Peter and the Wolf and More

Wednesday, July 30 at 7:00pm
DCR Hatch Memorial Shell

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents

2 - LANDMARKS ORCHESTRA

3 - GUEST ARTISTS

4 - FULL TEXT OF PETER AND THE WOLF

5 - FULL TEXT OF VIVALDI POEMS

Peter and the Wolf and More

Boston Landmarks Orchestra
Christopher Wilkins, conductor
Keila Wakao, violin
Peter DiMuro, choreographer
Wheelock Family Theatre
Nick Vargas, director
Carolyn Saxon, narrator/grandfather
Felix Grigsby, Peter
Oliver Johnson, Bird
Livie Ketri, Duck
Maia Ettinger, Cat
Ben Saraydarian, Wolf
Stella Centore; Audrey Chan; Elena Rose Taveras, Hunters

Bamboula		Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869) orch. David Kempers
“Spring” and “Summer” from The Four Seasons		Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Keila Wakao, violin
intermission
Soirées Musicales (after Rossini)		Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
	March Canzonetta Tirolese Bolero Tarantella
The Dance Complex Public Displays of Motion Peter DiMuro, choreographer
Liebesleid (Love’s Sorrow) Marche Miniature Viennoise		Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) orch. David Kempers
Keila Wakao, violin
Peter and the Wolf		Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)

Run Time

The total run time of this concert is approximately two hours with one intermission.

Boston Landmarks Orchestra

Boston Landmarks Orchestra builds community through great music. Landmarks produces free concerts and musical events across the greater Boston area. Increasing access to music for everyone is at the core of all its programming. Between 2018 and 2023, 70% of the repertoire Landmarks performed was written by composers of color or women. The orchestra intentionally promotes artists and targets audiences that have been historically excluded from orchestral music. Landmarks was founded in 2001 and began its signature summer concert series at the DCR Hatch Memorial in 2007. The orchestra also performs community concerts at local venues in neighborhoods such as Roxbury, Dorchester, and Jamaica Plain.

CHRISTOPHER WILKINS was appointed Music Director of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra in the spring of 2011. Since then, he has expanded the orchestra’s mission of making great music accessible to the whole community. He has also helped develop the orchestra’s Breaking Down Barriers initiative, making accessibility a priority in all aspects of the orchestra’s activities.

Mr. Wilkins also serves as Music Director of the Akron Symphony. As a guest conductor, Mr. Wilkins has appeared with many of the leading orchestras of the United States, including those of Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco. Previously, Mr. Wilkins served as Music Director of the Orlando Philharmonic, the San Antonio Symphony, and the Colorado Springs Symphony.

He has served as associate conductor of the Utah Symphony, assisting Joseph Silverstein; assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra under Christoph von Dohnányi; conducting assistant with the Oregon Symphony under James DePreist; and was a conducting fellow at Tanglewood. He was winner of the Seaver/NEA Award in 1992.

Born in Boston, Mr. Wilkins earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College in 1978. He received his master of music degree at Yale University in 1981, and in 1979 attended the Hochschule der Künste in West Berlin as a recipient of the John Knowles Paine traveling fellowship. As an oboist, he performed with many ensembles in the Boston area, including the Berkshire Music Center Orchestra at Tanglewood, and the Boston Philharmonic under Benjamin Zander.

Violin I

Gregory Vitale, Concertmaster

Christine Vitale

Annie Rabbat

Yeolim Nam

Mina Lavcheva

Colin Davis

Violin II

Paula Oakes, Principal

Rose Drucker

Stacey Alden

Robert Curtis

Lisa Brooke

Viola

Kenneth Stalberg, Principal

Don Krishnaswami

Noriko Futagami

Ashleigh Gordon

Cello

Aron Zelkowicz, Principal

Melanie Dyball

Patrick Owen

Bass

Kevin Green, Acting Principal

Bebo Shiu

Flute

Lisa Hennessy, Principal

Oboe

Andrew Price, Principal

Clarinet

Rane Moore, Principal

Bassoon

Gregory Newton, Acting Principal

Horn

Kevin Owen, Principal

Nancy Hudgins

Whitacre Hill

Trumpet

Dana Oakes, Principal

Trombone

Liam Glendening, Principal

Keyboard

Noriko Yasuda

Timpani

Jeffrey Fischer, Principal

Percussion

Robert Schulz, Principal

Personnel Manager

Christopher Ruigomez

Librarian

Kiya Klopfenstein

Assistant Librarian

Sophie Steger

Arranger

David Kempers

Guest Artists

Keila Wakao made her Boston Symphony Orchestra debut for the BSO’s Opening Night Gala concert in September 2024 under Andris Nelsons, in a concert also featuring world-renowned mezzo-soprano Susan Graham and pianists Lang Lang and Gina Alice Redlinger.

