CONCERT PROGRAMMEANNIVERSARY SPECIAL SEASON

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 © 2018 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.

Sat 10 Nov 2018 at 8.30 pmSun 11 Nov 2018 at 3.00 pm

Malaysian Philharmonic OrchestraMalaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra

Sasha Mäkilä, conductorLeonard Jácome, electric harp

PROGRAMME

VARIOUSMosaico Llanero Venezolano 8 mins

JáCOMEArpa mestiza 25 mins

RACHMANINOFF Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op.27 56 mins

INTERVAL 20 mins

in collaboration with Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

SASHA MäkILäconductor

Finnish conductor Sasha Mäkilä is recognized as one of the most prominent rising talents of his generation in both operatic and symphonic fields. Since 2017, he is Artistic Director of the Helsinki Metropolitan Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Krasnoyarsk Symphony Orchestra. He is a versatile artist with a broad repertoire ranging from baroque to contemporary. As the Music Director of St. Michel Strings, he has taken the orchestra on international tours and music festivals, invited world class soloists as well as introducing concert webcasts.

Mäkilä’s career has taken him to four continents, collaborating with major orchestras such as the Cleveland Orchestra and the Mariinsky Theatre. He has performed at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, Gergiev Festival Mikkeli, Pyeongchang Music Festival (South Korea) and Nargenfestival (Estonia), and regularly collaborates with soloists such as Vadim Repin, Kyung-Wha Chung and Jian Wang.

Mäkilä has conducted the world premieres of Free Will (Savonlinna Opera Festival, 2012), Lovers of Mankind (Musica Nova Helsinki, 2009) as well as Finnish premieres of Philip Glass’ chamber operas In the Penal Colony and Les Enfants Terribles.

Originally a cellist, Mäkilä studied conducting at the Sibelius Academy (Finland) and the St. Petersburg State Conservatory (Russia). After completing his tenure at Orchestre National de France as Kurt Masur’s assistant, he was nominated a Conducting Fellow at the American Academy of Conducting in Aspen. He is a prize winner of the Vakhtang Jordania International Conducting Competition in 2006. In 2013, the University of Helsinki presented him with the Pacius Award for his contributions to Finnish music industry.

In 2018/19 season, Mäkilä returns to Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Pärnu City Orchestra and Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, takes the Helsinki Metropolitan Orchestra on tours to Finland and China, conducts opera premieres of Pacius and Rautavaara in Helsinki.

LEONARd JáCOMEelectric harp

Born in 1981, Venezuelan-born harpist, arranger, composer and producer Leonard Jácome is one of his country’s leading musicians. His career, which spans 25 years, has taken him to many countries on five continents including nearly every one in South America and nearly a dozen in Europe as well as to Japan, Russia, the USA and South Africa. He has represented his home country at harp conferences and festivals in Latin America and Europe.

Jácome’s first instrument was the cuatro, a four-string instrument shaped like a guitar but tuned like a ukulele. Next came the guitar, the acoustic bass, and then the instrument that he calls “the owner of my life”, the Venezuelan harp. His formal musical training took place at Francisco J. Marciales Music School, then at the prestigious Simón Bolívar Conservatory of Music in Caracas. He is the creator of the Venezuelan electric harp, manufactured by the French company Camac Harps.

Jácome has participated in over two hundred recordings as special guest and performs over one hundred concerts a year. His music is characterized by an exotic blend of rhythms, melodies and harmonies from around the world.

Jácome performed with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra at Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS, Kuala Lumpur, in 2016.

PROGRAMME NOTES

The concert entitled Viva Venezuela! brings the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO)’s audiences something truly special and unique: one of Venezuela’s leading musicians, Leonard Jácome makes a return visit to Kuala Lumpur to perform music (including his own) of his homeland on an instrument of his own invention, the Venezuelan electric harp. Melodies and rhythms of Venezuela flood the Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS hall under his magic fingers. More music of compelling interest and engaging romanticism follows, with Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony, one of the great glories of the orchestral repertory.

