Meet the Conductor: Akiko Fujimoto

March 4 & 5: Korngold & Dvorak

A Conversation with Akiko Fujimoto!

Having just had her San Francisco Symphony debut on February 17th, conductor Akiko Fujimoto will lead the MSO in March as they perform works by Walker, Korngold, and Dvorak. The MSO is very excited to invite Akiko Fujimoto to meet our audiences in here Modesto!

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MSO: Can you tell us a bit about George Walker’s Lyric for Strings, and why you chose to program it into this concert?

Akiko Fujimoto: I thought the lush lyricism of this work would be a good match for the Dvorak, yet they were different enough from each other in the styles, time periods they were composed in and the instrumentation (the Walker is strings only) that they provided contrast. I also felt what they “hugged” the Korngold in the middle very well.

MSO: This is the first time the MSO will be performing a piece by George Walker and we’re excited to introduce his music to the community. Is diversity important to you when programming a concert?

George T. Walker, composer

AF: Of course! Every program needs contrast and diversity unless it is comprised of one long work. Each composition is unique in its language, background and characteristics, and the challenge is in grouping them together in a way that they create the best experience for the audience. I am thrilled to be able to introduce to the MSO audience this important American composer, performer and educator who straddled the 20th and 21st centuries. I think our worlds expand when we add a new composer to our repertoire of listening and performing. It is like meeting a new person – you are stimulated by what they bring to your life that is new and at the same time comforted by what you have in common as people. Some people compare this piece to Samuel Barger’s Adagio for Strings. If you love the Barber, perhaps you will have that experience when you “meet” the Walker.

“I think our worlds expand when we add a new composer to our repertoire of listening and performing. It is like meeting a new person – you are stimulated by what they bring to your life that is new and at the same time comforted by what you have in common as people.”

MSO: Korngold, best known for being one of the most influential founders of Hollywood film music, brings a sense of imagery and imagination to all of his work, especially his Violin Concerto. When you listen to this concerto, what sort of imagery plays in your mind?

AF: I see this piece as a great piece of absolute music (as opposed to “program music” which is meant to tell a story) because it is very classical in its structure, just masterfully crafted and extremely virtuosic. If Korngold’s music sounds visual and imaginative to us, that is absolutely because he was one of the forefathers of the Hollywood sound, so he was responsible for much of what we associate today with film music. In this concerto he did use themes from his own soundtracks to movies such as the Prince and the Pauper (1937), Juarez (1939) and Anthony Adverse (1936). They are incredibly evocative of all the actions we love in movies, especially romance and swash-buckling adventures.

MSO: You’ve recently worked with our guest artist, Charles Yang back in October 2021, what was that experience like and how excited are you to be working with him again for this concert?

AF: Charles Yang is simply a magician and the perfect person to play this concerto because he, like Korngold, can straddle different worlds and create something extraordinary out of them. I am extremely excited to work with Charles again.

MSO: Can you tell us a bit about Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8, and how it ties together with the Walker & Korngold?

AF: As I said earlier, I felt that the lush lyricism is a common denominator to these 3 pieces, yet they are all different. Dvorak’s 8th Symphony is a work that is very close to my heart. If his 9th Symphony “New World” is his American symphony, the 8th is his Bohemian symphony. He was from Bohemia, and this symphony is his ode to Bohemia, with references to sounds of its nature and dances, as he was a firm believer that a cornerstone of any culture’s music was that of its native folk music. This symphony also has all the hallmarks of great Czech repertoire: rhythmic energy, a little bit of exoticism, and a touch of melancholy and longing. It is probably one of the most exciting and lovable symphonies of all times, and I am excited to perform it with the MSO.

“This symphony also has all the hallmarks of great Czech repertoire: rhythmic energy, a little bit of exoticism, and a touch of melancholy and longing.”

— about Dvorak's Symphony No. 8

MSO: Congratulations on your debut with SF Symphony (conducting Price’s Symphony No. 3, Feb. 17-19), and you’ve conducted in Virginia, Minnesota, and now being the music director of Mid-Texas Symphony! What has your experience been like working with orchestras all over the country? Are there any cultural or regional differences that are amusing or interesting to you?

