Beethoven’s Triple

DUN Passacaglia: Secrets of Wind and Birds
BEETHOVEN Triple Concerto, Op. 56
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 6

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Three extraordinary soloists team up for a one of a kind work, Beethoven’s “Triple” Concerto, one of Beethoven’s most soulful, challenging, and charming concertos. When played by musicians of the caliber of Lindsay Garritson, Carey Moorman and Isaac Moorman, Beethoven’s masterful piano trio with orchestra is three times the fun of a solo concerto.  In a first, the SCSO is encouraging concertgoers to turn on their cell phones during the performance. Tan Dun’s Passacaglia: Secret of Wind and Birds brings nature to life in a mesmerizing blend of traditional symphonic sounds and recorded birdsong, creating a musical landscape alive with wonder and mystery. This piece is designed to be an interactive effort between the orchestra and the audience by using cell phones to play recorded sounds of bird calls during the performance.  Rounding out the program is one of the most famous Symphony’s ever written, Beethoven’s Sixth. Noted for its blissful introduction, birdsong via woodwinds, and rumbling thunder of cellos, Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony embodies the calming charm of the countryside. In a letter to one of his beloved pupils, he wrote, “How happy I am to be able to wander among the bushes and grass, under trees and over rocks, no man can love the country as I love it.”

Select a birdsong by clicking on any of the birds below:

Dr. Lindsay Garritson has performed throughout the United States and abroad since the age of four. She has appeared on stages such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Place des Arts (Montreal), and has been featured as soloist with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, Keweenaw Symphony (Michigan), Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra (Texas), Orchestre Métropolitain (Montreal), Atlantic Classical Orchestra (Florida), Orquestra Sinfônica Barra Mansa (Brazil), the Yale Philharmonic Orchestra, and the European Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. An award-winning performer, Lindsay has received top prizes at the Montreal International Piano Competition, USASU Bösendorfer International Piano Competition, and the Mozarteum International Chopin Competition (Salzburg). She was selected as a participant in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition as well as a finalist for the German Piano Award in Frankfurt, Germany.

An avid chamber musician, Lindsay has performed with Ani Kavafian, Elmar Oliveira, Carter Brey, Ettore Causa, and Ian Rosenbaum, among many others. She is currently a member of the Bergonzi Piano Trio with violinist Scott Flavin and cellist Ross Harbaugh, and their first album of Beethoven and Brahms trios was recently released. Their upcoming album of trios by Dvorak and Shostakovich will be released in 2024. Since 2018, she has been a collaborative pianist for the prestigious Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival.

Lindsay is a passionate advocate for new music, and her Carnegie Hall solo recital debut featured the world premiere of Carl Vine's Piano Sonata No. 4, a work written for her. Concurrently, her second solo album titled “Aphorisms: Piano Music of Carl Vine” was released. In 2022, Lindsay concertized in recital across Australia and New Zealand featuring the music of Carl Vine. She has also recorded the complete works for flute and piano by Samuel Zyman (Albany Records), and premiered works by composers David Ludwig, Nick Omiccioli, and Polina Nazaykinskaya.

Lindsay holds degrees from Principia College (B.A. in Music), Yale School of Music (M.M. and Artist Diploma), and the University of Miami (D.M.A.). Her piano teachers include Santiago Rodriguez, Boris Berman, Luiz de Moura Castro, Choong-Mo Kang, Zena Ilyashov, Emilio Del Rosario, the late Jane Allen, and Jennifer Lim Judd. Lindsay currently resides in Jensen Beach, Florida.

Isaac Moorman currently serves as Assistant Principal Cellist for the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra since 2022. He also performs as Principal Cellist for the Space Coast Symphony and the Riverside Chamber Orchestra. He has performed twice as a soloist with the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra, as well as with the Melbourne Municipal Band and the Central Florida Winds. Isaac has given solo performances at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center and in 2019, he received 1st prize in the Brevard’s “Got Music” Talent Competition in Melbourne, Florida.  In addition to his performing activities, Isaac is the teaching assistant for Joseph Johnson at the Eastman School of Music in pursuit of his doctorate. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kentucky School of Music where he completed a double major in Cello Performance and Piano Performance with highest honors in just three years. Subsequently, Isaac received his master’s degree at Eastman as the teaching assistant for Guy Johnston.

Isaac performed in masterclasses for artists including Richard Aaron, David Ying, Helga Winold, the Pacifica Quartet, Matt Haimovitz, Yibing Chu, and Gary Hoffman. He has attended festivals such as the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, the Eastman Summer Cello Workshop, and the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival. During his time at the University of Kentucky, Isaac worked in the piano and cello studios of Dr. Jacob Coleman and Benjamin Karp, respectively. Most recently, Isaac has been appointed as Adjunct Cello Faculty at Rollins College in Orlando, FL.

Carey Moorman is Concertmaster of the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra. He also performs regularly with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and Atlantic Classical Orchestra. Moorman also served for years as the Principal Second Violin for the Brevard Symphony Orchestra. Moorman has been the Associate Concertmaster for the Pine Bluff Symphony and the Fort Smith Symphony as well as Principal Second Violinist with the Conway Symphony. He was previously a Tenured Violinist with the Arkansas Symphony and performed with the Pinnacle Players Chamber Orchestra and the Wildwood Opera Festival.

Moorman has several solo Concerto performances on violin and viola with Orchestra to his credit as well, including several performances with the Space Coast Symphony. His chamber collaborations both (violin and viola) include Scott Kluksdahl, J.T. Posadas, Michael Wiseman, Ayako Yonetani, Bharat Chandra, Phil Paglialonga, Daniel Askerov, and many others. Moorman was the 1st prize winner in the Stella Boyle Smith Young Artist Competition and the Little Rock Music Coterie Competition.

