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Unknown: There is probably no one amongst us who you'd rather see than our esteemed Maestro Marin allsup, who will join us right now with composers David del tredici and Michael Dougherty.

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Once watch you like to go in the middle, it's like your dating game. Michael, you should be on a low chair, and then we'll be even. So Good evening, everybody. It's great to see you all again and be here. We feel as though we've been here for a

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long time, maybe especially I do because I flew in Saturday morning from London, and arrived in San Francisco at noon, and then went right into conducting workshops at three o'clock until 10. At night, so it was a Saturday was at least a month

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long, I think. But, you know, this is for me, what's so wonderful about being part of the cabrio festival is that it's all about sharing ideas and the creative process, being involved with all kinds of people in creativity, and including all of

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you. I think that's what makes this festival so special having living composers here, you know, to bug me It's very exciting. And they've been doing a good job of it this week. And especially having starting the festival with a new component,

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which is having seven young conductors conducted musicians. And do I don't know how many of you were able to attend the sort of informal concert that they did on Wednesday with three young composers selected by Michael Dougherty and really

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tutored by him. It was a very, very special experience and something that really set us all out on the right foot, I think. And especially this year, we had seven tremendously talented conductors and three excellent composers who, whose music I

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think I'll probably program at the festival in the near future. And I just wanted to thank Michael for all his hard work in organizing that and working with the composers It was really great.

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in putting together the festival this year, I think I started with it was either Dracula or Frankenstein, I'm not sure which set me off on this tangent that it has become this festival, the 40th anniversary season. But one one monster or the other sort of

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got me hooked in and I decided that this idea of sort of legends and popular culture would be a thread, at least through the first week of the festival. And Michael had just written a new Violin Concerto. And that also seemed to tie in

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well with what we're doing. So that's really where we are the program tonight, Emily Wong, who's of course a wonderful musician, and she's been with the festival 25 years that's hard to believe she doesn't even look 25 years old. And her

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pieces, a piece that's really influenced by popular music, Carlos Santana, Dave Matthews, these are influences in her piece, and this will be the world premiere of that. And then we're going to follow that with Michael's violent fantastic

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Violin Concerto. I really think it's a brilliant piece played by our concert master whom you all have grown to love. Yumi Wong, and I thought maybe we could talk about that piece just for a few minutes. It's called the nice title for a cold evening

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fire and blood. Well, okay, sure. Well, the murals in the Detroit Institute of Art that were painted by Diego Rivera are huge. I mean, they're the size of this of this wall right here. I mean, they're

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giant and there's four murals that he painted up that he painted of the Ford Motor plant in 1932. And what's interesting is after he painted those murals, then he went to the Rockefeller Center in New York, and also paid in murals for the

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Rockefellers. And those murals worked, were torn were torn down. But ironically, the murals in Detroit which is what you think would have been torn down were not because Edsel Ford the son of Henry Ford commissioned them and paid with with it paid

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for the murals with his own money. So when Henry Ford, who was a very right wing sort of guy hated the murals, and one of them toward now he couldn't have it done. Because Edsel had paid for those. One of the things about Diego rivers. One of the

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things about his his being is that he was a fighter, he was a bigger than life guy and and his murals are like that. Were Frida Kahlo was just the opposite. She was a very small person, her paintings were very small. So the first movement is, is sort

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of like the spirit of Diego where it's it's very large, it's big, it's it's colorful, the second moment is very chamber like it's, it's, it's it's very modest like four To Carlos paintings. And then the last moment is, is is and is the Ode

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to to the assembly line. And it's funny that for Diego he felt that that technology would be something that would be actually good. So, so the movement really is machine and man are working together. It's not like the chart, the chart

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chart. It's it's not like the Chaplin film modern times. Yeah. Right, where it's the man working against the technology. But in this case, it's it's it's the works are working together. And so that's a sort of a summary of the concerto

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isn't an assembly line that kind of skips a little jag on the way because it's really so it's not quite even, right. The it's in seven, eight, and you don't really do things in seven, eight when you function. So how did that get in there?