AF: Each orchestra absolutely is unique and reflects that region and the people in it. While all orchestras share in our love for the traditional symphonic repertoire, the way we present them is different depending on where we play, and who is playing in the orchestra, and who is listening in the audience. As a conductor, it is a fun challenge to try to be the best matchmaker possible between the vast symphonic repertoire and each organization.  Of course, I do not know Modesto or the MSO…yet. So, for this concert, I did my best by doing a search on what else was being played this season, which tells you quite a bit about an organization, and gave it my best stab, so to speak, keeping the Korngold in mind.

Akiko Fujimoto conducts the San Francisco Symphony in Florence Price’s Symphony No. 3. Photo: Stefan Cohen, SF Chronicle, Feb. 2022

MSO: You studied at Stanford University for your Bachelors, and now just performing with SF Symphony, what is it like being back in California? Do you have any fond memories of being in California?

AF: I just came back from the week in San Francisco and am so excited that I get to go back to Northern California so soon again. When I was a college student, I didn’t venture out of campus too much. As an adult, I am so much more curious and have a lot more appreciation for the characteristics of each different state and region, so I feel I am rediscovering it all over again. I have missed the openness of the Californians and feel very comfortable being back in the state.

MSO: Do you have any fun plans outside of work while being in Northern California? (Sights to see, places to you have to eat at, etc.)

AF: I did a lot of walking around the city last week and took in as much landscape, architecture, and cuisines I could, but I know there is so much more, and of course each corner of the region is very different. I look forward to visiting Modesto in a few weeks and getting to know it.

MSO: What upcoming performances/projects are you looking forward to in the near future?

AF: One of the projects I am looking forward to is conducting the world premiere of a new work by composer Tania Leon in my debut concerts with the Arkansas Symphony. As a bonus, I am very excited to conduct in my new home state – I now live about 40 minutes away from Little Rock, which will be the shortest commute by far this season!

MSO: Why do you believe the Symphony or live performances are still relevant and important to attend?

AF: Because the symphonic music offers the widest, broadest, and deepest range of expression for the human experience, and we need to share in that today, perhaps more than ever.

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Meet Akiko in Modesto!

Come watch Akiko conduct your MSO this March 4th & 5th at the Gallo Center for the Arts!

Korngold’s Hollywood Legacy: From the Sherwood Forest to Tatooine

Listen to the following video, does anything sound familiar?

You may hear similarities between Korngold’s Main Theme from the movie Kings Row (1942) to the very recognizable main theme from the Star Wars franchise, composed by John Williams in 1977. In fact, Williams has cited Korngold as his main inspiration when composing for Star Wars. While Korngold did not start his career with Hollywood in mind, his legacy has left a lasting impact on film and classical music history.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold, composer

Erich Wolfgang Korngold was born in 1897 to a Jewish family in Austria-Hungary, his father was a prominent music critic of the time. A child prodigy, he began writing his own music by age seven, and by the age of 11 wrote his first ballet Der Schneemann (The Snowman). He had a very active composing career from then into his 20s, writing music for operas, ballets, orchestral scores, and more.

In 1934, producer and director Max Reinhardt invited Korngold to Hollywood to adapt Felix Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935) incidental music for film. Korngold would then continue to establish himself in Hollywood, even winning his first Academy Award for his work on Anthony Adverse (1936).

Before he began composing for The Adventures of Robin Hood in 1938, Austria was invaded by Germany, and his home was confiscated by the Nazis. Korngold had the fortuitous opportunity to stay in America to help support his family until the end of World War II. He noted that the opportunity to compose for The Adventures of Robin Hood and stay in America likely saved his life. Korngold would go on to win his second Academy Award for that movie score and would ultimately establish the symphonic style that would be later used in action films during Hollywood’s Golden Age.

Errol Flynn as Robin Hood in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

For The Adventures of Robin Hood, a movie that launched actor Errol Flynn’s career, Korngold used a technique from his opera background, of incorporating leitmotifs, or short recurring musical phrases, for specific characters as they show up on screen. Korngold wanted the music to be sophisticated but still accessible to the public and he achieved so by incorporating leitmotifs. He realized that if there were recurring themes throughout the film, this would help the audience better understand what’s going on in the film by creating synergy between the narrative and the score. He would slightly alter the motifs in “thematic transformation” to fit whatever is going on screen. A similar technique can be found in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, for example, where in the final movement, Beethoven restates and reinterprets the previous themes introduced in the first three movements.

