NEC Philharmonia + Mei-Ann Chen: Auerbach, Barber, & Dvořák

Lera Auerbach | Icarus (2006/2011)

Program note

Light blinds.
To see—we turn away.
Our eyes hold all images inverted.
Every day a new Icarus kills himself.

I have been fascinated by the myth of Icarus. As a child, I lived in ancient Greece. The book of myths was my favorite and the world of jealous gods and god-like humans was more real to me than the world outside of my windows, full of bloody red flags (the red of the Soviet flag symbolized the blood of the heroes of the Revolution) and the Soviet-trinity portraits of Lenin-Marx- Engels with the occasional bushy eyebrows of Brezhnev looking at me from the walls of the buildings. In some ways the two worlds blurred. The world outside made much more sense through the perspective of the ancient Greek myths, where it was quite common for a power-protective god to devour all his children.
        Icarus was one of my heroes (or antiheroes, depending on the interpretation)— the winged boy who dared to fly too close to the sun. The wings were made by his father, Daedalus, a skilled craftsman, who earlier in his life designed the famous labyrinth in Crete that held the Minotaur. Daedalus was held prisoner in Crete and the wings were his only way to escape.
        Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun or too close to the ocean, but what teenager listens to his father? Exhilarated by freedom, by his own youth, by the feeling of ight, Icarus soared higher and higher until the wax on his wings melted and he fell into the ocean. Oh, gravity! Sometimes I think it is the law of gravity that truly defines our existence.
        What makes this myth so touching is Icarus’s impatience of the heart, his wish to reach the unreachable, the intensity of the ecstatic brevity of his flight and inevitability of his fall. If Icarus were to fly safely—there would be no myth. His tragic death is beautiful. It also poses a question—from Daedalus’ point of view—how can one distinguish success from failure? His greatest invention, the wings which allowed a man to fly, was also his greatest failure as they caused the death of his son. Daedalus was brilliant, his wings were perfect, but he was also a blind father who did not truly understand his child. If he did, he would realize that the road to freedom leads to its ultimate form—death, which Icarus, with the uncompromising daring of youth, achieves. The desire for freedom, taken to its extreme, receives its absolute form—a closed circle in which success means failure and freedom means death.
        The desire to go beyond the boundaries into the ecstatic visionary realm of soaring flight is essentially human. In some ways this desire to transcend the everyday-ness is what it means to be human. That is why this myth has resonated for centuries. Icarus knows the danger of flying too high, but the risk is justified in his eyes. He needs to fly as high as he can, beyond what is possible—it is his nature.
        The title Icarus was given to this work after it was written. All my music is abstract, but by giving evocative titles I invite the listener to feel free to imagine, to access his own memories, associations. Icarus is what came to my mind, listening to this work at that time. Each time I hear the piece—it is different. What is important to me is that it connects to you, the listener, in the most individual and direct way, that this music disturbs you, moves you, soars with you, stays with you. You don’t need to understand how or why— just allow the music to take you wherever it takes you. It is permissible to daydream while listening or to remember your own past. It is fine not to have any images at all, but simply experience the sound. These program notes are a door to your imagination. The music is your guide. But it is up to you to take the step and cross the threshold.                                                              
– Lera Auerbach