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Yeah, the seven eight. Yeah. Well, I that's the tricky part. I think the obvious thing would have been been to compose a piece in, in a steady b 1234. But I but I wanted to write an

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assembly line that had a had a I had a hitch in it, right? So it's in seven, eight. So it's 123412312341231234. And is that hard for the extra to get that together? Well, if you didn't notice, I'm not gonna tell you. And then

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also, just want to mention that tomorrow night, we're going to open with one another really terrific piece by Michael Rosa Park Boulevard. And I just wanted to quickly touch on that if we could, because it's a fascinating piece that features

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that three trombone is from our section as soloist positioned in the back of the orchestra. So they're really featured but still part of the group. Do you want to say just a couple words? Of

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course. Well, Rosa Parks Boulevard came about because when I wrote a piece for the Detroit Symphony, Symphony Orchestra, I wanted to write something that was very, that had had to do with the city and Rosa Parks lives there. She's

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about 85 years old. And so you know, I grew up during the Civil Rights period. So what was really great as I was able to have a meeting with Rosa Parks, and, and but the meeting took place at her church. So So I met her at this really small, modest

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church. Where I sat for for service was four hours long. And you know, like a Gospel Church, and then afterwards, I walked out with her and she doesn't really talk much, but I asked her what her favorite song was. And she said, Oh, freedom, which

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is a slave song. And then I asked her what her favorite instrument was, and and the trombone came up. So I thought, okay, so I took those two ideas and wrote, wrote this piece, Rosa Parks Boulevard, and you know, and the works are, yeah,

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that's great. So that's great. Thanks, Miko. And also to finish the program tonight. I'm so pleased that David del tredici could join us at the festival this year. Um, is this the first time we're

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performing your music? and not the last? Certainly, but I'm not sure how we do this. Yes, this is the first time Marin and I feel so comfortable here. You've made it really a wonderful experience. I've never

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had this piece performed which has many odd toys and things in it, where everything was ready to go. I walked in the siren work this theramin moaned the instrument. The players were wonderful. And you are of course, terrific on top of the

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score. And that's never happened. So I'm really am beside I just discovered there's an amusement park here. So you're, you're not getting rid of me. Thanks. Well, the we should also mention that our wonderful

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librarian, ella fredriksson, who goes always beyond the call of library and duty. She started emailing me months ago when I decided to program the piece about the theremin. And how are we going to find it? And then she emailed all of her librarian

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friends throughout the world anyway, make a long story short, she decided that she was the only one that could possibly take care of finding the theremin and learning how to play it. And she's our Thurman expert expert. So that's Ella

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featured on the theramin tonight and she's doing great job I think she her vibrato which she needed a little work and she's really honed that in I think, Does everybody know what the Thurman is? It's this way maybe you want to explain?

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Well, the subject is is Dracula, of course. And the cat The cat dragon was a little nervous about coming out to such a healthy sunny place as California Santa Cruz. But I persuaded him that the auditorium could be made a

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creepy crawly place at least for 20 minutes and indeed it is. So To be to go with a creepy and crawly, Transylvanian thing, I tried to find instruments that were not the norm normal thing. So I chose the theramin, which some of you I certainly

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remember, was used in old movies like Laura, I think. And it's just sort of it's sort of like the first crudest electronic instrument is sort of whales and moans and sounds like a voice, like a human voice. And so I use that you forget, it's coming. I

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shouldn't have given it away, but you already did. Suddenly, it arrives at a dramatic moment. And I also use a wind machine for obvious reasons. And there's a siren and a lot, a lot of sort of, not quite normal percussion instruments all and the soprano

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is does a lot of movement as well as sing, which is wonderful. And has she done the work many times before? David, how he law has done it a number of times, yes. Terrific. Each time

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she gets more extreme. And in fact, until you don't like that at all. She barely can contain herself on the stage anymore. So I would warn you,

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yeah, you better look out when she starts leaving the stage that she's scared the heck out of a violist we show inside a coronary the other deck. Well, it's a wonderful piece. We're really excited about doing and hopefully we'll get together.

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David mentioned that he's interested in maybe doing a new piece about werewolf so we're going to try to get a commission together. You left he's serious. And it's Oh my. That would be wonderful. I'd love to do that.

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Second Stein, Dracula and werewolf perfect program for a nice summer evening. Yes, sir. David, I have a question for you. Where do you get your clothes? Because

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I want to go there. It's It's rare that I'm really way out done. But this is an Italian waiters jacket. This is a Transylvanian accessory.

