PROGRAM

Broken Ink (2013)

by Zhou Tian

I. Hearing the Sound of the Rain and Bell 

II. Watching the Tidal Bore 

III. The Drizzling Rain at the Plum Season 

IV. The Mighty River Runs Eastward 

V. Listening to the Land

INTERMISSION

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (2019)

by Jocelyn Hagen

I. Painting and Drawing

II. Practice

III. Ripples

IV. The Greatest Good

V. The Vitruvian Man

VI. Invention

VII. Nature

VIII. Perception

IX. Look at the Stars

COMPOSERS’ NOTES & TEXTS

Broken Ink

by Zhou Tian

The poetry and calligraphy of the Song Dynasty (960–1279) has long been a staple in the Chinese culture. And so when Hangzhou, once the capital of Southern Song – and my hometown – asked for a new piece celebrating the city’s magnificent cultural heritage, I was beyond excited. It was like a musical homecoming.

In “Broken Ink,” a symphonic suite inspired by the poetry of the Song dynasty, I sought to capture the poetic flavor that was lost in translation. The work was built as a mosaic of Chinese musical traditions and my approaches to writing for the symphony orchestra. In addition to the standard orchestral palette, the instrumentation also includes non-classical instruments such as Tibetan singing bowls, tuned gongs, and a large Chinese bass drum.

The work contains five parts, each inspired by a particular poem as follows, with brief descriptions:

I. Hearing the Sound of the Rain and Bell 

After “Bells Ringing in the Rain” by Liu Yong (987–1053)

Two lovers parting in the rain, drinking quietly in front of an old pavilion and a magnificent river while the sound of bell lingers

II. Watching the Tidal Bore 

After “Watching the Tidal Bore” by Liu Yong

Watching the splendid tidal bore of the Qiantang River, a drunken man hears the sound of flute and drums

III. The Drizzling Rain at the Plum Season 

After “Green Jade Cup” by He Zhu (1052–1125)

Seeking love in a town full of fluffy catkins from blooming willows

IV. The Mighty River Runs Eastward 

After “First Ode on the Red Cliff” by Su Shi (1036–1101)

Recalling the Battle of Red Cliff of the Three Kingdoms while boat riding on the Yangtze River

V. Listening to the Land

After “Forever in Happiness (Reminiscing the bygone days)” by Xin Qiji (1140 –1207)

Remembering heroes when the end of a dynasty is near 

“Broken Ink” was commissioned by the city of Hangzhou, in partnership with China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Princeton Symphony Orchestra. The score calls for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, clarinet in E-flat, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (4 players: vibraphone, marimba, tuned gong set, glockenspiel, tubular bells, crotale, tibetan singing bowls, tom-toms, snare drum, bass drum, triangle, mark tree, suspended cymbal, crash cymbal, Chinese cymbal, finger cymbals, traditional Chinese bass drum, tamtam, temple block), harp, piano (doubling celesta), and strings.

—Zhou Tian

Capital City Symphony

Based at the Atlas Performing Arts Center in the H Street Corridor, Capital City Symphony (CCS) serves both audience members and orchestra members. By engaging with CCS, our audience members support our musicians, hear high-quality live music at a reasonable price, and enjoy our concerts in a fun, intimate environment. Our orchestra members volunteer with our orchestra in order to have the opportunity to engage with the joy of symphonic music-making. CCS draws over 80 orchestra members annually from Washington, D.C.’s unique pool of talented amateur musicians – many of whom have extensive training through the college or conservatory level - providing them with an opportunity to reconnect with their passion for music-making. Under the leadership of Artistic Director and Conductor Victoria Gau, the orchestra performs fun, challenging, and exciting repertoire from the 18th century to today!

