Hartford Symphony Orchestra

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Katie Bonner, Marketing and Public Relations Associate
Office: (860) 246-8742 ext. 317, Email: kbonner@hartfordsymphony.org

Edward Cumming Leads Program of Mendelssohn & Bartók (plus a “Surprise” from Haydn!)

HARTFORD, December 15, 2010 – Violin prodigy Sirena Huang will return for her third performance with the HSO on Thursday, January 6 – Sunday, January 9, 2011 in the Belding Theater at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts. Led by Music Director Edward Cumming, Ms. Huang will perform Mendelssohn’s dazzling Violin Concerto in E minor. This program will also feature Bartók’s Divertimento for Strings, Haydn’s cunning “Surprise” Symphony, and a special New Year’s celebratory encore led by Maestro Cumming.

Sirena Huang says, “I remember that the first concert that I’ve ever attended was an HSO concert in The Bushnell when I was 5. I literally have grown up listening to this orchestra and every time I play with them, it feels like coming home. It is such an honor and a thrill to have the privilege of playing with HSO. It really is an inspiring experience to work with not only an amazing orchestra, but to interact with the members that have helped me grow both as a musician and as a person.”

This program will open with Bartók’s lively Divertimento for Strings, whose restless melodies capture the unsettled political situation of Bartók’s Hungarian homeland in the late 1930’s. Next, guest violinist Sirena Huang will take the stage to perform Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor. “The first time I learned this concerto was when I was eight years old,” says Ms. Huang. “Throughout the years, I have been able to perform this concerto numerous times and each performance, I have been able to discover and experience something new from the piece. During the past few years, my playing has become more mature and I’m able to understand the music in much deeper sense. Now when I play this piece, I feel like I can approach it on a different level and that’s always very exciting for me.”

After intermission, Edward Cumming will lead the HSO in a performance of Joseph Haydn’s “Surprise” Symphony, whose “surprise” is a sudden blaring chord that strikes suddenly in the middle of a solemn, quiet string passage. At the time of its premiere, this special effect was a novelty that knocked people out of their seats; today, this symphony’s blend of popular tunes and superb compositional technique still enthrall (and perhaps surprise) listeners at all levels of sophistication.

Hailed as the “first real virtuoso from the text-message generation” by the Hartford Courant, fifteen-year-old violinist Sirena Huang was the First Prize Gold Medalist of the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in June, 2009. Ms. Huang came to the HSO’s rescue last season when a previously scheduled guest artist was detained in Europe due to the Icelandic volcanic ash crisis. She made her HSO debut in April 2009 with a performance of Bruch’s First Violin Concerto under the direction of guest conductor Julian Kuerti. Other major achievements include First Place at the Aspen Music Festival Violin Competition, First Prize in the “Remember Enescu” International Violin Competition, Third Prize in the Wieniawski International Competition, and Second Place in the triennial International Louis Spohr Competition, in which she became the youngest ever contestant and prize winner in that competition’s history. Ms. Huang lives in South Windsor, CT and currently a junior at the Loomis Chaffee School.

CALENDAR LISTING:

HSO MASTERWORKS SERIES: MENDELSSOHN’S VIOLIN CONCERTO
with Edward Cumming, music director; Sirena Huang, violin

Thursday, January 6, 2011 │ 7:30 p.m.
Friday, January 7, 2011 │ 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 8, 2011 │ 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, January 9, 2011 │ 3:00 p.m.

Belding Theater │ The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts

Maestro Cumming will lead a pre-concert chat one hour before each performance.

Program: Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor; Béla Bartók: Divertimento for String Orchestra; Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 94 in G Major, “Surprise””; Johann Strauss II: Pizzicato Polka; Béla Bartók: Rumanian Dances

Ticket Information: Tickets range in price from $30-$62. Student tickets are $10. To purchase tickets or for more information, please contact HSO ticket services at (860) 244-2999 or visit www.hartfordsymphony.org.

These concerts are presented in part by the Koski Memorial Fund, which was established by Sylvia Koski to honor her late husband, Edward Koski. The Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s 2010-2011 season is sponsored by St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center. The 2010-2011 Masterworks Series is presented by MetLife Foundation and The Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation. The Hartford Symphony Orchestra receives major support from the Greater Hartford Arts Council, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, and the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Katie Bonner, Public Relations Coordinator
Office: (860) 246-8742 ext. 317, Email: kbonner@hartfordsymphony.org

Featuring performances by Hartford Chorale, Connecticut Children’s Chorus, Vocal Soloists, Dancers from the Hartt Community Division, and more!

