Table of Contents
- From the Board Room. Article by Mike Harter, Chair, Board of Directors
- The HHSO Rocks!
- From the Other End of the Hallway. Article by Steven Shaiman, Hilton Head International Piano Competition
- FROM THE SOUNDWAVES STUDIO-REVUE IN REVIEW. Article by Mario Incorvaia, HHSO Chief Operating Officer.
- From the Corner Office. Article by Alan Jordan, President and CEO
- Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra (HHSO) Racial Equality Statement
- Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Board of Directors
- Upcoming Events
FROM THE BOARD ROOM
Welcome to the HHSO Summer Hiatus. You might think that with the arrival of the summer period, the Symphony will relax and enjoy the time off. Not going to happen.
Even after completing a year in which we have had nine wonderful concerts and other performances for our patrons and the broader public, we still have many other activities to provide to the audiences here on Hilton Head Island. In mid-June the Hilton Head Chamber Music Institute commences, and there will be numerous performances by these talented teenagers and the professional instructors who lead them, both at SoundWaves and other locales on the island as well as in Bluffton. In addition, don’t forget about our Jazz in the Park series of six performances at Low Country Celebration Park, all of which are FREE and bring well-known professional musicians to the bandstand. Come and bring your chairs and a picnic.
You might also begin looking at your schedule for the 2023-2024 Orchestra Series, which will start in mid-October and run through late April on Sunday afternoons and Monday evenings. Here, you will enjoy classical and popular performances by soloists and accompanied by one of the best regional classical orchestras in the country. Both Maestro John Morris Russell and our President and CEO Alan Jordan have joined their efforts to offer marvelous events that will cause you to want to come back for more of the same, although each offering will be unique unto itself and always fresh and new. Not to be ignored are our Symphony under The Stars performances in both Bluffton as well as on the island, in October and in April. You also will find the list of events in the brochure contains our Youth Concerto Competition in January and our BravoPiano! Festival in February and March of 2024.
To me, it looks like it will be a busy and very enjoyable 2023-2024 season. Please come and enjoy and bring your friends. Please call SoundWaves at (843) 842-2055 to order your tickets for a specific event or for a series.
I want you to know how honored I am to be the Chair of your Board of Directors for this forthcoming year. We currently have 19 members of our community who have been elected to serve you. They bring an intense desire to see the HHSO bring events to all of us for enjoyment and to expand our appreciation of musical delights. I have been serving with these men and women for years and appreciate their commitment to all aspects of the Hilton Head community and surrounding locales. When you get our program book later this year, look at the list of your directors. You will recognize many of their names and, if you choose, give them a call and inquire how you can learn more about the Symphony and how to get involved. We would love to have you with us. Please call me if you think I can be helpful. I look forward to talking with you.
—Mike Harter, Chairman, Board of Directors
the HHSO ROCKS!
It’s difficult to know who had the most fun at this year’s Young Persons Concerts (YPC) held April 25 at First Presbyterian Church. The kids? A full complement of HHSO musicians? Perhaps the dozens of “adult” volunteers who were there to keep order? Or maybe it was Maestro Russell? Yes, that’s it—JMR had the most fun!
YPC has become a spring tradition on the HHSO’s calendar, and it seems to get better every year. The Orchestra Rocks played to almost 1,600 Beaufort County 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders, and their teachers and chaperones at First Presbyterian Church. Eight elementary schools participated from as far away as Beaufort.
Built around Carnegie Hall’s Link Up program, students are introduced to the orchestra by way of an interactive curriculum, which the HHSO provides at no cost to participating schools. Over eight months, students learn to sing and to play an instrument in their own classrooms before coming to the concert and performing with a professional orchestra. Maestro Russell is in his element with children, and notably, had a hand in developing Link Up in the early 2000’s when working for the Education Department at Carnegie Hall.
This year’s program, The Orchestra Rocks, was all about rhythm. Students raised their voices to sing “O Fortuna” (from Orff’s Carmina Burana), played recorders on several pieces while accompanied by the HHSO, and left their seats (literally) to clap and stomp their feet to an earsplitting performance by the Battery Creek High School Drumline from Beaufort. Accompanying the HHSO while sitting on stage in several pieces were 19 violin students from Red Cedar Elementary in Bluffton, where we have been providing instruments and instruction for several years.
