Welcome to our Signature Concert #4: Anxious, Tender & Jaunty.
Written for hornist Joseph Leutgeb, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s melodious Horn Concerto No. 3 is a tender expression of their friendship. Felix Mendelssohn’s lively Symphony No. 4, Italian interprets his extensive travels in Italy. George Walker’s commission work for the new millennium, Tangents, has overtones of both anxiety and hope. “Jaunty” is the only way to describe Florence Price’s exuberant Suite of Dances.
The FCS has enacted measures to keep you, our patrons, and the musicians and staff as safe as possible. Thank you in advance for your understanding, cooperation, and compliance. If you are unable or unwilling to comply with the protocols, please contact the Lincoln Center Box Office for other options or a ticket refund: 970-221-6730.
Once again, thank you for your cooperation as we work to ensure the safety of all during this season's in-person symphonic performances. We are glad to be back and honored to have you with us.
~ The FCS Board of Directors
Thank You FCS Partners & Sponsors!
The generosity of our partners, underwriters, sponsors, and individual donors make this 2021-2022 Season possible. We invite you to join us in thanking all who keep us playing!
Signature Concert 4 Sponsors:
2021-2022 Concert Season Underwriters:
Media Sponsors:
Individual Donors:
Your individual gift (of any size) contributes to the overall success of your Symphony and its many programs.
To learn how you can become a major FCS partner, sponsor, or individual donor for future concerts and/or programs, please contact us: 970.482.4823 or mkopco@fcsymphony.org
The Fort Collins Symphony Association is deeply grateful to our Friends of the Symphony whose support totaling $12,000 helped make it possible for us to present the Anxious, Tender & Jaunty concert on March 5, 2022.
With appreciation, we acknowledge the following Friends of the Symphony donors:
Karel Applebee, Kathleen Batterton, Margaret and Donald Beaver, Gary Betow and Kathy McKeown, Cornelia Bevill, David and Alison Dennis Fund of the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado, Paul and Katherine Dudzinski Fund of the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado, Kay and Larry Edwards, Sandra Godfrey, Susan and Charles Greer, Paul and Carol Gresky, Phyllis and Howard Hay, Robert Heer and Mary Koleshyk, Faye and Wayne Irelan, Emily and Doug Kemme, Leslie and Wes Kenney, Mary and Paul Kopco, Albert and Barbara Leung, Fenton S. Martin, Robert C. Michael, Cyndy and Ed Miron, Ruth Potter, Kay Quan, John Roberts, Sharyn and Larry Salmen, Claire Schamberger and Gordon McClintock, Carolyn Stack, Jane Sullivan, Lee and Ken Thielen, Margaret Webber, and Elly and Paul Wiebe.
Wes Kenney, Music Director
Oto Carrillo, Horn
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Duration: 28 minutes
George Walker (1922-2018)
Duration: 5 minutes
INTERMISSION - 20 Minutes
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Oto Carrillo, Horn
Duration: 15 minutes
Florence Price (1887-1953)
Duration: 6 minutes
Suite of Dances by Florence Price presented under license from G. Schirmer Inc. and Associated Music Publishers, copyright owners.
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Oto Carrillo was appointed to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra horn section by Daniel Barenboim in 2000. A native of Guatemala, Mr. Carrillo grew up in Chicago. He received a bachelor’s degree in music performance from DePaul University and master’s degree in both music performance and musicology from Northwestern University. After graduating, he won positions with the Memphis and Cedar Rapids orchestras, and continued playing for two seasons as a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, coached by Dale Clevenger.
Mr. Carrillo has performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Lisbon’s Metropolitana Orchestra, the Chicago Sinfonietta, Music of the Baroque, Chicago Philharmonic, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and has played in various summer festival orchestras including the National Repertory Orchestra, National Orchestral Institute, and Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. He has collaborated with chamber groups such as the Chicago Chamber Musicians and appeared on the MusicNow series. Carrillo was a member of the Millar Brass Ensemble whose performances have been recorded on the Delos and Koss labels. In addition, he gave the Chicago premiere of Augusta Read Thomas’ Silver Chants the Litanies for horn and chamber orchestra.
Currently, Carrillo is faculty at DePaul University and the Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific, a unique summer training program for aspiring young orchestral musicians in British Columbia.
The 2007 Grand Prize Winner of the Varna (Bulgaria) International Conducting Competition, a 2020 Honored Artist from the American Prize, a winner of the American Prize for programming in 2020, a winner of the Ernst Bacon Memorial Prize for excellence in performance of American Music, and now the 2020 American Prize Winner for best orchestral performance in the Professional Orchestra Division, Wes Kenney is celebrating his 19th season as Music Director of the Fort Collins (Colorado) Symphony and Director of Orchestras at Colorado State University. Wes Kenney is also in his ninth season with Denver Young Artist Orchestra—the premier youth orchestra in the state of Colorado—an orchestra recognized by the city of Denver for outreach. He has led that orchestra on two European tours and anchored two festivals at Carnegie Hall.
