Ann Rose Corporate Fund
and the
Lois Ferrari, Music Director
presents the
Marches and Winners
Saturday, March 23, 2013
The Church at Canyon Creek
2013 Pearl Amster Youth Concerto Competition Winners
Hesoo Cha, age 14, is a currently a freshman at
Westwood High School where she participates in
both orchestra and the Chamber Music in Public
Schools (CHAMPS) program. This year, Hesoo
performed as part of the TMEA All-State
Symphony Orchestra, and in the past has won
numerous honors and awards, including the
Asian-American
Community
Partnership
Challenge Cup Junior Division and the opportunity
to perform at the Long Center. Currently, she
studies violin with Ms. Sandy Yamamoto. Hesoo enjoys playing the
piano, going out with friends, eating good food, reading, and playing
duets with her brother.
Beatrice Hoang is an 11 year old who started
studying piano at the age of five and is currently a
student of Dr. Saida Kafarova. In 2011, Beatrice
won the Gold medal and Best Prelude award at
the 7th International Chopin Youth Competition in
Houston. She also twice won the first prize at the
San Marcos Young Artist Piano competition and is
a frequent winner at the ADMTA Solo Contests. A
5th grade student at Holy Family Catholic School
in Austin, Beatrice is on the Math team, competing
in regional Math contests. She enjoys art, swimming, and playing with
her baby sister.
John Walden, age 16, has studied piano for the
past 12 years. He is currently a student of
Sophia Gilmson and has studied with Beatrice
Long and May Eng. John has taken master
classes with Anton Nel, Gregory Allen, and Betty
Mallard. In 2009 and 2010, John performed as a
featured soloist in Germany and was a featured
soloist at the Texas State International Piano
Festival in San Marcos last summer. In 2010,
he was a finalist in the Austin Symphony
Orchestra Youth Competition. John has participated in several festivals,
winning competitions in 2010 and 2011. Besides his piano studies, John
is a serious trumpet player and enjoys playing both classical and jazz
repertoire. He recently participated in the 2013 TMEA All-State Jazz
Ensemble as 4th-chair trumpet. As a junior, John is on McCallum High
School's ultimate Frisbee team and is an avid sports fan.
Runner-Up
Helen Nebeker, age 14, began studying piano
performance at the age of four and is currently
studying under Dr. Timothy Woolsey. Helen has
won over 50 national and international awards
and was a first place winner of the Bradshaw
Buono International Piano Competition in New
York and performed in Weil Recital Hall at
Carnegie Hall. Helen is currently a freshman at
Westlake High School and enjoys reading,
writing short stories, and traveling.
The Pearl Amster Youth Concerto Competition
The Pearl Amster Youth Concerto Competition spotlights exceptional
young musicians, eighteen years of age or younger, from the central
Texas area. It is named in honor of the long-time dedication of Pearl and
Gustav Amster in furthering the growth and development of performance
opportunities for budding musicians.
Students submit recorded audition recordings each fall, and a panel of
judges selects 20 finalists for a day of live auditions in January. At the
live auditions, students perform their piece for three judges. From this
group the top performers are selected as winners. The number of
winners varies each year and is dependent largely on length of
compositions, ACO concert programming considerations and the
rehearsal period.
This concert features this year’s winners performing as soloists with the
Austin Civic Orchestra. In addition, the winners also receive a college
scholarship funded by an endowment from the Webber Family
Foundation and administered by the Austin Community Foundation.
