2023-2024 SEASON Christopher Stanichar, conductor/director 2023-2024 SEASON FEATURING THREE GREAT CONCERTS in the HARVEY AND CYNTHIA JEWETT THEATER THE SOUND OF ORCHESTRA NORTHERN NORDIC NOTES SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2023 WITH GUEST PIANIST ODA HJERTINE VOLTERSVIK PLAYING GRIEG’S PIANO CONCERTO MAGAZINE OF THE ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY/CIVIC SYMPHONY 104th season THE CLASSICS OF RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2024 with NSU FACULTY GUEST SINGERS VOICES OF FREEDOM SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024 MUSIC BY PRICE AND SHOSTAKOVICH with NSU CONCERTO-ARIA WINNERS
2 ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY/CIVIC SYMPHONY: 104TH SEASON Carlyle & Rev. Sheila Richards Congratulations Aberdeen University/Civic Symphony
3 ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY CIVIC SYMPHONY: 104TH SEASON FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE ORCHESTRA CALL........................................... 605 626 2497 EMAIL................................. c stanichar@northern edu VISIT US AT ............................wwwaberdeensymphonyorg CONTENTS EDITORS Christopher Stanichar Kenneth Boulton Doug Ohmer Gretchen Sharp GRAPHIC DESIGN McQuillen Creative Group The advisory board of the Aberdeen University-Civic Symphony was organized in 2009 to support the activities of the orchestra and strengthen it as a community resource BOARD OF DIRECTORS OFFICERS President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gretchen Sharp Past President. . . . . . . . . . . Gregg Magera Vice President.. . . . . . . . . . . Audrey Miller Secretary.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mary Marion Treasurer Sue Gates MEMBERS Kathryn W Cormier, Kristen Gasperich, Pat Jett, Martha Mehlhaff, Doug Ohmer, Bliss Rovang, Christopher Stanichar, Brigette Weisenberger, William Wieland, Kenneth Boulton (ex officio) The Aberdeen University-Civic Symphony is supported by the Northern State University School of Fine Arts, Dr. Kenneth Boulton, Dean; the Department of Music, Dr. Audrey Miller, Chair; and by the Friends of the Arts/NSU REFLECTIONS – CHRISTOPHER STANICHAR.................... 5 AUCS: A SHORT HISTORY................................... 9 2023-2024 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS............................ 15 CHRISTOPHER STANICHAR, CONDUCTOR MAGAZINE OF THE ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY-CIVIC SYMPHONY SEASON 103 | 2023-24
4 ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY/CIVIC SYMPHONY: 104TH SEASON Congratulations to the Aberdeen UniversityCivic Symphony on an Excellent 104th Season! – Dan and Pat Ray Jett ABERDEEN RECREATION AND CULTURAL CENTER 225 3RD AVE SE, ABERDEEN | WWW.ABERDEEN.SD.US/ARCC | 605.626.7081 OFFERING CLASSES AND LESSONS IN MUSIC, ART, AND DANCE
5 ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY CIVIC SYMPHONY: 104TH SEASON fortunate to be joined by one of Norway’s most talented and rising stars: Oda Hjertine Voltersvik. She has performed at major venues across the world including Carnegie Hall & Scandinavia House (NYC), Wigmore Hall & St Martin in the Fields (London), “Palermo Classica” International Festival, and the Norwegian Opera House. Annually, since 2014, she has been a summer artist in residence at the Edvard Grieg Museum in Bergen. We are very happy to have her join the AUCS for this unforgettable performance. PROGRAM: Jean Sibelius: Symphony no. 2 in D major, op. 43 Edvard Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor, op. 16 CONCERT II: “THE CLASSICS OF RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN” SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2024 (7:30 PM) JEWETT AUDITORIUM GUEST ARTISTS: Darci Bultema, soprano Marla Fogderud, soprano Michael Skyles, tenor and other guest artists The next concert on the AUCS season is a visit to Broadway, with the timeless music of Rodgers and Hammerstein, who wrote hit-after-hit, and whose musicals were converted into popular movies in the 1950s and 1960s. The Rodgers and Hammerstein team had a knack for writing melodies and lyrics that stick with you forever, and many of the tunes you will hear at this AUCS concert have been recorded by such greats as Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett, Barbara Streisand, and even Lady Gaga. Our concert will feature favorites from Carrousel, The King and I, Oklahoma, The Sound of Music, and many others. Get ready to “Climb Every Mountain” of exquisite Rodgers and Hammerstein music with your AUCS! Also on the concert is a side-by-side performance with Aberdeen Central High School Orchestra (Joseph Berns, Director). PROGRAM: Selections from the Musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein Side-by-Side performance with Aberdeen Central High School Orchestra (Joseph Berns, Director) REFLECTIONS from the Conductor Continued on page 7 There is nothing like the sound of an orchestra— to paraphrase Rogers and Hammerstein! Your Aberdeen University/Civic Symphony has been playing music for many generations for our community and region! As the oldest continuous orchestra in the state of South Dakota, your AUCS celebrates its 104th anniversary with a great of selection of music for our audiences. Our season will delight, educate, entertain, and surprise you with music that is new and never performed in Aberdeen, as well as more familiar music that will get your toes tapping. Indeed, there is something for everyone on our programs. While you applaud the artists and orchestra, I also applaud you. We need you to carry on the Aberdeen tradition of the AUCS and making music for generations to come. I invite you to sit back and enjoy the experience of hearing your own live orchestra: your Aberdeen University/Civic Symphony! Now, allow me to introduce you the concerts we have prepared for you for the AUCS season…. CONCERT I: “NORTHERN NORDIC NOTES” SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2023 (7:30 PM) JEWETT AUDITORIUM GUEST ARTIST: Oda Hjertine Voltersvik, piano Join your AUCS for a journey north as we perform two of most glorious works from the Nordic symphonic tradition. Jean Sibelius’ Symphony no. 2 begins with warm strings and stirring woodwind scales. The music captures the mood and essence of Sibelius’ homeland of Finland. Full of bright brass fanfares and loud interruptions from the timpani, this piece has drama and so many beautiful moments. Almost like climbing the apex of a glacier mountain, the end of this symphony has rich harmonies and unforgettable melodies that will make you want to cheer. The companion piece on this program is Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto. Grieg is a national hero for Norwegians, and his music conveys the folk idioms of his people. AUCS is very
6 ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY/CIVIC SYMPHONY: 104TH SEASON GO THE DACOTAH WAY.
