August 21, 2004
Saturday, 8:00 PM
Boston Esplanade Concert with Longwood Symphony Summer Orchestra,
Jonathan McPhee, conductor
Tina Ho, piano
       

Program

Copland      Fanfare for the Common Man

Holst           Suite for Orchestra

1. March

2. Scherzo

3. Intermezzo

4. March (No. 16)

Mozart      Piano Concerto No. 27 in Bb major

Intermission

McPhee     REMARKS

Bizet          Carmen Suite

Stravinsky  Finale from Firebird Suite (1919)

Sousa         Here’s to your Health

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Longwood Symphony Orchestra

The Longwood Symphony Orchestra was established in 1982 by members of the Harvard Medical School community. The dual mission of the LSO is to provide opportunities for advanced amateur musicians to strive for musical diversity and artistic excellence while supporting health-related nonprofit organizations through public performances.

In this way, the LSO utilizes music as a healing force to bring the community together. Thousands of people have benefited each year from LSO performances through its "Healing Art of Music" program. Since 1991, the orchestra has helped raise over $500,000 for the medically underserved, by performing every concert as a benefit for a medical charity in greater Boston. Today, the orchestra is 90 members strong. The orchestra ranks musically among the top community orchestras in Greater Boston.

The LSO performs four concerts in New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall during its regular concert season, drawing an average of 600-700 audience members per concert. There are two concerts in the fall and two in the spring. The orchestra also performs an open air concert every summer at the Hatch Memorial Shell on the Esplanade.

LSO is an orchestra of musicians playing at the highest level, dedicated to community service through music. All are artists; most are also scientists and humanists, living and working in the greater Boston area. Over half of LSO musicians work in the health sciences: this year, there are fifteen full-time physicians, eight research scientists, twelve medical students, four visiting physicians from Europe, two nurses, three physical therapists, a genetics counselor, and a chiropractor.

Guest artists of the Longwood Symphony are drawn from the rich community of internationally recognized artists that live in and around New England. They include violinists Lynn Chang, Irina Muresanu, and Vali Phillips; cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Clancy Newman, sopranos Joanna Porackova and Diana McVey; baritones Mark Aliapoulios and Stephen Salters, and pianists Dr. Richard Kogan, Hung-Kuan Chen and Randall Hodgkinson, among many others.

LSO’s Healing Art of Music program

In 1991, the LSO made a significant decision to make every concert a benefit for Boston’s medically underserved. For the LSO, collaboration with other nonprofit organizations is central to its mission. Each collaboration allows the Beneficiary to raise funds, using the concert as the centerpiece of a fundraising event specifically designed by that organization. At the same time, it expands the orchestra’s reputation and audience base in the community by introducing new audience members (the Beneficiary’s guests) to its concerts.

This decision followed the historic 1991 "Reverence for Life" symposium sponsored by the Albert Schweitzer Foundation that launched Boston’s Schweitzer Urban Fellows Program. The two-day event culminated in a performance in Jordan Hall featuring the Longwood Symphony and two musical humanists, violinist Lynn Chang and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

Dr. Albert Schweitzer, noted physician, organist, and Bach scholar, founded a hospital in Gabon, Africa that he funded through concert performances. Inspired by Schweitzer and his work, in 1991, the LSO committed itself to perform all of its concerts as benefits for health-related charitable organizations. Since then each concert has served to benefit a different organization in greater Boston. "The Healing Art of Music" program was born.

Prior to each season, along with deciding repertoire, the LSO Board and Music Director approve the four beneficiary organizations for the upcoming season. Any nonprofit organization with a medical or educational mission based in greater Boston may be considered, and new collaborations frequently arise from suggestions by an orchestra member or Trustee

JONATHAN MCPHEE has received critical acclaim for shaping the musical style and direction of the Boston Ballet Orchestra. In addition to his work at Boston Ballet, he is Music Director for Symphony by the Sea in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Mr. McPhee has conducted such renowned dance companies as the New York City Ballet, The Royal Ballet in London, The National Ballet of Canada, the Australian Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, The Joffrey Ballet and the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Among the esteemed orchestras he has conducted are the Hague Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, National Philharmonic Orchestra in London, Boston Pops, and the Bergen Philharmonic in Norway. Recent guest conducting appearances include Massenet's opera, Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame with Opera Boston and the Australian Ballet in Sydney.

Mr. McPhee's arrangements and compositions, published by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., are in the repertoires of ballet companies and orchestras around the world and have been recorded by several orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra. His editions of Stravinsky's Firebird and Rite of Spring are the only reduced orchestrations of these works authorized by the Stravinsky Estate.

Jonathan McPhee's recording of The Nutcracker with Boston Ballet Orchestra has currently sold over 55,000 copies. He has also recorded Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty and released their latest CD, Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet in 2004. An educational advocate for music and ballet, his work with WCRB Classical 102.5 on "Kids Classical Hour" resulted in a 1998 Gabriel Award. Mr. McPhee holds a B.M. and M.M. from The Juilliard School and an L.R.A.M. from the Royal Academy of Music in London, England.

Adding the directorship of the Longwood Symphony to his other charges will further broaden Mr. McPhee’s artistic contributions to the Boston community. "I have become increasingly aware of the need to give as much to the community in which I live as possible. In years past, I have spent anywhere from 10 to 30 weeks a year guest conducting away from home. Now, more than ever, with waning funding of the arts in our schools and elsewhere, I feel there is a real need for all of us in the professional arts community to invest our art in our own communities on all levels."

Ling-Ju, Kuo, piano

Born in Taipei, Ms. Kuo has won numerous awards as a pianist and horn player. She was a three-time champion at the Taipei City horn competition and a prize-winner at the Taipei County Piano Competitions. During college, she was active as a soloist, accompanist and an orchestral player. She premiered many compositions and frequently performed at the National Concert Hall in Taipei. She is currently studying as a master degree candidate under Prof. Lin Ming-Hui at the Normal University.


Summer Music Festival