharmonie. He won the Prix d'or of the Academie Lyrique Française for his recording of Jean Cras' 1922 opera Polyphème with OPL and toured with the orchestra to China, Korea, the United States and throughout Europe.

In 2013 he was appointed an honorary Officer of the Order of Canada for services to music. Since 2006 he has been Artistic Director of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain. In 2017 he joined the faculty of Boston University where he serves as Director of Orchestral and Conducting Studies. 

Photo: Tyler Boye

J'Nai Bridges, Mezzo-Soprano

American mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, known for her “rich, dark, exciting sound” (Opera News) is quickly becoming one of the most sought-after talents of her generation. 

In the 2016-17 season, J’Nai will make debuts at San Francisco Opera and Bavarian State Opera as Bersi in Andrea Chénier, at Los Angeles Opera as Nefertiti in Akhnaten, and at Vancouver Opera as Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking. She will additionally be featured as a soloist at the Marilyn Horne Song Celebration at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, at the Festival de Torroella de Montgrí, with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” with the Louisville Orchestra, and in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, both with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Farewell to Christoph Eschenbach concert with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center.

J’Nai’s recent performances have included a return to Lyric Opera of Chicago to sing the role of Carmen in the world premiere of Bel Canto, an opera by Jimmy Lopez, based on the novel by Ann Patchett, the title role in The Rape of Lucretia at Wolf Trap Opera, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with San Diego Opera and Wolf Trap Opera, the title role of Carmen with Finger Lakes Opera, and Adalgisa in Norma with Knoxville Opera.

Her numerous concert engagements have spanned Ravel’s Chansons Medécasses with Yo-Yo Ma and members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; the mezzo-soprano solo in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Gustavo Dudamel and the L.A. Philharmonic, the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela in Berkeley, and in Caracas, Venezuela, and with the Oregon Symphony; as a featured soloist in the GRAMMY Salute to Music Legends tribute concert at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles; Ravel’s Shéhérezade with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg; selections from La clemenza di Tito, and works by Mozart and Schubert with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago; the role of Mademoiselle Dangeville in Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur with the Opera Orchestra of New York; the mezzo-soprano solo in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” with the Lexington Philharmonic; chamber works with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Art Institute of Chicago; and other soloist engagements with the Apollo Chorus of Chicago, the New Jersey Symphonic Orchestra, as part of WFMT 98.7’s recital series, and with the Conservatory Project at The Kennedy Center.

In 2015, J’Nai completed a three-year residency with the distinguished Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Highlights of her tenure at the Lyric include Inez in Il trovatore under the baton of Asher Fisch, Vlasta in Mieczysław Weinberg’s The Passenger conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, Flora in La traviata, and two student matinee performances of Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia. 

J’Nai demonstrated her versatile artistry providing vocals for the historic DVD documentary Bishop Richard Allen: Apostle of Freedom as well as at the 2009 Presidential Inauguration and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a member of Chorale Le Chateau. As a young artist with the Glimmerglass Music Festival, J’Nai covered Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, and Mrs. Jenks in Copland’s The Tender Land, and sang the title role in Carmen. Additional engagements while a resident artist at the Ryan Center include the title role in Act IV of Carmen for Stars of Lyric Opera, Dorabella in Act I of Così fan tutte for the Grant Park Music Festival, and appearances as a Flower maiden in Parsifal, the Second Wood Nymph in Rusalka, and the Second Maid in Elektra with Chicago Lyric Opera.

In 2015, J’Nai represented the United States at the prestigious Singer of the World Competition in Cardiff, Wales. Additionally, she was the recipient of a 2016 Richard Tucker Career Grant, a first prize winner at the 2016 Francisco Viñas International Competition, a first prize winner at the 2015 Gerda Lissner Competition, a recipient of the 2013 Sullivan Foundation Award, a 2012 Marian Anderson award winner, the recipient of the 2011 Sara Tucker Study Grant, the recipient of the 2009 Richard F. Gold Grant as the singer with a promising operatic career, and the winner of the 2008 Leontyne Price Foundation Competition. 

A native of Lakewood, Washington, J’Nai earned her Master of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where her operatic credits included Carolina Kirchstetten in Henze’s Elegy for Young Lovers, Idamante in Idomeneo, Carmen in Le tragedie de Carmen, Teresa in La sonnambula, Iras in Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra and Baba the Turk in The Rake’s Progress. While at Curtis, J’Nai also appeared as the Madrigalist in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut with the Opera Company of Philadelphia.

She received her Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from the Manhattan School of Music, where she appeared in the U.S. premiere of Xenakis’s Oresteia, conducted by Steven Osgood, and as Polly in Britten’s The Beggar’s Opera to rave reviews from The New York Times.

Photo: Columbia Artists Management