This Spring, we’re welcoming a new voice to the stage as Maestro Ric Jones passes the baton to BSO’s Associate Conductor, Johnathan Allentoff.
The concert features the following pieces:
| Symphony No. 5 (World Premiere) | Emmanuel Sikora-Mori | 3:00 |
| Vocalise for Flute, Clarinet, and Orchestra | Sergie Rachmaninoff, arr. Jonathan Allentoff Flute Soloist: Philip Nash Clarinet Soloist: Vince Cassano | 6:00 |
| Dance of the Hours | Amilcare Ponchielli | 9:40 |
| Symphony No. 9 (World Premiere) | Emmanuel Sikora-Mori | 3:00 |
| Violin Concerto No. 1, G Minor, Op. 26: Vorspiel. Allegro moderato | Max Bruch, Violin Soloist: Benjamin Butler | 8:30 |
| Brief Intermission | 8:00 | |
| Broadway Selections with the Kanack Singers from the Bach Children’s Chorus | Arranged by Jonathan Allentoff | 8:00 |
| Symphony No. 6, B Minor, Op. 74 (Pathétique): Finale | Pyotr Tchaikovsky | 9:00 |
PROGRAM NOTES
Emmanuel Sakura-Mori
Symphony No. 5 and 9
In the composer’s own words:
“The Fifth and Seventh Symphonies of Jean Sibelius have a special place in my heart; it’s nature music at its most magical and least sentimental; I tried to emulate this kind of nature music in my own two little symphonies. No. 5 in C (Op. 67) [the opus number is a tongue-in-cheek nod to Beethoven’s Fifth] and No. 9 in E-flat, paraphrase the Sibelius Seventh and Fifth Symphonies respectively. No. 5 is my feelings of being in the leafless landscape in the weeks before the first snowfall; No. 9 is an attempt to paint an Upstate New York, winter landscape – I always felt the last page of the Sibelius Fifth, with its chords followed by long periods of silence [a page I “borrowed”], captures the magnificent silence and open spaces of a cold, snowy countryside.”
Amilcare Ponchielli
Dance of the Hours (Danza delle ore)
Amilcare Ponchielli’s Dance of the Hours stands as one of the most recognizable masterworks in the orchestral repertoire. Though originally composed as an ensemble ballet for the third act of his 1876 opera, La Gioconda, the piece has long since eclipsed the opera itself to become a beloved concert staple.
Within the opera’s narrative, the dance symbolizes the eternal conflict between light and darkness, structured into four evocative sections: Dawn, Afternoon, Evening, and Night. While the opera is rarely staged today due to its daunting vocal requirements, the Dance of the Hours remains a pop classic of Italian Romanticism—celebrated for its melodic charm, dramatic flair, and rhythmic precision. Its modern immortality was further cemented by Disney’s Fantasia (1940), which reimagined the ballet with a comedic cast of animated ostriches (Dawn), hippos (Afternoon), elephants (Evening), and alligators (Night), transforming a traditional spectacle into a masterpiece of physical comedy.
Sergie Rachmaninoff
Vocalise for Flute, Clarinet, and Orchestra
Sergie Rachmaninoff’sVocalise is among the most poignant and celebrated works of the 20th century. Originally composed for high voice and piano and published in 1912 as the final entry of his Fourteen Songs, Op. 34, the piece is unique for its wordless melody. The singer performs the entire work using a single vowel—typically a resonant “ah” or “oh”—allowing the music to bypass the specificity of language and express a sense of pure emotion. Because there are no lyrics to dictate a narrative, listeners are invited to project their own feelings of longing, nostalgia, or grief onto its arching phrases.
Rachmaninoff dedicated the work to the leading soprano of the era, Antonina Nezhdanova. When she famously asked why he provided no text, he replied: “What need is there for words, when you will be able to convey everything better and more expressively by your voice and interpretation than anyone could with words?” While written for the voice, the melody is so intrinsically lyrical that it has been transcribed for nearly every melodic instrument imaginable. Tonight, we are treated to Maestro Jonathan Allentoff’s own evocative arrangement for flute, clarinet, and orchestra.
