Our Conductor Search Begins!

This season will be bittersweet for our symphony. As we’ve said goodbye to our Maestro Brian Groner, we now begin the search for our new music director. Brian left behind an amazing legacy, and we are faced with the challenge of finding another great leader to bring us forward.

     After a long and through search, we’ve narrowed the field to four finalists, and I can’t wait for you to meet them. They are all skilled conductors, dedicated educators, and passionate community advocates. Each will share both new music and classics on their concert. Each will work with a soloist and get to know our orchestra both on and off stage.

     More importantly, we want YOU to get to know them. We will have times during their week in Appleton for you to see them in both formal and informal settings, answering questions, and discussing why they are excited to come to our area and join our orchestra.

     Each concert week will be followed up by our team collecting your thoughts and comments. We will have comment cards and surveys at the hall for each concert, as well as emailed surveys, and website forms. Please feel free to give us your candid feedback, ask questions, and become a part of this process.

     I can’t tell you how important this is to all of us. Let us hear from you! We are hoping the person we hire is part of our community, both on stage and off, for a very long time. Please let us know your impressions and help us make a very informed and inclusive decision.

     We would love for you to become a season ticket holder, and then you will receive updates from us throughout the season, letting you know about opportunities to get involved.

  We’re grateful for the 23 years of artistry and dedication Maestro Groner contributed to this community, and we look forward to our next chapter under the baton of our new director. 

     Please scroll down to learn more about our first conductor candidate, Howard Hsu, and join us this Saturday, October 6, at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center for our 2018-19 Opening Night!

     -  Jamie LaFreniere, Executive Director

BUY YOUR TICKETS TO OPENING NIGHT ONLINE NOW!

Save the dates!

October 6, 2018: Conductor Howard Hsu

                  Jonathan Bailey Holland—Motor City Remix

                  Samuel Barber– Violin Concerto, Op. 14, Soloist Kelly Hall-Tompkins

                  Johannes Brahms—Symphony No. 2, Op. 73 in D major

                 

November 17, 2018: (No candidate for this concert)

Disney’s Pixar in Concert! Enjoy scores from your favorite Disney Pixar films! A visually stunning, high-definition, multi-media family show!

January 26, 2019: Conductor Wesley Schulz
Chris Rogerson– Luminosity

Jennifer Higdon– blue cathedral

Aaron Copland– Clarinet Concerto, Soloist Jorge Montilla Moreno

Sergei Rachmaninoff– Symphonic Dances, Op. 45

March 9, 2019: Conductor Alastair Willis

Mason Bates– Mothership

Dmitry Shostakovich– Cello Concerto No. 1, Op. 107 in E flat Major,

Soloist Alexander Hersh

Sergei Prokofiev– Romeo & Juliet, Selections from Suites 1 and 2

May 11, 2019: Conductor Kevin Sütterlin
Adam Hochstatter– My Name is Aiden

Jim Pugh– Trombone Concerto, Soloist Thomas Stark

César Franck– Symphony in D minor

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We start the season on October 6 with Conductor Howard Hsu. We've had a fun week with him visiting Appleton East High School, Lawrence University, 91.1 the Avenue, and getting to know our board and donors. Last night was our first rehearsal with the full group, and we continue with a strings-only rehearsal tonight. We can't wait to get in the P.A.C. hall for the first time on Friday night with special guest violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins, friends from our season underwriters at The Boldt Company, and students from Big Brothers Big Sisters and the Boys & Girls Club. It will be a busy weekend, we we can't wait to share this music with you!

Howard Hsu at the Fox Cities P.A.C. (Photo: Graham Washatka)

Learn a little more about our Conductor Howard Hsu:

Howard Hsu is the Music Director of the Valdosta (GA) Symphony Orchestra, and serves as Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Orchestra Studies at Valdosta State University. Under his leadership, the Valdosta Symphony was selected as the 2014 winner of the American Prize in Orchestral Performance (community division). He has performed with world-renowned artists such as Robert McDuffie, Simone Dinnerstein, Jennifer Frautschi, Wendy Warner, Rachel Barton Pine, Stanford Olsen, Alexander Ghindin, Alexander Schimpf, Katia Skanavi, Awadagin Pratt, Amy Schwartz Moretti, and the Empire Brass, and has introduced live classical music to thousands of children in the Southern Georgia region. He conducted the world premiere of James Oliverio’s Trumpet Concerto No. 1: World House, the U.S. premiere of Ned McGowan’s Concerto for iPad and Orchestra (Rotterdam Concerto 2), and has given the Georgia premieres of Fernande Decruck’s Sonata for Saxophone and Orchestra, several of the Debussy/Matthews Preludes, and Jonathan Bailey Holland’s Motor City Dance Mix. Hsu has appeared as a guest conductor with the Hartford (CT) Symphony Orchestra, Macon (GA) Symphony, New Britain (CT) Symphony, and Bronx (NY) Arts Ensemble. Hsu received his D.M.A. from the University of Connecticut, his M.M. from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and his B.S. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Visit www.howardhsuconductor.com for more information.