Mr. Kenney’s guest conducting activities include the Acadiana Symphony (LA), Alabama Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Dubuque Symphony, Lafayette (IN) Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, New Mexico Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Riverside Symphonia, Savannah Symphony, and the Virginia Symphony. International guest conducting includes performances with the Liev (Ukraine) Philharmonic, Changwon (South Korea) Philharmonic, Vietnam National Symphony (Hanoi), Vidin State Philharmonic, Stara Zagora Opera Company in Bulgaria as well as the Edinburgh (Scotland) Music Festival.
Named Educator of the Year by the Colorado Chapter of the American String Teachers Association in 2008, Mr. Kenney enjoys working with talented young people in his position as Director of Orchestras at Colorado State University and has served as Guest Conductor with the Alabama, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Virginia All-State Orchestras. Awarded the prestigious Carmen Dragon Conducting Prize in 1992, Wes Kenney is a founder of the CSU Summer Master of Music Education with an emphasis in conducting program, now in its 12th year.
For detailed Program Notes by William Runyan, please click here.
Date of Composition: 1833
Duration: 28 minutes
In 1830, the world was Felix Mendelssohn’s for the taking. Just barely into his twenties, the young German musician had already established an international reputation as a virtuoso pianist, budding conductor, and successful composer. The previous year, he had embarked on a world tour, exploring the Scottish Highlands and enjoying societal and musical introductions in London. After returning home to Berlin in the spring and summer of 1830, he headed across the Alps via Munich and Vienna for an Italian adventure. By October, Mendelssohn reached Venice, and then travelled onto Florence where he delighted in the magnificent artworks housed in some of the most beautiful venues in the world. In November, Mendelssohn finally arrived in Rome. He entrenched himself in the city’s excellent sacred music environment, even composing some motets, cantatas, and psalm settings of his own. He also ruminated on the Italian Symphony he hoped to compose. Tours of Naples, Milan, and a return to Rome provided fresh sonic visions of the Italian countryside. The music he envisioned, however, remained in his head for some time.
It was not until 1833, after trips to Paris and London, that Mendelssohn finally penned his first complete version of what is known today as Symphony No. 4, “Italian,” op. 90. It was on a return trip to London that year that the young composer led the London Philharmonic Society premiere. Like so many of his works, the score was published posthumously in 1851. The symphony utilizes a standard four-movement formal structure. While some musicologists have questioned whether the work truly represents any sort of “Italian-ness,” the opening Allegro vivace positively shimmers with excitement, channeling Mendelssohn’s own sentiment: “Why should Italy still insist on being the land of Art when in reality it is the land of Nature, delighting every heart? No lack of music there; it echoes and vibrates on every side.” A thoughtful Andante con moto, perhaps inspired by a procession the composer witnessed in Italy, and an elegant Con moto moderato demonstrate the composer’s natural melodic tendencies. The inspiration for the finale is clear. Mendelssohn presents an energetic Saltarello, showcasing the enchanting Italian dance all the way to the last notes of the work. What a fitting way to conclude a celebration of the land known as “Bel Paese”!
Date of Composition: 1999
Duration: 5 minutes
George Walker’s name is often associated with a string of firsts. Among other accomplishments, he was the first Black graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, the first Black musician to earn a doctorate from the Eastman School of Music, the first Black instrumentalist to present a recital in New York’s Town Hall, the first Black artist to solo with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the first Black composer to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music (for Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra, 1996). The American pianist-composer’s training backs up these achievements. He began piano studies with his mother at age five. He graduated from high school at just fourteen years old and from Oberlin College at eighteen. Halfway through his undergraduate degree, he was named organist for the Oberlin Graduate School of Theology. In addition to his degrees from Oberlin, Curtis, and Eastman, he also studied at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleu with Nadia Boulanger. Walker served as a visiting professor at a number of U.S. universities, including the University of Colorado at Boulder in the 1960s. His permanent academic home, however, was Rutgers University in New Jersey. From 1969 to 1992, he took on the roles of professor, composer, department chair, and performance collaborator, presenting at least one faculty recital every year.
Walker’s catalog includes almost one hundred works for orchestra, voice, and chamber ensembles. The composer explored many modernist compositional trends of the twentieth century but still developed a personal style, mixing contemporary influences with his own use of color and sound layering. Tangents for chamber orchestra was Walker’s tribute to the new millennium. Written in 1999 and premiered in the year 2000, this short piece opens a with fanfare-like declamation that settles into alternating sections of musical anticipation and introspection, foreshadowing a new era full of unknown possibilities—a striking composition by a remarkable musician!