Keila Wakao won First Prize in the 2021 Menuhin International Violin Competition Junior Division and the composer award for outstanding performance of a commissioned work, and was also awarded the Gold Medal and Bach Prize at the 2021 Stulberg International String Competition. In 2023, she was awarded the Aoyama Music Foundation Award in Japan for upcoming artists. She also won 1st prize in the Boston Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, where she performed alongside the BSO and Thomas Wilkins in the BSO Family Concert in October 2023, and is a recipient of Charlotte White’s Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant in New York. In 2024, she was awarded the Next Generation Distinguished Cultural Achievement Award from the Japan Society of Boston, and was also featured on CBS Boston’s television news.

Born in 2006, Keila Wakao is from Chestnut Hill, MA, and began playing the violin at age 3. Former BSO concertmaster Joseph Silverstein accepted her as a student when she was 6 years old. From age 9, she has been a student of Donald Weilerstein. She worked with Itzhak Perlman and participated in the Perlman Music Program in summers 2018-2022. Currently, she is completing her first year at the New England Conservatory as a Starling Foundation Full Scholarship recipient and a student of Miriam Fried. She was also accepted to Harvard College, and has deferred her first year of enrollment.

Named a “VC Artist” by Violin Channel, Keila Wakao has performed as soloist and in recital throughout the United States, Japan, Germany, Singapore, and the United Kingdom in venues such as Cadogan Hall (London), Victoria Concert Hall (Singapore), Jordan Hall (Boston), and Carnegie Weill Recital Hall (New York City). She made her solo debut with an orchestra at age 9 and has since performed with ensembles including the Richmond, Reading, Eugene, Chattanooga, Adelphi, Kalamazoo, New Phil, Resound Collective, Baden-Baden, Boston Civic, Lexington, Tokyo Phil, and Boston symphony orchestras and the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. In 2017, Keila was invited to speak and perform at TEDxBoston.

Keila plays on the Cremona 1690 “Theodor” Stradivarius violin on loan from the Ryuji Ueno Foundation and Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative.

Carolyn Saxon is pleased to be back at the Hatch Shell! Carolyn is a lifelong performer who tells stories and sings all over the world. Her orchestral work includes the Boston Pops, Carnegie Hall, Teatro Colón, Boston Landmarks Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony and the Buffalo Philharmonic. Theatrical credits include Broadway, Off Broadway, Broadway National Tours, and film and regional theatres throughout the United States including Papermill Playhouse (NJ), Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Actors Theatre of Louisville, North Shore Musical Theatre, Forestburgh Playhouse, Huntington Theatre and Connecticut Rep. Now based in Boston, she has worked with Reagle Music Theatre, Greater Boston Stage Company, Wheelock Family Theatre, SpeakEasy Stage, Central Square Theater, Lyric Stage Company, Revels, New Rep, Front Porch Arts Collective, Moonbox Productions, Queen Mab Micro-Theatre, Starlight Square in Cambridge, Boston Opera Collaborative, the Outside the Box Festival and the Emerson Paramount. She is a member of the Boston Pops Gospel Choir, NEC Millennium Choir, Sharing a New Song, Shine A Light Gospel Ensemble and the One City Chorus. She is a standing Guest Soloist at Historic Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury. An avid traveler who believes in the power of music to unite, she’s entertained audiences throughout Japan, South Africa, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Jamaica, Canada and the United States. Film credits include Sweet & Lowdown, Small Time Crooks and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion. Blessed to have stayed busy during the pandemic, Carolyn created and performed in five different cabarets, Songs I Might Have Missed, There & Back Again, Uplift Concert, Songs From Center Stage, and Carolyn Saxon and Friends: Singing In the New Year!

Nick Vargas is the Executive Director of Wheelock Family Theatre (WFT), greater Boston’s home for professional, intergenerational theatre. In this role, he leads the organization’s strategic vision and works to advance its artistic, educational, and social justice mission. A passionate director and educator, Nick has directed numerous productions at WFT that reflect the theatre’s deep commitment to storytelling that inspires creativity, empathy, and equity among audiences of all ages.

