CONCERT PROGRAMME
2016/17 SEASON
The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) gave its inaugural performance at Dewan
Filharmonik PETRONAS (DFP) on 17 August 1998. The MPO today comprises musicians
from 24 countries, including 7 from Malaysia, a remarkable example of harmony among
different cultures and nationalities.
A host of internationally-acclaimed musicians has worked with the MPO, including Lorin
Maazel, Sir Neville Marriner, Yehudi Menuhin, Joshua Bell, Harry Connick Jr., José Carreras,
Andrea Bocelli and Branford Marsalis, many of whom have praised the MPO for its fine
musical qualities and vitality.
With each new season, the MPO continues to present a varied programme of orchestral
music drawn from over three centuries, as well as the crowd-pleasing concert series.
Its versatility transcends genres, from classical masterpieces to film music, pop, jazz,
contemporary and commissioned works.
The MPO regularly performs at major cities of Malaysia. Internationally, it has showcased
its virtuosity to audiences in Singapore (1999, 2001 and 2005), Korea (2001), Australia
(2004), China (2006), Taiwan (2007), Japan (2001 and 2009) and Vietnam (2013). Its
Education and Outreach Programme, ENCOUNTER, reaches beyond the concert platform
to develop musical awareness, appreciation and skills through dedicated activities that
include instrumental lessons, workshops and school concerts. ENCOUNTER also presents
memorable events in such diverse venues as orphanages, hospitals, rehabilitation centres
and community centres.
The MPO’s commitment to furthering musical interest in the nation has been the creation
of the Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (MPYO). It gave its inaugural concert at
DFP on 25 August 2007, followed by a tour in Peninsular Malaysia. It has performed in
Sabah and Sarawak (2008), Singapore (2009) and Brisbane, Australia (2012).
As it celebrates its 18th anniversary in 2016, the MPO remains steadfast in its mission
to share the depth, power and beauty of great music. The MPO’s main benefactor is
PETRONAS and its patron is Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah Haji Mohd Ali.
Sat 5 Nov 2016 at 3.00 pm
Sun 6 Nov 2016 at 2.30 pm & 4.30 pm
Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra
Grant Cooper, conductor
Dan Kamin, buffoon soloist
PROGRAMME
GLINKA
MENDELSSOHN
BRITTEN
FUCIK
PROKOFIEV
STRAVINSKY
GRIEG
SATIE (arr. COOPER)
ROSSINI
BEETHOVEN
STRAUSS
Ruslan and Ludmilla Overture
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Dance of the Clowns
Simple Symphony: Frolicsome Finale
Entry of the Gladiators
Peter and the Wolf: Peter’s Walking Theme
Suite No. 2: Waltz
Peer Gynt: In the Hall of the Mountain King
Gymnopedie No. 1
William Tell Overture
Symphony No. 1: Scherzo
Emperor Waltz: excerpts
The concert will last approximately 60 minutes without an interval.
All details are correct at time of printing. Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS reserves the right to vary without notice the artists and/or repertoire as
necessary. Copyright © 2016 by Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS (Co. No. 462692-X). All rights reserved. No part of this programme may be
reproduced in any form without the written permission of the copyright owners.
GRANT COOPER
conductor
Grant Cooper has served as Artistic Director and Conductor of the West Virginia
Symphony Orchestra since 2001. He was formerly Resident Conductor of
the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, for which he conducted over 600 public
performances over a ten-year span. He also serves as Artistic Director of the Bach
and Beyond Festival, and for several summers led the Anchorage Festival of Music
in Alaska. He has been a frequent guest conductor for many US orchestras, including
Houston, Buffalo, Rochester, Spokane, Kansas City, Chautauqua, Jacksonville,
Elgin and Wichita.
A gifted opera conductor as well, his recent repertoire includes Mozart’s Cosi
fan tutte and The Marriage of Figaro, as well as Rossini’s The Barber of Seville,
Puccini’s Tosca and Bizet’s Carmen.
