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Lake Merritt United Methodist ChurchOakland, CAMartha Stoddard, Artistic Director and Principal ConductorChristine Brandes, Associate ConductorNovember 14, 2021 at 4 PMeessAutumnThe Oakland Civic Orchestra Association presentsSerenade

Autumn SerenAdePLEASE SILENCE ALL CELL PHONES AND OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES BEFORE THE CONCERT BEGINS.THANK YOU!Q RINTERMISSION String Symphony No. 10Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)Impromptu, Op. 5Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)Christine Brandes, conductorSerenade for Strings, Op. 48Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)I. Pezzo • II. Valse • III. Élégie • IV. FinaleMartha Stoddard, conductorPetite SymphonieCharles Gounod (1818-1893)I. Adagio and Allegretto • IV. AllegrettoSuite, Op. 4II. RomanzeSerenade, Op. 7Richard Strauss (1864-1949)eFanfare for Greta for Brass and TimpaniJonathan RingBright Orange for Brass (Premiere)Davide VerottaMerritt: A Fanfare-Prelude for Brass (Premiere)Niko Umar Durr

Today’s concert is brought to you by the Oakland Civic Orchestra Association and performed by members of the Oakland Civic Orchestra. The Oakland Civic Orchestra was founded in 1992 and is a volunteer commu-nity orchestra bringing together musicians of all ages and backgrounds to share in the joy and magic of musicmaking. For more information about joining the orchestra or about our current season, please visit our website at: https://www.oaklandcivicorchestra.com.You can also nd concert information and current news about the orchestra on Facebook. Search for the Oakland Civic Orchestra and “like” us today!FLUTESusanne RubleinDeborah YatesOBOERoger RaphaelWendy ShirakiCLARINETTom BerkelmanTom RoseBASSOONDeidre SaundersElisabeth KelsonCONTRABASSOONLori GarHORNAlex StrachanAmy ThomasCarol Yarbrough Daniel BaoVIOLIN 1Christina Owens, ConcertmasterNiko Umar DurrMargaret WuAnne NesbetPhillip TrujilloHarmony LeeJeremy MarleyVIOLIN 2 Priyanka Altman, PrincpalPaula WhiteHelen TamNancy RagleKirsten SmaydaTram Le-NguyenVIOLAThomas Chow, PrincpalSara RuscheEva PfannerstillGiles HookerDorothy LeeVIOLONCELLOVirgil Rhodius, Principal Heidi WilliamsonChristopher KarachaleShannon BowmanJohn SchroderCONTRABASSCarol DeArment, PrincipalSandy SchniewindHORNAlex StrachanAmy ThomasCarol YarbroughDaniel BaoTRUMPETMichael CoxCindy CollinsPamela SawyerGerman Gonzalez TROMBONEMax WalkerJereld WingCarol WingBASS TROMBONEGeorge GaeblerTUBAFrancis UptonTIMPANINancy GeimerBRASS & TIMPANISTRINGSWINDSOur PerfOrmerS

Looking back through the 24 concert seasons of my tenure as Mu-sic Director of the Oakland Civic Orchestra, I can recall many powerful experiences; enormous challenges and great successes. Yet I know of nothing that compares with this experience of our return to live music making. It is our life blood and I am humbled to be standing before the musicians and all of you today.As I reect on all it has taken to bring us together today, I nd myself moved to tears. In March 2020 we were poised to perform an ambitious program of Hindemith, Beethoven and Strauss and like everyone we watched our plans evaporate. For the next 20 months, we struggled to bring our musical voices together virtually and maintain the sense of community that is so vital to every arts organization. Our members embraced technology and created music together with click tracks and iPhone cameras. What traditionally happens in community was relegat-ed to our rooms. But OCO members persisted through this abyss and found brilliant ways to stay connected. I oer my deepest gratitude to all who worked tirelessly to create our programming for the pandemic.*Today’s program, Autumn Serenade, was chosen to highlight three frOm the POdium

