Tag: orchestra

REVIEW: Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Tsukumo

October has been a very exciting month for orchestra lovers; from the New York Philharmonic’s residency in Ann Arbor earlier this month to this performance by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, we have not been disappointed.

A bit of bragging moment: earlier that day, I had an opportunity to play for Dwight Parry, an oboist from Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra who has been touring with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as the principal oboe. He was very inspirational — with much focus on technique as well as musicality, I learned a lot from him. Here’s a proof:

Oboist Dwight Parry (right) instructing me to play with more forward motion.
Oboist Dwight Parry (right) instructing me at the master class.

As a orchestral musician, Mr. Parry has a lot of experience in auditioning and judging auditions. Many of us classical musicians stress over the whole audition process all the time. Winning a position in an orchestra through auditions is extremely difficult — with hundreds of well-qualified applicants fighting over one seat, which is typically to be filled for decades once someone wins the spot. He mentioned that, when he is judging auditions, he is looking for a “colleague” — someone that can play in tune and in tempo, and that is overall pleasant to work with. These words stuck out to me as a lesson.

After that interaction with Mr. Parry, seeing him among many other superb musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra made me feel much closer to the orchestra. And I thought a lot about colleagues in an ensemble. What does it mean to play with the same people on your left and on your right for many, many years? Ideally, these players would develop the chemistry among them that make the “group” sound instead of “individual” sounds. However, this is not always the case, as conflicts and drama do happen. How do you act professional and deliver high-quality music to the audience with your colleagues?

To me, CSO seemed to do this very well. From the first “overture” — “The Victors” — to the last movement of Mahler’s First Symphony, the chemistry was there. (Has “The Victors” become a new tradition for all orchestras visiting Ann Arbor to play?) Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony (with the iconic “duh-duh-duh-dummmmm” in the first movement) and Mahler’s First Symphony (with full of contrasts and shining moments for all instruments) are both classic favorites, and CSO gave no less than spectacular.

UMS has two more (international!) orchestras coming this season: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from London in January, and Montreal Symphony Orchestra from Quebec in March. I am very much looking forward to exploring more orchestral artistry in the upcoming months.

 

 

PREVIEW: New York Philharmonic Residency

Tsukumo

 

Photo: Chris Lee

One of the best orchestras in the United States, the New York Philharmonic, is coming to town later this week and offering a bunch of festivities in the next few days.

The New York Philharmonic is visiting Ann Arbor for an adventurous five-year residency program with the University Musical Society (UMS) and the School of Music, Theater, and Dance (SMTD). As a result, the New York Phil personnel will be offering a lot of master classes, concerts, lectures, and even a halftime show at the Homecoming football game (!) in the next few days. Check them out:

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8

Keynote Address: Orchestras in the 21st Century: A New Paradigm
6:00 pm, Rackham Auditorium, FREE

Join Maestro Alan Gilbert, the musical director of the New York Philharmonic, as he gives his keynote speech on the role of orchestras in the 21st century.

New York Philharmonic Residency Kickoff: Side-by-Side Concert
7:30pm, Rackham Auditorium, FREE

Eight students from the School of Music are playing chamber music with the New York Philharmonic musicians in this free concert. They have been rehearsing a lot and are sounding great already!

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9

Public Master Classes
Time Varies, School of Music Moore Building (1100 Baits Dr.), FREE

Many musicians from the New York Philharmonic are giving master classes throughout the day. Check the link above to see if your favorite musician is giving one! All are open to public.

Lecture: 21st Century Orchestras and Social Impact
1:30 pm, Room R1240 of Ross School of Business, FREE

Come hear the President of the New York Philharmonic, Matthew VanBesien, talk about his view on how the orchestra can make a huge impact despite its challenges today.

New York Philharmonic – Performance 1
8:00 pm, Hill Auditorium

Friday night’s performance will consist of classical favorites including two works by Beethoven. Student tickets ($12 and $20) are slim, if not sold out, for this concert as of this writing.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10

New York Philharmonic – Performance 2
8:30 pm, Hill Auditorium, FREE with the Passport to the Arts

Saturday night’s performance explores some newer works, including one by the New York Philharmonic composer-in-residence, Esa Pekka Salonen. Student tickets ($12 and $20) are available at ums.org as well as the Michigan League Ticket Office, or you can also get a FREE ticket using the Passport to the Arts if redeemed before the night of the event!

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11

Interview and Discussion with Vince Ford, director of digital media at the New York Philharmonic
9:30 am, Britton Recital Hall at the School of Music (1100 Baits Dr.)

Come hear Vince Ford, Director of Digital Media, talk about how digital media can be a great tool for marketing in this age. There will be breakfast served before the event as well.

Public Master Classes
Time Varies, School of Music Moore Building (1100 Baits Dr.), FREE

There will be another round of master classes by the musicians of the New York Philharmonic on Sunday. Check them out at the link above!

New York Philharmonic – Performance 3
3:00 pm, Hill Auditorium

The third and final performance by the orchestra for this year will feature “On the Waterfront” by Leonard Bernstein – the legendary composer and long-time conductor at the New York Philharmonic. This concert will be preceded by Dig In with UMS, where you can meet your fellow concertgoers in a casual setting with food and activities.

 

This is a very unique opportunity to see such a high-class orchestra for multiple days in multiple settings. Don’t miss out, Ann Arbor!