The Austin Civic Orchestra and the Pearl Amster Youth Concerto
Competition Committee would like to thank the University of Texas
School of Music for providing the live audition space. We greatly
appreciate the following judges for all their work and expertise in judging
the recorded and live auditions for this year:
Recorded Auditions Judges:
Felicity Coltman
Margaret Coltman
Adrienne Inglis
Live Audition Judges:
Lynn Ledbetter
Patrick Hughes
Paula Wong
Program
Turkish March from The Ruins of Athens
Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770-1827)
Hungarian March from The Damnation of Faust
Hector Berlioz
(1803-1869)
Pomp and Circumstance No. 1
Edward Elgar
(1857-1934)
Procession of the Nobles
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
(1844-1908)
Liberty Bell March
John Philip Sousa
(1854-1932)
Radetsky March
Johann Strauss I
(1804-1849)
Raiders March from Raiders of the Lost Ark
John Williams
(b. 1932)
Intermission
Haiku Symphony No. 2
Joshua Hummel
(b. 1980)
Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 25
Felix Mendelssohn
(1809-1847)
Molto allegro con fuoco
Beatrice Hoang, piano
Symphonie Espagnole in D minor, Op. 21
Edouard Lalo
(1823-1892)
Allegro non troppo
Hesoo Cha, violin
Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54
Allegro affetuoso
John Walden, piano
Robert Schumann
(1810-1856)
ACO Composition Competition Winner
Born in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains
in North Carolina, Joshua Hummel began his
musical training at the age of six. He earned a
BMus in piano and a MA in Dramatic Production
from Bob Jones University and MMus in
Composition from the Hartt School of Music. Josh
has been the recipient of a number of composition
awards most notably the Frederick Fennell Prize
and the Leonard Bernstein Award. Josh's choral
work Later, a setting of the Wassily Kandinsky
poem, recently won the Cantate Chamber Singers Young Composers
Competition. His choral work Novum Decus Oritur won First Prize in a
Cambridge, MA, choral competition; and though poppies grow recently
won Second Prize in a London-based choral competition.
His wind ensemble music has been performed throughout the
country by some of the nations top college bands including the University
of California at Long Beach, the University of Texas at Austin and the
Yale Concert Band. In February 2011, the Yale Concert Band premiered
his award-winning composition Haiku Symphony No. 4 in Woolsey Hall
and Carnegie Hall. His orchestral piece Haiku Symphony No. 2 won First
Prize in the 2012 Austin Civic Orchestra Composition Competition.
Josh is the composer for an arts collective in Cambridge, MA, and
owns a composition studio in Hartford, CT.
Program Notes
Before written history, marches were thought to be derived from tribal
and pagan rituals, meant to organize the movement of people for battle
in much the same way as dances provide stability and form for artistic
expression. The very first marches were not written down and included
little more than drums and improvised rudimentary brass horns. This
evolved into the military brass band and the larger marching band as we
know it today. But not all marches were meant for outdoor and/or military
use. Most marches have a 1-2, 1-2 beat and are meant to be played
relatively fast, about two beats per second, which is just the right tempo
to keep marching troops lively. Tonight, we will explore several different
settings of the march, all of which you will probably recognize but may
not have realized were, musically speaking, marches.
Beethoven's Turkish March was written in 1811 as incidental music
to a play called The Ruins of Athens, by the German playwright August
Kotzebue. The next selection is the unofficial state anthem of Hungary,
appropriately titled the Hungarian March. While its original composer is
unknown, we know it was written around 1730, and is believed to have
helped motivate Hungary’s national hero, Francis Rackoczy II, to lead his
people in a rebellion against the Hapsburgs. Hector Berlioz included this
version of the march in his opera The Damnation of Faust in 1846. If you
have been to a graduation ceremony, then you may recognize Elgar’s
Pomp and Circumstance, written in 1901. In his 1889 opera-ballet
Mlada, Rimsky-Korsakov includes the Procession of the Nobles, a
march written in 3/4 meter rather than the usual 2/4. The march king
John Philip Sousa’s Liberty Bell March was originally written in 1893 for
an unfinished operetta but was then reassigned to represent the Liberty
Bell. It has been performed at recent presidential inaugurations and was,
as well, the theme music for the British Comedy troupe Monty Python’s
"Flying Circus." Johann Strauss I is almost as well known know for
writing Viennese waltzes as his son Johann II. One of his most famous
works is a very popular march dedicated to Austrian Field Marshal
Joseph Radetzky. When the Radetzky March first played in front of
Austrian officers in 1848, they promptly clapped and stomped their feet
when they heard the chorus. And you will, no doubt, recognize John
Williams's Raiders March, the theme from the 1981 movie Raiders of
the Lost Ark.
Haiku Symphony No. 2 – (Note from the composer) I composed Haiku
Symphony No. 2 during October 2009 during an absolutely beautiful and
vibrant New England autumn. My composition studio is on the 11th floor
of a high rise condo building overlooking the hills of northern
Connecticut, and single red and yellow leaves would often find their way
past my window, just riding on the blustery October breeze. Haiku
Symphony No.2 chronicles the journey of a single maple lead sailing on
the autumn New England wind.