As a composer, Cooper welcomed the special challenge of creating original
film scores for the Chaplin silent classics Easy Street and The Immigrant. His
commissioned concert works include A Song of Longing, Though... for soprano and
orchestra, with poetry by Tom Beal. Cooper’s popular works for young audiences
include musical versions of Rumpelstiltzkin and Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
His Boyz in the Wood features the unusual combination of rap singer and coloratura
soprano, and Song of the Wolf recasts the Three Little Pigs story with the wolf as
an environmentalist.
CD recordings of Cooper as conductor, performer, and composer are all currently
available.
DAN KAMIN
buffoon soloist
Dan Kamin is a popular guest artist with
symphonies worldwide, blending comedy with
classical music in his ‘Comedy Concertos’. In
addition to today’s programme, these also include
The Haunted Orchestra, The Lost Elephant, The
Horrible History of Music and Stop the Music!.
On film, Kamin created the physical comedy
sequences for both Chaplin and Benny and Joon,
and trained Robert Downey, Jr. and Johnny Depp
for their acclaimed starring performances. He
also played the wooden Indian come to life in the
cult classic Creepshow 2 and created the Martian
girl’s weird movement for Tim Burton’s horror
spoof Mars Attacks!.
Despite his impressive stage and screen credits, Kamin’s artistic beginnings were
humble. At 12, he began his performing career as a boy magician, performing
for audiences of hyperkinetic, sugar-crazed children at birthday parties. Seeking
a more stable way of making a living, he attended Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon
University to study industrial design. But when he saw the eye-popping movement
illusions practised by master mime Jewel Walker, then teaching in the school’s
famous drama department, Kamin’s hopes for living a normal life evaporated.
The great silent comedy films of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin added more fuel
to his fire, and soon Kamin was touring the country with his first original show, Silent
Comedy...Live!. Undeterred by the fact that vaudeville was long dead, he cobbled a
new vaudeville circuit out of colleges, theatres, and corporations, for whom he often
appears as a keynote speaker who falls apart. And as ‘Mr. Slomo’, he strolls through
arts festival crowds in eerie slow motion, terrifying the very children who tormented
him as a youth.
Kamin returned to his comedy roots to write Charlie Chaplin’s One-Man Show,
revealing the secrets of Chaplin’s comic art. Hailed as a breakthrough work, the book
boasted a preface by another Chaplin fan, Marcel Marceau. Kamin’s new book The
Comedy of Charlie Chaplin: Artistry in Motion, updates his earlier book and features
an account of how he trained Downey for his Oscar-nominated performance.
During recent seasons, Kamin has toured his solo show, Comedy in Motion,
throughout America and performed ‘Comedy Concertos’ with many symphonies
including Cleveland, Dallas, Milwaukee, Shanghai, Singapore and Macao.
PROGRAMME NOTES
Watch what happens when a playful Classical Clown wants to take charge of
the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and does everything he could to snatch
the baton out of the conductor’s hand. This friendly symphonic showdown is set
to the rollicking tunes from great composers including Beethoven, Strauss and
Stravinsky. You will hear great stories about love, magic and bravery, and find
yourself riding into so many wonderful adventures. Will the Clown behave or
wreak musical havoc? It is going to be a fun ride for everybody!
Russian opera Ruslan and Ludmilla (composed by Mikhail Glinka) premiered
in St Petersburg in 1842. Based on the 1820 poem by Aleksander Pushkin,
the enchanting adventure tells about Princess Ludmilla who is kidnapped by
monsters and her three suitors who want to bring her back. One of them is the
brave knight Ruslan, who discovers magical weapons to defeat the evil sorcerer,
Chernomor, who is behind this devious plan. Ruslan and Ludmilla Overture is
an extravagant and energetic curtain raiser that sets the scene for a story about
heroism and love.
Shakespeare’s popular comedy about unrequited love, magical creatures, love
potion and mistaken identities is given a rousing treatment in this next piece.