A View from the Stage: Marcia Henry Liebenow

Liebenow and Harmon with composer Shirish Korde

We are excited about our concert this Saturday, November 14, 2015 at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center. Of course, we are always excited about our concerts, but this time, we are having a Concerto for Violin and Tabla. When is the last time you heard that? Exactly. The piece is Svara-Yantra by Shirish Korde with guest artists Marcia Henry Liebenow and Zach Harmon.

As an extra bit of luck, both our guest artists got to meet with the composer last week and work on the piece. Marcia was kind enough to share her experiece with us!

Marcia Henry Liebenow

From Marcia:

This past weekend Zach Harmon and I met with composer Shirish Korde in Massachusetts to rehearse his Svara-Yantra Concerto for Violin, Tabla and Symphony Orchestra. We’ll be performing this fantastic piece with the Fox Valley Symphony.

I’m very excited to perform Svara-Yantra. It’s an intense and absolutely amazing work, and I’m really looking forward to collaborating with Brian Groner.

I’m also thrilled to work with tabla player Zach Harmon, who is a Wisconsin native. Zach studied in the Masters program at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, and studied tabla with Abhiman Kaushal. He performs, records, and teaches around the world.

Zach Harmon, tabla

Zach and I are both faculty artists at the Red Lodge Music Festival in Montana each summer, and I have known his father, composer and jazz pianist John Harmon, for many years. I have premiered a number of John’s works at that festival.

Earlier this fall I made arrangements for Zach and I to rehearse the concerto with Shirish at his studio in Worcester, MA. Finding a few days that all of us were available was a challenge, but we were able to carve out a meeting time. Boston is my old stomping grounds. It’s where I earned a graduate degree from the New England Conservatory.

On November 1 I flew to Boston and stayed with my brother and his family in nearby Westborough. Zach drove down from his home in Shelburne, VT. My brother and his family are avid musicians, although they pursue other fields for their livelihood. They loved hearing us work through the complex piece at their house!

Shirish is an incredible composer, a wonderful musician, and a genuinely nice man. He helped clarify musical questions we had and worked with us on our interpretation and preparation of his piece.

Zach and I can’t wait to rehearse and perform this concerto with the FVSO!

Thanks, Marcia! We can't wait to share the stage with you this weekend!

Also on the program:

Khachaturian: Masquarade Suite

Mozart: Symphony No. 35

Get your tickets now! 

Every now and then, we get a letter in the mail that makes us smile. I just had to share this one! Love it!

Dear Fox Valley Symphony,

We could not carry a note if it possessed the proverbial handle on its back. We have never been exposed to symphonic music, until my suddenly out-of-town boss gave us his tickets to a FVS performance about 15 years ago.    Quite frankly we were surprised we enjoyed it.  I believe we felt the need to play The Grateful Dead extremely loud on the way home, just to be certain we were okay.

We have been season ticket holders for about a decade now and have learned not to be the first ones to applaud.  We enjoy your humor and obvious connection with both the audience and the musicians.  I have found tears rolling down my cheeks, and have seen my other half with tilted head and closed eyes trying to deceipher each instruments' contribution. 

The Celebrate Spring concert was truly one of our favorites.  While Nazer Dzhuryn was amazing, Copland's Appalachian Spring Suite gave sound and substance to unspoken sorrow of loved ones gone, yet later providing hope of their legacy within those remaining.  Ravel's Bolero was quite fascinating to hear unfold, growing in strength and depth along the way. 

While the music sheets you command will always be written in a foreign language to us, we appreciate you building a place which is warm and welcoming for all to experience this music.

Thank you!

No, thank YOU, M, for truly making our day (week, month)! :)

Thanks for All You Did in 2014

Now that we've wrapped up our year-end giving campaign, we just wanted to say THANK YOU!

From the bottom of our basses to the top of our piccolos, we thank you!  You attended concerts, sent donations, sponsored musician chairs, funded outreach activities, and supported youth orchestra programs –we are grateful for your investment in our mission through your generosity.

The Fox Valley Symphony will honor your support by staying true to our mission to nurture the human spirit through symphonic music and educational opportunities that enhance the cultural development of our community.  We will continue to be an integral part of the beautiful tapestry of arts groups that make the Fox Cities a wonderful place to live. 

Thank you for playing with us!

