PROGRAM - the Southern California Philharmonic!
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PROGRAM
A Letter from the President of the SoCalPhil
The 2021-2022 Concert Season for the Southern California Philharmonic
will be our 19th year as an ensemble, and yet, it feels like we are starting
all over.
Our 18th season was challenging, to say the least, but we embraced the
opportunities that technology presented to us and moved all of our
activities to a virtual platform to ensure the safety of our orchestra and
our audience. But to be truthful, we had mixed results.
We learned how to connect over Zoom and continued to meet weekly
as an orchestra. We held virtual concerts and fundraisers, selling virtual
tickets to pay those few expenses that we continued to have despite
the coronavirus pandemic. We learned what worked well and we
learned how to “work around” the social distancing that kept us from
rehearsing and performing in-person with our extended musical family.
We missed you, our audience–the opportunity to share our love of music
with the family and friends who have supported us in many ways over
the years.
While we learned these new skills, SCP did not escape the harsh realities
of the pandemic. This season you may notice an empty chair in our tuba
section to honor Gary Haendiges, a very talented musician and
wonderful person taken from us -and a number of other local
ensembles-late last year, way too soon before his time. Now it is time to
move forward, proceeding cautiously; we will walk before we run.
Welcome to the 2021-2022 season! We plan to stay safely outdoors and
navigate these waters carefully as we find our way. As we look to rejoin
our friends in the making of music, we hope you will join us on this
journey to hear the fruits of our labor. Please keep track of us via our
website at www.socalphil.org.
I’m also pleased to announce the SCP 2021 Young Artists Competition is
now open. We are accepting applications from young musicians who
aspire to perform as a soloist with the SoCalPhil in the Spring of 2022.
More information on this competition can also be found at our website.
Please join us this season. We have missed you!
Beth McCormick
Southern California Philharmonic
Board of DirectorsReturning to the Classics
Branden Muresan, Music Director &
Conductor
Academic Festival Overture
Johannes Brahms
Romance No. 2 in F Major for Violin
and Orchestra
featuring Concertmaster
Jessica Haddy
Ludwig van Beethoven
Intermission
Symphony No. 8 in B minor
Allegro moderato
Andante con moto
Franz Schubert
Rosamunde Overture
Franz Schubert
Find the Southern California
Philharmonic on SoundCloud!Jessica Haddy has been the concertmaster of the Southern California Philharmonic since 2016. She was a featured soloist for the ensemble in 2018 and 2021. In 2019, she was the contractor and concertmaster for Tustin’s Ballet Nutcracker performances at the Plummer Auditorium. Currently, she is the Principal 2nd Violinist with the Mira Costa Symphony and has performed with the Golden State Pops, Culver City Chamber Orchestra, OC Symphony, Dana Point Symphony and the Debut Symphony As a soloist, Jessica has been invited to perform at the Laguna Beach Sunset Serenades and the Hortense Miller Estate concert series. In 2020, Jessica and harpist Jillian Lopez recorded an album featuring French and Argentinian composers. In the same year, she filmed a concert at the historic Long Beach Bembridge House with pianist Anthony Lopez, performing pieces celebrating the fall season. She has been featured on Mission Viejo’s television network as a soloist and has performed solo concerts for the Mission Viejo Arts Alive concert series. The Krutz Strings company named her Brand Ambassador in 2018. Jessica performs regularly with her husband, Ryan Haddy. Together, the violin and guitar duo founded Haddy Music. Haddy Music performs at private events and has been featured at several music festivals. Haddy Music is highly reviewed and was featured in Riviera Magazine’s Best of OC for event music. Currently Jessica and Ryan are working on composing and recording original compositions. While working in Los Angeles, Jessica has appeared in music videos with Elton John, Sheryl Crow, Sting, Il Divo, and Randy Travis. Jessica was also the violinist for the first musical stage production of Quadrophenia written by Pete Townsend of The Who. She is currently the orchestra assistant and conductor at Corona Del Mar High School and Middle School, strings teacher at Free Society Academics, and Linden Tree Learning Enrichment. She was a featured strings instructor for the Newport Mesa district string conference in 2020. A Laguna Beach resident, Jessica teaches from her home studio as well as instructing nationally for the online music company, Tunelark. Before having her daughter Ravelle, Jessica taught violin, viola, and cello at the Journey School in Aliso Viejo and was the strings coach for the Aliso Niguel High school orchestras. Currently, Jessica has been invited to be the strings instructor at the Waldorf School in Costa Mesa!
Maestro Branden Muresan is a native of San Juan
Capistrano, California, where he still resides and teaches.
He began studying violin performance at age six, under the
tutelage of Merillee Walker and Noumi Fischer. After
earning his AA from Saddleback College, he went on to study
at San Diego State University, where he was honored to be
taken as a student by Igor and Vesna Gruppman, former
students of Jascha Heifetz and David Oistrakh. At SDSU, he
earned his Bachelors of Music Degree in Violin Performance,
and in 2000 he graduated with a Masters in Music with a
major in Instrumental and Orchestral Conducting, under the
instruction of Dr. Donald Barra.