Board of Directors

Alex Swartsel, Board Chair 

Virginia Elgin, Vice Chair

Cara Wulf, Treasurer

Howard Spendelow, Recording Secretary

Paula Hickey, Orchestra Representative

Amy Driscoll, Orchestra Representative 

Deborah Edge 

Charlton Templeton

Nicholas McCoy

Phil Guire

Crystal Hill

Capital City Symphony Staff

Victoria Gau, Artistic Director

Erin Feng, Executive Director

Ingrid Lestrud, Assistant Conductor

Olivia Ren, Librarian and Personnel Manager

Alexander Rise, Production Manager

Abby Lynch, Stage Manager

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci

by Jocelyn Hagen

Rivers of ink have been dedicated to the study of the life and work of Leonardo da Vinci. His genius has been articulated by scholars, historians, artists, engineers, and scientists for centuries, and the legacy of his work will continue to endure the test of time because of his remarkable synthesis of art, science and design. When I first began researching da Vinci and his notebooks, I was overwhelmed. How was I to condense this huge body of work into one 35 minute symphony? (Over 5,000 pages of manuscript have been found.) There was no way I could include the entirety of this work, so my goal became serving the spirit of his work and his curious mind.

One of the biggest lessons I gleaned from studying his work was the importance of being willing to fail. He was a man known as much for his failures as his successes, and this did not dampen his creativity or his drive. More than anything he just wanted to understand the world around him, and he didn’t let his pride or ego stand in the way of posing the tough questions or trying to answer them. he remained open to the possibility of new discoveries and allowed himself the freedom to change his mind. You can see this this attribute of his personality beautifully in the opening of the symphony, when his handwriting is scrolling across the screen. He very quickly crosses out a word, pauses, then continues on with his idea. Mistakes and practice were a big part of his creative process, as they should be. And did you know he wrote right to left, backwards, as if in a mirror?

Knowledge became one of the greatest themes I focused on when crafting the libretto, and is the subject matter for three of the movements, which are sung a cappella. In the second movement, da Vinci stresses the importance of daily practice based on the pillars of knowledge. In the fourth movement, his words express the necessity of basing one’s judgments on facts rather than speculation. And in the penultimate movement, he warns the reader to be aware of personal bias, suggesting that the truth may be revealed if one is able to see things from a different point of view. His notebooks are full of musings just like these, along with keen observations, geometrical studies, and techniques for painting and drawing. But he also drew pictures of grotesque faces, cats, and a few dragons! This showed to me an often-overlooked but extremely beneficial component of the creative process: playfulness.

The third movement, “Ripples,” combines two ideas that I was very excited about exploring in this work. First, da Vinci’s fascination with water and his understanding that water is the carrier and matrix of life, and second, the music of Italian music theorist and composer Franchino Gaffurio. Gaffurio and da Vinci both lived in Milan, and according to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, were actually friends. I wove musical phrases from the “Gloria” and “Kyrie” of Gaffurio’s Missa di Carneval into the fabric of the string parts.

Leonardo da Vinci did not invent the Vitruvian man, but it is without doubt the most recognizable image from all his notebook pages. Vitruvius, the architect, described the human figure as being the principal source of proportion among the classical orders of architecture. Da Vinci was one of several artists who examined this theory by sketching a “Vitruvian man.” The infamous image demonstrates the blend of mathematics and art as well as da Vinci’s deep understanding of proportion. In the fifth movement you will hear the choir sing the different ideal proportions of the human body and see an overlay of his incredibly detailed (and accurate!) sketches of the human form on top of a live model: dancer Stephen Schroeder.

And who could forget da Vinci’s famous flying machines? In truth he invented several gliders in his lifetime, and had a preliminary understanding of aerodynamics, which he called “the science of the winds,” centuries ahead of George Cayley (credited with the discovery of aerodynamics in 1809). He invented automatons, weapons of war, and many other inventions as well. The little machines come to life in beautiful animations on the screen, and I invented my own little musical machines to accompany them. They whir and spin in their own time, creating a fantastic soundtrack to the lively imagery in the sixth movement.

Following these inventions we are guided into the splendor of the natural world, beginning with a gorgeous duet between the clarinet and an animation of da Vinci’s sketches of a bird. The small bird against the lush landscapes represents da Vinci’s obsession with the inter-connectedness of the microcosm and macrocosm. For example, da Vinci compared the “water veins” of the Earth to the blood vessels of the human body. At a fundamental level, da Vinci sought to understand the nature of life, and to him, nature as a whole was alive! His love for nature is captured in his sketches of plants, animals, water, and landscapes, made possible through his finely sharpened sense of observation, remarkable patience, intense concentration, curiosity, and holistic memory.

