Don’t miss The Santa Fe Symphony’s 39th season finale with a spectacular program to keep you on the edge of your seat. Maestro Guillemo Figueroa leads the full Symphony Orchestra for Fate and Finale at The Lensic, featuring Emilie Mayer’s Faust Overture, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, and Elgar’s brilliant Cello Concerto in E Minor presenting cello virtuoso Zlatomir Fung—XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition Gold Medalist and the first American in four decades, and youngest musician ever, to win First Prize in this prestigious competition’s Cello Division.
EXCITING NEWS—We are thrilled to bring back our FREE Preview Talks this season! Be sure to join us one hour before each Lensic performance for 30 minutes of interesting program details presented by Maestro Figueroa, guest soloists, or musicians. Each talk is unique and all ticket holders are invited!
The Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra
Guillermo Figueroa, Principal Conductor
PROGRAM
EMILIE MAYER
Faust Overture, op.46
EDWARD ELGAR
Cello Concerto in E Minor, op.85
I. Adagio; Moderato
II. Lento; Allegro molto
III. Adagio
IV. Allegro; Moderato; Allegro, ma non troppo
Zlatomir Fung, Cello
Gold Medalist of the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition
Intermission
PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY
Symphony No. 5
I. Andante – Allegro con anima
II. Andante cantabile con alcuna licenza
III. Valse: Allegro moderato
IV. Finale: Andante maestoso – Allegro vivace
Of Note
The October 1919 premiere of Elgar’s Cello Concerto in London was a critical flop, presumably because the performers did not have enough rehearsal time. The work did not achieve wide popularity until 1965, when Jacqueline du Pré performed it at age 17 and then made a recording that became a classical best-seller. Her name came to be closely associated with the piece until she was forced to retire at age 28 due to multiple sclerosis.
Critical reaction to Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in was not universally positive. At its U.S. premiere in Boston, one critic wrote…“Pandemonium, delirium tremens, raving, and above all, noise worse confounded!” Tchaikovsky himself had mixed feelings: After he completed it, he said that it “has turned out well.” On another occasion, he wrote, “I have come to the conclusion that it is a failure.” The work has of course become a repertory standard.
Although Emilie Mayer, a German composer of Romantic music, began composing relatively late in life, she was very prolific: She wrote eight symphonies, at least 15 concert overtures, and many works for strings, piano, chamber ensembles and lieder. She was also the Associate Director of the Opera Academy in Berlin. Although well known in her lifetime, her work has been neglected for the past 100 years.
Zlatomir Fung, Cello
The first American in four decades and youngest musician ever to win First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition Cello Division, Zlatomir Fung is poised to become one of the preeminent cellists of our time. Astounding audiences with his boundless virtuosity and exquisite sensitivity, the 23-year-old has already proven himself to be a star among the next generation of world-class musicians. A recipient of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship 2022 and a 2020 Avery Fisher Career Grant
Guillermo Figueroa, Principal Conductor
One of the most versatile and respected musical artists of his generation—renowned as conductor, violinist, violist and concertmaster—Guillermo Figueroa is the Principal Conductor of The Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra & Chorus. He also serves as the Music Director of the Music in the Mountains Festival in Colorado and Music Director of the Lynn Philharmonia in Florida, and is the founder of the highly acclaimed Figueroa Music and Arts Project in Albuquerque.
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Program Notes
Very few audiences today know the music of Emilie Mayer, but in the late 19th century she was one of those rarest people—a female composer whose music was performed frequently and admired by critics. Her path to that fame was a difficult one, however. Born into a middle-class family in what is today…