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Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra and Choirs

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Program

Donald Schleicher and Andrew Megill, conductors

Ludwig van Beethoven, Mass in C Major, Op. 86 
     Kyrie
     Gloria
     Credo
     Sanctus
     Benedictus
     Agnus Dei 
Donald Schleicher, conductor
Calista Smith, soprano; Giada Barney, alto; Matthew Sink, tenor; Spencer Greene, bass

—Intermission—

Ralph Vaughan Williams, Dona nobis pacem
     Agnus Dei
     Beat! Beat! Drums!
     Reconciliation
     Dirge for Two Veterans
     The angel of death has been abroad throughout the land...
     O man greatly beloved...
Andrew Megill, conductor
Kylie Buckham, soprano; Wesley Diener, baritone

 

Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra

Donald Schleicher, conductor

Violin
Kailyn Brown
Conan Chang
Cathy Xi Chen
Sage Chen
Jenny Choi
Mingyue Fei 
Felix Garkisch
Ylang Guo
Rose Haselhorst
Maria Hodson
Mia Huang
Maggie Jordan
Joel Kang**
Eliana Kim
Suwon Kim
Shijie Li
Jolin Yi-Lin Lin
Andrea Liu
Christy Liu 
Miya Liu
Claire Metcalf
Eliana Silverman
Keshav Srinivasan
Cheryl Tang
Faith Tsou
Frank Wang
Steven Wilke
Brian Zhan*
Melody Zhang 
Eddie Zhou

Viola
Michael Ayala
Alexis Chae
Emily Feng
Aiden Yi-Hung Jeng
Eunchai Kang
Sanghoo Lee
Sam Sun*
Kevin Wallace
Sarah Wejman
Sanford Whatley
Ray Zhang

Cello
Naomi Aires
Vicky Aixin Cheng
Sarah Chong
Noam Ginsparg
Kailie Holliday
Haddon Kay
Yihang Li*
Joseph Mostwin
Ethan Raviv 
Jonathan Yi

Bass
Luisa Brown-Hernandez
Leo Buckman
Sophie Denhard
Omar Haffar*
Atulya Palacharla
Oliver Spalter
Lucas Zurbuchen

Flute/Piccolo
Wiktoria Godawa §
Hanna Oyasu † 
Maya Ravi
Haylie Wu

Oboe
Ryan Ha §
Emerald Lewis
Briana Lim †
Nia Suresh

Clarinet
Jason Chen †
Jonah Stuckey §

Bassoon
Miranda Jiang
Alexander Lake*
Kevin Opeña

Horn
Aidan Alcocer §
Julia Ferguson
Eden Stargardt
Ryan Williamson †
Landon Young 

Trumpet
Stefan Filip §
Megan Radcliffe †
Jack Shimon 

Trombone
Cole Davis*
Dustin Nguyen

Bass Trombone
Lola Stevenson

Tuba
Noah Vincent

Harp
Emily Reader

Percussion
Asher Gunn
Daniel Kinney
Simeon Lee
Jeffrey Ryan
Christian Santos*

Concertmaster**
Principal*

Principal Winds:
Beethoven §
Vaughan Williams †

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Bienen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble

Andrew Megill, conductor
Charles Foster, collaborative pianist

Soprano
Abigail Arnold 
Kylie Buckham
Julia Frodyma
Risha Hussain
Rena Maduro
Calista Smith 
Madeline Zuckerman

Alto
Emily Amesquita
Alexa Bartschat
Lila Brown
Victoria Marshall
Greta McNamee
Audrey Neace
Skye Tarshis

Tenor
Doug Culclasure 
Liam Kantor
Tim Lambert
Alexi Ortega Chavez
Matthew Sink

Bass
Andrew Garratt
Spencer Greene
Logan Henke
Matthew Huang
Jackson Pierzina
Otto Vogel

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University Chorale

A.J. Keller, conductor
Charles Foster, collaborative pianist

Soprano 
Ashley Burwell
Margot Hall 
Catherine Johnston
Paige Klemenhagen
Priya Krishnaswamy
Casey Lyons
Audrey Michael
Lauren Nishi
Kelsey Norton
Claire O’Shaughnessy
Rachel Olkin
Catherine Pace
Paula Perez-Glassner
Samantha Powers
Callan Shanahan

Alto 
Juliet Allan
Giada Barney
Azalea Ely
Sophia Heinz
Aurora Jablon
Sarine Meguerditchian
Emily Mulva
Hope Preischel
Sofia Ricciarini
Dia Walker
Isabel Yang

Tenor 
CC Barfield
Jacob Cox
Declan Franey
Tejas Gururaja
Mark May
Nicholas Min
Max Outcalt
Ismael Perez
Ansel Pierson
Soren Ryssdal
David Samson
Lucca Silva
Brandon Takahashi

