UW Symphony and Combined UW Choirs

The University Symphony Orchestra performs works by George Walker, Aaron Copland, and Samuel Barber, then is joined by the combined UW Choirs for a performance of Te Deum, op.103, by Antonín Dvořák. 

Masks are required in all indoor spaces on the UW campus. Patrons must show proof of vaccination or recent negative provider-administered COVID-19 PCR test for entry to live events at Meany Hall. Individuals unable to be fully vaccinated, including children under age five and people with a medical or religious exemption, must have proof of a negative provider-administered COVID-19 PCR test (taken within 72 hours of the performance). UW staff will check for proof of vaccination and negative COVID PCR tests at the doors as a condition of entry. Proof of negative test result must come from a test provider, a laboratory or a health care provider. Home or self-administered tests will not be accepted. Details of these policies and procedures are at: https://artsevents.washington.edu/covid-protocols 

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Program Notes

by Megan Rideout Redeker

George Walker: Lyric for Strings

George Walker enjoyed a brilliant career as a pianist, composer, and professor. He was admitted

to Oberlin Conservatory at the age of 14, and was at that time the youngest student who had ever

been admitted to the conservatory. He completed his masters degree at the Curtis Institute of

Music, earned a doctorate from Eastman, and studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Walker

completed his Lyric for Strings while he was still a graduate student at the Curtis Institute. The

work is the second movement of his String Quartet No. 1 with an expanded orchestration.

Originally titled Lament, it was premiered by the student orchestra at the Curtis Institute in 1946.

Walker dedicated the work to his grandmother, Malvina King, who was born into slavery.

Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring

In 1945, Aaron Copland was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his orchestral suite

Appalachian Spring. The suite was originally a ballet, written for thirteen instruments. Copland

expanded the instrumentation to include a full orchestra when he arranged the music as an

orchestral suite. The ballet tells the story of a newly married pioneer couple in the 19th century

who have just built a farmhouse in Pennsylvania together. It was originally written in 8 parts, the

seventh of which contains the melody of the Shaker song Simple Gifts. Dancer and

choreographer Martha Graham and pianist Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge commissioned the work,

asking for a ballet “with an American theme.” Not knowing exactly what Graham intended for

the dancers, Copland originally called the work Ballet for Martha. Graham suggested naming it

Appalachian Spring, after a line in a poem called The Dance by Hart Crane:

O Appalachian Spring! I gained the ledge;

Steep, inaccessible smile that eastward bends

And northward reaches in that violet wedge

Of Adirondacks!

The poem refers to a stream, not the season of Spring; Copland was reportedly quite amused by

the amount of praise he received for his depiction of springtime in the Appalachians.

Samuel Barber: First Essay for Orchestra, op. 12

Samuel Barber composed his first work at the age of seven, became a church organist at the age

of twelve, and began studying at the Curtis Institute of Music at the age of fourteen. He enjoyed

a brief career as a baritone and wrote many choral and vocal works, but he also wrote a great

deal for orchestra. His First Essay for Orchestra was completed in 1938 and premiered by

Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra that same year. Toscanini rarely performed

works by contemporary or American composers, so his premiere of Barber’s music was a

significant moment in the composer’s career. Barber pioneered the essay as a musical form.

When asked about it, he often referred listeners to the literary definition of an essay found in the

dictionary.

Antonin Dvořák: Te Deum, op. 103

In October of 1891, Dvořák accepted a position as the director of the National Conservatory of

Music in New York. His arrival the following year would coincide with the 400th anniversary of

Columbus Day. Jeanette Thurber, the founder of the Conservatory, commissioned a piece from

Dvořák to be performed at the celebration, and promised to send him a text to set. The text never

came, so Dvořák chose the hymn Te Deum Laudamus which he thought would be joyful enough

for such an occasion. Dvořák was a devout Catholic, and at this point in his career had already

composed several sacred works. Te Deum was ultimately not premiered at the Columbus Day

celebrations, but was premiered shortly after, on October 21st, 1892.

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University of Washington Symphony Orchestra

David Alexander Rahbee, Music Director and Conductor

Rylan Virnig and Daren Weissfisch, Assistant Conductors 

Flute    

Drew Burky, Materials Science & Engineering 

Katelyn Campbell, Biochemistry, Applied Music (Orchestral Instruments) 

Megan Hutchison, Music (Woodwinds) 

Cassie Lear, DMA Woodwinds

Piccolo

Katelyn Campbell, Biochemistry, Applied Music (Orchestral Instruments) 

Oboe 

Kieran Matz, Music (Ethnomusicology) 

Kamil Tarnawczyk, Music 

English horn

Kamil Tarnawczyk, Music

Clarinet 

Megan Rideout Redeker, Music Performance 

Khang Zhie Phoong, Computer Science 

Bassoon 

Pascal Lovre, Chemistry 

Parker Chu, Biochemistry, Music minor

Horn    

Anna Perry, Music (Brass) 

Nicholas Hidy, Music (Brass) 

Levi Sy, Biochemistry, Russian

Thomas Dylan, Bioengineering

Trumpet

Carter Archuleta , Physics, Astronomy

Greg Smith, Music (Brass)