He has performed in masterclasses for Jonathan Carney. Moorman studied with Professor Kevork Mardirossian at the University of Central Arkansas and earned his degree in Music Performance. He has been First violinist with Encore String Quartet, Pinnacle String Quartet, and the Falstaff String Quartet. Moorman also has taught multiple violin clinics for the Pine Bluff Orchestra Workshop, coached musicians for the Brevard Chamber Music Seminar, and judged Concerto Competitions throughout Florida.

Tan Dun (b. 1957)

Passacaglia: Secrets of Wind and Birds (2015)

Drawing inspiration from both ancient philosophy and contemporary technology, Tan Dun's Passacaglia: Secrets of Wind and Birds is a meditation on nature's primal sounds. Fusing the traditions of East and West, the work transforms the modern symphony orchestra into a sonic landscape where digital bird calls and human voices merge with the music of the wind and water.

The piece was commissioned by Carnegie Hall for the National Youth Orchestra of the United States, and its premiere in China sought to bridge musical cultures and generations. The composition embodies a primal human desire to communicate with nature, a theme captured by a quote from Leonardo da Vinci that inspired the composer: "In order to arrive at knowledge of the motions of birds in the air, it is first necessary to acquire knowledge of the winds".

A Fusion of the Ancient and the Digital

As a master of both Eastern and Western idioms, Tan Dun blends diverse elements into a cohesive and mesmerizing whole. The piece is built on a traditional passacaglia structure—a series of variations over a repeating, eight-bar pattern—but the instrumentation is far from conventional.

• A digital aviary: The work opens with a chorus of "digital birds," where musicians (and sometimes even the audience) play prerecorded birdsong-like sounds on their cellphones. These recordings often feature ancient Chinese instruments, such as the pipa and guzheng, creating a bridge between past and future.
• Organic textures: Throughout the piece, the orchestra imitates the sounds of the natural world. The woodwinds whisper and sigh like unseen gusts of wind, while the percussion section uses organic materials like stones to create textured sounds.
• The human connection: Tan Dun weaves human elements into the orchestral fabric, from the musicians' chanting and whistling to the rhythmic clapping and foot-stamping that creates a propulsive "orchestral hip-hop".
• The Phoenix rising: The composition builds through nine evolving repetitions of the passacaglia theme, culminating in a powerful, unified cry from the full orchestra. The composer describes this final sound as that of the mythical Phoenix, symbolizing "a dream of a future world" and the wonder of nature reborn.

The world-renowned artist and UNESCO Global Goodwill Ambassador TAN DUN, has made an indelible mark on the world’s music scene with a creative repertoire that spans the boundaries of classical music, multimedia performance, and Eastern and Western traditions. A winner of today’s most prestigious honors including the Grammy Award, Oscar/Academy Award, Grawemeyer Award, Bach Prize, Shostakovich Award, and most recently Italy’s Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement, Tan Dun’s music has been played throughout the world by leading orchestras, opera houses, international festivals, and on radio and television. This past year, Tan Dun conducted the grand opening celebration of Disneyland Shanghai which was broadcast to a record-breaking audience worldwide.

As a conductor of innovative programs around the world, Tan Dun has led the China tours of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Japan’s NHK Symphony Orchestra. His current season includes leading the Orchestre National de Lyon in a five-city China tour, the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra in a four-city tour of Switzerland and Belgium, as well as engagements with the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra where he was recently named Artistic Ambassador. Tan Dun currently serves as the Honorary Artistic Director of the China National Symphony Orchestra. Next season, he will conduct the English Chamber Orchestra in their tour of China.

Tan Dun’s individual voice has been heard widely by international audiences. His first Internet Symphony, which was commissioned by Google/YouTube, has reached over 23 million people online. His Organic Music Trilogy of Water, Paper, and Ceramic has frequented major concert halls and festivals. Paper Concerto was premiered by the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the opening of Walt Disney Concert Hall. His multimedia work, The Map, premiered by Yo-Yo Ma and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has toured more than 30 countries worldwide. Its manuscript has been collected by the Carnegie Hall Composers Gallery. His Orchestral Theatre IV: The Gate was premiered by Japan’s NHK Symphony Orchestra and crosses the cultural boundaries of Peking Opera, Western Opera, and puppet theater traditions. Other important premieres include Four Secret Roads of Marco Polo for the Berlin Philharmonic, and the piano concerto The Fire for Lang Lang and the New York Philharmonic. In recent years, his percussion concerto, The Tears of Nature, for soloist Martin Grubinger, premiered in 2012 with the NDR Symphony Orchestra, and his Nu Shu: The Secret Songs of Women Symphony for 13 Microfilms, Harp and Orchestra was co-commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam. Most recently, Tan Dun conducted the premiere of his new oratorio epic, Buddha Passion, at the Dresden Festival with the Münchner Philharmoniker; the piece was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and the Dresden Festival and is now having performances in Melbourne, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Hamburg, Singapore, and London in the current and coming seasons.

Tan Dun records for Sony Classical, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI, Opus Arte, BIS, and Naxos. His recordings have garnered many accolades, including a Grammy Award (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and Grammy nominations (The First Emperor; Marco Polo; Pipa Concerto), Japan’s Recording Academy Award for Best Contemporary Music CD (Water Passion after St. Matthew), and the BBC’s Best Orchestral Album (Death and Fire).