Bass 
Oluwadamilola Akanni
Ben Breitman
Graydon Connolly
Wesley Diener
Mark Dovgalyuk
Ikenna Eze
Raymond Faiella
Henry Herbert
Simon Kissel
Alex Kondratov
Andrew Pulver
Zachary Shand
V Matthew Steinbaum
Daniel Uglunts
Zachary Voigt

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University Singers

A. J. Keller, conductor
Charles Foster, collaborative pianist

Soprano
Siri Anderson
Norah Bernstein
Sophia Bogdanovitch
Cessa Lewis
Palima Lukins
Riley Musi
Andrea Nalywajko
Sophie Ruddy
Morgan Sanders
Annabelle Sweet
Ari Tujian
Vivien Vigliante
Chelsea Vital
Ahri Wu

Alto
Talia Aidlin-Perlman
Lili Bannister
Charlotte Chanter
Lily Gerami
Santina Juma
Erin Kazmierczak
Katie Lam
Ryan Luedtke
Piper Miller
Piper Rutman
Clara Shapiro
Kenuo Yu

Tenor
Aaron Amhof
Phillip Kim
Mackenzie Kirkwood
Yetti Li
Sebastian Ortiz
Rohan Purohit
Oscar Yum

Bass
Janse Barkley
Jeremy Berkun
Nischal Chakravarthi
Graydon Connolly
Cameron Duggins
Lucas Gao
Edwin Kim
Cole Morgan
Donovan Rivera-Ware
William Scarrow
Will Schindler

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Northwestern Camerata

Victoria Marshall, conductor
Ami Hatori, collaborative pianist

Soprano
Sofia Best
Megan Cahu
Maria Feng
Kailyn Guo
Olivia Li
Sonya Lyons
Medina Miranda
Jiaqi Shen
Andrea Villafuerte
Sarah Wachs
Grace Wang

Alto
Megan Gonzalez
Cassie Lee
Sheng Long
Jocelyn Luevanos
Angela McKinzie
Ellie Panko
Hannah Pease
Sanjana Rajesh
Cate Steel
Mavis Wang

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Ludwig van Beethoven, Mass in C Major, Op. 86

By 1807, the Prince Nicholas Esterházy II had established a yearly tradition of commissioning a new Mass for the Name Day of his wife, Princess Maria Hermengild Esterházy. That year, Prince Nicholas decided to commission Beethoven to maintain this tradition, despite Beethoven’s lack of expertise in composing within the Mass genre. Beethoven took this opportunity to play with the Mass, experimenting with unconventional accompaniments for choral sections, heavy chromaticism, and Romantic text painting that he intended to portray the great suffering and great joy found within these texts. The regular Kyrie, Agnus Dei, Sanctus, Gloria, and Credo sections of the traditional Mass are blended, and treated as a symphonic cycle, mixing textual and musical references across these sections and expanding common fugue structures to fulfill Beethoven’s longing for a larger-scale musical composition. 

In the end, Beethoven was satiated with his contemporary adaptation of the traditional Mass; the crowned Prince, however, was not. The Prince called the piece “unbearably ridiculous and detestable” and it was assured that Beethoven would not be invited back to carry on this tradition. In response, Beethoven did not dedicate the work to the Esterházy family, sold the work to publishers, dedicated the work to a different royal patron in Vienna (Prince Ferdinand Kinsky), and regularly programmed the work at his other concerts, where it found considerable success. Not only does Beethoven’s symphonic take on the Mass reflect his more experimental and large-scale moorings, but his steadfastness in the face of such harsh criticism from the Prince reflects just how dedicated Beethoven was to this musical philosophy. Beethoven’s Mass combines the sacred seriousness of its components with the secular comprehensiveness and coherence of the late Enlightenment period to create a playful, impassioned, and immersive take on the Mass genre. 

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Ralph Vaughan Williams, Dona nobis pacem

When World War I broke out, an English composer at the ripe age of 42, Ralph Vaughan Williams, immediately volunteered as an ambulance driver on the front lines. His experiences in this war and his first-hand view of the rise of fascism in the 1930s led to what one reporter calls, “an urgent cry for universal harmony in the face of looming horror.” He did anything in his power to promote a pacifist ideology to end this senseless violence, founding the Dorking Refugee Committee that helped resettle refugees who were victims of Nazi violence, escorting Jewish schoolchildren to safe havens, and publishing works that would help the masses feel the same love he felt for his fellow man. In the midst of the looming anxieties of the 1930s, Vaughan Williams wrote a piece titled Dona nobis pacem (1936), a phrase often used in the traditional Christian Mass that translates to “grant us peace.” After being inspired by Verdi’s Requiem, Vaughan Williams decided to write a piece inspired by both the sacred texts of the Mass and secular texts of contemporary war poetry and speeches, stating that “there is nothing in itself that is ‘common or unclean,’ indeed... there are no canons of art except that contained in well-worn tags.” Instead, his mixture of the sacred and the secular is what he hoped would strike the hearts of the public. 