7 ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY CIVIC SYMPHONY: 104TH SEASON Christopher Stanichar is Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Aberdeen University-Civic Symphony at Northern State University since fall 2018. He is the Director of Orchestral Activities, Professor of Strings and Music History. He holds a B. Mus. in Composition from Central Washington University, and a M. Mus. in Music History and Orchestral Conducting from the University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music), as well as a D.M.A. in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Cincinnati. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Slovakia and the former Conducting Assistant for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Stanichar is the Music Director of the Worthington Area Symphony Orchestra (Minnesota), and is a frequent guest conductor and clinician, as well as a published composer through Trevco-Varner Press, Edizioni Musicali Eufonia, and Murphy Music Press. Christopher Stanichar, Director and Conductor CONCERT III: “VOICES OF FREEDOM” SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024 (7:30 PM) JEWETT AUDITORIUM GUEST ARTISTS: NSU Concerto-Aria Winners (TBA) Sometimes composers must find ways to use music as a voice for protest when words are not possible. AUCS performs two works written by composer’s who lived under adversity, but spoke their truth through the orchestral voice… AUCS will open this concert with Florence Price’s Dances in the Canebrakes. Florence Price (1887-1953) was an African American composer who wrote a prodigious amount of music, most of which was forgotten until her manuscripts were discovered in 2009. Price faced numerous personal and social challenges as a Black woman in a white male dominated field, yet she rose above it all, composing music that speaks to her African American experience. Dances in the Canebrakes is one of her last compositions and evokes the ragtime era of Scott Joplin with jaunty rhythms and nostalgic harmonies. The other work on this program is Dmitri Shostakovich’s monumental fifth symphony, which the composer described as “A Soviet artist’s reply to just criticism.” Composed in 1939, Shostakovich wrote this symphony to save his career and life. Shostakovich garnered the unwelcome attention of Josef Stalin, who was displeased with Shostakovich’s subversive and dissonant opera, Lady Macbeth of Minsk. Stalin was so displeased that he got up during the performance and left the theater—a clear signal that Shostakovich could lose everything, including his life. So, Shostakovich turned his attention to his fifth symphony to try to make amends for his “mistake.” Shostakovich’s fifth symphony is lyrical, tragic, and expresses his deepest angst and political dissidence, and has a pseudojoyful ending. Soviet audiences recognized the power of this music, and the “Forced Celebration” that ends the symphony as code for Shostakovich’s disdain for the Soviet dictator. This AUCS program will also feature the two student winners from this year’s NSU Concerto-Aria contest. PROGRAM: Florence Price (arr. William Grant Still): Dances in the Canebrakes Concerto-Aria Winners (TBA) Dmitry Shostakovich: Symphony no. 5 in D minor, op. 47 Aberdeen University-Civic Symphony is a treasure to the community of Aberdeen and to the state of South Dakota. The AUCS exists through the effort of many individuals, and we are so happy to have you as a part of our audience. To all of you, I offer a fortissimo: THANK YOU! And on behalf of the AUCS, I look forward to seeing you at our concerts. Musically yours,
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9 ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY CIVIC SYMPHONY: 104TH SEASON AUCS: A SHORT HISTORY The Aberdeen University-Civic Symphony (AUCS) is a joint undertaking of Northern State University’s music department and area musicians. Formed in 1919 in the aftermath of World War I and a worldwide influenza epidemic, the ensemble has provided multiple symphonic concerts annually for the enjoyment of the city and region. True to its mission, the AUCS continues to uplift our community with the beauty of music. The Northern Normal and Industrial School (as NSU was initially known) offered teacher music training from its inception. In fact, Lydia A. Graham, an original faculty member when Normal opened in 1902, was the principal instructor for public school music for many years. Over the first couple decades, the Normal music program grew, offering not only courses in classroom music but also individual instruction in various instruments, voice and piano. During this period, numerous ensembles—such as a band, orchestra, choruses, and small instrumental groups—existed on campus each year, always dependent on the talent available during that particular school term. There were also an annual series of guest artist concerts on campus and, for many years, a Spring Festival, which featured visits to Aberdeen by the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. In 1919, with the Great War over, life in Aberdeen and at NNIS was getting back to normal. That summer, concerts by