Program Notes
Our season finale concert will feature the outstanding members of the HCYO joining the symphony in a side-by-side performance of Beethoven’s Egmont Overture. The symphony will also perform Bach’s Violin Concerto in E Major featuring our consummate concertmaster, Phil Johnson.
Once Beethoven’s music became known in the early 19th century, it was a free for all in the symphonic music world—everyone wanted to be bigger and more dramatic. Audience members will be amazed by the symphony’s first ever performance of Mahler’s grand Symphony No. 1 “Titan,” followed by the biggest “boom” of classical music, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture.
Photo by the Kerrville Lead
The Music
Beethoven – Egmont Overture
Bach – Violin Concerto in E Major
Phil Johnson, violin
Intermission
Mahler – Symphony No. 1 “Titan”, 1st movement
Tchaikovsky – 1812 Overture
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Philip Johnson began learning violin at the age of 10, studying with symphony players in his hometown of Buffalo, New York. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in violin performance from the Eastman School of Music in 1982, and a Master of Music degree in violin performance and literature from Baylor University in 1986. His teachers include Bernard and Rivka Mandelkern, Sally Thomas, Charles Castleman, and Kristin Lindley, and he has coached with concertmasters of eight major orchestras. His summer studies include four summers at the Meadowmount School of Music, two summers at the Quartet Program, and one at the Tanglewood Music Institute. Since joining the San Antonio Symphony (now San Antonio Philharmonic) in 1983, he has been an active performer throughout San Antonio and South Texas. He is in his sixth season as Concertmaster of Symphony of the Hills, and has also served as Concertmaster of the Mid-Texas Symphony, Operations Manager for Youth Orchestras of San Antonio, and adjunct faculty at St. Mary’s University for 15 years. He is active with local freelance playing, sectional rehearsals at area high schools, and private teaching. His wife Deana is an oboist, retired high school orchestra director, and youth orchestra conductor; they have three grown children and three grandchildren. Philip has previously appeared with Symphony of the Hills, performing two of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and (with Deana) Bach’s Double Concerto for oboe and violin.