“Wisdom is the daughter of experience” is one of the most famous quotes from da Vinci’s notebooks. It seemed only fitting that this line end the work, complete with images of the night sky and his beautiful portrait of an old man (rumored to be himself).

This performance of The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci is the result of 4 years of research, planning, traveling, networking, composing, and collaborating. Its creation would not have been possible without the impetus and support of the lead commissioners, the Minnesota Chorale, Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, and the University of Michigan, or the other members of the commissioning consortium. Bringing the imagery of da Vinci’s notebooks to the screen was a long and educational process as well, but with the incredible work of my three collaborators, Isaac Gale (filmmaker), Joseph Midthun (animator), and Justin Schell (filmmaker/librarian), da Vinci’s handwriting and sketches come to life in an extraordinary way. I have also sourced animations from the beautiful Leonardo3 museum in Milan, as well as an excerpt from a short film titled “Leonardo,” created by Aerial Contrivance Workshop based in Berkeley, CA.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci premiered in 2019, coast to coast, celebrating the 500th anniversary of his death, and was commissioned by a consortium of 23 different ensembles. My Tedx Talk filmed at the Walker Art Center in February 2019 is available on YouTube and it focuses on the creative process of composing the music while imagining the animation for the first movement, along with a demonstration of the revolutionary new video-syncing technology that inspired me to consider creating my first multimedia symphony: Muséik.

—Jocelyn Hagen

I. PAINTING AND DRAWING

O Painter!
A painter is not admirable unless he is universal.

A painting is a poem seen but not heard, a poem is a painting heard but not seen. Hence these two poems, or two paintings, have exchanged the senses by which they pierce the intellect.

II. PRACTICE

Those who are in love with practice without knowledge are like the sailor who gets into a ship without rudder or compass and who never can be certain whither he is going. Practice must always be founded on sound theory, and to this, perspective is the guide and the gateway; and without this nothing can be done well in the matter of drawing.

III. RIPPLES

Just as a stone flung into the water becomes the center and cause of many circles, and as sound diffuses itself in circles in the air; so any object, placed in the luminous atmosphere, diffuses itself in circles, and fills the surrounding air with infinite images of itself. And is repeated, the whole everywhere, and the whole in every smallest part.

IV. THE GREATEST GOOD

The greatest good of all is knowledge.
Obstacle cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to firm resolve.

The acquisition of any knowledge is always useful to the intellect, because it will be able to banish useless things and retain those that are good. For nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first known.

V. THE VITRUVIAN MAN

Vitruvius, the architect, says in his work on architecture that the measurements of the human body are distributed by Nature as follows:

four fingers make one palm,
four palms make one foot,
six palms make one cubit;
four cubits make a man’s height.
These measures he used in his building.

If you open your legs so much as to decrease your height one- fourteenth and spread and raise your arms till your middle fingers touch the level of the top of your head you must know that the centre of the outspread limbs will be in the navel and the space between the legs will be an equilateral triangle.

From the roots of the hair to the bottom of the chin is the tenth of a man’s height;

from the bottom of the chin to the top of his head is one eighth of his height;

from the top of the breast to the top of his head will be one sixth of a man.

From the top of the breast to the roots of the hair will be the seventh part of the whole man.

From the nipples to the top of the head will be the fourth part of a man.

The greatest width of the shoulders From the elbow
The whole hand
below the knee

The length of a man’s outspread arms is equal to his height.

The face forms a square in itself.

The distance from the attachment of one ear to the other is equal to that from the meeting of the eyebrows to the chin, and in a fine face the width of the mouth is equal to the length from the parting of the lips to the bottom of the chin.

The ear is exactly as long as the nose. The ear should be as high as from the bottom of the nose to the top of the eyelid. The space between the eyes is equal to the width of an eye.

VI. INVENTION (ORCHESTRA ONLY) 

VII. NATURE

Though human ingenuity may make various inventions, it will never devise inventions more beautiful, nor more simple, nor more to the purpose than Nature does; because in her inventions nothing is wanting, nothing is superfluous.

