Photo Credit: Ollie Ali

Mozart Violin Concerto

The Philadelphia Orchestra Randall Goosby, violin

Orchestral Series

Sunday, July 6, 2025 at 6pm Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater

Principal Guest Conductor Marin Alsop leads The Philadelphia Orchestra in opening its 18th Bravo! Vail residency. The evening includes the Colorado premiere of Gabriela Lena Frank’s evocative Picaflor: A Future Myth, Mozart’s Third Violin Concerto with brilliant young violinist Randall Goosby, and Brahms’ ornate Haydn Variations.

LAWN SCREEN: Bravo! Vail is pleased to offer the lawn screen experience at this evening's concert.

Featured Artists

Marin Alsop

conductor

Randall Goosby

violin

One of the foremost conductors of our time, Marin Alsop is a powerful and inspiring voice. Convinced that music has the power to change lives, she is internationally recognized for her innovative approach to programming and audience development, deep commitment to education, and championing of music’s importance in the world. The first woman to serve as the head of major orchestras in the United States, South America, Austria, and Great Britain, she is, as the New York Times put it, not only “a formidable musician and a powerful communicator” but also “a conductor with a vision.”

The 2024-25 season marks Alsop’s sixth as Chief Conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, which she leads at Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus, as well as on recordings, broadcasts, and international tours; her second as artistic director & chief conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony; her second as principal guest conductor of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra; and her first as principal guest conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra. She is also chief conductor of the Ravinia Festival, where she leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s annual summer residencies, and is the first music director of the National Orchestral Institute + Festival (NOI+F) at the University of Maryland, where she launched a new academy for young conductors and leads the NOI+F Philharmonic each June.

Alsop was the first U.S.-born woman to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic when she made her long-awaited debut with the orchestra in February 2025, leading the world premiere of a new commission from Outi Tarkiainen. Other 2024-25 highlights include an evening devoted to Gustav and Alma Mahler with the Philharmonia Orchestra, a world premiere from Nico Muhly with the New York Philharmonic, a New Year’s Eve concert with The Philadelphia Orchestra, a reprise of Julia Wolfe’s Her Story with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., and return engagements with the symphonies of Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, and San Francisco.

In 2021, Alsop assumed the title of music director laureate and OrchKids founder of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, which she continues to conduct each season. During her outstanding 14-year tenure as its music director, she led the orchestra on its first European tour in 13 years, released multiple award-winning recordings, and conducted more than two dozen world premieres, as well as founding OrchKids, its groundbreaking music education program for Baltimore’s most disadvantaged youth. In 2019, after seven years as music director, Alsop became conductor of honour of Brazil’s São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP), with which she continues to undertake major projects each season. Deeply committed to new music, she was music director of California’s Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music for 25 years, leading 174 premieres.

Alsop has longstanding relationships with the London Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestras, and regularly guest conducts such major international ensembles as the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Budapest Festival Orchestra, and Orchestre de Paris, besides leading the La Scala Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, and others. In collaboration with YouTube and Google Arts & Culture, she developed and spearheaded the “Global Ode to Joy” (GOTJ), a crowd-sourced video project to celebrate Beethoven’s 250th anniversary in 2020. A full decade after making history as the first female conductor of London’s Last Night of the Proms, in 2023 she became the first woman and first American to guest conduct three Last Nights in the festival’s long history. She made her triumphant debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 2024, leading a new production of John Adams’s oratorio El Niño that showcased her “deep command of Adams’s music” (Financial Times, UK).

Recognized with BBC Music “Album of the Year” and Emmy nominations in addition to GRAMMY, Classical BRIT, and Gramophone awards, Alsop’s discography comprises more than 200 titles. These include recordings for Decca, Harmonia Mundi, and Sony Classical, as well as her acclaimed Naxos cycles of Brahms with the London Philharmonic, Dvořák, with the Baltimore Symphony, and Prokofiev with the São Paulo Symphony. Recent releases include a live account of Candide with the London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus; a Kevin Puts collection with the Baltimore Symphony; and John Adams and Margaret Brouwer collections for Naxos, a complete Schumann symphonic cycle for Naxos, and world premiere recordings of Malek Jandali concertos for Cedille Records, all with the Vienna RSO.

The first and only conductor to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, Alsop has also been honored with the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award. Amongst many other awards and academic positions, she served as both 2021-22 Harman/Eisner Artist-in-Residence of the Aspen Institute Arts Program and 2020 Artist-in-Residence at Vienna’s University of Music and Performing Arts; is Director of Graduate Conducting at the Johns Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute; and holds Honorary Doctorates from Yale University and the Juilliard School. To promote and nurture the careers of her fellow female conductors, in 2002 she founded the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship. The Conductor, a documentary about her life, debuted at New York’s 2021 Tribeca Film Festival and has subsequently been broadcast on PBS television, screened at festivals and in theaters nationwide, nominated for the 2023 Emmy for Best Arts and Culture Documentary, and recognized with the Naples International Film Festival’s 2021 Focus on the Arts Award.

“For me, personally, music has been a way to inspire others.”

