Concert Program
The Nutcracker
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Overture
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The Snowman
Howard Blake, story by Raymond Briggs
Lucas Chambers, soprano
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Intermission
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The Nutcracker
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pas de Deux
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Bold North
Benji Inniger
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The Nutcracker
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
March
The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy*
Trepak*
Dance of the Reed Flutes*
Spanish Dance*
Waltz of the Flowers
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*With members of the Mankato Ballet Company
Musicians
Ernesto Estigarribia Mussi: Music Director and Conductor
Lucas Chambers: soprano, of the Mankato Area Youth Choir
Violin I
Sabrina Tabby*
Abbey Roemer
Essie Commers
Suzanne Klein
Tsun Sze Jess Lo
Shih-Ying, Chou
Philip Stoltzfus
Travis Waymon
Madeline Gutzke
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Violin II
Megan Wehrwein*
Ash Wood
Izzy Lin
Andrea Martinson-Venincasa
Katie Hoaglund
Becky Hentges
Jim Pfau
Todd Westphal
Mary Kjell Normandin
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Viola
Murah Hsiung*
Chris Chelgren
Mark Wamma
Alyssa Inniger
Warren Friesen
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Cello
Geoffrey Dean*
Lori Smart
Ute Zahn
Carrie Stelter
Anne Goedtke
Stephanie Knapper
Andrea Wallick
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String Bass
Nadja Gale*
Rolf Erdahl
Michael Eastwood
Henry Specker
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Flutes
Mandy Daniels*
Sarah Curtiss
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Oboes
Carrie Vecchione*
Tabitha Hanson
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Clarinets
Chelsea Kimpton*
Melissa Morales
Stephanie Peterson
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Bassoons
Thea Groth*
Emma Plehal
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Horns
Nicholas Brown*
Alison Sawyer
Emily Borra
Melanie Ditter
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Trumpets
Stephen Orejudos*
Ray Culp
Jessica Landsteiner
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Trombones
Jose Roman*
Sarah Houle
Chris Allen
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Tuba
Chris Lockwood*
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Piano/Celesta
Beth Winterfeldt*
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Harp
Hannah Hite*
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Timpani
Michelle Roche*
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Percussion
Ryan Rader*
Cosette Isakson
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Librarian
Megan Wehrwein
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*principal player
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Executive Director
Dr. Bethel Balge
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Director of Operations
Benji Inniger
Meet the Musicians
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Ernesto Estigarribia Mussi
Music Director and Conductor
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Paraguayan conductor Ernesto Estigarribia is highly regarded for his versatility and effervescent style on and off the podium. Hailed for his “expert direction” by Fanfare magazine, he was named the Music Director of the MSO in 2021. In addition, Ernesto has conducted the Quad City Symphony, La Crosse Symphony, Dubuque Symphony, St. Cloud Symphony, Rochester Symphony, Orquesta de Cámara del Centro del Conocimiento (Argentina), Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional-Paraguay and is the most frequent guest conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica del Congreso Nacional (Paraguay). Ernesto is also the Music Director of the Sheboygan Symphony and Director of Orchestral Activities at Vanderbilt University. In his free time, he enjoys cooking vegan recipes with his wife Sabrina.
Lucas Chambers​
Soprano
Member of the Mankato Area Youth Choir
Calista Asker
Performing the roll of Marzipan Lead
Charlotte Cummings
Performing Hot Chocolate Pas de Deux
Kaitlyn Landgraff
Performing Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy​​
Kadence Nicholle
Performing the roll of Teacake Lead ​​
Quinn Rassbach
Performing the roll of Marzipan Lead​​
Julia Shabrack
Performing the roll of Marzipan Lead ​​
Rosemary Sullivan
Performing the roll of Marzipan Lead ​​
Ella Urban
Performing the roll of Marzipan Lead ​​
Program Notes
The Nutcracker ​​
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
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Tchaikovsky began working in 1891 on a new ballet in collaboration with choreographer Marius Petipa based on an Alexander Dumas adaptation of a story by E. T. A. Hoffman titled The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Tchaikovsky, at the time, was in the U. S. for the opening of Carnegie Hall and stopped on his way home in Paris where he heard for the first time a new instrument, the celesta. Delighted by its tinkling bell-like quality, Tchaikovsky knew he had found the perfect instrument to create a fairy-tale ambience, and arranged to have one shipped home secretly so that no other Russian composer could use it before he himself. The ballet was scheduled to premier in December 1892, but Tchaikovsky was to conduct a concert of his own music in March, and decided to excerpt selections from the ballet to form an orchestral suite.
The Nutcracker Suite is in three sections and comprises a total of eight musical highlights:
I. an Ouverture Miniature that corresponds with the overture to the ballet; II. Danses caractéristiques and III. Valse des Fleurs. It became an immediate success and is performed frequently around Christmastide. Conductor Simon Rattle calls it “one of the great miracles in music,” certain to bring visions of sugarplums dancing in your head.
The Snowman
Howard Blake (b. 1938)​
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English pianist, conductor, and composer, Howard Blake, composed The Snowman for the animated film of the same name in 1982. His iconic song, “Walking in the Air,” is featured within this score. Blake said that he “heard the tune as he walked gloomily across Perranporth beach, Cornwall in 1970 during a reassessment of his life and career.” He stated that he is “often asked whether I feel The Snowman has typecast me and I have to admit that, of course it has… I wrote The Snowman score at a time of terrible turmoil, but the song (Walking in the Air) is about opportunities, if you can stop and take them.”
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The Snowman is a 1978 children’s picture book by English author, Raymond Briggs. The book was adapted into an animated television special by Channel 4 in 1982 and subsequently nominated for an Academy Award. It tells the story of a little boy who builds a snowman that comes to life at midnight. The snowman wakes the boy, and together they experience a multitude of adventures together during the night and into the dawn of the new day when the sun melts the snowman. Blake’s orchestral score closely follows the magical winter landscape, providing an effervescent soundscape for the animation.
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Program Notes written by Dr. Stephanie R. Thorpe © 2022
Bold North
Benji Inniger (b. 1983)​
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Bold North is a documentary film exploring the wilds of Minnesota. Throughout 2023, composer and photographer (as well as MSO’s Director of Operations) Benji Inniger traveled throughout Minnesota to gather video that accentuated the beauty, drama, and magnificence of the wildlife, landscapes, and vast natural diversity that surrounds us. Overall, 64 locations are included from nearly every corner of the state in an attempt to represent each of Minnesota’s four biomes, or ecological regions, and the wildlife and scenery found therein as they vividly evolve through the seasons.
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After capturing and editing the video, Inniger then wrote the score to be performed by the Mankato Symphony Orchestra in 2024. The music was first recorded by the Budapest Scoring Orchestra in Hungary in May 2024 under the direction of MSO’s Music Director, Ernesto Estigarribia Mussi with solos recorded by MSO’s Concertmaster Sabrina Tabby (violin) and collaborator Silver Ainomäe (cello).
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This project has been made possible by a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. In addition, the project was supported by the Twin Rivers Council for the Arts in Mankato. You are welcome to enjoy some of Inniger’s photography from this project in the lobby and stream the film at boldnorthfilm.com.