sections of the orchestra separately. What began with the practical ne-cessity of our winds and brass playing outdoors and strings kept to lim-ited numbers, has proven to be an exceptional opportunity to strength-en our orchestra while delving into literature we seldom get to explore. What is a serenade exactly?Merriam-Webster says, Serenade: 1. a complimentary vocal or instrumental performance especially one given outdoors at night for a woman being courted 2. an instrumental composition in several movements, written for a small ensemble, and midway between the suite and the symphony in styleWhile our program does not exactly conform to these denitions, the sentiment seems to t. Taken all together we oer a program of serenades, selected movements of suites and wind symphonies by master composers and more. For strings: Mendelssohn, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky; for winds, Gounod and Richard Strauss, and for brass, new works by living composers in our midst. I am particularly pleased to feature the rst project of our 2021-2022 Composer-in-Residence, Niko Umar Durr, Merritt: A Fanfare - Prelude for Brass, plus a new work by Davide Verotta, Bright Orange for Brass. We also present the powerful environmental message embodied in Jonathan Ring’s Fanfare for Greta for Brass and Timpani.For our audience today, I thank you for your support on behalf of all the musicians in Oakland Civic Orchestra, both those with us and those still at home. The gifts of your treasure help keep us moving forward; the gift of your presence is immeasurable.– Martha Stoddard, OCO Artistic Director and Principal Conductor*You can view our virtual projects at any time on our website:www.oaklandcivicorchestra.com

Our GueSt COmPOSerSNiko Umar Durr (b. 1995) is a composer-violinist based in the East SF Bay Area. His rst lessons with classical violin began at age 6 and then classical composition upon entering The Crowden School at age 10. He has had work performed by Left Coast Chamber Ensemble as well as various faculty and students at both Crowden and Oakland School for the Arts.In addition to Oakland Civic Orchestra, which he now considers his “home orchestra”, Niko has performed with Young People’s Symphony Orchestra (YPSO) in Berkeley, Bay Area Rainbow Symphony (BARS) in San Francisco, Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra (BCSO) at Berklee College of Music in Boston MA, and Neighborhood Church (3crosses) Orchestra in Castro Valley.From 2009-2013, Niko was director of music for Harmonikos, a young composer’s forum founded and run by fellow Crowden students. In 2021, Davide Verotta. I was born in a relatively boring Italian town close to Milano and I moved to San Francisco in my late twenties. I studied music and piano at the Milano and San Francisco Conservatories and privately. My dearest mem-ories: Ernesto Esposito, my music theory teacher (I miss him so much), Isabella Zielonka, who opened the piano for me, Giacinto Salvetti, so dedicated and who believed so strongly in my capabilities, and later Bob Helps, the king of piano technique, and Julian White who taught me much of what needs to be known about the piano and music. I studied composition at the San Francisco State University (where I got a Master’s) and at the University of California at Davis (where I never nished my PhD due to … the commute … way too long from San Francisco and I was getting a bit too old to move to go to school!).For many years my musical activities were intertwined with a parallel-track academic life in mathematics as a professor of Bioengineering and Biostatistics at the University of California at San Francisco. I got a PhD in science and I was doing research in mathematical applications to Biology for a long time. This, being somewhat versed in mathematics and music, often generates the famil-iar reaction: Ah! Musicians and Math! But I must admit that the relationship of music and mathematics still eludes me, although some simple mathematical relationships pop up, mostly hidden, in my compositions.I have now been a full time musician for many years, which is quite a relief, and I am actively involved in the new music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area (as soloist, chamber player, board member of the SF Composers Cham-ber Orchestra, and NACUSA SF, co-organizer of the Festival of Contemporary Music in San Francisco, founder of the composers’ group Irregular Resolutions).