Necessity is the teacher and tutor of Nature.

VIII. PERCEPTION

All our knowledge has its origin in our perceptions.

IX. LOOK AT THE STARS

O Time! Consumer of all things; O envious age! Thou dost destroy all things and devour all things with the relentless teeth of years, little by little in a slow death.

If you look at the stars, cutting off the rays, you will see those stars so minute that it would seem that nothing could be smaller; it is in fact their great distance that is the reason of their diminution, for many of them are many times larger than the star which is the earth with water.

Now reflect what this, our star, must look like at such a distance, and then consider how many stars might be added — both in longitude and latitude — between those stars that are scattered over the darkened sky.

Look at the Stars. O Time!
Wisdom is the daughter of experience.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Victoria Gau

Capital City Symphony, Artistic Director and Conductor

Now in her 25th season leading CCS, conductor Victoria Gau has been lauded by critics for her “strong sense of style and drama” (Washington Post) and her “enthusiastic and perceptive conducting”, and brings a wide range of musical experience and expertise to her work. She is Music Director of Cantate, where she conducts the Chamber Singers and the Concert Choir.

Maestra Gau is well-known in the Washington DC area for her work as Associate Conductor at National Philharmonic.  She has additionally served as Artistic Director and Music Director/Conductor of the Other Opera Company in Bethesda, Maryland, which she co-founded in 1992. and music director for such Washington area companies as The Washington Savoyards, Victorian Lyric Opera Company, Annapolis Opera Musicales, the Eldbrook Opera Ensemble, and the IN-Series. Guest conducting includes the Open Page Ensemble, Alexandria (VA) and  Akron (OH) Symphonies, Friday Morning Music Club Orchestra, and the Kennedy Center Messiah Sing-Along. She has been active as Artistic Director of the Takoma Ensemble and is the former Conductor and Music Director of the Richmond Philharmonic Orchestra in Richmond, VA.

Known as a strong advocate for American composers and for fostering ongoing expression in music, Ms. Gau has conducted numerous premieres, including works by Jorge Martin, Charlie Barnett, Scott Pender, Joel Friedman, and Alistair Coleman, among others.

Gau is in demand as a guest conductor and conductor/string educator at youth orchestra festivals and workshops.  She is the former conductor of the Junior Summer String Institute Orchestra for National Philharmonic and the Young Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, an elite group of string players from the DC Youth Orchestra Program, as well as the Akron Youth Symphony.  She has conducted youth orchestra festivals in Virginia, Ohio, and New York as well as Side-by Side events with DC-area youth orchestras and the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. Other recent appearances include the SOGO Conservatory Orchestra (Olympia, WA), the Vermont All-State Orchestra Festival, and the Maryland Senior and Junior All-State Orchestras.

Choral activities have included assisting in preparation of the 150-voice National Philharmonic Chorale for approximately 6 concerts per season, as well as serving as Co-Director of the National Philharmonic Singers, and Director and Co-Conductor of the National Philharmonic Summer Choral Institutes. Gau has guest conducted such choruses as The Metropolitan Chorus, Capitol Hill Chorale, and the Congressional Chorus. She is Director of Music at Bethesda Presbyterian Church.

Known for her ability to connect with audiences both on and off the stage, Ms Gau is also a popular clinician and  lecturer on music. She formerly gave pre-concert lectures before all National Philharmonic performances, has been on the faculty of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute of Johns Hopkins University, has been a guest lecturer for the Alexandria Symphony. And has taught music appreciation classes for the Monday Morning Music Club in Alexandria. She co-led a conducting clinic with Dr. William LaRue Jones at the ASTA National Conference in 2022.

Gau has served on the opera faculty at George Mason University, and worked with vocalists privately and in the Crittenden Opera Studio. She has toured with Cleveland Opera, performing throughout northern Ohio, as well as Odyssey Opera Theatre and the Baltimore Opera Company, performing educational outreach in schools throughout the state of Maryland. As a violist she has been an active freelancer, teacher, and 15-year member of the Envoy String Quartet. Ms. Gau holds degrees in Viola Performance and Conducting from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she won the Liberace Foundation Scholarship and the Phi Kappa Lambda Prize for Musicianship.