Prior to becoming Executive Director, Nick served as WFT’s Interim Artistic Director and Associate Artistic & Education Director, where he played a key role in shaping programming and expanding access to inclusive theatre experiences. Before joining WFT, he was the Casting Director and Artistic Associate at Imagination Stage in Bethesda, Maryland—one of the nation’s premier theatres for young audiences.

Nick currently serves on the Board of TYA/USA, the national service organization for theatre for young audiences. He holds a BA in Theatre Education and Directing from Emerson College and an MBA in Social Impact, with a concentration in Leadership and Organizational Transformation, from Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. His work is driven by the belief that theatre is a powerful tool for connection, transformation, and community building.

Peter DiMuro/Public Displays of Motion develops and performs works of dance/theatre. The company cultivates dance/arts literacy, advocacy and engagement through its inclusion of a seven-decade span of performers, and working with communities of all kinds.

The company has been awarded several creative residencies, including a multi-year Boston Center for the Arts residency, and Boston Dance Alliance Rehearsal and Retreat Fellowship at the Vermont Performance Lab; a year-long residency at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum with Peter as the inaugural choreographer in residence; and a year-long residency at the Rose Kennedy Greenway, creating new work for dance on site.

As Executive Artistic Director of The Dance Complex, he continues to invest in advancing the craft of choreography and the field of dance, creating an arc of programs for young-to-established dance-makers. He was Artistic Director of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange 2003-2008, capping a 15-year relationship as performer and lead artist with the company founded by MacArthur “Genius” Lerman. His career has taken Peter and his work to over 46 of the US states, and to Hong Kong, Japan and throughout Europe.

For this evening’s collaboration, Public Displays of Motion engaged artists from Decent Dance, The Dance Complex and the Free Form Dance Academy to offer the creative play structures in evidence during Britten’s Soirées Musicales.

Wheelock Family Theatre is Boston’s professional, accessible, affordable, inclusive theatre for all generations. Our mission is to create professional theatre and educational experiences for artists and audiences of all ages and identities with the power to enrich and expand our understanding of our shared humanity.

The theatre was founded in 1981 by Andrea Genser, Anthony Hancock, Susan Kosoff, and Jane Staab with the endorsement and support of the former Wheelock College President, Gordon Marshall. In the years since its founding the theatre has staged more than 100 mainstage productions — from classic children’s shows like Charlotte’s Web or Pippi Longstocking, to family-friendly musicals like Mary Poppins and Hairspray, to thought-provoking dramas like To Kill a Mockingbird that deal with issues of interest and concern to young people.

Since 1981, our productions have been seen by more than a half-million people. Our education programs, both in the theatre and in the greater Boston area schools , have provided hands-on training to tens of thousands of students. Our commitment to making our theatre accessible to people from all the diverse communities of the Boston area has won us recognition and awards at both the local and national level.

The Four Strings Academy is geared toward students ages 4–21, who are dedicated to becoming professional musicians. The program also has beginner instruction levels ages 4–8 for both Cello and Violin. The daily schedule includes private and group lessons, violin ensemble, scale class, ear and rhythmic training, various music history classes, music theory, and side-by-side ensemble rehearsals. There are also seminars featuring different aspects of music performance, theatre, and the art of musical etiquette. Students attend master classes with noted professional instrumentalists.

Four Strings Academy provides a space and an opportunity for musicians of all ages to engage in a rich positive environment that spans beyond socioeconomic status, skill level, or genre of music to primarily focus on the classical development of each student.

Students are exposed to a diverse musical repertoire. American band music to jazz, blues to hip-hop, Musical Theater to Music Production, with classical music training at the center of it all. We seek to create a landscape where the impact of classical music integrates a student’s life to inspire creativity, instill self-discipline, and help them find their unique voice.

Students learn the skills needed to become professional artists in a very competitive field, if they so choose, and to become lifelong advocates for the arts.

Ambassador Program

Started in 2022, the Ambassador Program aims to seasonally employ enthusiastic, music-loving folks from a variety of backgrounds, representing the diversity of Boston’s neighborhoods. With 54% of our Ambassadors speaking more than one language—including Spanish, Portuguese, and French—they help spread the word of Boston Landmarks Orchestra to a vast number of Boston communities, including Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, East Boston and more. From promoting our concerts in their own neighborhoods, to helping patrons both new and familiar navigate the Esplanade, our Ambassadors are here to engage as many people as possible, promoting Boston Landmarks Orchestra’s mission of building community through great music.

THANK YOU
to our many donors and supporters.

Click here for current list of donors

Special thanks to Directors, Advisors, Musicians and Staff who make our work possible.

Click here for a list of Board Members

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