I teach piano and composition privately and at the Community Music Center in San Francisco. Recent compositions include works for orchestra, chamber opera, piano and violin solo, two pianos, percussion, and a variety of chamber ensembles. My writing is a mix: alternating lyricism, dreaming and sometimes surreal landscapes, lots of rhythmic variety, and more anxious musical motions. My idiom is a 21st century mix of neo-tonality, extended counterpoint, mod-ern techniques, classical structures and experimentation with musical formsThe unavoidable list of self-promotional achievements: I am recipient of multiple ASCAP Plus, Zellerbach foundation, and international composition competition awards and many NIH (National Institute of Health) grants. A lot of those actually all trying to make some sense of sti biological reali-ties using some mathematics but that was another life.The future? Desires for what time is left of this quick life? Not very much. I would like to write some good music and to be good. To read more: DavideVerottaJonathan Ring, Second Horn with the San Francisco Symphony, joined the orchestra in 1991 after holding positions in the Columbus Symphony and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1983 where he was a student of Dale Clevenger. Other major teachers include Robert Fries at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and Jerry Peel. As an active chamber and recording musician, Mr. Ring is a founding member of the GRAMMY™ nominated Bay Brass and a frequent performer on video game and motion picture soundtracks. He performed at the 1995, 2011 and 2015 International Horn Society Symposiums and has toured as a member of Summit Brass. In 2003 and 2005, Mr. Ring was invited to represent the United States as a member of the “Super World Orchestra” in Japan. His summer music activities have included the New College Music Festival, the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds, the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, the Colorado Philharmonic (NRO) and the Grand Teton Music Festival. Mr. Ring currently serves on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of music. He is also an accomplished keyboard player and composer, writing in the classical, jazz and pop idioms.

Martha Stoddard has held the position of Artistic Director of the Oakland Civic Orchestra since 1997. She has served twice in the role of conductor for the new-ly-formed Piedmont Chamber Orchestra and was a long-time Associate Conductor for the San Francisco Composers’ Chamber Orchestra. She was the rst Resident Conductor for Enriching Lives Through Music, serving from 2016-2019. She held the position of Program Director for the John Adams Young Composers Program at the Crowden Music Center from 2012-2014.Her international conducting training has been with mentors Kirk Trevor, Tsung Yeh and Leonid Korchmar; in the USA she completed courses with Harold Farberman, Kenneth Woods and others. From 1991-2021 Ms. Stoddard was the Director of Instrumental Music at Lick-Wilmerding High School. She has been repeatedly named as semi-nalist in American Prize competitions as a conductor and compos-er, and is a four-time recipient of the AscapPlus Awards in composition. She holds music degrees from Humboldt State University and San Francisco State University. Ms. Stoddard’s music has been performed by the Friction Quartet, the Sierra Ensemble, Ave-nueWinds, San Francisco Choral Artists, San Francisco Composers’ Chamber Orchestra, schwungvoll!, Santa Rosa Repertory Youth Orchestra, Oakland Civic Orchestra, Womensing and Community Women’s Orchestra and in the Bakerseld Symphony New Directions Series, Trinity Chamber Concert Series, the New Music Forum Festival of Contemporary Music, and in London, UK.Past commissions have come from the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Sierra Ensemble, Community Women’s Orchestra, and the Octangle Woodwind Octet. She is published by Tetractys in London, UK and Shadow Tree Music Publishing in Concord, California. When not working Ms.Stoddard immerses herself in practicing piano and ute, composing and playing tennis.While Christine Brandes has long been held in high esteem as a professional singer of concert and operatic repertoire, she has also felt drawn to the podium. Through her position as head of the Voice and Opera area at SF State University, she has conducted fully staged productions of Handel, Strauss, Mozart and Menotti. Her rst professional engagement was a production of Rameau’s Achante et Céphise (Sympathy) with Victory Hall Opera in Charlottesville, Virginia, to which she returned in the Fall of 2019 for Haydn’s Armide. Ms. Brandes made her professional West Coast debut this summer conducting Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice for West Edge Opera.A noted specialist in baroque performance practice, she is the director of the University Baroque Ensemble at UC Berkeley. Ms. Brandes has also been the associate conductor of the Oakland Civic Orchestra for the past year. To read more about Ms. Brandes please visit: http://etudearts.com/artists/christine-brandes/AbOut Our COnduCtOrS

bOn VOyAGeMembers of the Oakland Civic Orchestra would like to wish our longtime OCO bassoonist, multi-instrumentalist and singer of smooth jazz, Dee Saunders, a bon voyage as she leaves the Bay Area for sunny San Diego. Dee, we will sorely miss your skills and versatility, your musicianship, and most of all your good humor and good sense. It’s been a wonderful journey… we wish you all the best!