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Oh, God. Did you wear that to the amusement park? I would really I got it. That's hard to talk back. Golly. You know, and then of course, you're probably noticing also that the these pieces have a

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relationship to film. Especially i was i was marveling at what Dracula Frankenstein. And then Michael's Violin Concerto. I had just seen the movie Frida. And I thought I had also seen I think it was the same week or some somewhere around there. I do

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other things besides go the movies. But I actually saw two movies this week, too. But the the film the pianist, I don't know how many of you saw that. But Spielman, in addition to being the wonderful pianist portrayed in the movie was also

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a composer. And so that got me very curious about his music, wondering what kind of music this guy who led such a tortured existence would write. And so I, I got some scores of his music because I wanted to bring something to you. I thought it

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would be fascinating. And what was so interesting was that the music was completely carefree. I mean, it was so light, it was almost like a cross between Gershwin and Johann Strauss, I thought, you know, this clearly was a complete escape for this

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man to write this kind of music. So I picked just a very short piece to include in the program tomorrow night, just so you'd have a sense of this. It was so interesting to me that contrast. And tomorrow evening, in addition to opening with

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Michael's piece, we have a wonderful Symphony by Michael Hirsch. And maybe he conveys more of shmi lemons life then Spiegelman's music, through his incredibly moody music, which is, I think, very, very profound. And then the last

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piece on the program tomorrow night is Frankenstein, which has doesn't have a theramin that's too bad, but it's got some wild things, the musicians were all phoning and practicing their kazoos and their slide whistles and their hose pipes and it's

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probably all I need to say. It's quite a spectacle. Um, and then I just wanted to mention on Sunday evening, you know, it's a it's such a melancholy experience in many ways, because it's great to have Dennis Russell Davies is here. He was

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at the rehearsal this morning and he'll be here tomorrow as well and he's going to perform Sunday night in tribute to the loss of our good friend Lou Harrison. So you know, it's so joyful to have Lou and and these other people, and so sad. I

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mean, Dennis, but so sad to not have Lou with us this year. So I think that's going to be a special evening, also Sunday night, so I hope you can join us and then following in the film idea, I thought for the family show on Sunday, we should do

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some Harry Potter you can't get away from Harry Potter these days. So that'll be Sunday and and then the following weekend, of course, we have some great music by john adams and Tom addys, who's a British composer. And Sunday at the mission will

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feature two brand new composers to the festival, Augusta Reed Thomas and Kevin puts also the music of ritual, Richard Daniel poor. So I hope you'll join us for your coming to everything right. Good. Excellent. So I hope you enjoyed tonight and I

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thank all of my composers and all the conductors for being here. And thank you for joining us as well. Enjoy. Thank you. My goodness, incredible woman, she's fabulous, isn't she? I stole her from the Cincinnati

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Symphony. She was the principal second there, and talked her into coming to Denver to be my concertmaster in Denver. And that's very good. marriage. Yeah. It's been fantastic. She's really helped. And then of course, it was just natural to

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see if she'd come out here. And she loves it out here too. So it's marvelous. It's great. Yes, I think so. Yeah. And she's also going to have, we're going to be totally thrilled to have her appearing on a Sunday to

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his she's playing with Dennis. Doing lose grand duo. Have they been together before? No, they, but they were telling me that the rehearsals are great. They're really enjoying working together. So super. And

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she loves a piece. So that's great. It's so incredible. When you get concert artists. You meet together, and it's nice. And it's so wonderful to introduce people. You know,

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that's what I love about Cumbria. Well, everyone, you know, sort of its net is the best kind of networking, you know what I'm saying I can't stand that word, let's network with some people or something. But this is a place that really

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forges new bonds. And, you know, a lot of the musicians will meet composers that they want them to bring to their orchestras or to their communities, or to write a piece for them. That's happened several times. And that's really exciting part of this project.

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Apparently, that's what happened with Emily a few years ago. Right? These good commissions. Correct work done, because of the association with heaven here. Right. Exactly. Exactly.

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So I presume this happens for you. Oh, sure. I mean, but I feel that it's mostly my, my great responsibility and joyful responsibility to, to make the introductions. Do you know what I mean? I feel like I'm throwing

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a big party, and hoping that everybody gets along, you know, how does and, and then you see, in the end, how the all the chemistry worked. And it always works out, you know, one way or the other. And it's really exciting.

00:29:07.260 - 00:29:21.690

It must be also kind of thrilling for you to have Dennis Russell Davies come back here. earlier conversation that you only had some 12 or 13 years ago, just before coming here to Santa?