The piece begins with a slow, fearful Agnus Dei, with the lyrics: “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace,” which leads into a sequence of three Walt Whitman texts recalling the horrors of war. Beat! Beat! Drums follows Whitman’s experience as a combat nurse in the American Civil War, while drums mimic the sounds of guns and brass fanfares cacophonously rip across the voices of a massive chorus. In response to this horrific scene, Reconciliation imagines a landscape so beautiful that all violence is forgotten. Whitman’s Dirge for Two Veterans then recalls the cost of violence, before a chilling movement that samples John Bright’s famous 1855 speech against the Crimean War, asking “Where is healing? Where is hope?” In the end, O man greatly beloved... reminds us that peace is possible, returning to the opening prayer, Dona nobis pacem. 

This elaborate and moving cycle became a beacon of hope for Britain throughout World War II. Not only was the piece used to maintain morale in Britain throughout the horrific events of the war, but the BBC even tried to broadcast the piece across Germany during the Blitz as a form of anti-war propaganda. This poignant blend of the sacred and the secular has also served as the inspiration for similar anti-war pieces that came later in the 20th century, such as Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem (1962), Howard Hanson’s Song of Democracy (1957), and Leonard Bernstein’s Mass (1971). Through its universalizing themes and immersive blend of striking textual and musical materials, Dona Nobis Pacem remains a resounding call for peace and love to this day. 

—Christopher Copley

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Artists

Donald Schleicher

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Donald Schleicher

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MM, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

Donald Schleicher ’77 MMus is Artist-in-Residence and Director of Orchestras at the Bienen School of Music, where he conducts the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra.

He previously served for 26 years as Director of Orchestras at the University of Illinois, where he was awarded the title of Daniel J. Perrino Professor Emeritus, School of Music, College of Fine and Applied Arts. Other previous positions include Resident Conductor at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, Music Director and Conductor of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, and Music Director and Principal Opera Conductor for the Pine Mountain Music Festival. At the outset of his career, he spent seven years as a high school band director in Williamsville, New York, and two years as Director of Bands at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. In addition, he served as both Associate Director of Bands and Associate Director of Orchestras at the University of Michigan.

Schleicher has conducted the National Philharmonic of Ukraine, the Daegu (South Korea) Symphony Orchestra, the Incheon (South Korea) Philharmonic, the Gwangju Symphony (South Korea), the Guiyang (China) Symphony, the Orquesta Filarmonica de la UNAM of Mexico City, the South Dakota Symphony, and the orchestras of Bridgeport, Tallahassee, and Lansing. He has appeared as a guest conductor at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival and served as a cover conductor for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

He is frequently invited to lead performances or provide conducting master classes at many of the country’s major music schools such as the Oberlin Conservatory, Eastman School of Music, Baylor University, University of Minnesota, Ithaca College, Ohio State University, and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. As an enthusiastic advocate of public school music education, Mr. Schleicher has conducted All-State orchestras, festivals, and youth orchestras in nearly every state of the United States.

As a conducting teacher, Mr. Schleicher regularly appears as conducting clinician and is currently engaged as a lead teacher for the International Conducting Workshop and Festival as well as the Conducting Master Class and Workshop Series. Many of his former conducting students have gone on to hold prestigious conducting positions with orchestras and opera companies across the globe.

 

Andrew Megill

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Andrew Megill

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DMA, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

Andrew Megill is professor of conducting and director of choral organizations at the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music, where he holds the Carol F. and Arthur L. Rice, Jr. University Professorship in Performance. In addition, he leads Music of the Baroque, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Chorus, the Carmel Bach Festival Chorale, and Fuma Sacra.

Megill is recognized as one the leading choral conductors of his generation, admired for both his passionate artistry and his unusually wide-ranging repertoire, which extends from early music to newly composed works. He has prepared choirs for the American Composers’ Orchestra, American Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonie, National Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and Venice Baroque Orchestra for conductors including Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, Joseph Flummerfelt, Rafael Frühbeck du Burgos, Alan Gilbert, Neeme Järvi, Zdenek Macal, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano, John Nelson, Rafael Payare, and Julius Rudel. Recordings of choirs conducted or prepared by him may be heard on the Decca, EMI, Canteloupe, Naxos, Albany, and CBC labels.

