BG Philharmonia
BG Philharmonia: Concerto Winners Concert
Dr. Emily Freeman Brown, director
February 14, 2026
8 p.m.
Kobacker Hall
Program
Snow Falling in Autumn | Chris Pilsner (b. 1986)
Concerto for Saxophone with Orchestra | Lars-Erik Larsson (1908-1986)
I. Allegro molto moderato
Matthew Reed, Saxophone
Emily Freeman Brown, Conductor
Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54 | Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
I. Allegro affettuoso
Lorenzo Rambo dos Santos, piano
Christopher Hutras, conductor
Piano Concerto | Joan Tower (b. 1938)
Niyayesh Javaheri, piano
Jared Beu, conductor
PROGRAM NOTES
Snow Falling in Autumn by Chris Pilsner
From 2014 to 2019, I had the privilege and honor to be the director of orchestras at Windsor High School in Windsor, Colorado. It was during these years that I met some of the most incredible young people I have ever met and I spent my days constantly amazed at how enthusiastic, diligent, and supportive they could be of not only themselves, but each other.
In March of 2019, I announced to my students that I was going to be “retiring” from teaching and moving onto a full-time career as a composer. It was, by far, the hardest conversation I’ve had with with anyone in my life, and it devastated me to say the words. But no words could represent my love and respect for them. So I decided to express it in music instead.
“Snow Falling in Autumn” represents the last work in a series of pieces I wrote for my students during my time teaching at Windsor. It is a culmination of emotions that spans from pride in their accomplishments, to saying goodbye to relationships I will cherish for the rest of my days.
The title comes from my love for the state of Colorado and the first snowfall in Autumn that covers a color-changing canvas with a gentle white. It is unabashedly pastoral and was an opportunity to embrace my inner Vaughan Williams and Elgar to create something that not only gives the audience a view of the gorgeous landscape, but also one filled with hope, sadness, and all things that make us human.
It is forever dedicated to my incredible students, whom will be in my fondest memories for eternity.
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Saxophone Concerto, opus 14 by Lars-Erik Larsson
The Saxophone Concerto, opus 14, is a three-movement concertante composition for alto saxophone and string orchestra written in 1934 by the Swedish composer Lars-Erik Larsson. The piece premiered on 27 November 1934 in Sweden, with Tord Benner conducting the Norrköping Orchestral Association. The soloist was the German-born American virtuoso Sigurd Raschèr, its dedicatee, whom Larsson had consulted during the compositional process; as such, the concerto incorporated several Raschèr's pioneering techniques—"highly personal tricks and devices". Because the Saxophone Concerto proved too difficult for most soloists (and was therefore oft neglected), Larsson "simplified" it in the early 1980s to make it more accessible.
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Concerto for Piano by Robert Schumann
(Program Note coming!)
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Piano Concerto (Homage to Beethoven) by Joan Tower
Composer's Note. This work was commissioned by Hudson Valley Philharmonic Music Director Imre Pallo under a National Endowment for the Arts consortium commissioning grant involving the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Philharmonia Virtuosi. For many years, my work has been greatly inspired by the music of Ludwig van Beethoven, and it is for that reason that the Piano Concerto is subtitled “Homage to Beethoven” and dedicated to his memory. Three sonatas of Beethoven were particularly influential to me and are reflected in the Piano Concerto. The concerto is a one movement work divided into three sections. In each section there is either an idea or melodic quote inspired by these three sonatas: The first section is an idea inspired by The Tempest, Op. 31. For myself, what impressed me about the first movement of The Tempest sonata is its unusual (even for Beethoven) alternating slow and fast pacing. In my piece, I alternate between slow and fast pacings, although not as abruptly as Beethoven does. In the piano cadenza of the second section is a quote from Op. 111, the last piano sonata Beethoven ever wrote. In the piano cadenza of the third section there is a theme taken from the third movement of Op. 53, Waldstein, which is developed and provides the climax of the last section of the concerto right before the final coda.
The Piano Concerto encompasses the use of two flutes doubling on one piccolo, two clarinets doubling on one bass clarinet, one bassoon, two horns, one trumpet, one trombone, percussion, strings and solo piano.
I would like to extend my warmest thanks and appreciation to Jacquelyn Helin for the dedication and good spirit with which she approached this work.
Emily Freeman Brown is Music Director and Conductor of the Bowling Green Philharmonia and Opera Theatre at Bowling Green State University in Ohio where in 2016, she was made Professor of Creative Arts Excellence. Brown has led eight CDs on Albany Records with the Bowling Green Philharmonia. In 2018, the 100th Anniversary year of the BG Philharmonia, the orchestra performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in Detroit’s Orchestra Hall. The BG Philharmonia has performed under her baton at the Ohio Music Educators Association in Cincinnati and Cleveland. Dr. Brown is the author of the book Dictionary for the Modern Conductor (Rowman & Littlefield).
