00:00:09.060 - 00:00:24.600

Unknown: And it's really wonderful because I've done this for 10 years now 10 of the almost 40 years of the festival. So I recognize everyone, and I know how excited you are right now. And that's a real pleasure for me to know. And it's a real

00:00:24.600 - 00:00:38.850

reward for me to know that. So, with that little introduction, I'll turn the microphone over to Ellen, who will introduce our my strong welcome for me as well. And I'm permet, co director of the

00:00:38.850 - 00:00:55.440

festival. It's really fun to be at this moment, threshold of at all, and it's especially an honor to introduce one of America's greatest conductors of our time. And that's Marin Allsop, who we're really, really honored to have as our music

00:00:55.440 - 00:01:27.840

director and conductor. Cabrillo Music Festival. I just made a little joke. Um, hi. It's nice to see everyone. This is one of my favorite things to do to say hello, and welcome you and to tell you a little bit about not only

00:01:27.840 - 00:01:45.600

tonight. Actually, I really just like to watch while eating. It's kind of fun. But reminds me of those. Those days in the clubs. When I play in clubs. No. Anyway, um, so the the festival I think it'll be wonderful. We're, we're especially excited

00:01:45.600 - 00:02:00.930

about the program tonight. After last year and doing the mass. One of the most important elements I think that that I came away with was the sense of community and the feeling that comes from collaborating with so many talented people from

00:02:00.960 - 00:02:17.130

outside the community, the members of the orchestra from within the community, members of the chorus, dancers and it was so much fun that we all decided we do something else again. And here we are this year and we have our wonderful chorus is

00:02:17.130 - 00:02:32.880

back and Milton Williams has been working with them and they sound terrific. And we even making them dance this year. And the dancers have been put together dancers from the community by Maria basil and basil basil. I'm not sure I

00:02:32.940 - 00:02:48.450

barzilay She's good. That's good. She's Italian Mike's help me. And of course, we have a wonderful cast of soloists, and we couldn't have done it without the beautiful set that's been designed. Matthew, I don't know if he's out here. He There he is

00:02:48.450 - 00:03:06.870

right there. And also, oh, look, there we go. And fabulous direction by this gentleman here to my right, Mike's groleau. And I thought we'd tell you yes. Well, you haven't seen it yet, but you will clap. And I thought we'd just talk a little bit

00:03:06.870 - 00:03:21.270

about the Copeland since this is the only opera that Copeland wrote the only full length opera. And I thought I'd tell you a little bit about the history of it and how it came to be. And Mike can jump in any time. Because this was

00:03:21.270 - 00:03:35.940

originally conceived of as an opera for television. It was sort of a novel idea in the 50s You know, when television was still kind of a unique medium. And I guess that's when they could put opera on, you know, network television, and but

00:03:35.940 - 00:03:51.810

somehow it fell through so it never worked out just like it does these days. And so Copeland when the opera was premiered, it obviously wasn't a full length an entire evening. So at its premiere, they coupled it with Amal and the night visitors and

00:03:51.810 - 00:04:07.050

so Copeland I guess they wanted to sell a few tickets. So So Copeland Yeah, we're gonna do mass after No, I'm just kidding. So, Copeland went back and revised it so that that would never happen again. So now it's a full evening, and we couldn't

00:04:07.050 - 00:04:18.960

squeeze anything else into the evening. But Mike, maybe you want to share with them some of your insights into the opera. And I mean, jump in. Well, one of the things that that intrigued me so much when I

00:04:18.960 - 00:04:30.690

was asked to do the piece was that I had mentioned to a number of friends that I was going to be doing tend to land this summer. And everybody kind of looked at me and said, Why are you bothering? It's such a simple piece. nobody's really

00:04:30.690 - 00:04:44.520

interested in it. And that intrigued me. So I immediately got my hands on a recording that actually features two of the principles that you'll be hearing tonight, Doug Webster and milagrow Vargas who were both just wonderful, and got my

00:04:44.520 - 00:04:58.470

hands on a score and started studying the piece and just found this to be not only a wonderful slice of Americana, but a piece that has so many levels that I immediately felt had not been tapped at all. So, for me, it was a great

00:04:58.470 - 00:05:14.670

opportunity, I think to come in and and see what we could actually do with the piece marin assembled an amazing group of people for me to work with that have really brought the stream about one of the first things that matthew and i had discussed

00:05:14.850 - 00:05:28.110

was that we wanted it to have a very cinematic approach so that we could do a lot of different scenes happening simultaneously one of the first things i've noticed while working on the score is that there are a lot of these little intimate scenes and