Date of Composition: 1787
Duration: 15 minutes
Unless you are a horn player, the horn is not the instrument usually associated with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. A master of the classical concerto, the prodigious composer wrote over two dozen featuring his primary instrument, the piano. Many were composed for his own performance. He also wrote a five violin concertos. But while Mozart wrote many beautiful wind parts in his orchestral and opera music, his output of wind solos is not nearly as striking. Still, of the composer’s dozen surviving works featuring wind soloists such as flute, oboe, bassoon, and clarinet, an impressive four showcase the horn, in addition two rondos written for the instrument. Another two survive in fragments. The impetus for many of these pieces was Mozart’s relationship with Joseph Ignaz Leutgeb, a hornist and longtime friend of the Mozart family. Leutgeb had served in the Esterhazy orchestra, earning the respect of Haydn, before taking a position in Salzburg where he served with Leopold Mozart. In this position, he watched the young Wolfgang Amadeus come of age as a musical master. Simultaneously, Leutgeb made a name for himself as a soloist in important musical centers across Europe. He was lauded in Paris for his impressive lyrical abilities. This is especially noteworthy, as the horn of the time did not yet include valves as we know them. The natural horn’s range of possible notes was limited and often not treated in the same melodic ways as other instruments. Leutgeb, however, was adept at the recently-introduced stopping technique in which the right hand is inserted into the horn’s bell, thus enabling the performer to add additional notes to the instrument’s natural harmonic series, especially in the lower range. An excellent player like Leutgeb could accomplish this so smoothly that the melodic line sounded seamless.
The younger Mozart settled in Vienna in 1781 after his release from the Archbishop of Salzburg’s service. There he pursued musical activities as an independent artist, a risky venture for the time. It was in Vienna that he wrote his horn works for Leutgeb. Horn Concerto in E-flat, K. 447 was likely composed in 1787. The year 1783 is noted as an addition on the original score, now housed in the British Library, but later evidence shows the piece was scribed on the same manuscript paper stock as Don Giovanni, which was completed in 1787. This discovery prompted musicologists to rethink the concerto’s chronological listing. The work also features a narrower range for the soloist than Mozart’s previous horn works, which may indicate an accommodation for Leutgeb, whose embouchure likely weakened with age. The work is organized in the manner of most Mozart concertos, with a standard three-movement fast-slow-fast structure. The orchestration, however, varies from the expected two oboe and two horn wind section, substituting clarinets and bassoons instead. This unique color provides an especially mellow aesthetic to the ensemble, complementing the horn timbre. The first movement of K. 447 is full of motives that can only be described as “Mozartian” with their dotted rhythms and scalar contour. The second “Romanze” movement provides an opportunity to imagine Leutgeb’s lyrical acumen, while the third falls back upon the hunt motives so stereotypical for the instrument in that era.
Date of Composition: 1933/1951
Duration: 6 minutes
The music of Florence Price has experienced a renaissance in recent years. Price worked hard to overcome racism and misogyny in the Chicago music scene during the 1930s and 1940s and faded from public consciousness in the years following her death. Now, almost seventy years later, performers and conductors are newly discovering and programming her works, giving them the attention they have long deserved. Florence Beatrice Smith was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. She learned to play the piano at age four. After graduating as valedictorian of a segregated Black High School at fourteen years old, Price enrolled at the New England Conservatory. She misrepresented herself as Mexican because, although she was proud of her African-American heritage, her parents hoped to minimize the discrimination she was certain to face. After Price left NEC with artist diplomas in organ performance and piano pedagogy, she taught at a number of Historically Black Colleges and Universities in Georgia and Arkansas in the 1910s and 1920s before marrying lawyer Thomas J. Price and starting a family. In 1927, as racism in the south raged uncontrolled and John Carter’s horrific Little Rock lynching made national headlines, the Price family joined the Great Migration of the Black population, moving to a new home in Chicago. It was there that Price’s compositions began receiving meritorious notice. Perhaps most significantly, Price took first place in the prestigious 1932 Wanamaker Competition for her Symphony No. 1. The piece was subsequently included in a 1933 Century of Progress World’s Fair concert by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. As such, the symphony became the first by a Black woman to be performed by a major U.S. orchestra. Singer Marian Anderson also championed Price’s work, performing her spiritual arrangements before national audiences. Throughout her lifetime, Price composed more than three hundred works, including symphonies, concertos, songs, and choral, chamber, organ, and piano music. Most of her music remained unpublished and some pieces were almost lost. In 2009, a trove of documents, including more than a dozen manuscript scores, was discovered during a home renovation in what was formerly the Price summer house in Illinois. Fortunately, the new residents recognized they had happened upon something important and contacted archivists at the University of Arkansas. In 2018, publisher Schirmer gained rights to Price’s catalog and her works are becoming increasingly available.