The frosting on the cake was double bassist Joseph Conyers playing a selection from Tan Dun’s concerto, Wolf Totem. We know from the hundreds of thank-you notes we have received that the kids are geared up for next year when “The Orchestra Moves.”
Please take a few minutes to enjoy a video of this special day posted on YouTube, courtesy of the Beaufort County School District.
The HHSO is extremely grateful to our sponsors and public supporters: The Bargain Box, Eleanor and Bernard Breedlove Foundation, Mary Briggs Education Fund, South Carolina Arts Commission.
From the Other End of the Hallway
As I sit here in my office, I feel a huge sense of both pride and gratitude, having made it successfully through my first season as HHIPC Director.
I am tremendously proud of our March 2023 Young Artists Competition, which was a thrilling week of inspiring performances by our competitors, ages 13-17, who came from all over the world to share their talents with us. Our five internationally renowned judges were incredibly impressed with the high level of playing from these young pianists, which made their job particularly difficult in choosing the finalists and the eventual prize-winners (as evidenced by the long deliberation time after the finals performances!). In the end, I think all who attended felt that the 2023 HHIPC was a big success, and I’ve continued to receive wonderful feedback since then from competitors, judges, audiences, and volunteers alike!
And speaking of our volunteers, that is where my unending gratitude comes in! As I stated in our printed program, “It takes a village to run the HHIPC,” and I cannot thank enough all the many volunteers who helped the organization run like clockwork that entire week. Starting with the ushers and all the other folks who helped out at the performances with multiple duties; to our wonderful host families, who took such great care of the competitors and their chaperones; and especially to my amazing HHIPC Committee, who made sure to keep me on my toes and who took care of so many key elements in our planning and execution of the events. And, of course, I must thank all my wonderful HHSO colleagues for their essential help and support, including our beloved HHSO musicians and Maestro JMR, who performed so beautifully with all the finalists at the concerto finals!
In terms of attendance, I’m happy to report that we had sizable audiences for the early rounds and a very large and enthusiastic crowd for the finals, plus our livestream throughout the competition drew audiences watching from all over the globe—both live and on delay. We are grateful to our excellent production team for making sure that all our pianists sounded and looked great online, which further enhances the HHIPC’s reputation internationally as a world-class competition, and, of course, we must thank all the sponsors and individual donors who helped make that livestream possible!
Since then, we’ve had a number of successful HHIPC events to put a cap on our season, starting with the triumphant homecoming of our 2017 Young Artists HHIPC winner, Ray Ushikubo, to perform with the HHSO in late March. Then in May, another favorite artist returned, when we presented 2012 HHIPC medalist Fei-Fei for the final concert in our 2022-23 Recital Series. I am delighted to report another capacity crowd at SoundWaves that night (making us “three for three” in sell outs this season!), and the lucky audience members in attendance were absolutely enthralled by her outstanding artistry and her eloquent speaking. In addition, we had a special demonstration that night of Steinway & Sons’ astonishing Spirio piano, thanks to our good friends from Rice Music House in Columbia, SC, who brought in fourteen Steinway pianos for a special piano sale here at SoundWaves for about ten days. Rice Music also kindly sponsored our Movie Night—a special “members only” premium event for our 88 Keys and Pay for a Piper patrons, which was also very well attended and immensely enjoyed by everyone.
As we revel in the accomplishments of the season just finished, we are also working diligently on plans for next year, so I am happy to share some details of our marquis event—the BravoPiano! Festival! Scheduled from Feb. 29 through March 4, 2024, our theme is entitled “PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS…,” showcasing the piano’s countless collaborative capabilities, and featuring outstanding HHIPC alumni—both prize winners and judges—as well as prominent jazz pianists performing in a variety of ensemble settings. Our finale concert is a spectacular three-concerto extravaganza with the HHSO and Maestro JMR entitled Rhapsody and Fantasy, including Gershwin’s iconic Rhapsody in Blue (in honor of the 100th anniversary of the premiere), and Rachmaninoff’s thrilling Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
Thanks for reading, and I wish you a most enjoyable and relaxing summer!