00:05:28.110 - 00:05:41.400

i didn't feel like it all just take place in the one set that you would normally have to work with in a regular proscenium stage with curtain so matthew and i talked about this and worked out as you will see this evening a set that allows us to

00:05:41.400 - 00:05:58.140

be in two different rooms of the house in the yard of the farm in the barn on a road near the farm just some wonderful wonderful images that we've been able to to work with so hopefully we we found some more of the layers than just the idea of the basic

00:05:58.140 - 00:06:12.570

story which is of the younger laurie on the eve of her graduation from high school basic coming of age story and her relationship with her mother and grandfather and sister and how their lives are turned upside down by two drifters that

00:06:12.690 - 00:06:27.570

come into town i think from the from the set and also from the story the the beauty of the opera to me is that it combines a very very personal very simple story that everyone can relate to you know

00:06:27.570 - 00:06:42.870

about trying to separate from your family and move on to the inside and out into the world with some very big ideas also and the set does that and i think mike's direction does that also you get a sense i hope you'll feel it too when you go

00:06:42.870 - 00:07:02.610

in the hall that the hall seems about at least twice as big as it usually does because of the perspective of the distance so copeland's trying to write music that is on one hand can express this wide open expansiveness of in beauty of america but also he

00:07:02.610 - 00:07:22.800

wants to write something that's very intimate and very personal and i think throughout the music the staging the lyrics the acting you'll you'll sense this also that's our principal arriving now no just kidding and also i hope you'll be be moved

00:07:22.800 - 00:07:39.510

by the music itself it's it's not just very tonal there there are also some very angular places i think to express the agitation and the the conflict that she's feeling about leaving home and also the threat of going out into the world to me

00:07:39.510 - 00:07:54.030

the strangers represent the world outside of the farm and and is it can you trust the world and can you not and what what is real and what's what's not sincere about them so um i hope all of these things come through tonight i think

00:07:54.240 - 00:08:10.110

everyone's done a fabulous job of the cast is really extraordinary and we're trying to dream up some for next year so we're taking ideas i'm trying to get chris ross to write an opera now just is chris here i did want to welcome our composer

00:08:10.380 - 00:08:25.770

chris rouse is here i'm not sure if he's actually here yet and also we have michael hirsch is featured this weekend as well if you remember he was here a few years ago he's the young composer he just won the prix de rome and he's moving to rome for

00:08:25.770 - 00:08:39.870

a year to study composition and work there and also on sunday night's concert emily wong our fantastic pianist who plays in the orchestra and also she's an excellent composer and she's written a piece that we're going to premiere for you on sunday

00:08:39.870 - 00:08:55.770

night and that brings me to this nice gentleman to my left this is calling curry who you may remember he has a new hairstyle though since last time i'm calling i was three years or four for it for four years he couldn't drink last time he was

00:08:55.770 - 00:09:12.810

here but now he can and i'm very concerned about this but especially like chris ross is around but don't tell him so colin played with us at the mission if you're able to hear that concert he played a piece by james macmillan a scottish

00:09:12.810 - 00:09:27.780

composer called veni veni emmanuel and collins come back to play chris ross's percussion concerto and before i asked him to tell us a little bit about that piece that'll be sunday evening i think it's interesting because the the rouse piece is

00:09:27.780 - 00:09:45.750

inspired by the ring by vogner and so sort of this operatic connection and in some ways i think chris's piece is probably more operatic in nature than copeland's opera is what happens in chris's piece is he's trying the ring is one of his favorite

00:09:45.810 - 00:10:02.220

light tunes to listen to and at at the end of the ring he thinks you know there's probably only maybe one character that remains alive and you're not really even certain about that but that's alberich and so chris In his inimitable way, was trying to

00:10:02.220 - 00:10:16.800

figure out what alberich would have done when the ring was over. And so there are all these themes from the ring, it starts off sounding. It's completely straight out of vogner. And then calling comes in, and he's plays the character, actually, of

00:10:16.800 - 00:10:26.790

alberich. And we hear him breathing. And the way Chris expresses that through percussion instruments is pretty amazing. And maybe you want to say a few things about the piece.