A Maple leaf sails,
gently carried aloft by
October's breathing
The "Haiku Symphonies" are a series of pieces of varying
instrumentation, each focused on a single piece of haiku poetry. Taking
the haiku as its model, a "Haiku Symphony" is a concise, compact work
that economically develops a single theme, motive, gesture, etc. but
retains a measure of formal and crafted depth worthy of a short
symphony. — Josh Hummel
Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 1 - Mendelssohn established himself
early as one of the most gifted composers of his time. Yet he was still a
young man with a young man's fancies, and while visiting Munich in 1831
he found himself making "sheep's eyes" (as he put it) at Delphine von
Schauroth, a baroness's daughter. The 22-year-old Mendelssohn wrote
to his beloved sister Fanny that everyone "adored" Delphine: Within
three days Mendelssohn had composed most of the particulars of the
piano concerto, working in the mornings before and after visiting
Delphine.
The concerto is compact, dispensing with lengthy orchestral
introductions and solo cadenzas, and built with cleverly interlocking
motifs and a spareness of form that substitutes a single shared
exposition between orchestra and soloist for the traditional double
exposition. The first movement, Molto allegro con fuoco, begins with
rushing chromatic chords from the orchestra, quickly taken up by the
piano and spun by the full ensemble into an urgent, breathless theme.
The piano passages grow increasingly virtuosic, but then segue into a
calmer, lyrical second theme. The two themes develop rhapsodically until
the violins, violas, and oboes sound a rhythmic four-note pattern, still in
G minor, that trumpets and horns transform into a fanfare in E major. —
Barbara Heninger
Lalo Symphonie Espagnole - All the Spanish elements of the
Symphonie, including its title, are not, as one might expect, a musical
reflection of Frenchman Edouard Lalo’s Spanish ancestry. Rather, these
elements are a deliberate homage to the virtuoso Spanish violinist Pablo
de Sarasate, for whom Lalo wrote the Symphonie. The French might
have ignored the Symphonie, had it not been for Sarasate. The violinist’s
good looks and virtuosity assured packed concert halls, and in the
Symphonie Lalo provided him with the perfect vehicle to showcase his
style, which combined purity of tone with flexibility and a graceful
restraint not common among 19th century violinists.
The five movements of the Symphonie Espagnole feature several
Spanish dances. The Allegro non troppo alternates between a vigorous
dotted rhythm and a sensuous malagueña. — Elizabeth Schwartz
Schumann Piano Concerto – The Piano Concerto occupied a special
place in Schumann's loving relationship with his wife, Clara. In 1837,
three years before their marriage, Schumann wrote to her of a plan for a
concerted work for piano and orchestra that would be “a compromise
between a symphony, a concerto and a huge sonata.” In 1841, the
second year of their marriage, he produced a Fantasia in one movement
for piano with orchestral accompaniment. Robert's attempts to secure a
publisher for the work were met with rejection; and he laid the piece
aside. In May 1845, the Fantasia came down from the shelf with
Schumann’s determination to breathe new life into it. He retained the
original Fantasia movement, and added to it an Intermezzo and Finale to
create the three-movement Piano Concerto.
Schumann’s Piano Concerto is memorable not only for the beauty of
its melodies and the felicity of its harmony, but also for the careful
integration of its structure. This opening motive, a lovely melody
presented by the woodwinds after the fiery prefatory chords of the piano,
pervades the first movement, serving not only as its second theme but
also appearing in many variants in the development section. Even the
coda, placed after a stirring cadenza, uses a double-time marching
version of the main theme. — Richard Rodda
Pearl Amster
1917-2000
The Austin Civic Orchestra
named its annual competition to
honor Pearl Amster because of her
dedication as a music teacher and
her championship of performance
opportunities for young musicians.
Pearl was born in New York City
in May, 1917. She began studying
piano when she was six years old.
At age 14 (during the height of the Great Depression), Pearl
quit school and began teaching piano in order to help
support the family and continue her own piano studies. In
1934, she gave her debut performance at Town Hall in New
York City.
Pearl was a natural teacher, and she was immensely
successful, eventually becoming a Master Teacher on the
staff of the St. Louis Conservatory. She was the first woman
to win an Artist Diploma from the National Guild of Music and
Teachers.
Pearl and her family moved to Austin in 1967 and opened
a Yamaha Piano dealership at 18th & Lavaca. A year later,
they opened the Piano Barn to refurbish and sell used
pianos. Beginning in 1971, she held monthly soirées in her
home in which local artists and
students could share their art with
an audience. The last soirée
each season was reserved for
performances by Pearl and her
close friend Jess Walters.