HARTFORD, December 15, 2010 – The Hartford Chorale will once again join the HSO for Hartford’s beloved winter tradition: the HSO Holiday POPS! Spectacular on Saturday, December 18, 2010 at 3:00 and 8:00 p.m. at Mortensen Hall at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts. Music Director Edward Cumming will take audiences through a Yule-tide adventure with Santa and Rudolph, while featuring music from The Nutcracker with ballet dancers from the Hartt Community Division; a Holiday sing-along with the Hartford Chorale and Connecticut Children’s Chorus; a breathtaking performance of O Holy Night by guest soprano Tessa Romano; as well as an assortment of festive carols and seasonal favorites including “Sleigh Ride,” “Let it Snow,” “Slalom,” and more! As an added treat, audience members will get the chance to vote via text-messaging to select one of the pieces on the program.

The Hartford Chorale, under the direction of Richard Coffey, is the primary symphonic chorus of the
Greater Hartford community, particularly in its critically acclaimed collaborations with the Hartford
Symphony Orchestra. Through such collaborations and with other organizations, the Chorale seeks to
reach and inspire the widest possible audience with exceptional performances of a broad range of choral literature, including renowned choral masterpieces.

The Connecticut Children’s Chorus (CCC), under the direction of Stuart Younse, is the Hartford region’s
most comprehensive youth chorus program and a division of the Hartt School Community Division. CCC
continues to thrive as our region’s premiere children’s chorus, boasting performance invitations with the
region’s best professional ensembles and provides strength and excellence in training Connecticut’s
youngest talented voices. Past activities have included performances with the Hartt Opera, CONCORA,
and the Nashville Children’s Chorus.

The Hartt Community Division of the University of Hartford is a comprehensive community arts school
providing instruction in music and dance for individuals of all ages and experience levels. It is a division of The Hartt School, one of the seven colleges of the University of Hartford. One of the largest schools of its kind, the Community Division is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Community and Pre-
College Art Schools, is an active member of National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, and is
viewed as a national model for community schools based on university campuses.

CALENDAR LISTING:

HSO POPS! SERIES: HOLIDAY POPS! SPECTACULAR
with Edward Cumming, music director; The Hartford Chorale: Richard Coffey, artistic director;
Connecticut Children’s Chorus: Stuart Younse, director; Tessa Romano, soprano; Akemi Hisa, Emily Zaturski & Elizabeth Grande, dancers

Saturday, December 18, 2010, 3:00 & 8:00 p.m.
Mortensen Hall, The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts

Program: Holiday favorites including: White Christmas, Silent Night, Let it Snow, Winter Wonderland,
selections from The Nutcracker, Slalom, Sleigh Ride, A Holly Jolly Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nosed
Reindeer, and more!

Ticket Information: Single tickets range in price from $30-$62. Student tickets are $10. To purchase
tickets or for more information, please contact HSO ticket services at (860) 244-2999 or visit
www.hartfordsymphony.org.

The Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s 2010-2011 season is sponsored by St. Francis Hospital and Medical
Center. The 2010-2011 POPS! series is presented by United Technologies Corporation. The Hartford
Symphony Orchestra receives major support from the Greater Hartford Arts Council, the Hartford
Foundation for Public Giving, and the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism.

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See it online at courant.com
The Hartford Courant

12:57 PM EST, December 3, 2010

The Hartford Symphony Orchestra concluded the public phase of its search for a new music director as Carolyn Kuan took the podium to lead the Hartford Symphony at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts Thursday.

Kuan showed us three very different sounds during the course of the evening.

The program opened with the fifth movement of the suite for orchestra by Samuel Barber called “Medea.” This was a tasty choice. It was the first time the HSO has performed this particular work, and it was a treat to hear it live. Kuan conducted from memory and moved the music with elegance through its complex emotional transformations.

Local pianist Alexander Beyer joined the orchestra as soloist in the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1. Beyer is a sensation. He is 17, a junior at Fairfield Warde High School, but already has begun to distinguish himself on the national scene.