Max Bruch
Violin Concerto No. 1, G Minor, Op. 26: Vorspiel. Allegro moderato
Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 26, is a cornerstone of the Romantic repertoire, standing proudly alongside the great concertos of Beethoven, Brahms, and Mendelssohn. Its opening movement, titled Vorspiel (Prelude), is unique in classical music for its departure from traditional, rigid sonata form.
Eschewing the standard structural rules, the movement unfolds like an operatic recitative or a fantasy. It moves through dramatic outbursts and soaring lyrical passages, acting as a grand gateway to the following Adagio. The violin enters almost immediately with two bold, cadenza-like flourishes that engage in a dialogue with the orchestra. Throughout the movement, Bruch utilizes the violin’s lowest string—the G-string—to produce the rich, muscular tone that defines the work’s somber G-minor mood.
Though Bruch began sketching ideas for the concerto at age 18, the work underwent a long and restless evolution. Following an initial 1866 premiere conducted by the composer, Bruch remained dissatisfied and undertook extensive revisions with the guidance of the legendary violinist Joseph Joachim. This collaboration resulted in the definitive version we hear today, which premiered to great acclaim on January 7, 1868, in Bremen, with Joachim as the soloist.
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Symphony No. 6, in B Minor, Op. 74 (Pathétique) Finale
Premiered on October 28, 1893, under the composer’s own baton, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 concludes with a finale that remains one of the most revolutionary and devastating in the symphonic repertoire. In an era when major symphonies typically ended with a fast, heroic movement, Tchaikovsky defied tradition with his Adagio lamentoso—a slow, emotional descent into silence.
The finale follows a life-cycle trajectory of profound grief: it begins with a high-tension shout in the strings, followed by a lyrical, prayer-like second theme that offers a fleeting moment of consolation. This leads to a dissonant climax punctuated by a single, muffled strike of the gong (tam-tam). In orchestral music, this is often interpreted as the “knell of death.” In the aftermath, the trombones and tuba perform a somber chorale reminiscent of the Russian Orthodox Requiem, as the music slowly flatlines.
Tragically, Tchaikovsky died just nine days after the premiere. It was his brother, Modest, who suggested the title Pateticheskaya (Passionate), which has since become immortalized in its French translation: Pathétique.
Kanack Singers from the Bach Children’s Chorus
The Bach Children’s Chorus will perform two quintessential selections from the Great American Songbook: On the Sunny Side of the Street and I Got Rhythm. Both premiered in 1930 as the Great Depression began to tighten its grip on the world; consequently, both served as rhythmic, optimistic anthems that helped define the burgeoning Swing era.
I Got Rhythm, composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, was originally written for the Broadway musical Girl Crazy. It is arguably the most influential piece in jazz history, second only to the 12-bar blues, due to its foundational chord progression.
In contrast, On the Sunny Side of the Street, by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields, is less a technical blueprint and more of a vibe. Introduced in Lew Leslie’s International Revue, the song remains the ultimate musical representation of optimism, urging listeners to “leave their worries on the doorstep.”
Sit back and embrace the sunshine as we enjoy Maestro Jonathan Allentoff’s vibrant orchestral arrangement of these two classics.
Meet the Soloists
Benjamin Butler, Violin
Vince Cassano, Clarinet
Vince is an actuary with the Burke Group, and has been involved with Hochstein for many years on both bagpipes and clarinet. He currently plays for the Brighton Symphony Orchestra and in the woodwind quintet Infectious Winds.
Philip Nash, Flute
Phil has been playing flute since the age of ten. He grew up in the New York City area under the instruction of Sylvia Philips and Henry Zlotnick. Phil studied psychology at the University of Rochester while studying flute with John Thomas at the Eastman School of Music. He currently is the principal flutist for the Brighton Symphony Orchestra.