Branden began performing violin professionally at age 16
and has since become a well-known orchestral violinist from
Baja California to Los Angeles. His most notable
performances have been with the Irish Tenors, in Mexicali
BC, at Luciano Pavarotti’s last professional concert, and
most recently on tour with Il Divo. Currently he is
concertmaster for the Long Beach Ballet Orchestra.
Professor Muresan began teaching private violin at age 18,
and many of those students have grown and pursued
advanced music degrees at such prestigious colleges such as
Longy Conservatory of Music, CalArts, UCSD, USD, UCLB, &
University of Utah . In a college setting, Professor Muresan
began teaching at Grossmont College in 2001, University of
San Diego in 2003, Mira Costa College in 2009, and has since
been honored to be an adjunct professor at his Alma Mater
Saddleback College, where he still currently teaches.
As a conductor, Maestro Muresan began with founding and
developing the East San Diego County Civic Youth Orchestra
program in 2003, which is still running strong. After
performing in several guest conducting spots, he was
contacted to build and lead a new adult orchestra program
in Poway, California, as well as the Four Seasons Youth
Orchestra in Newport Beach. He also was interim conductor
for the Saddleback College Orchestra during the 2011-2012
season. In 2009, Maestro Muresan was hired
to conduct the Mira Costa Symphony Orchestra,
and in 2012 he won the opportunity to conduct
the Southern California Philharmonic Orchestra.
These orchestras are thriving and growing under
the direction and care of Maestro Muresan.
Find the Southern California Philharmonic
on SoundCloud!Academic Festival Overture, Johannes Brahms
The Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80 made its
debut on January 4, 1881 when Brahms received
his honorary doctorate of music from the University
of Breslau. It was expected by the university that
Brahms would compose a new piece for what was sure
to be a ceremonious occasion. However, what Brahms
had written puzzled the personages of the university, as
it connoted a much less scholarly, and academic experience
than what was expected. Instead, the work’s connotation was perhaps more
concerned with what university students requested money for in letters written to
their parents: beer. In the overture, Brahms included nearly half a dozen popular
songs of the time, four of which were beer-hall songs that were popular among
German college students. The trumpets announce the first recognizable German
song, “We Have Built a Stately House” followed by the strings, who enter with the
melody of “Father of Our Country.” The next piece is declared in the bassoons:
“What Comes from Afar?” connoting first year initiation at the university. Finally,
the full orchestra plays the last tune of the four: “Let Us Rejoice, Therefore.” The
first of the four songs was the theme song of a student group that advocated for
the unification of many independent German territories. Perhaps this is the most
controversial aspect of the piece, as it caused the overture’s Vienna premiere to be
delayed due to the fact that the government banned the song. Furthermore,
Viennese police feared uproar among students due to its affiliation with pro-
German unification ideals. Although the Academic Festival Overture exposes
Brahms’ wit and a rather facetious side to one of the greatest living composers of
the time, it cannot be denied that the fervor and Gestalt of German music is
present throughout this overture.
Program notes by Nicholas Limina
Romance No. 2 in F Major for Violin and Orchestra, Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven wrote two romances for violin and orchestra. Both pieces are of great
lyrical beauty and gentler and more reflective than many of his more famous
compositions. The second romance was in fact the first of the two to be
composed. It is thought that Beethoven intended it to be used as the slow
movement of a violin concerto, of which the outer movements were never
completed, or have been lost. The first performance took place in November 1798,
and it was finally published in 1805. Beethoven uses the rondo form (ABACA coda)
for the work. The recurring “rondo” section is made up of a theme performed first
by the soloist, and then echoed by the orchestra. A dotted-rhythm figure closes
each appearance like a punctuation mark. The first episode retains the gently lyric
character, and the second episode is more dramatic using the minor mode. The
simplicity and beauty of the romance has an enduring appeal and it remains a
highly popular concert work.
Program notes by the Portobello OrchestraSymphony No. 8 in B Minor, “Unfinished”, Franz Schubert
Schubert’s Symphony No. 8, “Unfinished,” has a complex history. Written
late in 1822, the work did not come to light until the 1860s, when it was
discovered in the study of Schubert’s friend and fellow composer, Anselm
Hüttenbrenner. The manuscript contained two fully scored movements
and sketches for a third. The two complete movements (plus a final
movement from another one of Schubert’s works) were premiered in
1865, nearly 40 years after Schubert’s death. In the ensuing decades, the
practice of adding another movement to the work stopped; it became
clear that the two movements of this piece stand-alone very well. But why
did he write just two movements? He lived for another six years after the
work was begun. He certainly had time to finish the work, had he chosen to. Some have thought
that Schubert’s physical health was to blame. The composer had contracted syphilis and this
illness contributed to depression as well. Perhaps the work had too many unpleasant associations
for him. Schubert may have also been dealing with a crisis of confidence. Orchestral music was a
realm in which Schubert felt self-critical, and the growing skill and assurance evidenced by the
symphonic works of his contemporary, Beethoven, must have felt insurmountable.The work has
two movements, the first marked Allegro moderato, and the second, Andante con moto. The
opening of the Allegro moderato is dark, with a theme in the unusual key of B minor (the key was
not often used for symphonies at the time) played by the oboe and clarinet. The secondary
melody is a well-known tune played by the cellos. There is a warmth and beauty in this section of
the movement that reflects Schubert’s talent for melody. The dramatic turns throughout the
movement allow Schubert to explore light and dark, gravity and playfulness. Schubert provides
contrast in the second movement with a slightly slower tempo and bright major tonality. At this
point, the clarinet presents a solo that again highlights Schubert’s ability to write beautiful melodic
lines. There is an artful delicacy in Schubert’s textures and harmonies.Who knows what might
have been if Schubert had completed the work as he had originally envisioned? he two completed
movements are more than enough to show that Schubert’s considerable gifts translated brilliantly
to the symphonic form.