A fan of the Bard’s work, German composer Felix Mendelssohn wrote the
Overture when he was 17 and only completed the other incidental music 16 years
later under the commission of King Frederick William IV of Prussia. A Midsummer
Night’s Dream: Dance of the Clowns is a bright and boisterous piece befitting
the enchanted tale, as the mismatched loving couples wake up from a night of
wicked deception and frivolous misadventures to find things the way they are
meant to be, thankfully.
The Simple Symphony, written by British composer Benjamin Britten when he was
20 years old, is an amalgamation of themes he had written when he was 10 years
old! The symphony, originally written for amateur string orchestras, comprises
four movements with catchy names: Boisterous Bourée, Playful Pizzicato,
Sentimental Serenade and Frolicsome Finale (the movement which you will
hear at this concert). Each has its own definitive charm and serves as homage of
sorts to Baroque music and the string instruments from which Britten found much
inspiration.
Entry of the Gladiators was written by Czech
composer Julius Fucik as a military march
and borrowed a certain romanticised notion
from the glorious Roman Empire. Although
the composition was inspired by soldiers and
battlegrounds, it gained much prominence in
the later times in a less severe setting, with
references to fairground frivolities, circuses and
clowns! In today’s popular culture, many children
are associating it with the animated zebra
character Marty, voiced by Chris Rock in the 2012
animation Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted.
The children’s tale
of Peter and the
Wolf provides the
backbone to the hit
musical symphony
by the Russian
composer Sergei
Prokofiev. This
coming-of-age story
about mischief and
bravery comes alive
through a narrator,
who describes that
each character is
represented by a certain music instrument, making it easy for the small members
of the audience to “see” the story unfold before their eyes with great delight. Past
narrators for the ‘live’ performances have included big names including Sting,
Patrick Stewart and Sean Connery. Peter and the Wolf: Peter’s Walking Theme
transports the audience into the story as Peter finds ways to outsmart the wolf
with help his friend, the bird.
PROGRAMME NOTES
Suite No. 2: Waltz, composed by Igor Stravinksy from Three Easy Pieces, is
a collection of three movements that also include March and Polka. Originally
intended for educational purposes, the technical pieces that began as piano duets
were later reworked for performances by smaller orchestras.
Norwegian playwright
Henrik Ibsen wrote
his 1876 play Peer
Gynt while living in
Italy. A story about a
Norwegian peasant
anti-hero and his
journey into selfredemption, it is a
social satire that
blends folklore and
realism with a bit
of magic thrown in.
The story was set to
beautiful music by
Norwegian composer
Edvard Grieg,
who was Ibsen’s friend. The ominous theme in Peer Gynt: In the Hall of the
Mountain King has been revived in popular culture, notably in the cartoon TV
series Smurfs where it is played whenever the blue creatures are in danger.
It is believed that among the source of inspiration
for composer Erik Satie’s three-part piano
composition Gymnopedie is the written works by
poet JP Contamine de Latour and novelist Gustave
Flaubert. Gymnopedie No. 1 was described as
an atmospheric piece that is both melancholic and
joyful. It is not a surprise that the simple melody
has earned a place in today’s popular culture, being
part of the soundtrack for a documentary film (Man
on Wire, 2008), video games, feature film (Another
Woman, 1988) and a Japanese visual novel.
William Tell Overture, composed by Gioachino Rossini, from the famous opera
William Tell and tells the story about a Swiss folk hero and a revolutionary figure.
However, the tune is more synonymous with the hit 1950s TV series The Lone
Ranger and its 2013 film adaptation. The tune may conjure up images of galloping
horses, a heroic cowboy and the Wild West but none of this has anything to do
with the opera. A symbol for hope and freedom, Tell is a brave peasant and a
skilled archer who rebelled against the wicked ruling power. Legend has it that he
had to shoot an apple balanced on his son’s head and was sent to prison for his
defiance.
