Ravinia 2025 Issue 4

JIYANGCHEN(JACKSON);GEOFFROBERTSON(FUNG) LAURA JACKSON Spending her early childhood in Virginia and Pennsylvania, Laura Jackson arrived in New York at age 11 and fell in love with the violin in public school and later attended the North Car- olina School for the Arts. Following undergrad- uate studies at Indiana University with a dual focus on violin and conducting, she decamped to Boston in 1990 to freelance as a violinist and teach at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hamp- shire. Jackson later advanced her conducting studies at the University of Michigan, earning a DMA in orchestral conducting under the guid- ance of Kenneth Kiesler, and at Tanglewood as the Seiji Ozawa Conducting Fellow during the summers of 2002 and 2003. She was named the second-ever Taki Alsop Conducting Fellow in 2004, the same year she was appointed assistant conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orches- tra, the first woman in the position, which she held through 2007. Jackson was named music director of the Reno Philharmonic in 2009 and has recently been extended through 2029 in rec- ognition of her artistry, leadership, innovative programming, and creative community engage- ment. The Composer-in-Residence initiative she launched has yielded seven world premieres, including Jimmy López Bellido’s Symphony No. 3 ( Altered Landscape ), a collaboration with the Nevada Museum of Art and The Nature Conservancy that led to a featured in Forbes , and Zhou Tian’s Transcend , where the Reno Phil led a 13-orchestra consortium to commemorate 150 years since the completion of the transconti- nental railroad. Beyond concerts with the Reno Phil, Jackson has guested with orchestras across the United States, Canada, France, Poland, Cze- chia, Algeria, the Philippines, and China. She has been featured conducting the Atlanta, Balti- more, Chicago, Colorado, and New World Sym- phonies, as well as at the Prague Summer Nights Festival, and she has also led major ensembles in Buffalo, Detroit, Hartford, Hawaii, Ontario, Orlando, Phoenix, Richmond, San Antonio, Toronto, and Winnipeg. Jackson has recorded Michael Daugherty’s Time Cycle on Naxos with the Bournemouth Symphony, Marin Alsop, and Mei-Ann Chen, as well as Augusta Reed Thomas’s violin concerto Spirit Musings at Tan- glewood. Laura Jackson made her Ravinia and Chicago Symphony Orchestra debuts in 2022. ZLATOMIR FUNG Cellist Zlatomir Fung burst onto the scene as the first American in four decades (and young- est musician ever) to win first prize at the In- ternational Tchaikovsky Competition Cello Division. The 26-year-old has since garnered critical acclaim and standing ovations around the world, and in 2024 he joined the faculty of his alma mater, The Juilliard School, as one of the youngest members of the faculty. High- lights of Fung’s 2025/26 season include a recital at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall in March, re- turns to Aspen and La Jolla Music Society fes- tivals, and guest-soloist engagements with the Reno and Sacramento Philharmonics, Sarasota Orchestra, and Fort Worth, Nashville, Albany, Knoxville and Pacific Symphonies. Appearances outside the US include the Pohang International Music Festival in Korea and Guiyang Sympho- ny Orchestra in China; Belgrade Philharmonic in Serbia; Melbourne Symphony; and a recital at Wigmore Hall in London. In April, Signum Records released Fung’s debut album, Fanta- sies , a collection of opera fantasies and tran- scriptions for cello and piano. Fung served as artist in residence with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the 2023/24 season, appearing in four London performances. Across recent sea- sons, he has debuted with the New York Phil- harmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Lille National Orchestra, and BBC Philharmonic, as well as the Baltimore, Dallas, Detroit, Seattle, Milwaukee, Utah, Rochester, and Kansas City Symphonies. He has performed at several major festivals, in- cluding Ravinia, Blossom, Aspen, Bravo Vail, and Grant Park in the US, as well as the Verbier, Dresden, Leoš Janáček, and Tsinandali Festivals and the Cello Biennale Amsterdam in Europe. Beyond the long-standing canon, Fung brings exceptional insight to contemporary repertoire, championing such composers as Unsuk Chin, Katherine Balch, and Anna Clyne. In 2023, with the Dallas Symphony, Fung gave the world pre- miere of Balch’s whisper concerto as the dedica- tee of the work; he gave its UK premiere in 2024 with the BBC Philharmonic. As a participant in WXQR’s Artist Propulsion Lab, he wrote and performed the radio play The Elves and the Cello Maker . Zlatomir Fung held fellowships at Ravin- ia’s Steans Institute in 2016 and 2017 and was a member of the alumni tour ensemble in 2018. Unquestionably, Tchaikovsky produced an over- ture with “very loud, noisy” portions, but the rest of his assessment missed wide of the mark. The 1812 Festival Overture ranks as perhaps Tchaikovsky’s most popular composition for its sensational, as well as artistic, value. In June 1880, Nikolai Rubinstein—the renowned pianist, conductor, and head of the music sec- tion for the upcoming All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition in Moscow—invited Tchaikovsky to compose a new work for the grand event. Khodynka Field, a vacant tract of land northwest of Moscow just outside the city limits, was chosen as the location for the exhibi- tion buildings, including the imposing circular pavilion. Exhibitors came from all industries, ranging from the burgeoning oil sector to the world of fine craftsmanship, such as the dazzling displays of Peter Carl Fabergé. Tchaikovsky reacted with “extreme repugnance” at the invitation, but Rubinstein made another attempt to convince his friend three months lat- er: “Your composition would be dearer and more precious to me than all the others.” Tchaikovsky’s protestations and complaints continued a while longer, but he eventually agreed to write a work for the Exhibition that also honored the new Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the 70th anniversary of the Russian resistance to Napo- leon’s assault. Tchaikovsky’s “festival overture” was given a grand, open-air first performance. A massive assemblage of instruments filled the cathedral square with sound—a military band, an enormous orchestra, a company of artillery, and pealing bells from the church towers. Tchaikovsky composed the 1812 Overture be- tween October 12 and November 19, 1880, with the Napoleonic defeat in mind. An old Russian anthem—a patriotic prayer—serves as the slow introductory theme. The tempo increases as the conflict builds. Among the main themes is a Russian children’s folk song. French troops ad- vance to the strains of the “Marseillaise,” but the Russian anthem spurs the people to victory. –Program notes © 2025 Todd E. Sullivan All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition (1882) RAVINIA.ORG  • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 77