—Steven Shaiman, Hilton Head International Piano Competition
From the SoundWaves Studio-Revue In Review
Well, SoundWaves programming itself is not exactly a revue in the strictest sense. Yes, topical and lighthearted to a degree and while comprised mostly of song and not so much dance, SoundWaves events have managed to generate quite a bit of foot-tapping this season. And wow, what a season to review!
In addition to unique opportunities to feature jazz quartets headlined by HHSO soloists Oran Etkin and Tuffus Zimbabwe, we enjoyed transfixing International Piano Competition recital series performances by Steven Lin, Ted Rosenthal, and most recently, Fei-Fei. We introduced with tremendous success our inaugural Gullah Cultural Series, an inspiring partnership endeavor shared with Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park and the Gullah Museum of Hilton Head Island. We also followed the first-year successes of our Coastal Home Supper Club with a second serving of ten monthly events – achieving a total of 20 sold-out-and-still-counting string as we look forward to enjoying a third course, beginning in September.
2022-2023 SoundWaves highlights include:
♫ Chicago-based Legacy’s upbeat groove, Legends Live On: From the Beatles to Donna Summer
♫ NYC Oran Etkin’s enchantingly hypnotic jazz bass clarinet solos
♫ Gretchen Kristine Stelzer’s witty and sophisticated Red, Hot, and Blue, A Cole Porter Revue
♫ Gullah Cultural Series’ innovative “show-talk format” premiere directed by HHI’s Lavon Stevens
♫ Leading NYC jazz composer and pianist Ted Rosenthal’s breathtaking trio holiday performance
♫ Coastal Home Supper Club’s showstopping A Night of Rodgers and Hammerstein
♫ Deeply personal and introspective compositions of Saturday Night Live Band pianist Tuffus Zimbabwe
♫ CHSC’s touching Burt Bacharach Remembered tribute to the recently departed musical legend
♫ Ladies of the Gullah Geechee Culture celebration of icons Marlena Smalls and Louise Miller Cohen
This was a season to remember indeed, and one upon which we continue to build. We thank you for tapping your toes along with us and ask you to leave space for us on your dance card. The assortment of entertaining programs we next “revue” will continue to span a spectrum of fun and popular musical genres.
As always, join us for many rewarding shared experiences, whether in the audience or as part of our volunteer team. You will reengage with longtime friends and meet new ones in the season ahead.
And remember, when you are out-and-about town, tell your friends: I’ll see you at SoundWaves!
—Mario Incorvaia, Chief Operating Officer
From the Corner Office
While much of this issue reflects on our triumphant 2022-2023 season, we have also just announced much of our exciting 2023-2024 season to our Orchestra Series subscribers. Our theme is Espressivo, music of passion and joy and it will truly be a season of great joy and passion!
We intend to build on the momentum of this past season. Like most other U. S. orchestras, we are experiencing remarkable re-growth of our audiences following the downturn due to the pandemic, and we are attracting new audiences through our diverse offerings. It is the HHSO’s goal to become the ‘go-to’ place for extraordinary musical events in the Lowcountry.
Following our annual Jazz In The Park series that launches the season this summer (see details elsewhere), the season’s fall offerings kick off with two free outdoor Pops concerts; the first on October 19, 2023, at 7:30 pm at Martin Family Park in Bluffton, an affiliated event of the Historic Bluffton Arts and Seafood Festival. On October 20, 2023, at 7:30 pm, the HHSO will perform at Lowcountry Celebration Park at Coligny. John Morris Russell and the HHSO will present “Hollywood in the Lowcountry,” with music from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Forrest Gump, and The Prince of Tides, along with epic action and adventure soundtracks, and sweeping romantic scores to create an evening of sonic technicolor.
The Orchestra Series begins that same weekend on October 22 and 23, 2023, at First Presbyterian Church with “Symphonie Fantastique,” an evening of evocative, spine-tingling orchestral music that will put everyone in the mood for Halloween. This orchestra showcase program includes Bernard Herrmann’s Suite from Psycho, Suite from Us by Michael Abels (featuring the HHSO Chorus), James Stephenson’s Legend of Sleepy Hallow, and the programmatic masterpiece, Symphonie fantastique by Hector Berlioz.