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Well, you know that Do you know the story that I guess when they were looking for a new music director for the festival, they called Dennis and they have a list of people and I was on the list. And he said, Joe, I think really there's only one person

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even though I didn't, I didn't know that he actually knew my work. I had played violin in the American composers orchestra. So I knew him a little bit from that. So he rang me up in New York and I he was staying with Philip Glass. And so I went down

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to the apartment downtown, and we talked about it and he shared things you know about the festival that he loved and this and that, and I said, Oh, that sounds cool. I'll do it. And then I said, while you were there, 17 years, that's like a

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really long time, you know, in sort of a snotty way I think. And then, you know, lo and behold, here it is, what? 13 years for me, you know, it's like a blink of an eye. And I certainly see, I I'm surprised now that he only stayed 70.

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conductor and is the director. And already undoubtedly, I mean, I don't want to jump the gun, but I know you already probably planning and thinking about the future. I'm always thinking about the future. And it's sort of it's

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fun, because there's always something. It's just stating some ideas. And I always meet new composers, and then composers that come they have new ideas. For example, David del tredici, whose piece we're gonna play next, several, you

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know, I want to do a piece about werewolf and he's trying to get a commission. So I'm thinking I'll try to put together a consortium of groups to commission a piece like that. So maybe next summer will be Wolf, who knows. Yeah, really?

00:31:02.550 - 00:31:15.750

Definitely. While Cabrillo Music Festival was doing and presenting operas, obliquely, the opening night, I think the last two or three years, so there's a divergence here not doing often, but there

00:31:15.750 - 00:31:29.820

is now a singing, speaking, but it's certainly not opera, what's coming up? No, this is, you know, this is the economical version of opera, do you catch my drift? You know, but it's the you know, we all

00:31:29.820 - 00:31:44.160

have to scale back. Everybody's feeling the pinch, right. And so, but at the same time, it's, it's kind of fun, because this is more like a performance art Pisa. It's got a singer, but she's also I got, I just saw the boots this morning, and I was

00:31:44.160 - 00:31:54.240

terrified. So I don't know what the whole outfit will be like. People at home can only imagine what is like. So, you know, and we've got lighting and things like that to really enhance the experience.

00:31:54.510 - 00:32:09.960

Something that the program notes talked about, which was necessarily understand and know, is that the sopranos amplified, meaning she's wearing some mics in her hair, to cover her ability to just move freely in the auditorium.

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Right. And also for the speaking, she couldn't possibly project I mean, singing was it when she first started singing, she nearly blew the microphone out, you know, because she's, she's a real opera singer operatic sound. So but for

00:32:23.130 - 00:32:32.430

speaking, of course, over an orchestra while they're playing, you can't possibly be heard unless you're miked. And how did you become aware of? Well, actually, she was recommended to me several years

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ago by john corigliano. And she had done some of his songs, and he said, She's phenomenal. And then, when I was going to program Dracula, I asked the publisher for a list. This is what I generally do to ask for a list of people that have

00:32:45.060 - 00:32:58.170

performed the piece to see if there's anyone whose work I know or anyone in the area, that sort of thing. So her name was on the list, and I didn't I actually don't even remember who else was on the list. I just immediately went toward her

00:32:59.070 - 00:33:13.290

that she was surprised to find out that Roberto, who's going to be on the program tomorrow night. We probably didn't come from the publishers list. No, no. How did that happen? Joseph Ribeiro is going to be

00:33:13.290 - 00:33:30.330

the narrator and singer and jack of all trades in Frankenstein. Tomorrow night, and of course, everyone knows him because he lives here and performs here so frequently. But for that piece, Frankenstein is really more. I mean, it's hard to say whether

00:33:30.330 - 00:33:43.890

it's a singing piece or an acting piece or narrative piece. It requires someone who has dramatic training, do you not? I mean, you just you don't want just someone who can sing, you need a real actor. And so I said to Ellen premack, the executive

00:33:43.890 - 00:33:57.540

director is there. You know, there's so many talented and one outstanding actors in this area. Could we think we could talk to someone about doing this? And amazingly, Joseph had performed this piece done the South African premiere of

00:33:57.540 - 00:34:06.990

Frankenstein. Right, so I said, You got to be kidding me. That's too much of a coincidence one of those wonderful coincidences. Fantastic. Yeah.

