CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918)
La mer (The Sea) , Three Symphonic Sketches (1905)
“You may not know that I was destined for a sailor’s life,” Debussy told a friend. “It was only quite by chance that fate led me in another direction. But I have always held a passionate love for the sea.” Nowhere is that love of the sea more insightfully expressed than in La mer. Though contemporary critics hurled epithets at the work—“rubbish,” “symphonic pictures of seasickness,” “cacophonous”—today it is acknowledged as an early 20th century masterpiece, a complex, richly layered seascape of glistening sound. Debussy shows us the peaceful as well as the turbulent sea, from shimmering light dancing on calm waters, to the drama of crashing waves. The evocative titles of the three “movements” chart the course for the listener: in “From Dawn to Midday on the Sea,” gentle mists give way to a bright sunrise and depict the awakening sea. (Composer Erik Satie famously quipped: “There’s a moment between half past ten and quarter to eleven that I particularly liked!”). “Play of the Waves” follows with delicate, fleeting scoring suggesting colors seen though a watery prism. The concluding “Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea” depicts more dangerous waters and provides a reminder of the elemental power and mystery of the sea, which Debussy once called “that great blue Sphinx.”

Daniel Boico, the newly appointed New York Philharmonic Assistant Conductor, will lead all of the Philharmonic's Young People's Concerts in the 2009-10 season. Mr. Boico made his New York Philharmonic debut on January 23, 2009, conducting an Inside the Music program.

Mr. Boico has served as music director of the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, Illinois, and the Skokie Concert Choir, as well as conductor of the Elgin Youth Symphony Philharmonia and as an assistant conductor to Cliff Colnot of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He was visiting professor and director of orchestras at Grand Valley State University, Michigan, a cover conductor for the Milwaukee Symphony, and an apprentice conductor with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where he worked closely with and was assistant to music director Daniel Barenboim, principal guest conductor Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta, and other visiting artists.

Born in Israel and raised in Paris and the United States, Daniel Boico studied with and assisted Russian professor Ilya Musin at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. A prize winner at the Prokofiev and Pedrotti conducting competitions, Mr. Boico has led numerous orchestras, including the Moscow Philharmonic, Novosibirsk Philharmonic, Perm Opera and Ballet, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, La Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM and the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional in Mexico City. In August 2000 he made a world premiere recording of Nino Rota’s cello concertos with cellist Dimitry Yablonsky and I Virtuosi Italiani for the Chandos label.

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THEODORE WIPRUD, host of Young People’s Concerts, born in 1958 in Washington, DC
Theodore Wiprud is a composer and educator who currently serves as Director of Education at the New York Philharmonic. His music, noted for harmonic richness, innovative form, and intense expression, frequently deals with spiritual experience.

As an innovative concert producer, Mr. Wiprud has created stimulating programs of recent music such as the Brooklyn Philharmonic’s acclaimed series, Music Off The Walls at the Brooklyn Museum. As an educator, he has introduced thousands of students to living composers and their craft. Mr. Wiprud’s responsibilities at the New York Philharmonic include the Young People’s Concerts, the Very Young People’s Concerts, the pioneering School Partnership Program, a growing array of adult education programs, and a close partnership with the New York City Department of Education to train music teachers throughout the city.

Theodore Wiprud’s music is published by Allemar Music. He earned his A.B. in Biochemistry at Harvard and his M.Mus. in Theory and Composition at Boston University. He studied at Cambridge University as a Visiting Scholar. His principal composition teachers have been David Del Tredici and Robin Holloway.

Find additional upcoming performances with Theodore Wiprud