VARIOUSMosaico Llanero Venezolano

El vuelo de mi gabán El Morrocoyero

Leonard Jácome describes the Mosaico Llanero Venezolano as “a combination of two Venezuelan joropos with a short fugal passage at the beginning. In this work, the listener can observe the new techniques applied to the

Venezuelan harp, which I invented”. The title may be translated as Venezuelan Llanero Mosaic; llanero refers to people of the plains or flatlands of Venezuela. The joropo is the national dance of Venezuela with a strong resemblance to the Spanish fandango. Originally joropo meant ‘party’ but recently has come to mean a genre of music and dance common in Venezuela.

Jácome is the composer of El vuelo de mi gabán while Reynaldo Armas, a hugely popular Venezuelan llanero singer and composer, wrote El Morrocoyero. Jácome adapted and arranged both for this performance.

LEONARd JáCOME (b.1981)Arpa mestiza

Arpa mestiza is in three connected movements. The acoustic Ilanera harp and the Venezuelan electric harp are both used in music that combines the rhythms of the Venezuelan waltz, pasaje, joropo and the rhythm of the orquidea. “Arpa mestiza tells the story of my life: my birth, my beginnings in music, love, struggle and effort to improve”, says Jácome.

“I wrote it as a tribute to my parents and to my hometown of Rubio, located in the far western edge of the country. It is a gift to the new generation of Ilaneros harpists”.

Dance of Joropo at Venezuelan plains wikipedia.org

SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873-1943)Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op.27 (1906-1907)

I. Largo – Allegro moderato II. Allegro molto III. Adagio IV. Allegro vivace

The Background

Few symphonies written in the twentieth century have achieved the fame and popularity of Rachmaninoff’s Second, composed in Dresden where the composer had gone in 1906 to escape the demands of public life in Moscow. There,

he was in constant demand as a pianist, conductor, committeeman, guest, and collaborator on all things musical. The hour-long work was fully sketched by New Year’s Day of 1907. Revisions and orchestration took place over a longer period, both back home in Russia and during a return visit to Dresden. Rachmaninoff agreed to conduct the first performance, which took place on 26 January 1908 in St. Petersburg. He also led the Moscow premiere a week later and an early American performance with the Philadelphia Orchestra in November 1909. In each case, the audience responded enthusiastically and the symphony has enjoyed an unbroken run of popularity to this day. The score is dedicated to the composer Sergei Taneyev. Rachmaninoff himself authorized certain cuts in performance, and the expansive nature of the work has led many conductors to do their own editing, resulting in performances that may last anywhere from 38 minutes to over an hour.

The Music

Most of the melodic material of the symphony derives from a single motif, heard in the opening bars in the sombre colours of low cellos and basses. In a multifarious variety of guises and transformations, this 'motto' haunts the entire symphony in both obvious and subtle ways, thus infusing it with coherence and compelling impetus. After its initial statement, the motto passes to other instruments, eventually giving birth to a sinuous violin phrase that grows to an impressive climax as it weaves its way through lushly orchestrated textures and luxuriant counterpoint. The main Allegro moderato section of the movement is ushered in with a shivering, rising figure in the strings. Violins then spin out a long, winding, aspiring theme based on the motto. The delicate, gentle second theme, divided between woodwinds and responding strings, also derives from the 'motto'.

The second movement, a scherzo, is built on the motif of the Dies irae, the medieval Gregorian chant for the dead. Four horns in unison proclaim a boldly exuberant version of the Dies irae, which itself has its seeds in the symphony’s motto. Two contrasting ideas of note are the warmly flowing lyrical theme for the violins and a brilliant fugato section that demands the utmost in virtuosity from the strings.

britannica.com

The Adagio movement is one of the lyric highlights of all Rachmaninoff. No fewer than three gorgeous melodies are heard, beginning with one of the most popular ever written. Following immediately on this theme of great repose and tranquility comes one of the glories of the solo clarinet repertory – an extended theme full of ardent longing. Arthur Loesser wrote in 1939 that this music “gives off a vapour of drugged sweetness, of fatalistic melancholy”.