00:34:08.010 - 00:34:28.200

Absolutely. Good. was, in your opinion, was this music tonight? either of the two pieces, we've already everyone really stretching the orchestra out into new areas? No, it's a different kind of, I think the the pieces this

00:34:28.200 - 00:34:44.490

weekend, are are different. I mean, they're, they're more pop derived. So I think in some ways, that's a little bit you know, for this orchestra to play more jazz oriented, like Emily's let the last moment is more like symphonic dances, the Bernstein

00:34:44.490 - 00:35:01.500

or something like that. So that's a little bit of a departure for the orchestra. And I'd say Michael's piece is challenging only in terms of, I mean, that last moments tricky. It sounds kind of groovy, but It's really very tricky

00:35:01.680 - 00:35:16.680

12121231212123 and there's sort of a hiccup at the end of every every measure. So it's it's quite tricky not to be jumping in. So I think rhythmically, maybe that's the element that that's a bit of a stretch this weekend, the rhythmic dance

00:35:16.680 - 00:35:33.060

element to these programs. rehearsal, talking with music is handled very well. He's always visiting those percussion with you. Every time I look for him, there he is over there in the percussion is really

00:35:33.060 - 00:35:46.350

important to him. It is I mean, especially that piece we just played, you know, uses the maracas, and I think brake drums and all kinds of fun things. It's great to have Michael Dunn. Yeah, it's super

00:35:46.980 - 00:36:01.890

fabulous. And tomorrow is going to be the composer's forum. I'm sure you'll be there, too. Of course, you're the two o'clock across the street from the city, bring bag lunch, and get a chance to rub elbows with is at one o'clock,

00:36:02.310 - 00:36:11.580

if you come in to your will, will not only be done will have eaten our lunch to August 2 at one. Oh, I see. I see the confusion. There you go.

00:36:13.350 - 00:36:27.150

You don't have any problems being dyslexic? Oh, you know, I have what I what happens to me is that when I'm conducting a lot in France and Germany, and so I start speaking God knows what language by the end of it, you know, all my

00:36:27.150 - 00:36:42.180

numbers are bollixed up. And then I was in Italy recently. And I, you know, took about 20 Italian lessons. So it was not my strong suit. So I have, I have the most bizarre combination of French, German, French, Italian, English,

00:36:42.510 - 00:36:53.970

nothingness. That's what I speak in now. You know, it all ends up being something like broken English. In the end, you know how to as long as it communicate, somehow it does. And they all laugh hysterically at me. So I guess it's going

00:36:53.970 - 00:37:05.130

well. All right, good. Any comment you want to make about Dracula? And how did you and David go through the to come to the other hour, have you? You know, I've never I've never met David. But of course, I've

00:37:05.130 - 00:37:22.440

known his work for a long time. And it's really fun to finally meet him and the listener. So he's got the wildest outfits too. So I want to point that out for those people that can't, are unable to see him in person. And in this piece that maybe I

00:37:22.440 - 00:37:38.400

shouldn't give it away. But near the end of the piece, he uses an instrument called the theramin. So people will hear that it's that instrument from the horror films, ooh, that kind of creepy thing and is elect and one of the very first electronic

00:37:38.400 - 00:37:52.950

instruments invented and so it sounds a little bit like a either that or a human human voice in an echo chamber or something like that. So it's pretty cool. And it's only one person playing.

00:37:53.130 - 00:38:10.530

Yeah, that's Ella who learned it for this special occasion, found the instrument and learned it really put her up for that is a very unstable kind of sound. I mean doesn't have not really you sort of wave your hand over the Yeah, God knows

00:38:10.530 - 00:38:24.720

what she's probably being electrocuted or microwave. It's really but it's only for a little while so don't panic. Well, it produces a really interesting effect is pretty good. Pretty good for this piece. Dracula by David del

00:38:24.720 - 00:38:42.660

tredici. Thanks very much Marin Alsop for joining us. My pleasure. Great time on a second. All right. We'll see you later. Then Enjoy. Thank you. Pleasure. So Marin's going back to the green room, I guess into the

00:38:42.690 - 00:38:56.190

concert hall to get ready for the performance of the second half of this the opening night of the 2003 Caprio festival of contemporary music I remember it's although we are broadcasting live tonight, and we'll