Symphony Orchestra

About the Program

Giuseppe Verdi 
Overture to La forza del destino 
Born October 8, 1813, Roncole, Italy 
Died January 27, 1901, Milan, Italy 
Composed 1869 
Premiered February 27, 1869, La Scala, Milan 
Duration 8 minutes  

Giuseppe Verdi was an Italian opera composer. The first performance of his opera La forza del destino was given at the Imperial Theater in Saint Petersburg on November 10, 1862, but Verdi revised the opera significantly in 1869. Based on the Spanish play Don Álvaro written in 1835 by Ángel de Saavedra y Ramírez de Banquedano, Duke of Rivas (1791–1865) with an added scene borrowed from the 1799 Wallenstein’s Camp by Freidrich Schiller (1759–1805), the opera begins with star-crossed lovers Leonora and Alvaro planning to elope. When Leonora’s father discovers their plans, Alvaro accidentally kills him while attempting to lay down his pistol. The tragedy continues as Leonora’s brother attempts to avenge his father but instead is mortally wounded by Alvaro and then kills his own sister for her role in their father’s death. The original version of the opera featured a concise and subdued prelude, which Verdi expanded greatly to include a potpourri of many of the melodies from the opera. These include a three-note motive associated with “fate” and a rising, four-note scale associated with Leonora. The overture powerfully evokes the atmosphere of the dramatic opera, serving equally well as a tantalizing introduction to the tragedy or as a stand-alone orchestra piece. 

—Penny Brandt

Richard Strauss
Romanze for Clarinet & Orchestra
Born June 11, 1864, Munich, Germany
Died September 8, 1949, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
Composed 1879
Duration 9 minutes

Richard Strauss was born into a musical family. His father, Franz Strauss—an exceptional horn player and composer, and notable anti-Wagnerian—served as both mentor and teacher to his son, who had shown much promise at an early age. By the time Richard was 6, he was already composing, and as a teenager he had  developed a performance career as both pianist and violinist. His father also promoted Richard’s compositional work by way of public performances, often programming his compositions for Wilde Gung'l, the amateur orchestra Franz conducted. In 1874, the ten year old Richard heard his first Wagner operas: Lohengrin and Tannhäuser, and his life was changed. Four years later, he heard Die Walküre and Siegfried in Munich, and in less than a year after that, he attended performances of Wagner’s complete Ring Cycle, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Tristan und Isolde. It was in that same year of 1879 that the 16 year old Richard composed his first concert piece for soloist and orchestra: his Romanze. He composed it for a fellow student, and, pleased with himself, wrote a letter back home, saying “'I have been very industrious—maybe I have told you already—composing a romance in E-flat major for clarinet and orchestra, which has turned out quite well; the continuous theme turns after the cantilena into a 6-part orchestral fugato.” Despite his contemporaneous obsession with Wagner, the work sounds much more akin to the likes of Mendelssohn or Schumann: a testament to the influence his father’s teachings still had on the teenager who would continue to compose music for another 60 years. 

—Mark Bilyeu

Eldar Hudiyev
Circus, Concerto for Clarinet & Orchestra

 Acknowledged by the US government as an “Alien of Extraordinary Ability”, Eldar Hudiyev is an international award-winning composer, music competition judge, violinist, and pedagogue. His recent composing awards include: “Best Original Song” award at the 8 and Halfilm Awards Film Festival, held in Rome, Italy 2023; “Best Music Video” award at the Hollywood on the Tiber Film Awards festival 2023, “Best Original Composition” at the Chainsaw Game and Music Festival, USA 2021; first prize at the International Music Composition Competition, Atlanta, GA 2021; second prize at the Red Maple Music Competition, Toronto, Canada 2021. As a violinist, Eldar has performed in major international concert venues such as Carnegie Hall, Davies Hall, Tchaikovsky Hall to name a few. 

Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67
Born December 16, 1770, Bonn, Germany
Died March 26, 1827, Vienna, Austria.
Composed 1804-1808
Premiered December 22, 1808, Theatre an der Wien, Vienna Austria
Duration 33 minutes