Pearl served on the Boards of
the Gilbert and Sullivan Society
and the Austin Civic Orchestra.
Pearl was the "Hostess with
the Mostest."
She frequently
opened her home to arts groups
for meetings and events.
Austin Civic Orchestra
Violin I
Carolyn Richards-Chacon,
concertmaster
Melissa Ruof, assistant
Bob Brockett
David Chisum
Lynn Petro
Dawn Smith
Julienne Smith
Philip Smith
Pat Surguy
Sol Swords
Violin II
Dario Landazuri, principal
Carrie Schoenert Houston,
assistant
Deborah Byers
Jennifer Coyle
Ferris Duhon
Dylan Feldpausch
Dianne Froehlich
Andrew Goolsbee
Gloria Lee
Evan Nave
Darren Schmidt
Ellen Williams
Viola
Eugene Gott, principal
Geoff Carlisle, assistant
Shelley Bowers
Katy Hampton
Mark Leger
Amanda Tofflemire
Violoncello
Jarrod Tuikka, principal
Tani Barr-Kermani, assistant
Sarah Crawford
Judy DeWitt
Linda Epps
Eve Galbraith
Sandy Hayes
Owen Hofmann
Cecile Morgan
Jennifer Patterson
Caleb Seboldt
Emma Treadway
John Whitney
Double Bass
James Sproat, principal
Kathy Petheram
Andrew Rogers
Phillip Truitt
Flute
Marcia Gillespie-Norder,
principal
Mattie Kotzur
Sharon Davis, piccolo
Oboe
Madeline Warner, principal
Elisa Pinno
Faith Cuminato, English horn
Clarinet
Kathleen Bohn, principal
Laura Gorman
Sharon Kojzarek, bass
Bassoon
Amy Crandell, principal
Melissa Vauk
Horn
Kathy Nolen, principal
Oscar Botello
David Parker
Toni Powell
Mitch Sundet
Megan Wadley
Trumpet
Jose Yznaga, principal
Randy Howard
David Jones
Kent Stuiber
Trombone
Michael Martinez
Jesse Nolen
Robert Tung, bass
Tuba
Mike Lynch, principal
Percussion
Chris Wike, principal
Ian Fry
Kyle Garza
Don Thompson
Timpani
Alan Smith, principal
Harp
Lisa Lamb, principal
Keyboard
Christopher Henselman,
principal
The Austin Civic Orchestra would like to extend a special thank you to
the members of the Pearl Amster Youth Concerto Competition
Committee for their many hours of work and dedication.
Sandy Hayes – Chair
Shelley Bowers
Sarah Crawford
Melissa Ruof
Julienne Smith
ACO Donors
Standing Ovation
($5000+)
LMG Concerts
Bravo ($1000+)
The AM Technical
Solutions, Inc. Ann
Rose Corporate Fund
In memory of Dorothy and
Joseph Bohn
The Kodosky Foundation
Charles Schwab
(matching gift)
Curtain Call ($500+)
Kathleen Bohn
Kyle Bryson
Lois Ferrari and Paul
Gaffney
Faith Holmes, M.D.
Louise Morse
Dr. Jodie Whitney, in
honor of John Whitney
and in memory of Joyce
Ann Whitney, John's
mother and supporter
Take a Bow ($250+)
Kara Barnes, in honor of
Alan Smith
Jose Chacon and Carolyn
Richards-Chacon
General Electric
(matching gift)
Melissa Ruof
Michael and Ann
Tedesco, in honor of Dr.