Beyer has a formidable technique. He projected powerful sound and played with commendable accuracy. But even more exciting was his ability to listen deeply into the orchestra, to interact with the diverse orchestral soloists of the Tchaikovsky concerto, and to shape passages with clever ideas about phrasing and articulation. Beyer has technical fluency and great musical instincts. He was greeted with a thunderous standing ovation that lasted through three calls.

After intermission we heard the Mozart Symphony No. 40 in G minor. Though the smaller Mozart orchestra took some getting used to after the huge sound of the first half of the program, this was a creative choice.

There is no place to hide in the music of Mozart. A conductor also needs to play a different kind of role in preparing and presenting this kind of repertoire. Kuan rose to the challenge and gave us Mozart that sounded engaged and confident; just what was needed in a work where anxiety seems hidden everywhere.

Kuan again conducted from memory, and though the work is extremely familiar, it is still adventurous to conduct an orchestra from memory when one is still getting to know the ensemble. This method allowed her unbroken contact with the musicians.

Kuan led a dramatic reading that was full of energy. This score revealed that she is a situational conductor. Her interests and gestures changed significantly during musical repeats, and the orchestra brought forward differing shades and angles of sound. Kuan has ideas.

The second movement showed that she can develop and maintain dance energy in the orchestra. She conducted the third movement quickly, and the imitative writing sizzled. She emphasized the sunnier moments in this music of deep concern, and there were several passages that spoke with wonderful sensitivity.

Kuan was born in Taiwan and came to the United States when she was 14 to attend high school in Northfield Mount Hermon in Western Massachusetts. After that she attended Smith College.

She has worked with an impressive list of organizations that include the Seattle Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Baltimore Symphony and New York City Ballet, and she has been a part of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in New York since 2003. She has also worked outside the U.S. with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Yucatán.

On Thursday, Kuan showed an ability to lead three diverse musical styles. She has intensity, humor and insight. She created a powerful impression and established herself as a serious contender in the search for the HSO’s next music director.

Carolyn Kuan again leads the HSO tonight at 7:30, Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. A pre-concert talk begins an hour before each performance. Alexander Beyer is the featured pianist. The program includes: Barber Selection from “Mede,” Ballet Suite, Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 and Mozart’s Symphony No. 40. Tickets are $33.50 to $68.50, $13.50 for students, $23.50 for those younger than 40 (limited availability, Saturday only). Information: 860-244-2999 or http://www.hartfordsymphony.org.

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The Hartford Courant
November 28, 2010

The public-involved search for a Hartford Symphony Orchestra music director to succeed Edward Cumming has proved to be surprisingly popular. Audiences have discovered that the orchestra sounds very different with each of the finalists, and debate about which would be the best conductor has been heated. The choice will be announced in January.

After more than a year, this public part of the search process will come to a close when the final candidate, Carolyn Kuan, conducts the orchestra Thursday through next Sunday.

“You probably don’t know,” Kuan says, “but going to Hartford feels very much like going home for me.”

Kuan was born in Taiwan but came to the United States by herself at age 14 to attend Northfield Mount Hermon School in western Massachusetts. After that she attended Smith College in Holyoke, Mass. “Bradley International Airport was my airport for eight years,” says Kuan, 33.

If chosen to lead the HSO, she intends to move to Hartford. “Music directors have to be a part of the community,” she says, “You have to get to know the place. If you don’t know your community, how do you know what they need? How can you effect change?”

Kuan has worked with an impressive list of organizations that include the Seattle Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Baltimore Symphony and New York City Ballet, and she has been a part of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in New York since 2003. She has also with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Yucatán.

Her work has taught her many things about how symphonies can be innovative. “One of the reasons I am very excited about [the Hartford Symphony],” says Kuan, “is that I feel like if we work together, this orchestra can be a leader and a model of the new 21st-century orchestra: a highly relevant and change-effecting organization. We are entering an engaged and participatory time. The Hartford Symphony Orchestra has the flexibility to become an orchestra of the 21st century.”

“For example,” Kuan asked, “can an orchestra address awareness of something like global warming? What if we do a series of concerts that focus somehow on these issues?”