PrOGrAm nOteS 1MUSIC FOR STRINGS Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) • Sinfonie No. 10 in B Minor Felix was a precocious youthful talent who grew into the legendary composer and conductor that we revere today. He composed this work at the age of 14 in May of 1823. It is a single movement form in a style reminiscent of the baroque, with a brief slow introduction followed by an exuberant allegro.To read more:String Symphony No. 10 Felix MendelssohnFelix MendelssohnJean Sibelius (1865-1957) • Impromptu No. 5The haunting voice of Jean Sibelius is distinctive in all his works and one can almost sense the darkness of the north, with just eeting rays of sunlight, in this tender arrangement created from one of his solo piano works. Originally in the key of B minor, Sibelius arranged this work for strings in the key of E minor, no doubt to access the full range and color palette of the strings. A highly skilled violinist himself, he was able to craft the tender melodies seamlessly and has deftly woven together the inner voices and supporting lines. To read more and see the score:Jean SibeliusSibelius – Impromptu for Strings, Op. 5 (Score) – AltoClefPeter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) • Serenade for Strings Op. 48Tchaikovsky is a household name in the classical music world, and his life and works have been studied and written about extensively.The Serenade for Strings is a work he was extremely fond of, and is a popular and rewarding piece to study and perform. It was composed in 1880 and premiered publicly in October 1881 in St. Petersburg. It is comprised of four movements: I. Pezzo in forma di sonatina: Andante non troppo — Allegro moderato II. Valse: Moderato — Tempo di valse III. Élégie: Larghetto elegiaco IV. Finale (Tema russo): Andante — Allegro con spiritoThe Russian themes of the nale are drawn from two folk songs:On the Green Meadow and Under the Green Apple Tree.To read more:Serenade for Strings (Tchaikovsky)

PrOGrAm nOteS 2MUSIC FOR WINDSCharles Gounod (1818-1893) • Petite Symphonie Petite Symphonie is a four movement work composed for one ute, and pairs of oboes, clarinets, horns and bassoons. Toward the end of the 19th Century, as the quality of wind instrument manufacturing improved, the level of professional wind playing naturally followed suit. The need for repertoire was recognized particularly with the emergence of the New French Flute School. New wind works proliferated and the renowned ute pedagogue and performer Paul Taanel sought out Gounod to compose a work for the Société de musique pour instruments à vent. The result was Petite Symphonie, which was rst performed in Paris in April of 1885 and later published in 1904.To read more:Charles GounodPetite Symphonie (Gounod)Richard Strauss (1864-1949) • Suite for 13 instruments in Bb, Op. 4; Serenade Op. 7 Richard Strauss held a prominent position in the musical world in his lifetime and began his compositional and conducting career with a wind ensemble. He owed his early exposure to the sonorities of winds to his father, a professional horn player in Munich. The younger Strauss’s quick and thorough command of the idiom is evident both in his wind ensemble writing and in the orchestration of his later symphonic and operatic works. The Serenade, Op. 7 is scored for pairs of utes, oboes and clarinets, four horns, two bassoons and Contrabassoon (or Tuba). Strauss conducted this premiere, his rst public performance as a composer, and the event promptly landed him an appointment as assistant conductor to Hans von Bulow. The Suite, Op. 4, a multi-movement form, followed in 1884. Subsequently, Strauss wrote works for larger wind groups, expressing to his father the view that double winds were no match for four horns! To read more:Richard Strauss Suite in B-at (Strauss)Serenade (Strauss)