Korngold had vowed to give up composing anything other than film music until Hitler had been defeated. At the end of World War II, he retired from films to concentrate on music for the concert hall. Facing previous criticisms that assumed he was only successful as a film composer, who sold himself to Hollywood, he was determined to prove himself by producing a work that displayed his virtuosity. His Violin Concerto was the first work that he penned after the end of World War II in 1945. He was deeply affected by the criticism of being a “Hollywood sell-out,” and sought to validate his life’s work. Korngold borrows his own themes from his movie scores. The first movement features themes from Another Dawn (1937) and Juarez (1939), the second quotes Anthony Adverse (1936), and the final movement has themes based on the main motif from The Prince and the Pauper.

His Violin Concerto in D Major was dedicated to Alma Mahler, the widow of his childhood mentor, Gustav Mahler. It premiered on February 15, 1947 by Jascha Heifetz and the St. Louis Symphony, under the baton of Vladimir Golschmann. Heifetz’s performance secured Korngold’s place in standard repertoire and continues to be a popular piece performed to this day.

Be transported back to the Golden Age of Hollywood on March 4 & 5 with the MSO in Korngold & Dvorak, featuring Korngold’s Violin Concerto performed by Charles Yang!

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Listen to Korngold’s Legacy Live!

Come watch Charles Yang perform Korngold’s Concerto in D Major for Violin, conducted by Akiko Fujimoto this March 4th & 5th at the Gallo Center for the Arts!

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Learn more about Korngold (Reference):

• “Erich Wolfgang Korngold.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Wolfgang_Korngold

• “Violin Concerto (Korngold).” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin_Concerto_(Korngold) 

• Horton, Cole. “From World War to Star Wars: the Music.” StarWars.com, 16 Sept. 2015, https://www.starwars.com/news/from-world-war-to-star-wars-the-music

• Ross, Alex. “Erich Wolfgang Korngold: The Opera Composer who went Hollywood.” New Yorker Magazine, 12 Aug. 2019, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/08/19/erich-wolfgang-korngold-the-opera-composer-who-went-hollywood 

• Steinberg, Michael. The Concerto: A Listener’s Guide. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. https://archive.org/details/concertolistener00stei 

Meet the Musician: Charles Yang, violin

March 4 & 5: Korngold & Dvorak

It’s Time for Charles Yang!

Upcoming this March 4th & 5th, Charles Yang will be performing Korngold’s Concerto in D Major for Violin alongside your Modesto Symphony Orchestra. We caught up with Charles, who last visited Modesto in 2017 with his string trio, Time for Three, to see what he’s been up to since then and to learn more about Korngold’s Violin Concerto.

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MSO: We heard in a previous interview that this was one of your favorite pieces to perform, why is Korngold’s Violin Concerto one of your favorite pieces to listen to and perform?

Charles Yang: I remember hearing this concerto for the first time when I was about 14 years old. I had already learned many of the major violin concertos at that point (Brahms, Beethoven, Mendelssohn etc.) but was not familiar with the Korngold. It completely took my breath away. I was hypnotized by the fresh harmonies and its memorable themes. Without knowing Korngold was the “godfather” of Hollywood film music at the time, I remember feeling like I was within a movie when hearing it. I later realized his impact on film music, and it just made so much sense. For some reason unknown to me still, it took me 10 years from the time I first heard this concerto to when I first started to learn it and man…I didn’t eat or sleep for a few days because I was OBSESSED! I’m still obsessed every time I pick it up and I’m so glad I get to do this with your orchestra.

MSO: Korngold, best known for being one of the most influential founders of Hollywood film music, brings a sense of imagery and imagination to all his work, especially his Violin Concerto. When you listen to this concerto, what sort of imagery plays in your mind?

Erich Wolfgang Korngold, composer

CY: There is the sense of awe within this concerto. Everything about it is grand and vast. I envision space whenever I hear this piece, with its expansive harmonies and orchestration. Many of the themes are actually taken from his film scores with the first movement drawing from “Another Dawn” and “Juarez”, the second movement quoting “Anthony Adverse”, and the third movement based on “The Prince and the Pauper”. His music has so much color and texture that every listener can paint their own picture.

“There is the sense of awe within this concerto. Everything about it is grand and vast. I envision space whenever I hear this piece, with its expansive harmonies and orchestration.”

MSO: You’ve recently worked with our conductor, Akiko Fujimoto back in October 2021, what was that experience like and how excited are you to be working with her again for this concert?