Through collaboration with other local organizations, the HSO could become “a focal point where people can learn and participate,” she said. Kuan has been involved with ideas like this before, such as her work with the multimedia production “Life: A Journey through Time,” with music by Philip Glass and images by photographer Frans Lanting.

“But also,” says Kuan of her more traditional programming inclinations, “if I know I am going to close the season with Mahler 5, why not play some music that informed Mahler 5. Beethoven 5 impacted the way Mahler thought of his own work; Tchaikovsky 5th also. And perhaps the music of Bernstein, who reinvented Mahler. It comes back to the idea of engaging an audience who cares deeply about classical music. You are not just engaging them only through individual concerts but through an entire series of concerts.”

Kuan is interested in having audiences read the entire book, rather than only random chapters. “You are then adding to people’s lives,” she says. “Audiences today are craving something more.”

Her program in December will feature music by three great melodicists: Samuel Barber, Tchaikovsky and Mozart.

“Medea,” from Barber’s Medea suite, uses gestures that complement the Mozart G minor symphony, and the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1, to be played by the exciting young pianist Alexander Beyer, is as tuneful as it is virtuosic and dramatic.

The program will close with the Mozart Symphony in G minor; one of the most popular classical works. “Several audience members will likely have the opening tune as their ring tone,” says Kuan. “But because the piece is so well known, people don’t realize how shocking and how deeply moving it actually is. The opening motive, with its minor seconds, is based on a motive of grief.”

“Mozart is creating something quite new, explained Kuan. “He is approaching sound differently. It is as if he was already peeking into romanticism. There is a famous passage that opens the development of the finale, which contains every note of the chromatic scale expect for G, which is the key of the movement.”

It is a challenge to make the chamber-music quality of this score come across in live performance.

“In many ways,” says Kuan, “Mozart is actually more difficult than something like Mahler, in that Mahler is very particular about tempo markings, dynamic markings. There are even footnotes and long, lengthy explanations about how exactly he heard the music in his head.

“But when you come to something like Mozart, there is hardly any information from Mozart. So even with the dynamics, there is piano and forte. How do you get from piano to forte? How do you get from forte to piano? What tempo do you take? Tempi in Mozart are heavily debated by scholars.”

“For us, says Kuan, “it is really trying to figure out how each of the phrases needs to go, because if you just play through it …it’s not what Mozart wanted. You really have to have an opinion on how you want it to go, and translate that to the musicians. Mozart is one of the most difficult composers to play well. I am looking forward to it.

“Through these three pieces,” says Kuan, “we will get to know one another really well.”

CAROLYN KUAN conducts the Hartford Symphony Orchestra Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and Dec. 5 at 3 p.m. A pre-concert talk begins an hour before each performance. Alexander Beyer is the feature pianist. The program includes: Barber Selection from Medea, Ballet Suite; Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 and Mozart’s Symphony No. 40. Tickets are $33.50 to $68.50, $13.50 for students, $23.50 for under 40 (limited availability, Saturday only). Information: 860-244-2999 or http://www.hartfordsymphony.org.

This “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday”, HSO stands for Holiday Savings Opportunity

HARTFORD, November 23, 2010

Patrons may buy 2 adult tickets for the price of 1 for the Hartford Symphony Orchestra performances listed below, when purchased online at www.hartfordsymphony.org or by phone at 860-244-2999 on Friday, 11/26 and Monday, 11/29 ONLY.* Regular priced tickets range from $30 to $70 each. Concerts take place at The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford.

• Tchaikovsky’s Passionate Piano Concerto, Thursday 12/2/2010, 7:30pm
• Tchaikovsky’s Passionate Piano Concerto, Sunday, 12/5/2010, 3pm
• Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, Thursday, 1/6/2011, 7:30pm
• Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, Sunday, 1/9/2011, 3pm
• Valentine’s Romance including Elgar’s Cello Concerto, Thursday, 2/10/2011, 7:30pm
• Valentine’s Romance including Elgar’s Cello Concerto, Sunday, 2/13/2011, 3pm
• Love Is All You Need: A Celebration of the Sixties, Saturday, 2/26/2011, 8pm

Share the joy of live music this holiday season. HSO tickets make great gifts!

To purchase discounted tickets:

• Online at www.hartfordsymphony.org, Friday, 11/26, 12:01am to 11:59pm and Monday, 11/29, 12:01am to 11:59pm; please enter the promotion code HOLIDAY at the “My Basket” screen after selecting seats.