Randall Goosby’s own words sum up perfectly his commitment to being an artist who makes a difference. Signed exclusively to Decca Classics in 2020 at the age of 24, American violinist Randall Goosby is acclaimed for the sensitivity and intensity of his musicianship alongside his determination to make music more inclusive and accessible, as well as bringing the music of under-represented composers to light.

Highlights of Randall Goosby’s 2024-25 season include debut performances with the Chicago Symphony/Sir Mark Elder, the Minnesota Orchestra/Thomas Søndergård, National Arts Centre Orchestra/Alexander Shelley, Montreal Symphony Orchestra/Dalia Stasevska, and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic/Michele Mariotti. He joins the London Philharmonic Orchestra on their U.S. tour led by Edward Gardner.

Goosby returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Detroit Symphony, and Utah Symphony. He appears in recital across North America and Europe as soloist as well as with the Renaissance Quartet.

Summer 2024 includes Goosby’s debut with the New York Philharmonic with Thomas Wilkins performing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, and he returns to Marlboro Music. Previous engagements have included debut performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra/Andris Nelsons, National Symphony/Thomas Wilkins, Pittsburgh Symphony/Manfred Honeck, Seattle Symphony, and St Louis Symphony both under Christian Reif, a European tour with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Danish National Radio Symphony/Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Oslo Philharmonic/Ryan Wigglesworth, and Lahti Symphony/Roderick Cox. Goosby made his debuts in South Korea in recital and in Japan with the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa/Kahchun Wong performing Bruch Violin Concerto in G minor. In summer 2023, he made his debut at the Mostly Mozart Festival under Louis Langrée.

In spring 2023, Goosby’s debut concerto album was released for Decca Classics together with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra performing the violin concertos by Max Bruch and Florence Price. Gramophone Magazine observed: “There’s an honesty and modesty...This playing isn’t dressed to impress but to express.”

Goosby’s first album for Decca, entitled Roots, is a celebration of African-American music which explores its evolution from the spiritual through to present-day compositions. Collaborating with pianist Zhu Wang, Goosby curated an album paying homage to the pioneering artists that paved the way for him and other artists of color. It features three world-premiere recordings of music written by African-American composer Florence Price, and includes works by composers William Grant Still and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson plus a newly commissioned piece by acclaimed double bassist Xavier Foley, a fellow Sphinx and Young Concert Artists alumnus. Roots: Deluxe Edition was released in spring 2024 and features new recordings of music by Carlos Simon, William Grant Still, and Florence Price.

Goosby is deeply passionate about inspiring and serving others through education, social engagement, and outreach activities. He has enjoyed working with non-profit organizations such as the Opportunity Music Project and Concerts in Motion in New York City, as well as participating in community engagement programs for schools, hospitals and assisted living facilities across the United States. In 2022-23 Goosby hosted a residency with the Iris Collective in Memphis with pianist, Zhu Wang. Together they explore how the students’ family history can relate to music and building community collaboration through narrative and performances.

Randall Goosby was first prize winner in the 2018 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. In 2019, he was named the inaugural Robey Artist by Young Classical Artists Trust in partnership with Music Masters in London; and in 2020 he became an Ambassador for Music Masters, a role that sees him mentoring and inspiring students in schools around the United Kingdom. In 2010 he won first prize of the Sphinx Concerto Competition, he is a recipient of Sphinx’s Isaac Stern Award and of a career advancement grant from the Bagby Foundation and of the 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant. An active chamber musician, he has spent his summers studying at the Perlman Music Program, Verbier Festival Academy and Mozarteum Summer Academy among others.

Goosby made his debut with the Jacksonville Symphony at age nine and with the New York Philharmonic on a Young People’s Concert at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall at age 13. A former student of Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho, he received his bachelor’s, master’s and artist diploma degrees from The Juilliard School. He is an alumnus of the Perlman Music Program and studied previously with Philippe Quint.

Mr. Goosby plays the Antonio Stradivarius, Cremona, “ex-Strauss,” 1708 on generous loan from Samsung Foundation of Culture. He records exclusively for Decca. More information on Randall Goosby can be found at www.randallgoosby.com

Marin Alsop, conductor
Randall Goosby, violin

GABRIELA LENA FRANK Picaflor: A Future Myth Co-Commission with The Philadelphia Orchestra
MOZART Violin Concerto No. 3
BRAHMS Variations on a Theme by Haydn

Pre-Concert Talk Speakers: Andrew Stein-Zeller, Director of Promotion for G. Schirmer, Inc. & Associated Music Publishers, Inc. & Jacqueline Taylor, Director of Artistic Planning for Bravo! Vail
5:10 PM | Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater Lobby

All artists, programs, and pricing subject to change.