Program notes by LACO
Rosamunde Overture, Franz Schubert
When Schubert was inspired, music took shape in his mind faster than his pen could move across
paper. And in his incidental music to the Romantic drama Rosamunde, Princess of Cypress he was
often inspired. He began composing on November 30, 1823, and finished on December 18, 1823,
two days before the premiere. Not much time was left to rehearse either the music or the
production's two ballets, and no time at all to compose an overture. In fact, Schubert never did
compose an overture. In fact Schubert never did compose an overture to Rosamunde. Instead, he
used an overture already composed for an earlier work. One of Schubert's close friends, the
famous Romantic painter Moritz von Schwind, describing the Rosamunde premiere to a mutual
friend, wrote that the Overture was taken from Schubert's opera, Alfonso and Estrella. But
Schwind's comments on the music do not fit the Overture to Alfonso and Estrella. On the other
hand, they do fit Schubert's Overture to an earlier "magic play" (Zauberstuck) called The Magic
Harp (Die Zauberharte). Add to this the fact that the Zauberharte Overture was published (in a
four-hand piano version) shortly before Schubert's death as the Overture to Rosamunde, and the
conclusion seems almost inescapable. It is the Zauberharte Overture that is customarily performed
today under the title of Overture to Rosamunde.
The drama Rosamunde. Princess of Cypress survived for exactly two performances. Even though
Schubert's music had been singled out by the Viennese press for high praise, it fell into obscurity
along with the play and was not brought to light again in its entirety until 1867, when Sir George
Grove, of dictionary fame, and his friend Sir Artur Sullivan made a joint expedition to Vienna for
the purpose of unearthing Schubert's still-neglected manuscripts. The two men were successful
beyond their wildest dreams, and in the booty they brought back to London were parts of
Schubert's Rosamunde music, which was performed, in London, for the first time since the
Viennese production of the drama.
Program notes by Edward DownesReturning to the Classics
Branden Muresan, Music Director & Conductor
Academic Festival Overture
Johannes Brahms
Romance No. 2 in F Major for Violin and
Orchestra
featuring Concertmaster Jessica Haddy
Ludwig van Beethoven
Intermission
Symphony No. 8 in B minor
Allegro moderato
Andante con moto
Franz Schubert
Rosamunde Overture
Franz SchubertSouthern California Philharmonic
Personnel
First Violin
Jessica Haddy *** Flute
Simeon Brown**
Betty Whyte *
Karen Harms**
Terry Blalock Randy Smith
Goran Ivanov
Mary Myers Oboe
Ken Parks
Kim Stephens-Doll Ann Ludwig *
Jim Eastmond Lisa Chattler
Albert Einstein Wu
Second Violin Bassoon
Juanita Jackson * John York*
Ana Varela** Theresa Harvey
Marjorie Criddle
Terri Garza
Clarinet
Gina Jacobs
Richard Kenyon Daryl Golden*
Dan Louie Matthew Caffrey
Beth McCormick
Matt Miamidiam Trumpet
Susan Teitelbaum Timothy Shevlin*
Viola Matt LaBelle
Michael Cleary* Horn
Joi Ciarletta ** Tod Beckett-Frank*
Roger Johnston Dan Tyler*
Jacqueline Su Roger Gottfried
Jan Larson Kathy Lowe
Cello Trombone
Chris McCarthy* W. James Winchell*
Peter Harvey ** Craig Chorbagian
Catherine Croisette John Lowe
Vivien Ide
Nancy Korb Martine Tuba
Korach Pauline Kevin Perez
Merry Jessica Ngo
Percussion
Bass
Greg Ozment*
Christopher Sterling Keith Buerger
David Blackington Shane Stever
Brian Slack
***Concert Master *Principal **Asst Principal
^Member SCP Brass Quintet
This concert is dedicated in loving memory to
SoCalPhil musician Gary Haendiges.
Gary, SoCalPhil will dearly miss you and your Tuba.
Rest in Peace, Friend.
Special thanks to the City of Anaheim for inviting
SoCalPhil to perform in the
Pearson Park Amphitheatre!THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
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