Steven Seigart

Congressional Chorus, Principal Collaborative Pianist

Dr. Steven Seigart is a conductor, organist, and composer based in the D.C. area. Dr. Seigart holds degrees in choral conducting and organ from the University of Maryland, Boston University, and the Eastman School of Music. He specializes in improvisation, has been featured on NPR’s Pipedreams Live!, and was a semifinalist in the National Competition in Organ Improvisation. He has held positions at the Church of St. Joseph (Bronxville, NY), Christ Church (Rochester, NY), St. Paul’s Cathedral (Syracuse, NY), and many others across the Northeast. He currently serves as Director of Music at the Old Presbyterian Meeting House in Alexandria, Virginia, and as Principal Pianist for the Congressional Chorus. He is also active as a collaborative pianist, continuo player, and composer, and resides in Burke, VA with his wife Suzanne and their dog, Schubert.

Congressional Chorus

Congressional Chorus, a multi-generational family of choruses reflecting the diversity of our nation’s capital, champions American music. Our mission is to inspire people to embrace our common humanity through choral music. We promote the choral arts through artistic excellence, innovative performances and active community engagement; and provide affordable music education and performance opportunities to aspiring singers of all ages and backgrounds.

Since our founding in 1987 by Congressional staff who wanted to share their love of singing by reaching out to the local Capitol Hill community, the Congressional Chorus has grown into an organization performing a full season of concerts and serving members and audiences from throughout the metropolitan area. From an original membership of 13, today’s family of choruses includes an 80-member auditioned adult chorus, an a cappella chamber ensemble, the NorthEast Senior Singers (NESS)—a free musical engagement chorus for senior citizens—and the American Youth Chorus.

The chorus promotes the expansion of American choral music by commissioning new works from a wide array of American composers, and by presenting multi-disciplinary concerts involving dance, poetry and spoken word artists that appeal to an audience of a wide range of ages and interests.  Although we perform American music of many genres and time periods, our focus is on promoting new American choral works from the 21st century.

In addition to our annual public performances, our choruses have performed at The White House, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Harman Center for the Arts, Atlas Performing Arts Center, the Library of Congress, National Building Museum, National Archives, Washington Nationals’ Ballpark, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Capitol, including two Presidential inaugurations.

SOPRANO

Kate Burkett

Kristina Caggiano Kelly

Daria Danilova

Katherine DeFonzo

Karen Dowling

Caroline Fehr

Nicole Filosa

Cary Gibson

Jean Godwin

Daniela Gomez

* Isabel Hardy

Cassandra Hart

Sarah Havlicek

Mechelle A. King

Valerie Lehman

* LeighAnne Markaity

Sarah McNeal

Allison Moody

Mary Moynihan

Liv Pierce

Serra Schlanger

Ariel White

BASS

Doug Foote

William Heim

Joseph Hubbard

Mike Krause

Greg Michaels

John Newman

Jim Petrick

Philipp Sewing

Michael Steelman

* Daniel Wanke

Teddy Willard

* Section Leader

Board of Directors

Allan Laiño, Artistic Director, ex officio 

Michelle Heslin, Executive Director, ex officio

Greg Michaels, President

Sarah Bruno, Vice President

Jim Petrick, Treasurer

Kristina Caggiano Kelly, Secretary

Daniel Gordon, member

LeighAnne Markaity, member

Greg Miller, member

Dawna Steelman, member

Jahnissi Tirado, member

Production

Rachel Bowe, Congressional Chorus, Artistic Administrator

Katy Betker, American Sign Language Interpreter

Max Kuzmyak, Videographer & Recording Engineer

Stephen Brouillette, Camera Operator

Credits and Acknowledgements

This concert is made possible

in part by support from

A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation

Capitol Hill Community Foundation

Clark-Winchcole Foundation

DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities

Eugene M. Lang Foundation

Menezes Jennings Family Charitable Fund

Share Fund

Texas Instruments Foundation

Congressional Chorus and Capital City Symphony members

& loyal supporters