• By phone at 860-244-2999 or in person at 99 Pratt St., 5th Floor in Hartford, Friday, 11/26, 10am to 2pm (note early closing time) and Monday, 11/29, 10am to 5pm.; please mention the promotion code HOLIDAY

*The offer of two adult tickets for the price of one is available for selected performances when purchased on selected days as noted above, while supplies last. Prices do not include The Bushnell facility fees or HSO handling fees. Offer cannot be combined with any other promotion or discount. Offer is not available on previously purchased tickets. No refunds or exchanges.

The Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s 2010-2011 season is sponsored by St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center. The 2010-2011 Masterworks Series is presented by MetLife Foundation and The Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation. The 2011 POPS! Series is presented by United Technologies. The Hartford Symphony Orchestra receives major support from the Greater Hartford Arts Council, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, and the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism.

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The Hartford Courant

12:20 PM EDT, November 5, 2010

The Hartford Symphony Orchestra continued its 2010-2011 Masterworks Series in the Belding Theater, at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford Thursday with a program that featured guest conductor and music director candidate Marcelo Lehninger leading the orchestra.

Lehninger was quiet and unassuming during his preconcert talk. He gave simple overviews of the pieces then answered questions. He was relaxed and he projected warmness.

But his musical persona was commanding and precise. Lehninger has ideas. His rhythmic sense is enchanting, and his stick technique is extremely varied and non-repetitive. He projected clear subdivisions that allowed the orchestra to voice figuration, even within rubato, with incredible precision. The Hartford Symphony Orchestra sounded different from the way they sounded with any other conducting candidate we have heard so far. It is a sound that is full of potential.

Lehninger began the program with the Fantasy-Overture to Romeo and Juliet by Tchaikovsky. He led a detailed, carefully wrought performance that projected quiet and focused textures. This tendency made the loud passages in the fighting music and other climactic writing seem powerful and resonant.

The syncopations that fuel the development had edge and carried us steadily toward scorching string playing as we entered the recapitulation. Collisions between the famous love music and the fighting music were handled with perfectly spliced attitudes, and the piece ended in delicacy and lightness.

Soprano Christina Pier joined the orchestra as soloist in the rarely played Shéhérazade written by Ravel. These three songs lie low in the voice and are more frequently sung by mezzo sopranos. Pier was up to the significant challenges of this music and has a gorgeous voice. But while there were effective passages her focus was too often directed into her score to make proper contact with us in these deeply personal texts.

Lehninger once again broke out a compendium of subdivisions and patterns and gave this elusive music a solid rhythmic foundation for the orchestra to expand upon; and once again they sounded great. This work by Ravel is about half-shades and shadow, and this was a convincing performance.

After intermission we heard Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. This extremely familiar work is something of a concerto for orchestra, not only because almost every instrument has stunningly beautiful solos, but also that the solos are completely exposed. It is also something of a concerto for conductor, because it has many tempo changes and rubato through tricky rhythms — in the wrong hands the work can quickly become a mess.

Lehninger had more surprises for us. He conducted the third movement without baton, using both hands to shape the sound in caresses. He used a lovely motion with both hands to allow the final sound of the third movement to dissolve in the open air. He took a fast tempo in the finale and the orchestra responded with thrilling precision. The performance showed how chamber music and orchestral playing can integrate.

Leonid Sigal played the solo violin lines that seem to narrate the atmosphere of the work with tenderness and fire as needed. He set the stage for inspired solo playing —bassoon, flute, clarinet, oboe, the entire brass section, percussion, and harp — all sounded fabulous. There were so many effective solos that it was hard to choreograph all the bows that were deserved at the close of the work.

Lehninger conducted with logic and passion. His style was not flamboyant but the music he produced sounded young and vibrant. He showed us three very different musical styles impressing each time.
The program ended in ovation. Lehninger has the unusual combination of experience, youth and musical potential. He could lead this orchestra.

MARCELO LEHNINGER conducts the Hartford Symphony Orchestra Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m. and Sunday at 7:30 p.m.at the Belding Theater in the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford. Pre-concert talks begin one hour before performance. Tickets are $35.50 to $65.50. Bargain alert: There are $55 tickets available for $20 for patrons 40 and younger for Saturday’s concert. Information: 860-244-2999 and http://www.hartfordsymphonyorchestra.org.