On November 12 and 13, 2023, the 2022 HHIPC Silver Medalist and 2023 Honens Piano Competition winner, Illia Ovcharenko, will perform the first and second piano concertos by Franz Liszt, with Richard Wagner’s Overture to The Flying Dutchmann and Prelude to Die Meistersinger opening and closing the program, respectively. The Ukrainian pianist Ovcharenko has been praised as “technically flawless and impeccably musical” by International Piano.
The HHSO’s traditional Holiday Pops will serve as the third Orchestra Series program, where John Morris Russell will be joined by the 2023 HHSO Youth Concerto Competition winner, violinist Audrey Goodner from Reston, VA, acclaimed baritone Joseph Parrish, and members of the HHSO Chorus for a program of holiday favorites, old and new. Brilliant orchestra showpieces, and music of the deepest heart and beauty, highlight the Lowcountry’s most beloved holiday tradition. A special Holiday Pops concert will take place at St. Gregory The Great Catholic Church’s Parish Life Center in Bluffton on Saturday, November 25, 2023, at 7:00 pm. The Orchestra Series concerts will be held November 26 and 27, 2023 at First Presbyterian Church, Hilton Head Island.
On January 21 and 22, 2024, the 2023 Hilton Head International Piano Competition winner, Zhonghua Wei, will return for the fourth Orchestra Series program to perform Edward Grieg’s Piano Concerto. John Morris Russell will open the concert with In the Steppes of Central Asia by Alexander Borodin. Johannes Brahms’ joyful Symphony No. 2 will close the program.
2021 HHSO Youth Concerto Competition winner, cellist Brando Leonard, returns to the HHSO stage after winning the Gold Medal at the Sphinx Competition, Junior Division, earlier this year to perform Piotr Ilyich Tchailovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme on February 4 and 5, 2024. Guest Conductor Vinay Parameswaran recently concluded five seasons as an Assistant Conductor with the Cleveland Orchestra and is widely praised for his “ability to find sensitivity in scores than many do not detect (Philadelphia Inquirer). The program also features the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 by Johann Sebastian Bach, Jessie Montgomery’s Strum, and Symphony No. 38, “Prague,” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The sixth Orchestra Series concerts on February 18 and 19, 2024 will be a John Williams Birthday Celebration. The most critically acclaimed composer of our time, Williams has won 25 GRAMMYs and 5 Oscars, with a total of 53 Academy Award nominations to his credit. John Morris Russell and the HHSO will celebrate his birthday in style with some of his most endearing and enduring scores, including music from Star Wars, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, and the Raiders film franchises.
On March 17 and 18, 2024, guest conductor David Amado, my good friend and long-time Music Director of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, conducts the HHSO in a lively program of symphonic dances. He is joined by Jennifer Montone, principal hornist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and a GRAMMY winner, who will perform Richard Strauss’ Horn Concerto No. 1. The concerts open with Rhapsodic Dance No. 1, “The Bamboula,” by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and close with two works by Sergei Rachmaninoff, his Symphonic Dances and the Men’s Dance from Aleko.
On April 2, 2024, John Morris Russell and the HHSO will be joined by Reggie Deas and his incomparable band, Deas Guyz, for an evening of Motown, titled “Great American Soul Book.” Music by Nat King Cole, Sam and Dave, James Brown, and Ray Charles, as well as everyone’s favorite Beach Music will be featured at the HHSO’s Spring “Symphony Under The Stars” at Lowcountry Celebration Park.
GRAMMY Award winning violinist Tessa Lark returns to Hilton Head Island on April 7 and 8, 2024, performing Astor Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. John Morris Russell conducts this Latin-influenced program that includes Ruperto Chapí y Lorente’s Preludio from La Revoltosa, the Symphony in D by Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, and Arturo Márquez’ Danzón No. 2.
The Orchestra Series closes in dramatic fashion on April 28 and 29, 2023 when John Morris Russell and the HHSO are joined by four soloists and the combined forces of the HHSO Chorus and Claflin University Concert Choir for a rare performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, “Choral.”
Current subscribers have until June 15, 2023, to renew their season tickets with priority seating. After that, new subscription orders will be processed. Single tickets for most concerts will go on sale in September.
There is so much great music in store for 2023-2024, the HHSO’s 42nd season. We hope you will enjoy all the passion and joy that is planned!