The enormously energetic finale too is a broadly expansive movement, beginning with a boisterously robust idea that might easily conjure up the spirit of a kermesse (Russian carnival). This is followed by a dark, grim, march-like episode in the seldom-used key of G sharp minor, then by another of the composer’s most famous themes – a magnificent, soaring affair that sweeps onward over an expanse of more than one hundred measures. Rachmaninoff’s longest, grandest, most expansive symphonic work ends in a veritable blaze of sound.

Malaysian Philharmonic OrchestraMalaysian Philharmonic Youth OrchestraNaohisa Furusawa, conductor

HUMPERDINCK Hansel & Gretel OvertureMOZART 3 German Dances K. 605WAGNER Siegfried IdyllTCHAIKOVSKY Nutcracker Suite No. 1TCHAIKOVSKY Marche Slave

FRI 14 DEC 2018 8:30PMSAT 15 DEC 2018 8:30PM

RM141 RM113 RM84 RM56

DEWAN FILHARMONIK PETRONAS – 462692-X MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA – 463127-H

Malaysian Philharmonic OrchestraMalaysian Philharmonic Youth OrchestraNaohisa Furusawa, conductor

HUMPERDINCK Hansel & Gretel OvertureMOZART 3 German Dances K. 605WAGNER Siegfried IdyllTCHAIKOVSKY Nutcracker Suite No. 1TCHAIKOVSKY Marche Slave

FRI 14 DEC 2018 8:30PMSAT 15 DEC 2018 8:30PM

RM141 RM113 RM84 RM56

DEWAN FILHARMONIK PETRONAS – 462692-X MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA – 463127-H

CORPORATE SUITECLUB MEMBER

PARTNER HOTELS

CORPORATE SUITEPREMIUM MEMBERSMALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

RESIDENT CONDUCTORNaohisa Furusawa

FIRST VIOLINCo-ConcertmasterPeter DanišPrincipalMing GohCo-PrincipalZhenzhen Liang

Maho DanišMartijn NoomenSherwin ThiaRuna BaagöeMiroslav DanišEvgeny KaplanMarcel AndriesiiTan Ka MingPetia Atanasova*Marco Roosink

SECOND VIOLINSection PrincipalTimothy PetersAssistant PrincipalLuisa Hyams

Stefan KocsisAnastasia KiselevaCatalina AlvarezIonuț MazareanuChia-Nan HungYanbo ZhaoLing YunzhiRobert Kopelman*Yu Tao-Ming*Tan Poh Kim

VIOLACo-PrincipalGábor Mokány

Ong Lin KernSun YuanFan RanThian Ai WenEmil Csonka*Nemesi Judit*Yeo Jan Wea*Ida Margit Kovacs*Ling Li Yen*Rebecca Saxby

CELLOCo-PrincipalCsaba KörösAssistant PrincipalSteven RetallickSub-PrincipalMátyás Major

Gerald DavisLaurențiu GhermanJulie DessureaultElizabeth Tan SuyinSejla Simon

DOUBLE BASSSection PrincipalWolfgang Steike

John KennedyJun-Hee ChaeNaohisa FurusawaRaffael BietenhaderAndreas Dehner*Heinz-Peter Graf*Douglas Rutherford

FLUTESection Principal*Dakota MartinCo-PrincipalYukako YamamotoSub-PrincipalRachel Jenkyns

PICCOLOPrincipalSonia Croucher

OBOESection PrincipalSimon EmesSub-PrincipalsNiels Dittmann*Bernice Lee Wen Ting

CLARINETSection PrincipalGonzalo EstebanCo-PrincipalDavid Dias da SilvaSub-PrincipalMatthew Larsen