Beethoven began his Symphony No. 1 in 1799, finished the work early in 1800,
and conducted the first performance on April 2 of that year in Vienna. Beethoven
calls the third movement a minuet but both his tempo (Allegro molto e vivace)
and a very swift metronome marking argue that this is really the first of his true
symphonic scherzos.
Emperor Waltz is a delightfully graceful work that boasts big, regal sounds that
leaves the listeners feeling like a triumphant king. Austrian composer Johann
Strauss, dubbed the ‘Waltz King’, wrote it in 1889 to celebrate the friendship
between German and Austria; it was originally titled Hand In Hand.
MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
PRINCIPAL
CONDUCTOR
vacant
RESIDENT
CONDUCTOR
Harish Shankar
Naohisa Furusawa
FIRST VIOLIN
Co-Concertmaster
Peter Daniš
Principal
Ming Goh
Co-Principal
Zhenzhen Liang
Runa Baagöe
Maho Daniš
Miroslav Daniš
Evgeny Kaplan
Martijn Noomen
Sherwin Thia
Marcel Andriesii
Tan Ka Ming
*Petia Atanasova
SECOND VIOLIN
Co-Principal
Timothy Peters
Assistant Principal
Luisa Hyams
Catalina Alvarez
Chia-Nan Hung
Anastasia Kiseleva
Stefan Kocsis
Ling Yunzhi
Ionut Mazareanu
Yanbo Zhao
Ai Jin
Robert Kopelman
VIOLA
Co-Principal
Gábor Mokány
Sub-Principal
*Eve Tang
Fumiko Dobrinov
Ong Lin Kern
Carol Pendlebury
Sun Yuan
Thian Aiwen
Fan Ran
Mahmoud Hussein
*Jieun Kim
CELLO
Co-Principal
Csaba Kőrös
Assistant Principal
Steven Retallick
Gerald Davis
Julie Dessureault
Laurentiu Gherman
Elizabeth Tan Suyin
Sejla Simon
Mátyás Major
DOUBLE BASS
Section Principal
Wolfgang Steike
Co-Principal
Joseph Pruessner
Raffael Bietenhader
Jun-Hee Chae
Naohisa Furusawa
John Kennedy
Foo Yin Hong
Andreas Dehner
FLUTE
Section Principal
Hristo Dobrinov
Co-Principal
Yukako Yamamoto
Sub-Principal
Rachel Jenkyns
PICCOLO
Principal
Sonia Croucher
OBOE
Section Principal
Simon Emes
Sub-Principal
Niels Dittmann
COR ANGLAIS
Principal
*Jennifer Shark
CLARINET
Section Principal
Gonzalo Esteban
Co-Principal
*Petr Vasek
Sub-Principal
Matthew Larsen
BASS CLARINET
Principal
Chris Bosco
BASSOON
Section Principal
Alexandar Lenkov
Co-Principal
*Thomas Fleming
Sub-Principal
Orsolya Juhasz
CONTRABASSOON
Principal
Vladimir Stoyanov
HORN
Section Principals
Grzegorz Curyla
*Steven James
Co-Principal
James Schumacher
Sub-Principals
Laurence Davies
Todor Popstoyanov
Assistant Principal
Sim Chee Ghee
TRUMPET
Co-Principals
William Theis
*Matthew Dempsey
Sub-Principal
*Jeffrey Missal
Assistant Principal
John Bourque
TROMBONE
Co-Principal
*Daniel Schwalbach
Sub-Principal
*Marques Young
BASS TROMBONE
Principal
Zachary Bond
TUBA
Section Principal
Brett Stemple
TIMPANI
Section Principal
Matthew Thomas
PERCUSSION
Section Principal
Matthew Prendergast
Sub-Principals
Matthew Kantorski
*Tan Su Yin
HARP
Principal
Tan Keng Hong
Note: Sectional string players are listed alphabetically and rotate within their sections. *Extra musician.
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Malaysian Philharmonic
Orchestra
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