REVIEW: Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra

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What most interested me about seeing this performance was first of all the fact that this orchestra was from abroad, and that they would come all the way to Ann Arbor to perform. I have experienced orchestral and piano performances abroad as well and found that a lot of the charm of the event is in how it is presented and the social ritual attached to seeing a concert and how it varies in different parts of the world.

The first piece the Rotterdam Philharmonic performed was Maurice Ravel’s Suite from ‘Ma Mere l’Oye’ (Mother Goose). I had never encountered the piece previous to that night and I found myself surprised by the modernity of it. Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) was a French composer who was prominent during the early part of the twentieth century. Listening to this I was reminded of a time in elementary school when I was taught the different instruments and sections in the orchestra, and how each instrument was often used in plays or ballets to represent animals. I found this sentiment to be delightfully expressed in this piece by Ravel. He plays with the tempo and dynamic of the woodwinds such that they invoke images of fluttering birds or scurrying animals. This, in combination with the strings, brings a very full and vibrant environment to life and I think Ravel is very successful in this. As I have not seen this piece performed elsewhere, I find it hard to make comparisons or critiques of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra’s performance to others. I think that this piece was at least, in relation to the other pieces that the orchestra performed, the most successful and seemed like the most enjoyable to play.

Another aspect of this event that I enjoyed was the concert pianist, Hélène Grimaud. I studied the very basics of piano growing up, so watching her play and her fingers effortlessly and accurately play was quite enchanting for me personally. The way that the conductor and pianist take the center of the orchestra and both share in a leading role in directing the orchestra is an entrancing scene. The only point of critique for me was the way the pianist played was very humble and sometimes it felt like the orchestra overshadowed her presence in the some of the pieces played of Tchaikovsky. Besides that, I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and all of the new sensory experiences it brought to life.

The highlight of this evening was the Ravel pieces for me. Besides the Suite, the orchestra also performed a piano Concerto in G Major. It was easy to distinguish the story-like performance of the Suite from the concerto. I found the concerto to be excellent because of it’s experimentalist and innovate style. The tone was very reminiscent of jazz and that whole era and the culture of the time, it did not surprise me to discover afterwards that Ravel was heavily inspired by the rise of jazz during this time. I did find it surprising how the concerto was able to inspire that style while also maintaining some more classical orchestral moments in it as well. It thought it was a highly stylized piece with that always seemed to be dancing and changing and never losing interest with itself, and that was what I think kept me as well as much of the audience engrossed in the piece.

Overall, I found the experience to be a fall into a space of beauty and of listening. As a student, it was a welcome exclusion of words in favor of sounds. As an event to appreciate music, I found myself surprised and grateful to have experienced the sounds of an orchestra from so far away performing pieces of the not so distant past, but which do not occur as often as I think they should in the repertoire of contemporary music exposure.

REVIEW: Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra

Tsukumo
Looks like they’re all giving us magical spells! Courtesy of UMS

The first thing that I could say is “Wow.” I was so pleased with their playing that I did not want the concert to end. Each and every note was performed with so many different colors, with tones that we often cannot find in American-based orchestras. I was especially drawn by the extremely wide range of dynamics that the orchestra was able to produce, and the conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s ability to convey all of his artistic visions with just his body language.

I was most inspired by their performance of Ravel’s Concerto for Piano in G Major (1931), with Hélène Grimaud on piano. Ms. Grimaud’s technique was beyond words — her fingers flew everywhere but knew exactly where to land, and produced the right kind of sounds for particular parts of the pieces. I absolutely love this concerto, and I was looking forward to hearing it live — soloist Hélène Grimaud and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra with Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin all exceeded my expectations, and captured so many characters that this piece contains. They left me loving this concerto even more.

I also loved watching Maestro’s conducting style. A little bit of background story here: I am part of the conductor search for the orchestra I play in right now, and thus I’ve observed so many conductors in the past month. Through this search, I’ve realized that I really love it when conductors focus more on conveying the artistry rather than showing a steady tempo all the time. Mr. Nézet-Séguin’s conducting had just that — hand gestures that got the most out of the orchestra. How I wished he could conduct our ensemble! (Haha, right.) I had a lot to learn from the musicians in the orchestra as well, especially those in the woodwind section, who moved with the music to invite other players to play with them. It was beautifully done.

Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra was visiting Ann Arbor as a part of their U.S. tour, with the other stops at North Ridge, San Diego, Costa Mesa, Palm Desert, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York. They performed the same program — Ravel’s Ma Mere l’Oye and Piano Concerto in G Major as well as Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 — right before they left for the United States, in their hometown of Rotterdam, Netherlands. It is such an honor that an orchestra of this high caliber has visited Ann Arbor to share their art.

PREVIEW: University Symphony Orchestra & University Philharmonia Orchestra

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When: Wednesday, November 12 at 8pm

Where: Hill Auditorium

Tickets: none (free)!

U-M School of Music’s two orchestras come together to perform a program that reflects on what it means to be American — from Native American, African American, and Bohemian visitor’s perspectives. The concert with musicians from University Symphony Orchestra (USO) & University Philharmonia Orchestra (UPO) features a movement from William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony (1930); Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate’s Tracing Mississippi, a concerto for flute (2001); and finally, Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World” (1893). I’m sure many of you are familiar with the tune “goin’ home, goin’ home…” Did you know that this is one of the most famous solos for English horn in Dvořák’s “New World” symphony? From rarely performed works to many audiences’ favorite, this concert will surely be worth your attention. Also, this is one of the very rare chances to see School of Music, Theater, and Dance’s Dean Christopher Kendall conduct. Don’t miss out!