00:10:26.790 - 00:10:45.480

Yeah, well, it's a, it's a marvelous piece for such an unusual group of instruments. Being a solo percussion feature is quite daunting, I think for composers and audiences, and everyone and Chris has had this amazing, well, preposterous idea

00:10:46.740 - 00:11:07.230

of alberich coming back, and it's a great piece to re throw yourself into, because you, you find yourself feeling slightly mischievous and villainous. And yeah, that suits me. And it's just a delight to play it, it really is. And you get the

00:11:07.230 - 00:11:21.270

feeling of, of this, this character alberich. And he's, although he's essentially a villain, he's, he has his moments of reflection. And he's, you know, he's, he's not a nasty piece of work by any means, really. And honestly, I'm quite

00:11:21.270 - 00:11:40.170

nice. And the great thing is, is the surging towards the end of the piece where he actually decides to try and aim for world domination. And this is quite a moment. And it's a real tour de force for the orchestra as well. And it's, it's quite something,

00:11:40.200 - 00:11:58.230

it's a one movement. I mean, it's one continuous section, even though it has many, many different divisions in it. And it does, basically follow sort of a fast, slow, fast scheme. But there are different little scenarios about what Albert's

00:11:58.230 - 00:12:10.230

doing. So you have to use your imagination while you're listening to it. But there, there is one that Chris specifically thought that he would have spent a little bit of time as a rock and roll drummer. So you'll know when that moment

00:12:10.230 - 00:12:25.920

comes on. And I love Chris talking about the premiere with the Cleveland Orchestra and how it didn't quite work out, as he expected with the Cleveland Orchestra playing rock and roll. But this is a band that can can actually really swing. So it

00:12:25.920 - 00:12:43.860

works out pretty well. And it's just, it's a fabulous piece. And then of course, I couldn't just do one piece by Chris Ross. On the second weekend, I'm also will also be doing his first Symphony, which is also a wonderful piece and inspired. I

00:12:43.860 - 00:13:00.180

think in many ways, also musically inspired by the Romantic era, maybe it's his, his response is anti romanticism. It's a piece about about heroes, and maybe just the heroes in everyday life that have to come to terms with

00:13:00.810 - 00:13:14.790

tragedies and traumas and, and just the things that normal human beings go through. And so it's not one specific character in mind, but I think it's something that we can all relate to. And on that concert, I'm also paying tribute, sort of the

00:13:14.790 - 00:13:30.810

other end of the spectrum, to Kurt vile, who's celebrating his sin tener centenary? Well, he's not we are, they should maybe he is, I don't know, this year as well. He and Copeland are hanging out celebrating their centenaries and I have one of

00:13:30.810 - 00:13:46.080

the leading interpreters of Kurt vile songs coming to do that. And it's, it's wonderful because it's it's like cabaret music in a way like musical theater. But it has the whole orchestra and uses some unusual instrumentation we have, we had

00:13:46.080 - 00:14:02.100

to drag in an accordion player and a banjo player and a few things like that. So we'll spice up things with those. And if you have a party, you can probably hire them for afterward. And then on on Sunday at the mission, the composer that Colin

00:14:02.100 - 00:14:18.450

whose concerto column played last time, James Macmillan, we also very advanced utensils there I see. The His name is James Macmillan, we played a piece of his last year as well at the mission if you were able to come and I thought it would

00:14:18.450 - 00:14:36.360

be nice to do i mean more than nice inspirational to do a work of his that is a huge in scope. The entire concert at the mission will be devoted to a three part work of his called tridium. And it's a an English horn concerto, a Cello Concerto

00:14:36.360 - 00:14:56.070

and a symphony that were all written as one entire work. And he said that it's only been performed as a unit maybe twice so far, because people will do just one, one part of it one of the concerti or the symphony, and it's a piece that deals with

00:14:56.100 - 00:15:11.700

the time of the year that precedes the resurrection. Really from Thursday through that day, and it's it's just a phenomenal work, I think. And he's an inspiring composer. And we were very sad to learn that he couldn't come he was all set

00:15:11.700 - 00:15:26.130

to come but because of the massive time change between here in Edinburgh where he has to conduct, I think on Tuesday morning, he couldn't make it. But I think you'll agree that he's one of the one of the great composers of our time as well.

00:15:26.130 - 00:15:38.820

And if you have a chance, tomorrow night, we're going tomorrow night, Sunday night, after the concert, we're going to have a talkback discussion. And Chris Ross will be there, as well as Michael Hirsch and Emily and, Colin, if I can keep him

00:15:38.850 - 00:15:55.350

from drinking too soon, we'll also be there. Just kidding. And I thought maybe in the couple minutes, we have left if anyone had any burning questions that they want to ask me or Colin or Mike or anybody, I would try to take this opportunity. How's the

00:15:55.350 - 00:16:24.480

food? Good. Alright. Two thumbs one thumb. Okay. Everybody's, you're looking pretty happy, though. That's good. The weather is good. Thank you. I worked hard on that. Yes. The music for this evening. Specifically, specifically, for

00:16:24.510 - 00:16:41.370

the music for tonight? Well, the music of for tender land is very, I think immediately, you'll know it's Copeland, just by the introduction. And you know, what makes Copeland so recognizable? Even if you're not a musician, you know, literally

00:16:41.370 - 00:16:57.390

that you know, what a perfect fourth or a tritone is the reason of Did you read this article, I'm sorry, I'm gonna digress now for a second. But there's an interesting article about how children can understand music way before they

00:16:57.390 - 00:17:13.020

can understand language, just that we're all sort of hardwired for music in some way. And that's what Copeland appeals to everyone. So you don't need to be a trained musician at all to somehow when we hear this interval, he uses what are

00:17:13.020 - 00:17:24.600

called perfect intervals. I mean, you don't need to know this at all, unless you're on Jeopardy or Who Wants to Be a Millionaire or whatever, they're not survivor, I don't think it will help you much. But well, maybe it would, I don't know.