—Alan Jordan, President and CEO
Upcoming Events
Jazz In The Park
All concerts begin at 7:30 pm at Lowcountry Celebration Park, 94 Pope Avenue, HHI
FREE lawn seating—bring a blanket or chair, a picnic and enjoy great jazz al fresco
| Tuesday, June 27 | Martin Lesch Band |
| Tuesday, July 11 | Junior Jazz Foundation Student and Faculty with special guest Saturday Night Live Band Keyboardist Tuffus Zimbabwe |
| Tuesday, July 25 | Eric Jones Quartet |
| Tuesday, August 8 | Charlton Singleton (of Ranky Tanky) Quartet |
| Tuesday, August 22 | Folderol |
| Tuesday, September 5 | John Brackett Quartet |
Series Co-Sponsors:
with support from the Town of Hilton Head Island
Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra (HHSO) Racial Equality Statement
The HHSO affirms that all races are equal. We intentionally and systematically support HHSO policies and practices in our organization that promote opportunities for full advancement of African-Americans and other marginalized groups that have been denied equal access and opportunity. Our local situation gives good historical example of the possibility for transformative change. That example is Mitchelville, one of our Lowcountry’s treasures. It was a bold and brave experiment of 1861, before the Emancipation Proclamation, in whichformerly enslaved people were granted land and provisions to build homes and to establish a working town that was self-governing. The HHSO recognizes that self-governance and mastery depend on equal opportunity. So, we seize the current adverse racial situation as our opportunity to become a positive change agent that will actively pursue diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in all of our policies, programs, staff, committees, and Board.
The HHSO recognizes that racial inequity is systemic throughout our society. The HHSO therefore will examine its operations to address any racial inequality in our organization. We will work to eradicate any such adverse influence and to ensure that racial equality is integral to our mission and to implementation of our administrative and programming activities. We commit to all processes that will help us achieve our racial equity goal. We are committed to a racially inclusive approach in all that we do because we respect and value diverse racial heritages and know that hearing diverse voices will enrich what we have to offer.
Programs and Musicians: We shall schedule more performances of orchestral music by composers of color. We will be conscientious in recruitment, hiring, and advancement of musicians of color for all standard programs and competitions.
Staff: We will be deliberate in our effort to attract racially diverse staff in our recruitment and hiring activities and commit to providing equitable advancement opportunities for them.
Board of Directors: The HHSO Board pledges to seek increased representation of racially diverse directors and actively encourage opportunity for their Board leadership.
We respect diverse life experiences and work to ensure that all voices are heard and valued, and commit to creating a more comprehensive action plan that addresses diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging for all marginalized groups.
Adopted August 12, 2020
2022-2023 Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Board of Directors
Officers
R. Michael Harter
Chairman
Eric Magnin
Vice Chairman, Strategic Planning
Barbara Holmes
Vice Chairman, Resource Development
Donald Flora
Treasurer
Carol Hack
Secretary
Alan Jordan
President and CEO
Members At Large
Rabbi Brad Bloom
Joan Dattelbaum
Jay Eliott
Charles Frost
Bret Jacobowitz
Martin Lesch
James Neumeister
Mary Princing
Connie Rathman
Charles Sampson
Barbara Harris Sorkin
Alice W. Walton
Blake White
Ex Officio
Carol Gyllenhoff (The League of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra President)
Steven Shaiman (Director, HHIPC and Education and Community Engagement)
Mario Incorvaia (Chief Operating Officer)
Staff
John Morris Russell, Music Director
Alan Jordan, President and CEO, ajordan@hhso.org
Matthew Fallin, Production Manager
Judy Gimbel, Hilton Head Chamber Music Institute Director
Susan Hartmann, Development Associate, shartmann@hhso.org
Mario Incorvaia, Chief Operating Officer, mario.incorvaia@hhso.org
Gayle Lang, HHSO Chorus Manager, glang@hhso.org
Angela Loizides, Orchestra Librarian
Steven Shaiman, Director, Hilton Head International Piano Competition and Education and Community Engagement, sshaiman@hhso.org
Susan Strange, Finance Manager, sstrange@hhso.org
Jim Way, Administrative Manager, jway@hhso.org
Julie Williams, Special Projects Manager, jwilliams@hhso.org