Lois Ferrari
Applause ($100+)
Mary Brockette
Margaret Connor
Dave Coyle and Dana
Reno
Judy DeWitt
Dr. Hanns-Bertold and
Marlee Dietz
Jeffrey Elliott
Linda Epps
Carrie Schoenert Houston
JK Group Inc. (matching
gift)
David Kaplan
Matthew Keener
Dario Landazuri
National Instruments
(matching gift)
Art and Christine
Monzingo, in memory of
Vivian Mansell
Kathy and Jesse Nolen
Julienne Smith
Jerry and Melissa Vauk
Riccardo and Carol
Vivona, in honor of
Kathleen Bohn
Ronda von Sehrwald
Sherry Woods
Kudos ($10+)
Kay Arnold
Russell Baker, in honor of
Ronda von Sehrwald
Trish Benford
Oscar Botello
Bob and Wendy Brockett
Margaret Busby
Barton and Sharon Davis
Ferris and Ruta Duhon
Jill Glassco, in honor of
Judy DeWitt
Sandy Hayes
Evan Nave
Tony and Lynn Petro
John Pinno
Peter and Nancy Roll
Sol Swords
Rose Taylor
Megan Wadley
John Whitney
Anonymous
Long Center
Concert
Sponsors
Gold ($2500+)
Duggins Wren Mann &
Romero, LLP
Silver ($1000+)
Naji S. Norder and Marcia
Gillespie-Norder
Student Ticket
Sponsors
Bobby Archambault
Kyndra Cullen
Clifford and Janice Culver
Sharon Davis
Judy DeWitt
James Dick
Lois Ferrari
Louis and Joan Ferrari
Mariem Fisher
Rita Jo Fuqua
Marvin Gehrman
Kathryn Harper
Christopher Hauf
Eddie Jennings
Erin Keys, in honor of Lois
Ferrari
Karen Kneten
Sharon E. Kojzarek
Nikki Loftin
Lynn and Deb McCarty
Kathryn Mishell
Art Monzingo
Louise Morse
Geraldine Nuckols
Sue Olson
James Pappianne
Laura Payne
Quintessentials
Woodwind Quintet
Gary and Grace Silcott
Dawn Smith
Strait Music
Willis Traphagan
Tokyo Electron America
Megan Wadley
Sherry Woods
Cowbell Fund
Christopher Walken
($1000+)
Alan Smith
Brian Smith
Vernell Thompson
John Bonham ($500+)
Kathleen Bohn
Lois Ferrari and Paul
Gaffney
Eddie Jennings
Mike Lynch
Gene Krupa ($100+)
Robert and Karen
Archambault
Kyle Bryson
Robert and Terry Bryson
Amy Crandell
David Ferrari
Gilbert and Lara Greene
Karl Haussmann, in honor
of Chris Wike
Linda McDavitt
Cecile Morgan
Kathy Petharam
Ying Tang
Steve Wilder
Sherry Woods
Ringo Starr ($50+)
Anne and Robert Bertholf
Oscar Botello
Dave Coyle
Suzanne Daniel
Andrea Garcia
James Loftus
Chris Olives
Carolyn Patrick
Dana Reno
Carolyn Richards-Chacon
Philip Smith
Wendy Staats
Sheryl Stack
Sol Swords
Willis Traphagan
Jerry Vauk
Melissa Vauk
Megan Wadley
Stephanie Walton
anonymous
Animal ($10+)
Amy Burgus
Mark Cavazos
Ron Collins
Carrie Schoenert Houston
Dario Landazuri
Jenny Magar
Erin Martysz
Art Monzingo
Brianna Morris-Brock
Gabriela Obregon
Jeffee Palmer
Harry Petheram
Diana Phillips
Antoinette Powell
Robert Schoenert
Julienne Smith
Debra Watkins
Jeffrey Wilkes
Kelly Williams
Business &
Community
Partners
City of Austin
Austin AmericanStatesman
Austin Community
Foundation
Austin Symphonic Band
Benke Piano
Blackerby Violin Shop
Butler School of Music University of Texas
Chorus Austin
Clavier-Werke School of
Music
Fiat of Austin
Global Printing Solutions
Hill Country Pet Sitters
Hill Design + Gallery
Jan Hill Mortgage
Jacob Simmons Violins
KMFA Classical 89.5
Leander ISD – Wiley
Middle School
Law Firm of Paul Schorn
Mary Moody Northen
Theatre –
St. Edward’s University
Molly Maid
Natural Gardener
Ogletree Deakins Nash
Smoak & Stewart, P.C.
Barbara Prashner, CPA
Randall’s Good Neighbor
Program (ACO is
charity #217)
Round Rock ISD –
Westwood High School
Sam Bass Music
Sarofim School of Fine
Arts - Southwestern
University
Strait Music
Tank Town Rainwater
Collection
Texas Ballroom Dance
Club
The Urology Team, P.A.
Violins Etc.
Webber Family
Foundation
This project is funded and supported in part by the City of Austin through the
Economic Growth & Redevelopment Services Office/Cultural Arts Division
believing an investment in the Arts is an investment in Austin’s future.
Visit Austin at NowPlayingAustin.com.
"Texas Rising Stars"
featuring winners of the
Butler School of Music String Studio Competition
May 12 at 4 pm
Bates Recital Hall, University of Texas
Admission Free
www.austincivicorchestra.org