Vermont Philharmonic
VERMONT PHILHARMONIC PRESENTS
TRAGEDY & TRIUMPH
FEBRUARY 7, 2009
The Vermont Philharmonic under the direction of music Director Lou Kosma presents "Tragedy & Triumph" — a program full of drama and passion. Celebrating its 50th Anniversary as the state's oldest community orchestra, the program will include Toccata for Orchestra: City Lights, Country Sun by Vermont composer Jorge Martin, who was commissioned by the Vermont Philharmonic to commemorate its 50th Anniversary. The program will also include the rousing Hungarian March from the Damnation of Faust by Hector Berlioz, the breakneck Piano Concerto in G (Allegramente) by Maurice Ravel, and the sublime Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss.
The Vermont Philharmonic's featured soloists include soprano Lisa Jablow performing Strauss' Four Last Songs and 17-year-old pianist Samantha Angstman, the recipient of the Vermont Philharmonic's Jon Borowicz Memorial Scholarship who will be performing the first movement of Ravel's Piano Concerto in G.
Lisa Jablow holds a D.M.A. in Choral Conducting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she studied under the late Dr. Robert Fountain She has done additional study in conducting and voice at the Aspen School of Music, the Tanglewood Festival, Westminster Choir College and the Carnegie Hall Conductors' Workshops under the likes of Pierre Boulez, Robert Shaw and Joseph Flummerfelt.
As a vocal soloist she has appeared onstage with such organizations as New York City Opera, Opera Orchestra of New York, the New York Virtuoso Singers, the Milwaukee Symphony, Boise Opera and Skylight Opera. Vermont audiences have seen her in productions or concerts with Lost Nation Theater, Vermont Opera Theater, Lamoille County Players, Opera Burlington, the Vermont Philharmonic, the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble, the Warebrook Contemporary Music Festival, Friends of Music at Guilford and Burlington Choral Society. In addition, she is an alumna of the world-renowned "Internationale Ferienkurse fur Neue Musik" in Darmstadt, Germany, where she was awarded top honors for the interpretation of new music. She has appeared on the Discovery Channel in a segment of the series "Women Who Kill," performing an excerpt from the monodrama "Erszebet," by Vermont composer Dennis Bathory-Kitsz about his ancestor, the 16th-century serial killer Countess Erszebet Bathory. She has recently completed performances of Carlisle Floyd's monodrama "Flower and Hawk" with WordStage Vermont.
Ms. Jablow is also active as a conductor and has worked in recent years with Maestra Fiora Contino in NYC and with Kenneth Kiesler at the Conductors Retreat at Medomak in Maine. She has been the music director of the Montpelier Chamber Orchestra and has guest-conducted numerous groups including the Lamoille Choral Society, the Onion River Chorus, UVM's Catamount Singers and the Burlington Choral Society. In addition to co-directing the Musical Theater program at Johnson State College, where she is the senior member of the music faculty, she has done music directing for Lost Nation Theater, Burlington's Lyric Theater and Lamoille County Players. She has also served as Assistant Conductor for productions at Opera Illinois and the Green Mountain Opera Festival and is currently the Assistant Conductor and Chorus Director of the Pioneer Valley Symphony in western Massachusetts.
As a corollary to her performing, she has written a number of feature articles for the New York City Opera, Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall Playbills and, in the last several years, has served as supertitle operator for Green Mountain Opera Festival, Berkshire Opera and Opera Illinois; she is currently on the supertitle staff at New York City Opera.
Samantha Angstman, 17, a senior at Champlain Valley Union High School in Hinesburg at the time of the peformance, has been playing piano for 10 years and currently studies with Paul Orgel, who teaches at the University of Vermont. Sammy recently appeared as a soloist with the Vermont Youth and Champlain Philharmonic Orchestras, and she is very excited to perform the first movement of Ravel's Piano Concerto in G again with the Vermont Philharmonic! Sammy hopes to attend a conservatory next fall to prepare for a career as a professional musician.
At CVU, Sammy has been a member of Band III, the CVU Jazz Ensemble, and the CVU Chorus and A Cappella groups. She has participated in many festivals and engagements with these groups, including a few jazz festivals where she was named an Outstanding Performer. She has performed at the Flynn Theatre twice with the CVU Chorus, singing with the Stephen Petronio Dance Company and the Mary Lou Williams Resurgence Project. Sammy has also been a member of the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association since 2004, playing both piano and percussion.
Sammy doesn't come from a particularly musical family, but her younger brother is a very talented violinist for his age and her younger sister enjoys playing piano and viola. Her grandmother has recently taken up the cello, and her mom has started playing violin.... Sammy hopes that soon there will be an Angstman trio or quartet!
Sammy performed at the Richmond Public Library on November 1st for the MTNA Senior Piano Performance competition (State level), and she will represent Vermont in the Division Competition in January. She has also performed as part of an annual Young Artist recital in Burlington, and will be performing in the recital again. In summer 2008, Sammy attended the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, where she performed in a piano trio and participated in a masterclass with Irish pianist John O'Conor.
