2015/2016 Season

2015/2016 Season

Stravinsky's Soldier and Other Tales

Andrew Hauze, Conductor

Igor Stravinsky – L’Histoire du Soldat (1918)
Jeremy Rapaport-Stein, Nathan Scalise, and Zachary Tanner – New Works for the L’Histoire Septet
Tangos, Waltzes, and Rags from the World War I Era, newly arranged for the L'Histoire Septet


Igor Stravinsky's L’Histoire du Soldat  is the centerpiece of an Orchestra 2001 program that features popular styles that inspired Stravinsky (ragtime, early jazz, tangos, and waltzes) and new works that respond to the unique narrative style and quirky instumentation of Stravinsky's WWI masterpiece. The program highlights the creative vitality of the arts at Swarthmore College, including premieres of new compositions by current students and alumni, and collaborations with student choreographers and dancers.


Saturday, April 2, 2016 at 8:00 PM
Swarthmore College, Lang Concert Hall


Meet Tim!

Timothy Weiss, Conductor

Carlos Sanchez Gutiérez – Five Memos (2010)
Steven Stucky –
Boston Fancies (1985)
Bernard Rands – ...
in the receding mist... (1988)
Stephen Hartke – Meanwhile (2007)


This program is a melting pot of American voices that beautifully contrast one another in their energy, dialogue, and organization. Gutiérez' Five Memos are inspired by Calvino - powerful, light, elegant, quirky, comical and at times dramatic. Stucky's Boston Fancies are miniatures that follow a framework of alternating rotirnelli and fancies. Rand's ...in the receding mist... takes its title from a Beckett poem, with a lush, florid and quiet pallet of sounds. Hartke's Meanwhile grows out of his fascination with Asian court and theater music and is incidental music for a set of imaginary Asian puppet plays. T.W.


"Under the direction of Timothy Weiss [the ensemble at Carnegie Hall] presented unbelievably polished, impeccable performances of extremely challenging music."   
- New York Concert Review


"...[John Luther Adams' 'Earth and the Great Weather' was] mightily impressive under Tim Weiss's energetic direction."
- The Times, London


Saturday, March 19, 2016 at 8:00 PM
Pre-concert panel 7:30 pm
Swarthmore College, Lang Concert Hall


Sunday, January 24, 2016, 8:00 PM
Pre-concert panel 7:30 pm
Neighborhood House Theater at Christ Church, 20 N. American Street (between Market & Arch streets), Philadelphia, 19106
$35 Adults/$25 Seniors/$15 Students


Meet Ryan!

Ryan McAdams, Conductor

Unsuk Chin – Fantasie mécanique (1997)
Sean Shepherd –
Lumens (2005)
Joan Tower –
Petroushskates (1980)
Pierre Boulez –
Dèrive I (1984)
John Luther Adams –
The Farthest Place (2001)
Frederic Rzewski –
Coming Together (1972)


A murmuration is that extraordinary event when a large flock of starlings abruptly change direction, with precise choreography. This is how Sean Shepherd's music was first described to me, and the rest of this program has grown from that image. Chin's wild Fantasie mécanique to the decadent, exacting Boulez Dèrive I , the slow geological shifts in Adams' The Farthest Place to the mob violence of Coming Together, this concert explores the blance between the artistic and the mechanical, and the extremes of discipline and passion. R.M.


"A rising star in the conducting firmament... a fiery, detail-oriented leader."
- The Cleveland Post


"He proved himself again on Saturday... McAdams drew vivid, colorful and often incisive playing... balanced hurtling power with passages of delicacy and grace."
- The New York Times


Saturday, January 23, 2016 at 8:00 PM
Pre-concert panel 7:30 pm
World Café Downstairs, 3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia 19104
$35 Adults/$25 Seniors/$15 Students


Sunday, January 24, 2016, 8:00 PM
Pre-concert panel 7:30 pm
Swarthmore College, Lang Concert Hall


Meet Jayce!

Jayce Ogren, Conductor

Julia Wolfe – Lick (1994)
Steven Mackey –
Five Animated Shorts (2006)
Jennifer Higdon –
Zaka (2003)
Louis Andriessen –
Workers Union (1975)


Wolfe, Mackey, Higdon and Andriessen are composers who write in extremely divergent styles, but they share a marvelous trait: an ability to create music that disregards the barrier between classical and rock music. They fuse these styles so honestly and seamlessly because it's in their blood and their life experience. The pieces on this program speak directly to the listener through driving rhythms, gritty orchestrations, and textures that pay homage to Bartok, the Beatles, Copland and funk. You won't be able to sit still! J.O.


"In many ways the star is the conductor, Jayce Ogren, who got a thoroughly well-deserved standing ovation ['West Side Story']"
- The Daily Mail, London


"The conductor Jayce Ogren, in his New York Philharmonic debut, cued with precision... Clearly treacherous to play, 'Try' received a brilliant account here."
- The New York Times


Saturday, September 19, 2015 at 8:00 PM
Pre-concert panel 7:30 pm
Swarthmore College, Lang Concert Hall


Sunday, September 20, 2015, 8:00 PM
Pre-concert panel 7:30 pm
Arts Bank, 601 South Broad Street, Philadelphia 19147
$35 Adults/$25 Seniors/$15 Students

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