{ Program Notes
with The Cleveland Orchestra, Washington National Symphony, the symphony
orchestras of Dallas, Houston, Atlanta
and Seattle and the National Arts Centre
Orchestra in Ottawa. In the same year, he
made his Australian debut with the West
Australian Symphony Orchestra, followed
by visits to the Melbourne and Sydney
symphony orchestras.
Highlights of the 2013–2014 season
include a major series of concerts with
the Philharmonia Orchestra devoted to
the music of Dvořák, Suk and Janáček,
which will be presented at the Royal
Festival Hall in London and elsewhere in
the UK; and debuts with the Los Angeles
Philharmonic, Vienna Radio Symphony
Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra,
Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and Finnish National
Opera (Jenůfa).
Jakub Hrůša studied conducting at
the Academy of Performing Arts in
Prague where his teachers included Jiří
Bělohlávek. He is currently president of
the International Martinů Circle.
Ste ve J . Sh er man
Jakub Hrůša is making his BSO debut.
André Watts
André Watts burst
upon the music world
at the age of 16 when
Leonard Bernstein
chose him to make his debut with the New
York Philharmonic in their Young People's
Concerts, broadcast nationwide on CBSTV. Only two weeks later, Bernstein asked
him to substitute at the last minute for the
ailing Glenn Gould in performances of
Liszt’s E-flat Concerto with the New York
Philharmonic, thus launching his career
in storybook fashion. More than 50 years
later, André Watts remains one of today's
most celebrated and beloved superstars.
A perennial favorite with orchestras
throughout the U.S., Mr. Watts is also
a regular guest at the major summer
music festivals including Ravinia, the
Hollywood Bowl, Saratoga, Tanglewood, Eastern Music and the Mann
Music Center. Recent and upcoming
32 O v ertur e |
www. bsomusic .org
engagements include appearances with
The Philadelphia Orchestra, the New
York and Los Angeles philharmonics, and
the St. Louis, Atlanta, Detroit, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Seattle
and National symphonies among others.
A much-honored artist who has played
before royalty in Europe and heads of
government in nations all over the world,
André Watts received a 2011 National
Medal of Arts, given by the President of
the United States to individuals who are
deserving of special recognition for their
outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support and availability
of the arts in the United States. In June
2006, he was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl of Fame to celebrate the 50th
anniversary of his debut and he is also the
recipient of the 1988 Avery Fisher Prize.
At age 26, Mr. Watts was the youngest
person ever to receive an honorary doctorate from Yale University and he has since
received numerous honors from highly
respected schools including the University
of Pennsylvania, Brandeis University, The
Juilliard School of Music and his alma
mater, the Peabody Conservatory of Johns
Hopkins University.
Previously artist-in-residence at the
University of Maryland, Mr. Watts was
appointed to the newly created Jack I. and
Dora B. Hamlin Endowed Chair in Music
at Indiana University in May 2004.
André Watts last appeared with the
BSO in May 2012, performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, with
Marin Alsop conducting.
About the concert:
Suite from The Cunning Little Vixen
Arranged by Sir Charles Mackerras
Leoš Janáček
Born in Hukvaldy, Moravia (now Czech
Republic), July 3, 1854; died in Moravská
Ostrava (now Czech Republic), August 12, 1928
Is there any less plausible subject for
a full-scale, three-act opera than Leoš
Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen?
Its Disney-esque plot centers on the life,
loves, and premature death of a young
female fox in the forests of Czechoslovakia,
as well as the other animals, both wild and
domestic, that interact with her. Yet since
its premiere in the composer’s home city of
Brno on November 6, 1924, this strange
yet enchanting concoction has gradually
become one of the most admired operas of
the 20th century.
The reason is not hard to discover: a
passionate nature lover, Janáček filled his
woodland tale with magical and stunningly original music that captures both
the earthiness and the mystery of the
natural world.
The origins of The Cunning Little Vixen
are as unconventional as the story itself. In
1920, Brno’s daily newspaper began
running a series of whimsical, somewhat
anthropomorphic illustrations of animals
by the artist Stanislav Lolek. They also
hired a local writer, Rudolf Tesnohlídek
to create a storyline to accompany the
drawings, and this series, running to 51 installments, became a huge popular success.
Reportedly, Janáček became interested in
it when he heard his housemaid laughing
over it in the kitchen one morning; she
suggested, half jokingly, that this might be
a good subject for an opera.
Early in 1922, the composer created
his own libretto based on several key
episodes of the cartoon series and then
wrote the score over the next two years.
But he added a depth and grandeur to his
treatment scarcely imagined by Lolek and
Tesnohlídek. While retaining the naïve
charm of his animals (the leading roles are
performed by adult singers, the smallest creatures by young children), he also
included human characters — a Gamekeeper, a Schoolmaster, a Poacher, and
a Parson—whose lives and psyches are
entangled with the animals and especially
with the Vixen herself.
Initially, the humans are represented
as the enemies of the animals; in the first
act, the Gamekeeper (the opera’s central
human character) captures the Vixen as a
little cub and keeps her