The first woman to receive a doctorate in orchestral conducting at the Eastman School of Music, Ms. Brown has appeared as conductor with orchestras in the United States, Europe, Asia and South America including the Rochester Philharmonic, the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, the Syracuse and Toledo Symphonies, the Dayton Philharmonic, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Eastman Virtuosi, Skaneateles Music Festival, Chicago Civic Orchestra, the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Orchestra and Göttinger Symphonie Orchester (Germany), the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony of Chile and the Bartók Ensemble, both in Santiago, the Sibiu State Philharmonic Orchestra (Romania), the Macedonia National Symphony Orchestra, the National Soloists Orchestra in Astana, and Conservatory Symphony Orchestra of Almaty (Kazakhstan), the American Festival of the Arts (Houston), Interlochen and Chautauqua summer music institutes and the all-state orchestras in Texas, Iowa, Ohio, Missouri, Washington and Minnesota. Dr. Brown was in residence at the Boston University, School of Music conducting a performance of Hadyn’s Creation in Symphony Hall in 2018. In 2010 she was in residence at the University of North Texas, conducting the School’s Symphony Orchestra and leading classes in orchestral conducting. She taught a summer conducting course at the Free University of Berlin for nine years in addition to conducting master classes at the Conservatory of Music in Riga, Latvia, Santiago, Chile and many others. For the fall of 2021 Dr. Brown is teaching graduate conducting at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Ms. Brown has recorded for Naxos, Linn and Opus One Records, including eight disks on Albany Records with the Bowling Green Philharmonia under the title The Voice of the Composer; New Music from Bowling Green that have been widely heard and featured in an internationally syndicated radio program under the same name. In addition to her book Dr. Brown has published articles in the BACH journal and the Journal of the Conductors Guild. She served as President of the Conductors Guild and continues as a member of the advisory board.
Ms. Brown studied conducting and cello at the Royal College of Music in London, England where she was twice winner of the Sir Adrian Boult Conducting Prize. Her major teachers have included Leonard Slatkin, Herbert Blomstedt, Franco Ferrara, David Effron and James Dixon.
Matthew Reed is a Saxophonist from Worthington, Ohio, currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science with a minor in music from Bowling Green State University, studying under Dr. John Sampen. Having played saxophone from a very young age, Matthew has shown immense passion and dedication to developing musicianship throughout the years. Among playing solo, Matthew loves creating music with others in chamber music settings, such as the upcoming BGSU Saxophone Studio performance at the North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference in Columbus, Ohio later this year.
Outside of the world of music, Matthew’s main studies in computer science mainly involve cybersecurity and technology for education. Matthew hopes to combine these interests with music in some way in the future to innovate the way music technology is thought of and used in acedamia.
Brazilian pianist Lorenzo Rambo dos Santos is currently a sophomore performance major at the College of Musical Arts at Bowling Green State University, where he studies under the guidance of Dr. Solungga Liu. Since beginning his formal piano studies in 2020 through the Extension Program of the Department of Music at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Lorenzo has enjoyed performing frequently in solo, collaborative, and chamber settings.
Lorenzo has received awards in competitions in both Brazil and the United States, including a recent first-place win in the 2025 BGSU Concerto Competition (Undergraduate Division). As a result, he will perform the first movement Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor with the BG Philharmonia on February 14, 2026.
Niayesh Javaheri is a pianist and educator based in Bowling Green, OH, currently pursuing her DMA in contemporary music with Dr. Solungga Liu. She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician across Iran, Europe, and the US. Niayesh has premiered and recorded numerous works, including a piece featured in the album Contemporary Music in Iran. Her performances include the MACCM New Music Festival, NUNC! 6, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts, Kunstkreis C Festival, SPLICE Institute, and Fajr International Festival. She received an honorable mention in the Donna Turner Smith Piano Competition in Oklahoma, second prize in the solo section of the Third Biennial of Piano in Tehran, and an honorable mention in its chamber music section. She is also engaged in piano pedagogy research and presented at the 2025 MTNA Collegiate Symposium and Midwest OMTA on teaching extended techniques to intermediate and early advanced students. Niayesh earned her MMus in piano performance and pedagogy from the University of Oklahoma and her BMus from the Conservatory of Music and Dramatic Arts in Vienna, Austria.
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Updated: 02/03/2026 08:58AM