PrOGrAm nOteS 3MUSIC FOR BRASSJonathan Ring • Fanfare for Greta, for Symphonic Brass and TimpaniThe piece was premiered in November, 2019 at the unveiling of the Greta Thunberg mural in downtown SF and performed by the SFCM Brass Ensemble.Inspired by young Greta Thunberg and her determination to speak out and be heard regarding action on climate change, I began to think that if anyone were deserving of a fanfare, it would most certainly be Greta! The melody of this short fanfare is derived from 2 textual sources: 1) The opening half of the melody is based on the words from a poster which Greta displayed outside of the Swedish Parliament building when she began her solitary protest in August of 2018. The poster read “Skolstrejk för klimatet” (School strike for the climate). 2) The second half of the melody is based on words Greta used in a leaet which she distributed while protesting which read, in part “…you adults are shitting on my future.” The fanfare begins with the 2-part melody alone, as Greta was when she began her protest. Gradually, more voices join in canon, just as others had started to be aware of her message and decided to join Greta in her eorts. The melody piles up more frequently as each iteration is presented louder, accompanied by a rising gure in the bass as well as modulations upward in key, all of which symbolize her growing support, the urgency of her message and her unwavering determination to be heard. Finally, all of the voices join in together stating the melody in unison, representing the over 4 million participants worldwide who, as of 2019, have since joined Greta’s voice in calling for denitive and decisive action on climate change. After a large, hopeful and climactic crescendo, there is a pause – the ght is not over and the eventual outcome uncertain. Greta’s solo voice is heard again, this time combining music representing the word “future” with a traditional “Amen”, symbolizing both hope that swift action taken will lead to a better future or that prayer may be all that is left if nothing is done. – Jonathan Ring (2019)Davide Verotta • Bright Orange for BrassBright Orange is a short composition for Brass Ensemble divided in ve sections. The rst and fourth sections are slow and played by individual players. The second section serves as a sort of introduction to the third section, which is faster and dance-like. The last section is the fastest and uses an irregular rhythm, with beats divided 2-2-2-3, which is common in the Balkans and in Roma music. – Davide Verotta

Niko Umar Durr • Merritt: A Fanfare-Prelude for BrassThis Fanfare is my 1st ocial commission from Oakland Civic Orchestra, and my 2nd attempt at writing for a brass-exclusive ensemble. My rst and only prior attempt would have been when I was in the John Adams Young Composers program at Crowden, when I was 12. My rst assignment in the program was to write a piece for a 5-piece brass ensemble, and having been exposed exclusively to string instruments up to that point, it was the learning experience of a lifetime. It was through JAYC that I would meet and study with Martha Stoddard, our conductor, who would premiere no less than two versions of my student piece Concertino (2010) as well as To Anacreon (2019), so this commission brings things full circle in a way. I had all of this in mind while composing, as well as the neighborhood on this side of Lake Merritt, where I’ve also been living with my partner for about 2 years now, and where Lake Merritt United Methodist Church, OCO’s home, is located. – Niko Umar DurrPrOGrAm nOteS 4

fAll reheArSAlS & reAdinG SeSSiOnS

Special thanks to Carol DeArment for the wonderful and ongoing documentation of our gatherings!

PLEASE JOIN US! FEBRUARY 27 EMERGING VOICES: Umar Durr: Concertino for Two Violoncelli Eamon Riley and Milo Klise, Violoncelli Tchaikovsky: Rococo Variations Eamon Riley, Violoncello Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 MAY 15 FOUR TEMPERAMENTS: Dvorak: Hussite Overture Glinka: Kamarinskaya Nielsen: Symphony No. 2SAVE THE DATES! OCO 2021-2022 SEASONCheck out the OCO website for season updates and for more information on the upcoming YouTube Premiere watch party of today’s full concert event!www.oaklandcivicorchestra.com

dOnAte!The Oakland Civic Orchestra is excited to announce the Oakland Civic Orchestra Association (OCOA), our newly formed nonprot public benet corporation. OCOA is now able to accept tax de-ductible donations for the benet of the orchestra. OCOA will support operational needs such as sheet music, instrument rentals, licensing fees and allow the orchestra to expand special projects such as commissioning original compositions. We would greatly appreciate your help to make sure the orchestra not only survives the current pandemic but grows in its service to a community that needs music more than ever.If you have the PayPal app on your mobile device please scan the QR Code below to donate directly or check out our website Support page at:https://www.oaklandcivicorchestra.com/support.htmlWe also gladly accept checks and they can be made payable to:Oakland Civic Orchestra AssociationPlease mail to:OCOA – c/o Daniel Bao1106 Park Avenue, #5Alameda, CA 94501Thanks for your support of OCO!

thAnk yOu!ACKNOWLEDGMENTSDaniel BaoCarol DeArmentDorothy LeeWendy ShirakiMargaret WuJereld WingChristopher Karachale Tom DreimanLake Merritt United Methodist Church & Neil WadeCheck out our website Visit Oakland Civic Orchestra’s website for latest news about upcoming concerts, as well as videos, audio recordings, and photographs from our recent concerts!https://www.oaklandcivicorchestra.com