Samuel Barber | Concerto for Cello, op. 22

Allegro moderato
Andante sostenuto
Molto allegro ed appassionato

Antonín Dvořák | Symphony No. 8 in G Major, op. 88

Allegro con brio
Adagio
Allegretto grazioso
Allegro ma non troppo

Mei-Ann Chen

Praised for her dynamic, passionate conducting style, Taiwanese American conductor Mei-Ann Chen is acclaimed for infusing orchestras with energy, enthusiasm and high-level music-making, galvanizing audiences and communities alike. Music Director of the MacArthur Award-winning Chicago Sinfonietta since 2011, Ms. Chen was named Chief Conductor of Austria’s Recreation Grosses Orchester Graz at Styriarte beginning fall 2021 after two seasons as the orchestra’s first-ever Principal Guest Conductor, making her the first female Asian conductor to hold this position with an Austrian orchestra. Since September 2019, she also serves as the first-ever Artistic Partner of Houston’s ROCO (River Oaks Chamber Orchestra). Ms. Chen also has served as Artistic Director & Conductor for the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra Summer Festival since 2016. Highly regarded as a compelling communicator and an innovative leader both on and off the podium, and a sought-after guest conductor, Ms. Chen continues to expand her relationships with orchestras worldwide (over 110 orchestras to date).
        Recent and upcoming engagements include serving on the jury for the prestigious Malko Competition for Young Conductors in 2021, Carnegie Hall’s NYO2, and five concerts with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra Summer Festival. In addition to subscription performances with Chicago Sinfonietta, Recreation Grosses Orchester Graz at Styriarte, and ROCO, highlights of the 2021-2022 season included return engagements to England’s BBC Symphony in London, Finland’s Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Liechtenstein Symphony Orchestra, Norway’s Oslo Philharmonic, Hague Residentie Orchestra in The Netherlands, Malmö and Norrlandsoperan in Sweden, and Taiwan National Philharmonic and a debut with Spain’s Basque National Orchestra. Amongst postponed dates due to Covid-19 are debuts with the New York Philharmonic and Germany’s Staatsorchester Darmstadt, returns with San Francisco Symphony, Netherlands Philharmonic, and Norwegian Radio Orchestra.
        Recent guesting highlights include Austria’s Tonkünstler-Orchester, Finland’s Tampere Filharmonia, Germany’s Musikalische Adademie des Nationaltheater-Orchestesters Mannheim, and NDR Radiophilharmonie Hanover, Sweden’s Gävle and Helsingborg Symphonies, Switzerland’s Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra at Weiwuying (the world’s largest performing arts center since 2018), in addition to return engagements with symphonies of America’s Atlanta, Detroit, Pacific and Toledo.
       Other North American guesting credits include appearances with symphonies of Baltimore, Cincinnati, Chicago, Houston, Indianapolis, National, Oregon, San Diego, Seattle, Toronto, Tucson, and Vancouver, to name a few. Amongst her overseas guesting credits are the symphonies of BBC Scottish; Brazil’s São Paulo (OSESP); Denmark’s National, Aalborg, Aarhus, Odense and Copenhagen Philharmonic; Germany’s Badische Staatskapelle Karlsruhe; Mexico’s National; Norway’s Trondheim; Sweden’s Gothenburg and Norrköping; Switzerland’s Basel; and Turkey’s Bilkent in Ankara.
       As Music Director of Chicago Sinfonietta, Ms. Chen has made two recordings for Cedille Records: Project W – Works by Diverse Women Composers (March 2019, nominated for GRAMMY® Award for Producer of the Year, Jim Ginsburg) and Delights and Dances (June 2013). In 2018, Innova Records released River Oaks Chamber Orchestra’s debut album ROCO: Visions Take Flight (recognized with a GRAMMY® Award for Producer of the Year, Blanton Alspaugh) featuring 5 commissioned contemporary works conducted by Ms. Chen.
        Past honors include being named one of the 2015 Top 30 Influencers by Musical America; the 2012 Helen M. Thompson Award from the League of American Orchestras; Winner, the 2007 Taki Concordia Fellowship founded by Marin Alsop; and 2005 First Prize Winner of the Malko Competition (she remains as the only woman in the competition history since 1965 to have won First Prize). Ms. Chen is Conductor Laureate of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra after serving as Music Director 2010 – 2016. Born in Taiwan, Ms. Chen came to the United States to study violin in 1989 and became the first student in New England Conservatory’s history to receive master’s degrees simultaneously in both violin and conducting, and she earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting at the University of Michigan.

Personnel

First Violin
Eric Jiang
Isabella Gorman
Yebin Yoo
Hannah Goldstick
Yeonsoo Kim
Aidan Ip
Nikki Naghavi
Yilei Lin
Chae Lim Yoon
Hannah O’Brien
Anthony Chan
Ruoran Yu
Jimmy Wang

Second Violin
Grant Houston
Bree Fotheringham
Natalie Boberg
Felicitas Schiffner
Jeffrey Pearson
Dorson Chang
Xiaoqing Yu
Bo-Wen Chen
Haeun Honney Kim
Passacaglia Mason
Evelyn Song

Viola
Hyelim Kong
Aadam Ibrahim
Lydia Plaut
Elton Tai
Wonjeong Seol
Junghyun Ahn
Sachin Shukla
Julian Sneige-Seney
Aidan Garrison

Cello
Barna Károly
Yi-Mei Templeman
Ivan Sendetskiy
Macintyre Taback
Jungah Lee
Adithya Muralidharan
Josephine You Kyung Kim
Jeremy Tai

Bass
Jacob Kalogerakos
Christopher Laven
Yihan Wu
Gregory Miguel Padilla
Chiyang Chen

Flute
Anna Kevelson*
Elizabeth Kleiber
Yang Liu
Hui Lam Mak
Yeyoung Moon
Nnamdi Odita-Honnah^
Megan Trach‡

Piccolo
Yeyoung Moon*
Hui Lam Mak^

Oboe
Alexander Lenser^
Nathalie Graciela Vela*
Kip Zimmerman‡

English horn
Nathalie Graciela Vela‡
Kip Zimmerman*^

Clarinet
Tristan Broadfoot^
Hyunwoo Chun‡
Soyeon Park*

Bass Clarinet
Hyunwoo Chun*
Soyeon Park‡

Bassoon
Andrew Brooks*
Andrew Flurer
Chaoyang Jing^
Miranda Macias‡
Richard Vculek

Contrabassoon
Richard Vculek

French horn
Karlee Kamminga*
Hannah Messenger‡
Yeonjo Oh
Tasha Schapiro^
Helen Wargelin

Trumpet
Michael Harms*
David O’Neill
Alex Prokop^
Jon-Michael Taylor‡

Trombone
Puyuan Chen
Lukas Helsel^
Matthew Vezey*

Bass Trombone
Changwon Park

Tuba
David Stein

Timpani
Ross Hussong^
Doyeong Kim*
Yiming Yao‡

Percussion
Ross Hussong
Stephanie Nozomi Krichena*
Taylor Lents
Pei Hsien Lu‡
Yiming Yao

Harp
Yvonne Cox
Hannah Cope Johnson*

Keyboard
Miles Fellenberg, piano
Alice Chenyang Xu, celeste

Theremin
Arturo Fernandez


Principal players
*Auerbach
‡Barber
^Dvořák