Just days before Christmas in 1808, Vienna’s Theater an der Wien hosted a benefit concert. The concert hall was sold out, and a good thing: because the heating was not working properly, and the warmth of other concert-goers was imperative as they watched Ludwig van Beethoven conduct a four-hour long concert which consisted entirely of premieres of his own music. On the program? movements of his Mass in C Major, a concert aria, his fourth piano concerto (featuring Beethoven as soloist), his sixth symphony, a piano improvisation, the Choral Fantasy, and his fifth symphony. There was only one intermission. There was also only one rehearsal, which resulted in a very long, very cold, and very poorly executed concert (at one point, during the Choral Fantasy, Beethoven had to stop the orchestra and re-start the work). The second half opened with his fifth symphony, beginning with four of the most recognizable notes in all of music history. Volumes have been written on this short-short-short-long motive. After Beethoven’s death, his secretary, Anton Schindler, wrote “The composer himself provided the key to these depths when one day, in this author's presence, he pointed to the beginning of the first movement and expressed in these words the fundamental idea of his work: ‘Thus Fate knocks at the door!’” This is why the symphony is often given the moniker of Schicksalssinfonie (“Fate Symphony”), despite this story being uncorroborated. We hear this rhythmic motive in nearly every measure of the first movement, and throughout the other three movements in variation. The writer E.T.A. Hoffman, present at the premiere, wrote (perhaps too effusively to be taken seriously) “How this wonderful composition, in a climax that climbs on and on, leads the listener imperiously forward into the spirit world of the infinite!... No doubt the whole rushes like an ingenious rhapsody past many a man, but the soul of each thoughtful listener is assuredly stirred, deeply and intimately, by a feeling that is none other than that unutterable portentous longing, and until the final chord—indeed, even in the moments that follow it—he will be powerless to step out of that wondrous spirit realm where grief and joy embrace him in the form of sound.” Beethoven’s Fifth is an iconic work. It was programmed for the inaugural concert of the New York Philharmonic in 1842, it was used by the BBC during WWII broadcasts, and in 1977, NASA included it on its Golden Record, sent into space on Voyager, to convey the life and culture of planet Earth to any intelligent beings who might encounter it.

—Mark Bilyeu 

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About the Artists

Jonathan Gunn

Clarinetist Jonathan Gunn is a versatile artist with a varied career as educator, soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral performer. He was associate principal and E-flat Clarinet of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra from 2004 to 2011, and served as principal until 2016. Gunn has also performed as guest principal clarinet with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Houston Grand Opera as well as a guest with the New York Philharmonic and Pittsburgh Symphony. Gunn has performed at music festivals including Tanglewood, Aspen, St. Bart’s, Sunflower, and Buzzard’s Bay. As a soloist, he has appeared with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and around the world. Recently, he recorded the Corigliano Clarinet Concerto with The University of Texas Wind Ensemble for Reference Recordings. Mr. Gunn gives masterclasses and recitals internationally, and has served on the faculties of the Buffet-Crampon Summer Academy, the Aria International Summer Academy, the National Youth Orchestra of the USA and Round Top Music Festival.  Gunn is a D’Addario Artist and Musician Advisor, and a Buffet Group USA Performing Artist.  jonathangunnclarinet.com

Farkhad Khudyev

Farkhad Khudyev is the winner of the Gold Medal “Beethoven 250” at the 1st International Arthur Nikisch Conducting Competition; the Solti Foundation US 2018 and 2022 Career Assistance Award; the Best Interpretation Prize at the 1st International Taipei Conducting Competition; the 3rd prize at the 8th International Sir Georg Solti Conducting Competition; and the Gold Medal/Grand Prize at the 2007 National Fischoff Competition. Khudyev has worked with orchestras worldwide including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Opera Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Monterey Symphony, George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, Xi’an Symphony Orchestra and the State Taipei Chinese Orchestra. Farkhad was born in Turkmenistan, where he studied at the State Music School for gifted musicians, and then completed his studies at Interlochen Arts Academy, Oberlin Conservatory and Yale University. Khudyev serves as the Music Director of the University of Texas Symphony Orchestra in Austin, and the Orchestral Institute at the Hidden Valley Institute of the Arts in Carmel, California.

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Symphony Orchestra

PRINCIPALS
1.    Verdi
2.    Strauss
3.    Hudiyev
4.    Beethoven

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Austin Youth Orchestra

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Upcoming Events

Our annual holiday concert returns this year, but expanded!

Our Combined Choirs and Wind Ensemble will anchor the program, but this year they will be joined by other Butler School ensembles and soloists; a collage of sounds for the holiday season!

Saturday, December 7, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday ,December 8, 4:00 p.m.
Bates Recital Hall 

Tickets

Miró Quartet
Monday, October 28, 7:30 p.m.
Bates Recital Hall

University Orchestra
Tuesday, November 19, 7:30 p.m.
Bates Recital Hall

Symphony Orchestra
Monday, December 9, 7:30 p.m.
Bates Recital Hall

Miró Quartet
Friday, January 24, 7:30 p.m. 
Bates Recital Hall 

Symphony Orchestra
Featuring Ebonee Thomas, flute
Friday, February 7, 7:30 p.m. 
Bates Recital Hall
 

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