Megill is particularly admired for his performances of Baroque choral works. He regularly collaborates with leaders in the field of historically-informed performance, and has conducted many period-instrument orchestras, including Piffaro, Rebel, Sinfonia NYC, Brandywine Baroque, the Sebastians, Tempesta di Mare, and the Trinity Baroque Orchestra. A frequent champion of music of our own time, he has also conducted regional or world premieres of works by Caleb Burhans, Paul Chihara, Dominic DiOrio, Sven-David Sandström, Caroline Shaw, Lewis Spratlan, Steven Stucky, Jon Magnussen, Arvo Pärt, and Krzysztof Penderecki.

Prior to his appointment at Northwestern, Megill served as professor and director of choral activities at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) and taught at Westminster Choir College for more than 20 years. He also previously served as music director of the Masterwork Chorus and Orchestra and Chorusmaster for the Spoleto Festival USA. He has been a guest artist with the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, TENET vocal ensemble, the Juilliard Opera Center, and Emmanuel Music, and served as interim choirmaster for Trinity Church in Manhattan.

Donald Schleicher

Close

MM, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

Donald Schleicher ’77 MMus is Artist-in-Residence and Director of Orchestras at the Bienen School of Music, where he conducts the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra.

He previously served for 26 years as Director of Orchestras at the University of Illinois, where he was awarded the title of Daniel J. Perrino Professor Emeritus, School of Music, College of Fine and Applied Arts. Other previous positions include Resident Conductor at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, Music Director and Conductor of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, and Music Director and Principal Opera Conductor for the Pine Mountain Music Festival. At the outset of his career, he spent seven years as a high school band director in Williamsville, New York, and two years as Director of Bands at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. In addition, he served as both Associate Director of Bands and Associate Director of Orchestras at the University of Michigan.

Schleicher has conducted the National Philharmonic of Ukraine, the Daegu (South Korea) Symphony Orchestra, the Incheon (South Korea) Philharmonic, the Gwangju Symphony (South Korea), the Guiyang (China) Symphony, the Orquesta Filarmonica de la UNAM of Mexico City, the South Dakota Symphony, and the orchestras of Bridgeport, Tallahassee, and Lansing. He has appeared as a guest conductor at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival and served as a cover conductor for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

He is frequently invited to lead performances or provide conducting master classes at many of the country’s major music schools such as the Oberlin Conservatory, Eastman School of Music, Baylor University, University of Minnesota, Ithaca College, Ohio State University, and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. As an enthusiastic advocate of public school music education, Mr. Schleicher has conducted All-State orchestras, festivals, and youth orchestras in nearly every state of the United States.

As a conducting teacher, Mr. Schleicher regularly appears as conducting clinician and is currently engaged as a lead teacher for the International Conducting Workshop and Festival as well as the Conducting Master Class and Workshop Series. Many of his former conducting students have gone on to hold prestigious conducting positions with orchestras and opera companies across the globe.

 

Andrew Megill

Close

DMA, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

Andrew Megill is professor of conducting and director of choral organizations at the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music, where he holds the Carol F. and Arthur L. Rice, Jr. University Professorship in Performance. In addition, he leads Music of the Baroque, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Chorus, the Carmel Bach Festival Chorale, and Fuma Sacra.

Megill is recognized as one the leading choral conductors of his generation, admired for both his passionate artistry and his unusually wide-ranging repertoire, which extends from early music to newly composed works. He has prepared choirs for the American Composers’ Orchestra, American Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonie, National Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and Venice Baroque Orchestra for conductors including Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, Joseph Flummerfelt, Rafael Frühbeck du Burgos, Alan Gilbert, Neeme Järvi, Zdenek Macal, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano, John Nelson, Rafael Payare, and Julius Rudel. Recordings of choirs conducted or prepared by him may be heard on the Decca, EMI, Canteloupe, Naxos, Albany, and CBC labels.

Megill is particularly admired for his performances of Baroque choral works. He regularly collaborates with leaders in the field of historically-informed performance, and has conducted many period-instrument orchestras, including Piffaro, Rebel, Sinfonia NYC, Brandywine Baroque, the Sebastians, Tempesta di Mare, and the Trinity Baroque Orchestra. A frequent champion of music of our own time, he has also conducted regional or world premieres of works by Caleb Burhans, Paul Chihara, Dominic DiOrio, Sven-David Sandström, Caroline Shaw, Lewis Spratlan, Steven Stucky, Jon Magnussen, Arvo Pärt, and Krzysztof Penderecki.

Prior to his appointment at Northwestern, Megill served as professor and director of choral activities at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) and taught at Westminster Choir College for more than 20 years. He also previously served as music director of the Masterwork Chorus and Orchestra and Chorusmaster for the Spoleto Festival USA. He has been a guest artist with the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, TENET vocal ensemble, the Juilliard Opera Center, and Emmanuel Music, and served as interim choirmaster for Trinity Church in Manhattan.

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