Concert Program
Large Ensemble Concert Series
NIU Philharmonic
Maria Kurochkina, Conductor
Sunday, November 16, 2025
3:00 p.m.
Boutell Memorial Concert Hall
The Walk to the Paradise Garden (1906, arr. Sir Thomas Beecham, 1879–1961) Frederick Delius (1862-1934)
The Walk to the Paradise Garden began life as an interlude in Delius’s opera A Village Romeo and Juliet, a work often regarded as his first true masterpiece. Delius completed the opera in 1901 and added this orchestral episode several years later, just before its Berlin premiere in 1907. The version most frequently performed today, including tonight’s, was later re-orchestrated by the English conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, who was Delius’s lifelong champion and one of the most devoted interpreters of his music.
The opera, based on Gottfried Keller’s novella Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorf (“Romeo and Juliet in the Village”), tells the story of Sali and Vrenchen — two young lovers from peasant families destroyed by a feud over land. As their lives unravel, they find one moment of serenity in nature, in a quiet garden away from the world’s cruelty. That brief escape becomes their “Paradise Garden,” a place of beauty and resignation before they choose death together on a drifting barge.
Delius’s interlude links the bustle of a village fair to the stillness of the garden, unfolding as a musical reflection on love, nature, and fate. Its opening horn melody, soon joined by the English horn, glows with warmth and tranquility; the orchestral textures gradually bloom into a radiant B-major climax before dissolving into silence. Though conceived as a scene change, the interlude transcended its operatic function to become one of Delius’s most cherished orchestral works — a meditation on fleeting peace amid the inevitability of loss.
Romeo and Juliet, Overture-Fantasy (1869, rev. 1880) Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet is among his most beloved and enduring orchestral works — a piece that occupied him at several points across his career. He first composed it in 1869 under the guidance of Mily Balakirev, whose encouragement helped shape its symphonic structure. Dissatisfied with the result, Tchaikovsky revisited the score twice, revising it extensively in 1870 and again in 1880. The version performed today, the third and final one, represents the culmination of more than a decade of reflection — the version that brought the work its lasting fame.
Rather than following Shakespeare’s play scene by scene, Tchaikovsky distilled its essence into a single symphonic movement. The solemn introduction evokes Friar Laurence’s calm wisdom, soon shattered by the violent conflict between the Montagues and the Capulets. Out of this turmoil rises the sweeping love theme — one of the most recognizable melodies in all of classical music — embodying both tenderness and tragedy.
In true Tchaikovskian fashion, passion and fate intertwine until the final pages, where the love theme returns, transformed into a quiet elegy. The music fades not with resolution but with resignation, as if mourning the beauty of love cut short. Romeo and Juliet remains one of the composer’s most eloquent examples of symphonic drama — a fusion of emotional intensity, structural mastery, and lyricism that continues to define Tchaikovsky’s voice.
Intermission
Variations on an Original Theme, “Enigma,” Op. 36 (1898–99) Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
Elgar’s Enigma Variations is one of the most personal and imaginative orchestral works of the late Romantic era. It began almost by accident: one evening in 1898, after a long day of teaching, Elgar improvised a melody at the piano, and his wife Alice asked him to play it again. He began to vary it playfully, saying each variation reminded him of one of their friends. That simple moment became the seed of an entire composition — a set of musical portraits drawn from the composer’s own circle.
The piece opens with a noble, questioning theme — the “Enigma” itself — whose hidden secondary melody Elgar never revealed. Each of the fourteen variations paints a distinct character: a friend’s laughter, a nervous stammer, a burst of sudden energy, or a gentle mood of reflection. We glimpse private jokes, tender memories, and the warmth of shared companionship, rendered through orchestral color and rhythmic personality.
Among the portraits are Alice Elgar (“C.A.E.”), full of calm affection; the boisterous energy of “Troyte” (a nod to the architect Troyte Griffith); and “Nimrod,” a moving tribute to Elgar’s closest friend, A.J. Jaeger, whose encouragement sustained him through creative doubt. “Nimrod” has since become one of the most cherished pieces in British music — its slow, luminous build carrying both grief and hope.
The final variation, “E.D.U.” — Elgar’s own nickname — gathers all his friends’ themes into a radiant conclusion, turning private affection into something universal. What began as an inside joke at the piano became a profound meditation on friendship, gratitude, and the mysterious thread that connects people through music — the true “enigma” that Elgar left unsolved.
Biographies
Maria Kurochkina
Maria Kurochkina is a conductor and educator whose work spans opera and symphonic repertoire. She is joined the faculty of Northern Illinois University in August 2025 as assistant professor of music and director of orchestral activities.
Kurochkina holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in orchestral conducting from Boston University, where she studied with James Burton and William Lumpkin and received a full merit scholarship. Her doctoral dissertation, Preserving Tchaikovsky’s Legacy: A Translation and Critical Commentary on Kirill Kondrashin’s Interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies, reflects her research interests in interpretation, Soviet performance traditions and the challenges of translation in specialized musical contexts. She also earned a Specialist Degree (equivalent to a combined bachelor’s and master’s) from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where she studied with Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Igor Dronov.
Her operatic work includes conducting full productions of The Consul (Chicago Summer Opera, 2024), Alice Tierney (Boston Fringe Festival, 2023), and Gianni Schicchi (Boston University Opera Institute, 2025), as well as leading the world premiere of R. Yunusov’s chamber opera Steps as music director and conductor at the Diaghilev Festival. She has also assisted at the Moscow Conservatory Opera Theatre and worked with orchestras including the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia under Vladimir Jurowski.
Kurochkina has participated in masterclasses and fellowships across Europe and the United States, including the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, the Diaghilev Festival and sessions with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Marin Alsop, Teodor Currentzis, and others. She was a participant in the La Maestra Conducting Competition (Paris, 2022) and the Cantelli Award (Milan, 2024). She maintains a strong interest in contemporary music, education and intercultural collaboration.
NIU Philharmonic Roster
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Violins 1 Violins 2 Violas |
Cellos Basses |
Delius
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Flutes Horns Timpani |
Oboes Trumpets Harp |
Clarinets Trombones |
Bassoons Tuba |
Tchaikovsky
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Flutes Horns Timpani |
Oboes Trumpets Harp |
Clarinets Trombones Percussion |
Bassoons Tuba |
Elgar
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Flutes Horns Timpani |
Oboes Trumpets Percussion |
Clarinets Trombones |
Bassoons Tuba |