a municipal band under the direction of Howard C. Bronson were enthusiastically received by the community. Since the band was such a success, it was proposed that a civic symphony organization be formed. After some efforts throughout the fall of that year, the Aberdeen Symphony had its debut rehearsal on February 18, 1920, under director Howard Elson Goodsell, who was dean of the NNIS music department. The local newspapers reported favorably on the first organizational meeting of the new ensemble, which included students from the Normal school as well as city and high school players. The Aberdeen American noted that the orchestra “…gives every promise of developing into a first class musical organization.” Howard Goodsell became a prominent and beloved member of the community by providing Aberdeen with professional and high-quality concerts. One such concert was noted as “a splendid success and a real musical treat. Seldom has an Aberdeen audience listened to such an entertaining program.” Other words of praise for the musical director and composer of national note were: “…he has perfected an ensemble that plays with the precision and assurance seldom found in larger orchestras.” Under Professor Goodsell’s 20-year leadership—the longest tenure of any of its conductors, the symphony grew from an amateur group to a full symphony orchestra. In 2010, as the orchestra celebrated its 90th anniversary, the Friends of the Aberdeen University-Civic Symphony was organized, reviving the community board component that Goodsell had initiated in 1920. In 2014, the Friends board created a plaque honoring all 16 conductors of the orchestra; the plaque currently hangs in the lobby of the Johnson Fine Arts Center, the orchestra’s campus home. For the 2018-19 season, Dr. Christopher Stanichar became the 17th conductor of the AUCS. As the leader of the oldest, continually running orchestra in South Dakota, Dr. Stanichar is enthusiastically guiding the AUCS into its next century, reviving the tradition of having high school musicians join the ranks of the ensemble and creating appealing, thoughtful programs of both musical standards and newer compositions. Uplifting the Aberdeen Community
10 ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY/CIVIC SYMPHONY: 104TH SEASON Congratulations Aberdeen University/Civic Symphony David and Erin Giovannini
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14 ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY/CIVIC SYMPHONY: 104TH SEASON Vox Fortura: International Pop-op Quartet Friday, September 15, 2023 at 7:00 pm Ireland’s Greatest Showman feat. David Shannon: Irish Tenor Monday, October 23, 2023 at 7:00 pm The Starlets: Pop Female Trio Thursday, February 22, 2024 at 7:00 pm SD Jazz Festival Concert Thursday, February 29, 2024 at 7:30 pm Shaun Johnson and The Big Band Experience Thursday, April 25, 2024 - 7:00 pm Concerts will be held in the Johnson Fine Arts Center Harvey & Cynthia Jewett Theater at Northern State University 1200 S. Jay Street. ACCA Memberships can be purchased at Interior Design Concepts located at 21 N. Main Street or online at the ACCA website. All dates are subject to change. Check tickets for concert time. $75 Adults $25 Students $155 Family/Grandparents WWW.ABERDEENCOMMUNITYCONCERTS.ORG Become a Member! OVER 85 YEARS OF OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCES Supporting the Arts & Culture of Brown County for over 50 Years. dacotahprairiemuseum.com 605.626.7117 Located in Historic Downtown Aberdeen.
15 ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY CIVIC SYMPHONY: 104TH SEASON www aberdeensymphony org / c stanichar@northern edu / 605 626 2497 2023-24 SEASON All tickets are general admission and will be available at the door Payments are limited to cash or check only; debit or credit cards will not be accepted There will be no advance or online ticket sales For more information, contact the NSU School of Fine Arts at 605-626-2497 SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024, 7:30 P.M. HARVEY AND CYNTHIA JEWETT THEATER, JFAC Florence Price (arr. William Grant Still): Dances in the Canebrakes Concerto-Aria Winners (TBA) Dmitry Shostakovich: Symphony no. 5 in D minor, op. 47 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2023, 7:30 P.M. HARVEY AND CYNTHIA JEWETT THEATER, JFAC Jean Sibelius: Symphony no. 2 in D major, op. 43 Edvard Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor, op. 16 Concert sponsored by SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2024, 7:30 P.M. HARVEY AND CYNTHIA JEWETT THEATER, JFAC Selections from the Musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein Side-by-Side performance with Aberdeen Central High School Orchestra (Joseph Berns, Director) Concert sponsored by CARLYLE AND REV. SHEILA RICHARDS Concert co-sponsored by DAVID AND ERIN GIOVANNINI GUEST ARTIST: Oda Hjertine Voltersvik, piano GUEST ARTISTS: Darci Bultema, soprano Marla Fogderud, soprano Michael Skyles, tenor and other guest artists THE CLASSICS OF RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN NORTHERN NORDIC NOTES VOICES OF FREEDOM AND
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