Jennifer Stump,  Pre Sciences 

Joe Yang , Geology, Trumpet

Trombone

Neal Muppidi,  Physics, Music

Sean Grimm, Statistics

Clayton Thomas, Electrical Engineering

Tuba

Nikolas Wooden, Neuroscience

Timpani

Sophie Schmidt, Percussion Performance 

Percussion

Cyrus Grahan, History 

Jonathan Rodriguez, Percussion Performance

Scott Farkas, Percussion Performance

Harp    

Kelly Hou, Informatics, Music Performance

Piano

Chiao-Yu Wu, Piano Performance

Violins 

Christine Chu, Communication, Violin Performance 

Constance Aguocha, Violin Performance 

Dalma Ashby, Violin Performance 

Sejon Ashby, Biochemistry 

Ido Avnon, Computer Science, Education

Kelly Chiang, Psychology, Marketing

Hannah Chou, Violin Performance 

Kellen Cribbs, Music Education, History 

Teela Damian, Music 

Suad Maya Dirar, Biology

Raymond Doerr, Materials Science and Engineering 

Rylan Ferron-Jones, Engineering Undeclared 

Rei Funakoshi Anderson, Pre Major (Arts & Sciences) 

Nicholas Gjording, Biology (Molecular Cellular & Developmental) 

Kara Johnson, Pre Major (Arts & Sciences) 

Allison Kam, Pre Sciences, Linguistics 

Meiqi Liang, Pre Public Health 

Audrey Lin, Computer Science

Lucy Maki-Fern, Biology (Molecular, Cellular, & Developmental) 

Paige Michal, Music Education

Hannah Peña-Ruiz, Music (Strings) 

Bianca Ponnekanti, Physics, Astronomy 

Sean Sasaki, Music 

Victoria Sepulveda, Art (Painting & Drawing) 

Selina Siow, Music (Strings) 

Olivia Wang, Computer Science, Music 

Ethan Wu, Biochemistry

Renee Zhang, Alumni: Biology (Molecular, Cellular, & Developmental), Violin Performance

Viola    

Elena Allen, Applied Music (String Instruments), Biochemistry 

Eugene Chin, Applied Music (String Instruments) 

Nathan Hatch, Robotics 

Angielena Luong, Pre Sciences 

Brian Pham, Biochemistry

Mari Morikawa, Biology (Physiology) 

Meghna Shankar, Computer Science, Physics 

Kareena Sikka, Biology (Molecular, Cellular, & Developmental) 

Katie Tschida, Music

Randy Zhang, Computer Science 

Violoncello        

Bashir Abdel-Fattah, Mathemetics 

Ryan Friesz, Pre Sciences 

Savannah Helming, Cello Performance

Breanna Humphrey, Pre Sciences 

Sarah Johnson, Music 

Youngbin (Young) Kim, Cello Performance 

Gene Liu, Engineering

Bennett Olsen, Geography: Data Science 

John Rice, Computer Engineering 

Russell Sam, Pre Sciences 

Amanda Song, Business Administration 

Ignacio (Nacho) Tejeda, Mathematics

 Bass    

Alejandra (Ale) Heringer, English 

Eddie Nikishina, Music 

Ethan Park, Pre Sciences 

Gracious Wyatt Draher, Envir Science & Terrestrial Resource Mgt 

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University of Washington Chamber Singers

Soprano

Kaelyn Barnes

Kate Connors

Karen Dunstan

Virginia Elizondo

Caitlin Hennessy

Mallory McCollum

Shalini Pullarkat

Sarah Santos

Jessica Turner 

Alto

Cee Adamson

Sydney Belden

Lily Campbell

Anjali Chudasama

Heather Halverson

Anna Messenger

Grace Selmann

Emily Vaughan

Tiffany Walker

Leah Wyman

Tenor

Oliver Callahan

Tyler Todd Kimmel

Timothy Little

Marshell Lombard

Alexander Nguyen

Tri Nguyen

John O'Kane

Mark Petty

Zach Rude

Isaac Tian

Bass

Justin Birchell

Frank Goess

Mikey Prince

Jonathan Rizzardi

Dario Rojas

Zack Shafer

Alec Walter

Daren Weissfisch

Trey Wheeler

University of Washington Chorale

SOPRANO

Fern Bettinger

Emily Cameron

Mavis Chan

Sarah Clark

Meagan Hodgins

Whi Jung

Claire Killian

Emma Koslosky

Anna Kucinski

Meena Kuduva

Ellen Kwon

Joely Loucks

Anna Messenger

Julia Nipert

Rosemary Norheim

Chloe O’Keefe

Sophia Parker

Clara Propst

Meliza Redulla

Caitlin Sarwono

Jessica Turner

Felicia Tzeng

Natalia Valvano

Melody Zhu 

ALTO

Meher Chand

Sofiia Fedzorah

Christine Han

Anmol Kaur

Ella L’Heuruex

Naomi-Hal Hoffman

Hannah Limb

Sophie Ma

Julia Park

Sophie Root

Jaminfaye Reduque

Silvana Segura

Maya Shah

Nelly Sunstrum

Emily Vaughan

Aliyah Wachob

Akhila Narayanan

Ruby Whelan

TENOR

Eyad Alsilimy

Scott Fisher Jr.

Cam Gardner

Carson Kyle

Karsten Lomax

Adrian Nguyen

Alex Nguyen

Tri Nguyen

Ollie Hernandez

John O’Kane

Zach Shafer

Ryan Singh

Ethan Walker

BASS

Lewis Back

Jason Barringer

Elisha Bourassa

Matthew Chao

Charlie Dawson

Matt Hansen

Andrew Hoch

Jacob Knight

Jonah Ladish-Orlich

Sidharth Lakshmanan

Christian Rolfson

Cian Scheer

Alec Walter

Trey Wheeler 

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 Director Bio