GABRIELA LENA FRANK (b.1972)

Picaflor: A Future Myth (Vail Premiere, Co-commission by Bravo! Vail, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Oregon Symphony)

SYMPHONIC COMMISSIONING PROJECT

I. Pachacuti: The Drowning of Pachamama
II. As the Night Tears
III. Song of the Picaflor
IV. Prophecy of the Mollusks
V. The Scraped Ones Point the Way
VI. The Keeper of the Flies
VII. The Royal Road and Ghosts of Chaskis Past
VIII. Fossils at the Horizon
IX. The Sun God
X. Pachacuti: Firethroats

Gabriela Lena Frank, former composer-in-residence at The Philadelphia Orchestra, often explores her multicultural heritage through music. That opens broad possibilities since her mother was of mixed Peruvian/Chinese ancestry and her father of Lithuanian/Jewish descent. Many of her works incorporate poetry, mythology, and indigenous musical styles that she has studied during travels in South America.

She established the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music in 2017 “to inspire emerging composers to create self-determined artistic lives,” and in 2020 she was given the Heinz Award for, in that foundation’s words, “weaving Latin American influences into classical constructs and breaking gender, disability and cultural barriers in classical music composition.” A case in point is the work played in this concert, of which she writes: “Picaflor: A future myth is an original story born of my fancy, told in the language of a fable. It draws on the mythology of Andean Perú, the object of my lifelong fascination—The existence of a sky kingdom under the dominion of a creator sun god, and a mischievous hummingbird, the picaflor, who leaves the kingdom by ripping the sky. The story also draws on the existence of personages such as the chaski, the runner from the pre-Conquest Tawantinsuyu Empire who delivered messages along the Inca Road. All are portrayed against the backdrop of pachacuti, the longstanding indigenous belief that cataclysmic changes of era-worlds occur every several hundred years.

“What happens, I wonder, when we imagine these ideas as taking place in the future rather than the past? And in a future that will bear the mark of our attitudes towards Mother Earth? How do mythologies change in such a future? As a generational daughter of indigenous Perú, Picaflor is what has stirred inside me, musically rendered here for the symphony orchestra.”

WOLFGANG AMADÈ MOZART (1756-91)

Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K. 216
Allegro
Adagio
Rondeau: Allegro—Andante—Allegretto— Tempo primo

It was formerly thought that Wolfgang Amadè Mozart composed all five of his violin concertos in quick succession from April through December 1775, in accordance with the dates inscribed on the autograph scores; but it turns out that things were confused through later date-tampering on the manuscripts. Musicological consensus now seems to be that his Concerto No. 1 may date from 1773, with the other four following in 1775. The Fourth and Fifth Concertos are the most frequently performed, but the Third is a work of very considerable charm, a fine example of how Mozart was experimenting with adventurous ideas while still adhering to an essentially Rococo-Classical idiom. So it is that the opening Allegro breaks at one point into what seems a recitative for the soloist; the Adagio sports an orchestration fundamentally different from the movements that surround it, with flutes temporarily replacing oboes and the orchestral strings (but not the soloist) installing mutes; and the Rondeau finale is interrupted by tempo and meter changes that give the movement a distinctive character.

Midway through that finale, Mozart slackens the tempo and introduces two tunes of folkish flavor. The first, in the minor mode, remains unidentified, but the second, back in the major, would be included in an 1813 collection of Hungarian folk melodies, where it is titled “à la mélodie de Strassbourger.” This tune is developed at considerable length before the rondo theme returns. With the discovery of the Hungarian collection, which a musicologist made in the 1950s, it became clear that this was the piece Mozart referred to in a letter as his “Strassbourg concerto,” though, since the words are lacking, we have no idea what its connection (if any) is to the city of Strasbourg.

JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-97)

Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn, Op. 56a
Chorale St. Antoni: Andante
Variation I: Poco più animato
Variation II: Più vivace
Variation III: Con moto
Variation IV: Andante con moto
Variation V: Vivace
Variation VI: Vivace
Variation VII: Grazioso
Variation VIII: Presto non troppo
Finale: Andante

In 1870, a friend showed Brahms the manuscript of six Feldparthien attributed to Haydn. Brahms was so taken by the second movement of the first piece in the set—a movement labeled “Chorale St. Antoni”—that he copied it for his library. Three years later, it served as the basis for his Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn.

But the entire set of six pieces that the friend had stumbled across turned out not to be by Haydn after all. Just who wrote the “Chorale St. Antoni” remains unclear, but since the middle of the 20th century musicologists have generally agreed that it could not have been Haydn. Nonetheless, its rhythm and harmony endow it with a distinctive, memorable character; to a composer of Brahms’ sensibilities, it leapt from the page as a worthy candidate upon which to develop variations. He initially sketched the piece in a version for two pianos. Nonetheless, he told his publisher that the movements were “actually variations for orchestra”; and it was as an orchestral work that the “Haydn Variations” reached its completion. Brahms published both— the orchestral setting as Op. 56a, the two-piano version as Op. 56b—and never professed a strong preference for one over the other.

Following the announcement of the theme by a wind choir Brahms writes eight variations and a final passacaglia, during which he gives free rein to the possibilities of variation procedures. Brahms once grew a beard while away on vacation, inspiring the critic Eduard Hanslick to remark that Brahms’ original face was as hard to recognize as the theme in many of his variations—an aperçu that seems à propos to this piece.