A View from the Stage: Collaborative Education

(Written by guest blogger Nancy Kaphaem, Cellist for Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra and FVSO Education Quartet)

One of the best things that I get to do as a professional cellist and teacher is to play with the Fox Valley Symphony's Artistic Adventures education program for elementary age children.  Collaborating this year with the Trout Museum and the Fox Cities PAC was fantastic.  To consider that a string quartet this fall played in 22 up-close performances for over 700 children total is astounding and incredibly meaningful.  

Experiencing live music can lead to deeper understanding, joy, and a rich emotional range that is beyond words.  I am so privileged to work with other enthusiastic members of the Fox Valley Symphony in this educational outreach and in all of our symphonic concerts.  

Every year I cherish these rich times that bring for all of us, performers, students and our symphonic audience at the PAC alike, priceless experiences of community and deep connection. 

“Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.” 

― Khalil Gibran

“Music . . . can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable.” 

― Leonard Bernstein

A View from the Stage: Heid Music and our Dream Set of Timpani

Our guest blogger this week is Paul Ristau, principal timpanist with the Fox Valley Symphony. Paul tells us a little bit about the set of timpani the FVS currently uses and how we were fortunate enough to get them:

Fox Valley Symphony is extremely fortunate to own one of the best sets of Timpani in the world, manufactured by Adams in Holland, and distributed here in the United States by Pearl Drum Co. They are known as the ‘Cloyd Duff’ model, named after the world-famous Timpanist of the Cleveland Orchestra, Cloyd Duff. I was fortunate to have studied with him in master classes. He is one of the greatest players ever.

Our set of five currently have a value of $40,000. They are some of the finest Timpani I have ever performed on, period. Years ago, I was fortunate to have worked with our Executive Director during Fox Valley Symphony's transition from performing at Lawrence University to our current home, the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center.

At the time, I was asked to put together a “wish list" of all percussion instruments, being mindful of both quality, tonal excellence, and budget. This was for all equipment, as back then, when at Lawrence, the FVS did not own any of its own percussion equipment. So it was a pretty big deal to get it right. This initial list did not have the Adams Timpani included; as I never thought it could possibly materialize due to the cost.

Paul Heid, owner of Heid Music, called me the very next day. The symphony was working with Heid Music to order the equipment, getting the mission-critical equipment ordered first so we could start our season at the PAC. He told me he saw the list and then asked, “As Timpanist, what would be your dream set of Timpani?”

I remember it like it was yesterday. I told him "The Adams Cloyd Duff Timpani, of course.”

He replied “Done.”

I said, “What do you mean, done??”

He said he would figure out a way for this to happen…and he did. He worked his magic, as he was also President of NAMM at the time. He went above and beyond, ordered up these same Timpani, showcased them at NAMM, then brought them back to Appleton.

He gave me a call and said, “Hey Paul, your drums are in. Come on down to the store and check them out!”

I walked in the store, in the back storage room where he had them placed, removed the cover of one, saw they were the real deal and started crying. I just could not believe how someone out of the goodness of their heart, could go above and beyond in such a way. It was one of the most beautiful moments of my life – and hence why I care for these drums they way I do. 

I will always remember what he did for us, and will be indebted with gratitude to him forever. It was magic.

REVIEW: Fox Valley Symphony Starts 48th Season Strong

By: James Chaudoir - Post Crescent

The Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra kicked off its 48th concert season with a fascinating program of challenging music. This concert also marked the beginning of Maestro Brian Groner’s 20th year as conductor.

Opening the program was a spirited performance of Johann Strauss, Jr.’s delightful “Overture to Die Fledermaus.” The overture is filled with an assortment of tunes that audiences have come to associate with the composer.

Attention was quickly turned to the feature work of the first half, “Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major” by Sergei Prokofiev, featuring guest artist Claire Huangci. The youthful Huangci wowed the audience with her seemingly effortless mastery of Prokofiev’s massive and demanding opus.

The first movement opens with a simply stated yet tuneful solo by the clarinet, played eloquently by principal clarinetist David Bell. This tune quickly gives way to the strings, but the melodic serenity is suddenly ended with the arrival of the allegro section in the strings and the first entry of the solo piano. It was at this point the Ms. Huangci clearly let her presence be known.

Be it brilliant scalar passages or bursts of rhythmic energy, Huangci’s clarity of line was always at the forefront. In addition, she has the ability to skillfully execute the intricate weavings of the piano line within Prokofiev’s constantly shifting density of orchestral structure.

Two things stood out: her precise touch at the keyboard and expert blending of dynamics, a wonderful fusion of technique and artistry.

The second movement is a set of variations, which opens with the orchestra playing the main theme, a curiously witty melody first heard in the winds. The variations feature the solo piano. It is here where Prokofiev deviates from the gavotte feeling of the theme.