Florence Price’s Suite of Dances was first realized in 1933 as a set of piano pieces titled Three Little Negro Dances. They were then arranged for wind band in 1939. Individually subtitled “Hoe Cake,” “Rabbit Foot,” and “Ticklin’ Toes,” they demonstrate Price’s practice of incorporating traditional Black musical styles into her compositions. All the movements are upbeat with marked dance rhythms. Price’s notes in the score state: “In all types of Negro music, rhythm is of preeminent importance. In the dance, it is a compelling, onward-sweeping force that tolerates no interruption. All phases of truly Negro activity—whether work or play, singing or praying—are more than apt to take on a rhythmic quality.” The last movement evokes a Juba dance, originally a rural folk idiom that became a popular stage dance in minstrel shows of the 1800s. Price also incorporated this style into movements of both her first and third symphonies. The three dance pieces were reset as a suite for symphony orchestra in 1951, utilizing more traditional, tempo-indicated movement titles.
© 2022, Dr. K. Dawn Grapes
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The Friends of the Symphony is a nonprofit organization whose purpose shall be to support and promote the growth of the Fort Collins Symphony financially, socially, and educationally.
Since its inception in 1963, the Friends have donated over one million dollars to the Fort Collins Symphony, created numerous initiatives and educational outreach programs, and worked to advance a culture of arts in our community for the benefit of persons of all ages and musical interests. Friends of the Symphony members apply their interests and skills in a variety of ways in our fundraisers, education events, member meetings, and activities. For more information and/or to join, visit: fcsymphony.org/fos/
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NEW! Sharyn H. & Larry J. Salmen Third Horn Endowed Chair:
In 2021, Sharyn H. & Larry J. Salmen endowed this chair to honor all of the friendships made during Women’s Guild of the Fort Collin Symphony (Friends of the Symphony) fundraisers, educational programs, and membership events. Through their efforts, Sharyn—a Past President and Honorary Life Member—and Larry have supported the performance of live symphonic music in the community. For the Salmens, “It’s all been about the Music!”
NEW! Mary A. Kopco Second Flute Endowed Chair:
Friends of Mary A. Kopco established an endowed chair to commemorate her outstanding dedication, devotion, and diligence as Executive Director of the Fort Collins Symphony since February 2015. Ms. Kopco has focused extraordinary attention and exceptional creativity to all aspects of her position, including budgeting, grant-writing, programming, and organizational management. May this chair be a constant expression of gratitude for her excellent leadership in the FCS.
NEW! Paisley Pettine Second Trombone Endowed Chair:
Dr. Kenneth Pettine endowed this chair in honor of his wife, Paisley. Paisley has served with great joy for many years as a board member of the FCSA. As a long-time Pilates instructor, she understands how both physical movement and music sustain, inspire, soothe and heal the body and the soul.
To see all 37 endowed orchestra chairs, please visit: fcsymphony.org/fos/fundraising/
The B Sharp Arts Engagement® Program was founded in 2015 with the purpose of engaging people living with dementia and their caregivers in an immersive community musical experience. The Fort Collins Symphony, in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Association, Larimer County Office on Aging, Colorado State University, and Dementia Together® provides 30 people living with dementia and their primary care partner with the opportunity to attend Symphony performances, and participate in a Colorado State University study where a number of factors are explored, including: the impact of music on the cognitive ability of participants with dementia, the social connections between the caregiver and person with dementia, and the degree to which study participants felt supported by the community.
Your Fort Collins Symphony is just one of many outstanding and award-winning arts and cultural organizations in the Northern Colorado region. We are proud to promote their performances, concerts, and events. We hope you will support them as well! Click on links below to view upcoming performances.
The Lyric: lyriccinema.com/
Off the Hook Arts: offthehookarts.org/
Global Village Museum of Arts and Cultures: globalvillagemuseum.org/
Colorado Mahlerfest: mahlerfest.org/
Front Range Chamber Players: frontrangechamberplayers.org/
Northern Colorado Youth Orchestra: nocoyo.org/
Bas Bleu Theatre Company: basbleu.org/
OpenStage Theatre & Company: openstage.com/
The Gardens on Spring Creek: fcgov.com/gardens/
Opera Fort Collins: operafortcollins.com/
Canyon Concert Ballet: ccballet.org/
Health & Wellness Community Orchestra: hworchestra.org/
