Program

Daniel de Togni '18
Tsuioku: On the Internment of Japanese Americans (World Premiere)
Winner of the Jim Highsmith Award

Mendelssohn
Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64
Boxianzi Ling ’20, violin
Winner of the Violin Concerto Competition

Intermission

Ponce
Concierto del Sur for Guitar and Orchestra
Bradley Pupa ’19, guitar
Winner of the Guitar Concerto Competition

Tomasi
Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra
Nicole Hillis ’18, trombone
Winner of the Brass Concerto Competition

Performers

Berkeley Symphony
Martin West, conductor
Nicole Hillis ’18, trombone
Bradley Pupa ’19, guitar
Boxianzi Ling ’20, violin

About Martin West

Martin West is acknowledged as one of the foremost conductors of ballet. Born in Bolton, England, he studied math at Cambridge University before studying at the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music and London’s Royal Academy of Music.

In 1997, West made his debut with English National Ballet and was immediately appointed resident conductor. In recent seasons, he has worked with many of the top companies in North America and Europe including New York City Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, and The Royal Ballet.

West joined SF Ballet in the fall of 2005, having been a frequent guest since his debut two years earlier. He has made a number of critically acclaimed recordings with the SF Ballet Orchestra, including the complete score of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and an album of suites from Delibes’ Sylvia and Coppélia. In addition, he conducted on the award-winning DVD of Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid, as well as SF Ballet’s production of Nutcracker for PBS.

About the Jim Highsmith Award

Each year, Conservatory composition students and alumni are invited to submit orchestral works to a competition endowed by Jim Highsmith. The winning composition is then performed by the SFCM Orchestra. Past winners of the Jim Highsmith Award include Peter Engelbert (2017), David Grahame Taylor (2016), Michael Kropf (2015), Nathan Campbell (2014), Justin Ralls (2013), Louis Cruz (2012), Nicholas Pavkovic (2011), and Joseph Stillwell (2010).

James (Jim) Milton Highsmith was born and raised in Robersonville, North Carolina, where he developed a lifelong passion for drama, music and literature. In 1961, Highsmith received a Ph.D. in English literature, one of three degrees he earned from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Later that year he joined the English faculty at the University of Florida at Gainesville.

Highsmith came to San Francisco in 1971 to join the English department at Lone Mountain College, where he eventually served as department chair. When Lone Mountain was incorporated into the University of San Francisco in 1977, Highsmith took the opportunity to travel and teach as a civilian instructor for the Navy’s Program Afloat for College Education (PACE), where he taught English literature and creative writing. He died in San Francisco in 1986 at age 49.