Huangci undoubtedly had a clear understanding of the personality of each variation and showed it in her playing, be it the gossamer trill and glissando that opens the first variation, the rapid scalar runs up and down the keyboard in the second, the wildly syncopated and angular gestures of the third, the beautiful free dialogue between piano and orchestra in the fourth or the frenetic pacing of the final. All these personalities were distinctly executed at the keyboard, making the movement all the more exciting.

The quiet ending of the second movement merges attaca to the finale, Allegro, ma non troppo. Groner’s opening tempo was quite deliberate, adhering closely to the “but not too much” advice of the tempo marking.

Unquestionably, this is the true virtuoso movement of the concerto, with multiple climaxes and a brilliant ending. It was also here where Ms. Huangci demonstrated her technical skills to the fullest.

The coda is a musical confrontation between the orchestra and soloist, with both vying for compositional importance. Huangci’s energy and concentration allowed her to handle the complex ornamentation, arpeggios, glissandos and other flourishes while cutting through the massive orchestra. Four lively chords scored for piano and orchestra together bring the concerto to a dramatic close.

Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major (Eroica)” comprised the second half of the evening’s program. As we’ve become accustomed to appreciate over the years, Groner’s vision and execution of this masterwork was complete, thought-provoking, and most of all, musical.

The opening of this symphony never ceases to put a smile on my face, two marked E-flat major chords, and a gloriously simple arpeggiation of the tonic triad … so simple, so lyrical, so Beethoven.

Groner’s tempo choice unquestionably played into the heartfelt interpretation of the opening movement. Within the orchestra, the balance of the strings was particularly notable.

The haunting, well-known funeral march theme of the second movement, Adagio assai, is first heard played by the cellos and then given to the solo oboe, played beautifully by principal oboist Jennifer Hodges-Bryan. Also present in this movement was the use of fugue-like passages in the middle section. Groner’s ideal choices of tempos and dynamics made the performance of this movement contributed to its success.

The third movement is an animated scherzo, filled with rhythmic energy, and a glorious passage of hunting calls heard in the horn section. The orchestra, and especially the horns, played expressively, paying careful attention to each of Groner’s gestures from the podium.

The finale, Allegro molto, offered another set of variations for the evening. The movement itself is quite grandiose, and shows the direction Beethoven is moving regarding importance of the symphonic finale.

Again, Groner was at his best with his conducting, just the right tempo, energy, and clear identity to each of the thematic variations. All of these elements led to the orchestra’s rendering a meaningfully expressive performance of Beethoven’s masterwork.

Welcome to Our 2014-15 Season!

Thank you so much for being part of the Fox Valley Symphony’s thrilling 2014-2015 season.  From the first notes on opening night (the sparkling and energetic Overture to Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss) to the last notes of the finale (brought to you by Liszt’s epic tone poem Les Preludes) there will be music that inspires you.

Our orchestra is an amazing group of interesting, creative and talented people.  I hope that you find a chance to speak with some of the musicians of the FVS over the course of the season.  Each player brings something special to the sound; each player brings you their very best on every concert.  They serve both the art of music and our audience admirably.

Warmest Regards,

Brian Groner, Music Director

As I begin my tenure as president of the Board of Directors of the Fox Valley Symphony, I am very excited about this year’s concert season and am grateful for the opportunity to help bring this wonderful gift, our symphony, to you.  It is my belief that art and music are some of the sweetest fruits in life.  They touch our soul, inspire us, and bring richness to life.  

In the Fox Valley, we enjoy and celebrate a rich tradition of art and music, and our symphony is one of the biggest reasons why.  From our schools and universities to the performing arts, the symphony is weaved into the fabric of our way of life.   Our symphony and its talented musicians work with many other organizations, businesses, and people.  By supporting and cultivating local musicians and artists in our community, we are not only enhancing our own lives but the lives of our family and friends for generations to come. 

The Fox Valley Symphony is dedicated to bringing education, art, and music to this community, to the next generation, and to you, our symphony family.  We are planning many new social, educational, and fun events this year and hope to see you there.   Our symphony family includes you, and we are very thankful for your patronage and financial support.  For without it, we would not be able to touch the lives of so many.  

Sincerely,

Peter Gianopoulos, Board President

As the season begins to take shape, I am continually amazed by the community effort involved. Our musicians spend hours of practice and rehearsal on each section, our conductor studies the score and our

technical crew plans each detail before opening night. Volunteers and staff work together to ensure everything is in place before the first note hits.

We’ve been given this incredible opportunity, and it is always met with sincere gratitude.

We are thankful for our sponsors and donors who make our season possible. We are thankful for our board members who help plan and implement our mission. We are thankful to the teachers working with music students in our community to engage future generations of artists and patrons. And we are thankful for you, who attend each concert and show your support with applause year after year as we work toward our 50^th Anniversary.

Thank you,

Jamie LaFreniere, Chief Operating Officer