Tag Archive for: Hannah Schendel

2023-2024 Season

Music Director, Hannah Schendel
August 30, 2023

I am so excited and honored to be named the new Music Director of the Wayzata Symphony. Through weathering the pandemic and embarking on a yearlong search for its next conductor, the members of the WSO have blown me away with their dedication both to the organization and to creating music at a high level. Highlights this season include three symphonies, pieces by female composers on every concert, a variety of pieces composed by diverse living composers, and the much-anticipated return of Anthony Ross (Principal Cello – Minnesota Orchestra). There will be something for everyone to enjoy!

The first concert is centered around the theme of celebration; celebrating both a new chapter in the WSO legacy and the joy that we all feel in coming together to make something beautiful. The second concert is comprised entirely of 19th century French music which features Edouard Lalo’s emotional Cello Concerto in D Minor, bookended by two ballet suites. Our third concert is thought provoking, and will challenge us to consider the sometimes subtle nuances between fate and destiny. Just as painters carefully choose their color palette, so too will we explore dark and light shades of sound in our fourth and final concert of the season.

Each and every one of these concerts has something unique to offer. The WSO is a hidden gem, presenting exceptionally high-quality and meaningful performances. Please help us to expand the impact we seek to make both musically and in our community by supporting us financially with your tax-deductible donation.

I can’t wait to see you at our concerts this season!

Sincerely,

 

 

 

Impressions of America

Guest Conductor Notes
Hannah Schendel
April 22, 2023

I’m looking forward to conducting the Wayzata Symphony Orchestra on May 7 as we celebrate and explore the vibrant cultures, people and natural beauty of America.

The program opens with Starburst, a vivid and energetic piece composed by Jessie Montgomery. Montgomery’s individual compositional style reflects her upbringing in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, an area which is infamous for its multiculturalism within New York City. Montgomery describes Starburst as “a play on imagery of rapidly changing musical colors. Exploding gestures are juxtaposed with gentle fleeting melodies in an attempt to create a multidimensional soundscape. A common definition of a starburst: “the rapid formation of large numbers of new stars in a galaxy at a rate high enough to alter the structure of the galaxy significantly” lends itself almost literally to the nature of the performing ensemble who premiered the work, The Sphinx Virtuosi, and I wrote the piece with their dynamic in mind.”

This is followed by The Overture to the Song of Hiawatha, by British composer and conductor, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. The Overture introduces a trilogy of cantatas based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1855 epic poem, The Song of Hiawatha. The poem, which was inspired by Longfellow’s close friendship with an Ojibwe Chief, narrates the fictional tragic love story of Hiawatha, an Ojibwe man, and Minnehaha, a Dakota woman. Many names and locations mentioned within the poem are familiar to Minnesota audiences. Coleridge-Taylor’s three cantatas were an immediate success with British audiences and were performed annually at the Royal Albert Hall for many years. The pieces were such a success that Coleridge-Taylor named his son, Hiawatha.

Finally, we hear Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, “From the New World” by Czech composer Antonín Dvořák. Dvořák briefly lived in the United States where he resided in New York City and Spillville, Iowa. During these years he was inspired by African American spirituals, jazz, Native American culture, Longfellow’s Song of Hiawatha, and the beauty of the expansive plains of central America. In this symphony, Dvorak sought to pave a way forward for the future of American symphonic music by synthesizing these American influences with his own Bohemian rhythms and harmonic language.

2022-23 Season is Almost Here!

WSO News
August 4, 2022

It’s hard to believe it’s already August, and WSO rehearsal start in September! It’s been a busy summer for us as we line up our four guest conductors, and begin promoting our upcoming season.

We are honored to have Keehun Nam, Dennis Friesen-Carper, Richard Haglund and Hannah Schendel leading our concerts from the podium this season. Each of them brings a unique and diverse approach to musical direction. You can check out their bios at this link. At the end of our season, the WSO Membership will vote in a new permanent music director. We hope you plan to attend every concert, and welcome you to be a part of this experience alongside us.

The process of searching for a new, permanent music director has been both challenging and invigorating for the organization. It’s given us the opportunity to look at who we are, and why we choose to serve the greater Twin Cities community. If you are reading this, you are already a part of our community. We never discount the importance and the value of having musicians coming together to perform free concerts that bring a little extra joy to someone’s life. In a hectic, complicated world, sometimes it’s the simple things that matter the most.

Please mark your calendars:

October 9, 2022 (Keehun Nam)
November 20, 2022 (Dennis Friesen-Carper) (also featuring WSO Concerto Winner Ava Lambert, Cello)
March 5, 2023 (Richard Haglund)
May 7, 2023 (Hannah Schendel)

Click on the links above for full concert details.

Enjoy the rest of your summer, and we look forward to seeing you this fall!

 

Tag Archive for: Hannah Schendel

Nothing Found

Sorry, no posts matched your criteria