Saturday, December 16, 2023, 8pm
All Saints Parish
1773 Beacon Street, Brookline, MA 02445

Tickets are $20 online or $25 at the door for general admission, $15 for seniors, $10 for students, and free for children 12 & under.

COVID Policy: You do not need to show proof of vaccination or a negative test result to enter All Saints Parish. To ensure the safety of everyone, the members of Brookline Symphony Orchestra are fully vaccinated and we strongly recommend our audience members to wear a mask. Please stay home if you are sick or have COVID-19 symptoms; you have been directed to self-isolate or quarantine; or you are awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test. Note: These policies are subject to change as the COVID-19 pandemic and community transmission rates evolve.

Maurice Ravel, Shéhérazade
featuring Grace Heldridge, mezzo-soprano

Ravel's song cycle Shéhérazade, was composed for soprano solo and orchestra, setting the words of Klingsor's "Asie", "La flûte enchantée", and "L'indifférent". It was first performed on 17 May 1904 at a Société Nationale concert at the Salle Nouveau Théâtre, Paris. Scheherazade is a major female character and the storyteller in the frame narrative of the Middle Eastern collection of tales known as the One Thousand and One Nights. Ravel’s song cycle consists of three parts: Asie (Asia), La flûte enchantée (The Enchanted Flute), and L'indifférent (The Indifferent One).

Grace Heldridge is a 24 year-old Mezzo-Soprano from Omaha, NE who strives to create honest and compelling performances in both opera and musical theater. She found a love for the performing arts at a young age through her training in dance and piano. Once she began taking voice lessons and discovered opera, she was hooked. 

This season, Grace returns to The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, earning a Professional Studies Certificate in Voice Performance and performing as Lazuli in Chabrier's L'Étoile, Judge Dodsworth in Matthew Peterson's Voir Dire, and Hermia in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream! Additionally, Grace will participate in multiple concerts at Trinity Episcopal Church, where she works as a Soprano II Section leader and soloist.

 Last summer, Grace joined Central City Opera's Festival Season as an Apprentice Artist in the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Artists Training Program. At CCO, Grace covered Lois Lane/Bianca in Cole Porter's Tony Award-Winning musical, Kiss Me, Kate. She was the recipient of the Cady Young Artist Award. 

Last spring, Grace graduated with an M.M. in Opera Performance from The Boston Conservatory at Berklee. During her time at BCB, Grace performed as Hannah Older in As One, and Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Mrs. Ott in Susannah, Nancy in Albert Herring and Annio in La Clemenza di Tito. Grace is a student of Dr. Rebecca Folsom and was named the 2022/2023 Miles A. Fish III '63 Scholar.

Grace earned her B.M. in Vocal Performance from The University of Kansas, studying with renowned Mezzo-Soprano Joyce Castle. In her time at KU, she performed as Sesto in Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto with KU Opera. Grace was nominated and selected twice for the Undergraduate Honors Recital and was the recipient of the prestigious Haven Preyer Award for Voice.

 Junior year, Grace was selected as an Emerging Artist at Seagle Festival in Schroon Lake, NY which was unfortunately postponed due to COVID-19. Grace spent two summers at Seagle, performing notable roles in opera and musical theater. Roles with the festival include Dolly Gallagher Levi in Hello, Dolly!, La Maestra Delle Noviziei in Suor Angelica, Dorothée in Cendrillon, Mama Bear in The Three Bears, Bellomy in The Fantasticks. Grace also performed as Dorabella in Così fan tutte, and Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus in the Opera Scenes program.

Last fall, Grace was named a semi-finalist in the Mass Opera Competition and the NextGen National Vocal Competition. She has competed twice in The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, winning an Encouragement Award from the Tulsa District in 2021 and the Friends of Opera award from the Nebraska District in 2022. She won the Barbara Rondelli Vocal Competition in the spring of 2020, and received a scholarship award from the Kansas City Music Council at the Kansas SAI Scholarship Competition in the spring of 2021. 

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, The Tempest

The Tempest is a Symphonic Fantasia based on the play The Tempest by William Shakespeare. It contains themes depicting the stillness of the ship at sea, the grotesque nature of Caliban, and the love between Ferdinand and Miranda.

The Tempest's plot involves magic, a deserted island, betrayal, comedy, and love. Prospero, the story’s hero, has magical powers. He was the rightful duke of Milan. However, years before the action of the play, his brother Antonio usurped him, with the help of Alonso, the king of Naples. Prospero had been vulnerable to this overthrow because he was more interested in his books and his magic than in the practicalities of ruling Milan. Antonio set Prospero and his young daughter Miranda adrift on the sea. Arriving at an island, Prospero used his magic to free the spirit Ariel, who had been tormented by a sorceress. The son of the sorceress, Caliban, became Prospero’s slave. The play opens with a storm that Prospero creates with his magical powers. He raises the storm to drive Antonio and his courtiers to the island. But Ferdinand, Alonso’s son, is separated from the others, who believe Ferdinand has drowned. Meanwhile, Caliban plots against Prospero, and Antonio plots against Alonso. Ariel helps foil both plots. Before Ferdinand is discovered, Alonso comes to believe that the loss of his son is punishment for his crimes, and he repents.

Ultimately, Prospero is convinced that Antonio and the others are also repentant, or at least chastened. Prospero reconciles everyone, gives up his magic, and prepares to return to Milan and his throne. Meanwhile, young Ferdinand has encountered Miranda, and the two have fallen instantly in love. Prospero welcomes this love relationship as a way of making Miranda happy and at the same time reconciling Milan and Naples; the marriage will unite the two contending kingdoms.

Sergei Prokofiev, Piano Concerto No. 3
featuring concerto competition winner Sam Wiseman

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor; he is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. His works include such widely heard pieces as the March from The Love for Three Oranges, the suite Lieutenant Kijé, the ballet Romeo and Juliet, and Peter and the Wolf. Of the established forms and genres in which he worked, he created seven completed operas, seven symphonies, eight ballets, five piano concertos, two violin concertos, a cello concerto, a symphony-concerto for cello and orchestra, and nine completed piano sonatas.

Prokofiev began his work on his Piano Concerto No 3 as early as 1913 when he wrote a theme with variations which he then set aside. Although he revisited the sketches in 1916–17, he did not fully devote himself to the project until 1921 when he was spending the summer in Brittany. Prokofiev himself played the solo part at the premiere on 16 December 1921 in Chicago with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Frederick Stock.

Sam Wiseman grew up in Connecticut and graduated from Carleton College, where he double majored in music and computer science. While at Carleton, he performed in piano master classes with Malcolm Bilson and Jon Nakamatsu and was concertmaster of the orchestra for 4 years. He graduated with distinction in piano performance and received the Sigrid and Erling Larsen Award in Creative and Performing Arts. Sam is also the associate concertmaster of Brookline Symphony, the bass section leader of Boston Choral Ensemble, and a software supporting cancer research at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.