By OWEN MCNALLY, Special to The Courant
November 14, 2010

Although still a rookie on the local music scene, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s hard-swinging “Jazz and Strings Series” is batting 1.000 in its first three performances.

So far in its short life, the series has gone three-for-three, with tribues to Charlier Parker, Ella Fitzgerald and an homage to Stan Getz last summer before thousands of cheering fans at the Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz in Hartford’s Bushnell Park.

These “recreations” of the original albums have fused the HSO’s core string section with soloists with strong Hartford ties: Alto saxophonist Kris Allen was cast as Parker, tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm was Getz and vocalist Shawnn Monteiro was Ella.

Next up is alto saxophonist Sue Terry, a longtime Hartford favorite, in a tribute to the legendary saxophonist Art Pepper’s celebrated “Winter Moon” album Saturday at 8 p.m. at Hartford’s Immanuel Congregational Church.

“I love the concept of the project. I really believe that jazz and classical elements should get together more often because both traditions are so amazingly rich,” Terry says by phone from her home studio in rural Pennsylvania.

With its happy blend of classical strings with a top jazz soloist and a swinging rhythm section, the series pays tribute to the finest and most famous jazz albums done in the popular “jazz-with-strings” format.
For the homage to Pepper, Terry’s teammates include 14 classical string players tapped from the HSO.
These symphonic players mix and match their classical timbres and lush textures with an all-star jazz rhythm section comprised of pianist Walter Gwardyak, double bassist Rick Rozie and drummer Gene Bozzi. Also on deck is guest guitarist Spencer Reed.

Bozzi, the founder and artistic director of the new series, is the HSO’s principal timpanist. Rozie, who like his friend Bozzi moves easily between jazz and classical music, is the HSO’s principal bassist.

Gwardyak, who performs often with HSO, writes the invaluable string arrangements. Working from transcriptions of the original charts for the classic albums — a demanding process that requires great ears and mental endurance — Gwardyak maintains the collective essence of these venerable jazz-with-strings recordings.

Terry, a versatile musician and Wilton native who honed her chops at The Hartt School and in Hartford jazz spots in the late 1970s and early ’80s, is the perfect pick as a proper Pepper surrogate, especially so because both she and Pepper share the same original source of inspiration, the legendary alto saxophonist, Charlie Parker (1920-1955). Although a couple generations apart, both Terry and Pepper (1925-1982) were profoundly inspired by Parker’s emotionally searing, sophisticated style.

Although Terry has honed her original voice on alto and followed a variety of creative paths, Bird’s passion for freedom, fervent physical playing and soaring imagination is still embedded in the Connecticut native’s musical DNA.

Pepper was not one of Terry’s early influences. It was saxophonist Jackie McLean (1931-2006), her future mentor, who seized her imagination early on.

As a teenager, McLean was not only Bird’s hand-picked protégé, but also his close friend and running mate on the explosive bebop scene in the Big Apple in the 1940s through the mid-50s.

McLean sparked Terry’s imagination early on, one of her prime formative inspirations that, among others, also included studies with the great pianist and master jazz pedagogue, John Mehegan.

Once Terry got deep into her father’s collection and began buying her own albums, she became hooked on McLean’s unique, haunting sound and fluent phrasing. By the time Terry was in high school, she had decided that she wanted to spend her college years studying with McLean at The University of Hartford’s Hartt School.

At that time, however, McLean’s still relatively new jazz program was still running as a non-degree offering at Hartt.

“Hartt, back then, wouldn’t accept me as a saxophone major,” she says. “So I applied as a classical clarinet major and got in that way.”

“I ended up studying classical clarinet for my first year before I could finally switch to a major in saxophone and had Jackie as my teacher,” she says.

In 1982, Terry became the first jazz major to graduate from The Hartt School. Now a nationally acclaimed degree program, the program has been renamed The Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz.

While attending classes at Hartt and studying with McLean, Terry was jamming by night in jazz clubs across the city.

Despite all those late nights, she kept up her academic studies and graduated cum laude. In 2001, The Hartt School named her Alumna of the Year.