00:17:25.710 - 00:17:44.460

I'm very disappointed in that show. Anyway. So the perfect fourth, perfect fifth is an interval, it's, it's like having the bread without the sandwich part in between, really, because you don't have the third and the third is what defines whether a

00:17:44.850 - 00:17:59.280

triad is a major triad, you know, what you're taught was happy, or a minor triad, what you were taught was sad. So it's like the stuffing is left out. So you just have this sort of empty bread. And you when you hear a perfect fifth, that's

00:17:59.280 - 00:18:13.230

exactly what it sounds like. It's kind of like, Huh, it's just, it's not offensive at all, you know, it's not like seven grain bread. It's just a plain white bread, you know, just not offensive. And Copeland uses these intervals, perfect

00:18:13.230 - 00:18:29.310

intervals. And they evoke a very open, sort of a non committed sound. And right away at the beginning of the peace, that's what he uses are these open intervals. And so you have a sense, what you see the form and it's just, oh, I can see the sky

00:18:29.310 - 00:18:44.220

for miles. And that's what he does. Um, his tunes, of course, are very singable, he likes to use a lot of folk songs, I mean, and they're not really quite folk songs, but they're folk like, almost like the divorce, like, you know, the New World

00:18:44.220 - 00:19:00.150

Symphony where divorce, like uses the spiritual, but it's not really a spiritual kind of invent his own. And so it's a combination of this open sound, and the folk folk like tunes. And then there's a lot of Of course, in opera, you have to

00:19:00.150 - 00:19:10.530

get a lot of information out. I mean, that's kind of the boring part. Usually, where are you? You know, people are just sort of screaming things out, right and left, you know, trying to get the story out to you. And so it's in English, it is a little

00:19:10.530 - 00:19:21.750

bit entertaining, you know what they're saying? Well, oh, yeah, the package just got here, hurry up and get to the postman. And you know that you'll hear that in English. It does sound a little silly, but I thought if we sang that in Italian, it

00:19:21.750 - 00:19:39.930

would be a little odd. So there's a lot of you know, the, the chatty stuff kind of goes by quickly and with Copeland in particular, um, it's it's quite a lot of it is spoken, you know, the dialogue so it feels pretty comfortable and that you can

00:19:39.930 - 00:19:54.660

relate to it. It's not, you know, the postman is here, not quite like that, and, but a little bit sometimes. And then for the, for the, he writes a beautiful lots of beautiful duets between Laurie the girl, and Martin, who's one of the

00:19:54.660 - 00:20:06.030

drifters who she falls in love with, but I won't tell you what happens I promise and the importance thing about this opera is that I don't think anyone dies. Does anyone die? I can't remember. No. I

00:20:06.030 - 00:20:19.890

mean, no, nobody. It's really, it's probably one of the only operas where no one dies. I mean, people don't feel well during it so you won't be bored. And particularly ma she's she's she doesn't feel while

00:20:19.890 - 00:20:36.300

she's always wanting to go to bed Tory in one section. And let's see what else happens. Um, I don't know, there's a good old fashioned square dance. And the chorus does a lot of stomping around during that and the dancers. And that's basically

00:20:36.300 - 00:20:50.730

it. I mean, as far as the dissonant sections, there's some threatening things because the two drifters you're never sure if they're good guys or bad guys, or if she's fallen in love with a bomb or, or what exactly, their intentions are. And

00:20:50.910 - 00:21:04.020

there's a bit of drama and suspense in whether there are two bad guys that everybody's been hearing about that have been committing some crimes in a neighboring town or whether they're not the same people. So every time that happens, it's a

00:21:04.020 - 00:21:20.700

little bit like television drama of the week, you know, when the horns go, boo, boo every time they come in. So it's, it's a little corny, but I think if you have one more beer, you should enjoy it tremendously. But I do hope that you like it. And I

00:21:20.700 - 00:21:30.420

hope we see you at most of the concerts. And look forward to talking to all of you. So thanks very much. And thank you, gentlemen, for joining me. We'll see you inside soon. Thanks.