BASS CLARINETPrincipalChris Bosco

BASSOONSection PrincipalAlexandar LenkovSub-PrincipalDenis Plangger

CONTRABASSOONPrincipalVladimir Stoyanov

HORNSection PrincipalsGrzegorz Curyla*Michal EmanovskyCo-PrincipalJames SchumacherSub-PrincipalsLaurence DaviesBarkin SönmezerAssistant PrincipalSim Chee Ghee

TRUMPETCo-PrincipalWilliam TheisSub-PrincipalJeffrey MissalAssistant PrincipalMatthew Dempsey

TROMBONECo-PrincipalsFernando Borja*Marques YoungSub-PrincipalIan Maser

BASS TROMBONEPrincipal*Elijah Cornish

TUBASection Principal*Jose Redondo

TIMPANISection PrincipalMatthew Thomas

PERCUSSIONSection PrincipalMatthew PrendergastSub-PrincipalsJoshua Vonderheide*Tan Su Yin*David Stevens

HARPPrincipalTan Keng Hong

PIANOAkiko Danis

Note: Sectional string players are rotated within their sections. *Extra musician.

Dewan Filharmonik PeTronaS

ChieF eXeCUTiVe oFFiCerSareen Risham

BUSineSS & markeTinGmanaGemenTYazmin Lim Abdullah

BUSineSS DeVeloPmenTWan Yuzaini Wan Yahya At Ziafrizani Chek PaNurartikah IlyasKartini Ratna Sari Ahmat AdamAishah Sarah Ismail Affendee

markeTinG Munshi Ariff Abu HassanHisham Abdul JalilFarah Diyana IsmailNoor Sarul Intan SalimMuhammad Shahrir AizatAhmad Kusolehin Adha Kamaruddin

CUSTomer relaTionShiPmanaGemenTYayuk Yulianawati RilaJalwati Mohd Noor

mUSiC TalenT DeVeloPmenT &manaGemenTSoraya Mansor

PlanninG, FinanCe & iTMohd Hakimi Mohd RosliNorhisham Abd RahmanSiti Nur Ilyani Ahmad FadzillahNurfharah Farhana Hashimi

ProCUremenT & ConTraCTLogiswary RamanNorhaszilawati Zainudin

hUman reSoUrCe manaGemenT & aDminiSTraTionSharhida SaadMas Arinah HamzahMuknoazlida MukhadzimNor Afidah NordinNik Nurul Nadia Nik Abdullah

TeChniCal oPeraTionSFiroz Khan Mohd YunusMohd Zamir Mohd IsaShahrul Rizal Mohd AliDayan Erwan MaharalZolkarnain Sarman

malaySian PhilharmoniCorCheSTra

ChieF eXeCUTiVe oFFiCerSareen Risham

General manaGerKhor Chin YangSoraya Mansor

General manaGer'S oFFiCeTimmy Ong

arTiSTiC aDminiSTraTion/ orCheSTra manaGemenT/ malaySian PhilharmoniC yoUThorCheSTraAhmad Muriz Che RoseSharon Francis LihanFadilah Kamal FrancisShireen Jasin MokhtarKatherine Tan Jia Yiing

mUSiC liBraryOng Li-HueyWong Seong SeongMuhammad Zaid Azzim Mohd Diah

eDUCaTion & oUTreaChShireen Jasin MokhtarShafrin Sabri DEWAN FILHARMONIK PETRONAS – 462692-X MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA – 463127-H

DEWAN FILHARMONIK PETRONAS – 462692-XMALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA – 463127-H

Box Office:Ground Floor, Tower 2,

PETRONAS Twin TowersKuala Lumpur City Centre

50088 Kuala Lumpur

Email: boxoffice@dfp.com.my

Telephone: 603 - 2331 7007

Online Tickets & Info: mpo.com.my

malaysianphilharmonicorchestra