Since first stepping into the maelstrom of the New York jazz scene in the early 1980s, Terry has appeared on more than 40 recordings as a sideperson, leader or co-leader. On her new, elegant album, “The Art of the Duo” (Estrella Music), she collaborates with the noted pianist Peggy Stern.

A first-call musician, Terry has played and recorded with a host of luminaries ranging from Jaki Byard to Charli Persip; toured internationally and performed frequently in such venues as The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City.

Free jazz, bop, blues, ballads, classical, pop, Latin, funk and Haitian dance music are just some of the genres she’s fluent in on alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet and flutes, including wooden and clay flutes.

Besides making her mark as a classically and jazz-trained multi-instrumentalist, Terry also has found success as a composer, arranger, lyricist, educator, bandleader, author of a series of saxophone instruction books, a sometime singer and columnist for Jazz Inside Magazine.

Terry, whose childhood ambition was to become a writer, also writes a humorous blog whose witty, free-wheeling style evokes Woody Allen, David Sedaris and Nora Ephron. See: http://www.sueterry.net.
Looking forward to the HSO date, she has many good memories of performing as a jazz soloist with the National Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the New York Pops.

“I look forward to playing with strings, and always love returning to Hartford. To have a real history with a place like Hartford is very cool,” she says.

HSO’s “Jazz and Strings,” with guest artist Sue Terry on alto saxophone, presents its tribute to Art Pepper’s album, “Winter Moon” Saturday at 8 p.m. at Immanuel Congregational Church, 10 Woodland St., Hartford. Selections from “Winter Moon” and originals by Terry will be performed. Advance tickets for preferred seating are $40; general admission advance, $20. At the door: $45 preferred seating; general admission, $25. Students: $10. Information and advance purchase: HSO tickets services at 860-244-2999 and http://www.hartfordsymphony.org.

HARTFORD, November 5, 2010 – As a gift to the city of Hartford, musicians from the Hartford Symphony Orchestra will perform two free community concerts this holiday season.  On Sunday, November 28, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. the Rosewood Chamber Ensemble, comprised of HSO flutist Barbara Hopkins and guitarist Judy Handler, will perform “Dances of Early America” at the main branch of the Hartford Public Library and on Sunday, December 12, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. the HSO French Horn Quartet, featuring Barbara Hill, Emery Tapley, Hilary Ledebuhr and Andrew Spearman, will tell the story of the French Horn “Inside Out” at the New Britain Museum of American Art.

HSO MUSICAL DIALOGUES: DANCES OF EARLY AMERICA
with the Rosewood Chamber Ensemble: Barbara Hopkins, flute & Judy Handler, guitar
Sunday, November 28, 2010│ 3:00 p.m.
Hartford Public Library (Main Street, Hartford)
Ticket Information: Free Admission.  For more information, please contact the HSO education and community outreach department at (860) 246-8742 x.328 or visit www.hartfordsymphony.org.
“Dances of Early America” will teach listeners about music of the era between the early nineteenth century and the Civil War. Some pieces will be familiar to listeners; other works have been located in museums and historical societies around New England. Ms. Hopkins will perform on four different restored historical flutes, changing instruments depending on the demands of each piece of music.  Together, Ms. Hopkins and Ms. Handler will share the stories and history behind the soundtrack of early America.

HSO MUSICAL DIALOGUES: FRENCH HORNS INSIDE OUT
with the HSO French Horn Quartet: Barbara Hill, Emery Tapley, Hilary Ledebuhr and Andrew Spearman
Sunday, December 12, 2010│ 1:00 p.m.
New Britain Museum of American Art
Ticket Information: Free Admission.  For more information, please contact the HSO education and community outreach department at (860) 246-8742 x.328 or visit www.hartfordsymphony.org.
The HSO horn quartet will lead the audience through the unique story of the French horn: an instrument that began by making outdoor hunting calls and gradually worked its way inside the concert hall to become one of the orchestra’s most distinguished instruments.  The quartet will take turns narrating the story of the French horn, inviting questions and discussion from the audience.

The Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s 2010-2011 season is sponsored by St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center. The 2010-2011 Musical Dialogues Series is made possible by a generous grant from the Travelers Foundation.  The Hartford Symphony Orchestra receives major support from the Greater Hartford Arts Council, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, and the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism.

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