CY: I am so happy to be reunited with Akiko on this concerto. It was an absolute joy working with her the last time we did it and I know it will be magical again. When we first were working on this concerto, I remember us talking about the imagery of the music and we both shared the same feeling of space and the greater beyond. It’s always great to be on the same wavelength when collaborating on a piece and I’m excited to paint this picture yet again with her!

MSO: What our audience may not know is that you’ve grown up in the world of Classical Music, with your mother being a violinist for the Austin Symphony. What is it like growing up surrounded by classical music and musicians?

CY: I used to always think it was tough growing up with my mother as my violin teacher. She gave me a violin at the age of 3 and I was actively going to her concerts not long after that. In fact, I was born the day after one of her shows and she remembers me kicking during the Bruch Violin Concerto when I was still in her belly. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t have music in my life, and I definitely took that for granted as a child. Looking back now, I am so grateful for all the hours she put in teaching me how to play and all the concerts I got to attend. At the time it just felt like the norm, but now I see how lucky I am to have gotten so much attention towards my musical upbringing.  

MSO: What is it like crossing over the different genres of music that you’ve performed in? Is it challenging switching back and forth?

CY: Learning a new genre in music is like learning a new dialect or language. For me, I have always been curious about learning new “dialects” and how I could tie that into my own voice. Having been exposed to so many great blues, country and rock artists in Austin, Texas (where I grew up), I became fluent in a lot of those genres because I was constantly thrown into situations where I had to collaborate with them. But just like any language, it took trial after trial before I actually was fluent. Because I’ve been lucky enough to play with so many great artists from different genres, I’ve collected so many “tools” to put in my musical “toolbox”. Just like within classical music, learning how to play Bach is stylistically very different from learning how to play Bartok, so with this in mind, I don’t find playing the blues to be that far off from playing the vast canon of “classical music”. Sure, the brain works in a different way when improvising, but just like in anything, it can be trained to feel natural.

Time for Three with the MSO, April 2017

MSO: You’ve performed before here with the Modesto Symphony but with your group, Time for Three back in 2017. What’s the biggest difference when preparing for a solo performance versus your string trio?

CY: When preparing for a solo concerto, I strive to do as the composer intended while lending my own unique interpretation to it. With Time for Three, we often times play music written by us or written for us in collaboration, so our voices were already implemented within the composition. The biggest difference I find is that when working with Time for Three, the “soloist” is actually the combination of Nick, Ranaan and myself. We work as one unit and sound so there is a lot of interplay among us while also trying to blend with the orchestra. When I am a soloist with a concerto, it’s just me and the orchestra so its solely up to me to interpret and blend with the orchestra.

MSO: Do you have any fun plans outside of work while being in Northern California? (Sights to see, places to you have to eat at, etc.)

CY: I might visit my grandma who lives in San Francisco so I’m pretty excited about that but other than that, please let me know where I should go!!!

MSO: What upcoming performances/projects are you looking forward to?

CY: There are some really exciting projects that I am super stoked about! Time for Three just recorded two concertos written for us by Kevin Puts and Jennifer Higdon with the Philadelphia Orchestra which should come out soon! I’m also about to record a concerto written for me by Kris Bowers with the American Youth Symphony which we got to premiere at Disney Hall two years ago right before the pandemic so that one is special to me! Maybe I’ll get to bring these pieces to Modesto one day!

MSO: Why do you believe the Symphony or live performances are still relevant and important to attend?

CY: There is nothing like live music. After almost 2 years of concerts being cancelled because of the pandemic, I can tell how much people thirsted to hear a live orchestra in a concert hall. To be at an acoustic venue with live musicians playing in front of you where you can feel the sonic vibrations hit your soul is unexplainable and transcends any other listening experience. While the medium of how we listen to music has changed so much over the years from LPs to cassettes to CDs and now streaming, the concert hall or live music venue has stayed relevant and steady for a good reason. With so much music written over so many years, going to the symphony is the closest thing to time travel in my opinion.

“To be at an acoustic venue with live musicians playing in front of you where you can feel the sonic vibrations hit your soul is unexplainable and transcends any other listening experience.”

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Meet Charles in Modesto!

Come watch Charles perform Korngold’s Concerto in D Major for Violin this March 4th & 5th at the Gallo Center for the Arts!