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Mobile Register, AL
Oct 1 2005
Symphony welcomes guest violinist
Saturday, October 01, 2005
By THOMAS B. HARRISON
Arts Editor
Achange of seasons brings a change of venue for Mobile Symphony
Orchestra, and seldom has a concert more aptly fit the space.
Call it kismet, serendipity, a lucky break or a happy accident, but
next weekend the orchestra and its audience will be precisely where
they should be when the MSO presents an intimate evening highlighted
by Antonio Vivaldi's "Four Seasons." (See information box.)
Not that it was designed this way. Hardly that.
As it does every October, BayFest takes over downtown Mobile for the
weekend, so Mobile Symphony was compelled to leave the friendly
confines of the Saenger Theatre for Midtown.
Thus, one Saturday evening concert will become a Saturday-Sunday dual
performance in the auditorium of the Alabama School of Mathematics
and Science at 1255 Dauphin St.
The intimate setting and tranquil melodies of Vaughan Williams,
Handel and Vivaldi should offer a respite from the madding crowds and
relentless noise of downtown's high-decibel bacchanal.
The space seats fewer than half the Saenger's 1,900 capacity, but the
acoustics are excellent and the theater should accommodate Vivaldi as
well as the other two selections on the program: Handel's Concerto
Grosso in F Major, Op. 3, No. 4; and Ralph Vaughan Williams' lovely
"Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis."
Under the direction of Scott Speck, the orchestra will be joined by
violin soloist Ida Kavafian, known for her intensity, exemplary
musicianship and experience playing chamber music.
Born in Istanbul of Armenian parents, Kavafian is an active chamber
musician and has played chamber festivals and series worldwide. She
has toured and recorded as violist with the Guarneri String Quartet
and is an active participant with the Chamber Music Society of
Lincoln Center, of which she is an artist member.
Christina Littlejohn, executive director (and cellist) for Mobile
Symphony, says the program offers the sort of challenge a growing
orchestra requires.
It's important for the orchestra to play different styles of music,"
she says. "As we grow, it is important for us not to play just
Tchaikovsky.
"The nice thing about Vivaldi is you have to listen really hard, and
it forces you to remain focused. With the other music, the melodies
just capture you and send you away, but with Vivaldi and chamber
music your ears have to be wide open. It's so intimate you're really
working as a team."
Littlejohn cannot recall the last time the orchestra performed
Vivaldi -- certainly not in the past decade since Mobile Symphony was
reconstituted. Same with Handel's Concerto Grosso.
The last performance of Vaughan Williams' "Fantasia" likely came
during the hurricane-delayed 1998-99 season under then-interim
conductor Jerome Shannon.
Because of the move and the Sunday matinee performance, there will be
no open dress rehearsal for the "Four Seasons" concert, says
Littlejohn.
Next week also brings the first of the orchestra's three composers in
residence. Kenji Bunch, the talented violist, composer and teacher,
will be in Mobile throughout the week for a series of educational
outreach programs and performances at area schools and libraries.
Mobile Symphony received a $150,000 grant from "Music Alive," created
in 1999, a joint program of Meet the Composer and the American
Symphony Orchestra League. Funds allow a three-year residency
project, beginning this season, with Bunch, Mason Bates and Kevin
Puts.
The residency offers each an opportunity to create a new symphonic
work and to interact with the orchestra on educational activities.
Mobilians are quite fond of Bunch, who enjoyed a two-week residency
in 2003 and returned for concerts in Fairhope and the University of
South Alabama, where he performed "A Bunch of PDQ Bach."
For Mobile Symphony the composer will produce a commissioned work,
"The Face of Mobile," to be performed during the orchestra's 10th
anniversary season, 2007-08.
Littlejohn says Bunch might join the orchestra next weekend during
Vaughan Williams' "Fantasia."
Speck describes Bunch as "a phenom," and superlatives seem to follow
the young composer wherever he goes. A superb violist, Bunch has
played with Yo-Yo Ma, and he has developed quite a following for his
bluegrass career.
Bunch will bring the "citified" sound of his group Citigrass to town
in June 2006 for the season-ending pops concert, "A Bunch of
Bluegrass."
"I don't know anything he hasn't been able to do," says Speck.
Bunch might well add to his list of accomplishments during BayFest,
where he hopes to take the stage and perform at least one tune with a
group he admires: Widespread Panic.
Oct 1 2005
Symphony welcomes guest violinist
Saturday, October 01, 2005
By THOMAS B. HARRISON
Arts Editor
Achange of seasons brings a change of venue for Mobile Symphony
Orchestra, and seldom has a concert more aptly fit the space.
Call it kismet, serendipity, a lucky break or a happy accident, but
next weekend the orchestra and its audience will be precisely where
they should be when the MSO presents an intimate evening highlighted
by Antonio Vivaldi's "Four Seasons." (See information box.)
Not that it was designed this way. Hardly that.
As it does every October, BayFest takes over downtown Mobile for the
weekend, so Mobile Symphony was compelled to leave the friendly
confines of the Saenger Theatre for Midtown.
Thus, one Saturday evening concert will become a Saturday-Sunday dual
performance in the auditorium of the Alabama School of Mathematics
and Science at 1255 Dauphin St.
The intimate setting and tranquil melodies of Vaughan Williams,
Handel and Vivaldi should offer a respite from the madding crowds and
relentless noise of downtown's high-decibel bacchanal.
The space seats fewer than half the Saenger's 1,900 capacity, but the
acoustics are excellent and the theater should accommodate Vivaldi as
well as the other two selections on the program: Handel's Concerto
Grosso in F Major, Op. 3, No. 4; and Ralph Vaughan Williams' lovely
"Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis."
Under the direction of Scott Speck, the orchestra will be joined by
violin soloist Ida Kavafian, known for her intensity, exemplary
musicianship and experience playing chamber music.
Born in Istanbul of Armenian parents, Kavafian is an active chamber
musician and has played chamber festivals and series worldwide. She
has toured and recorded as violist with the Guarneri String Quartet
and is an active participant with the Chamber Music Society of
Lincoln Center, of which she is an artist member.
Christina Littlejohn, executive director (and cellist) for Mobile
Symphony, says the program offers the sort of challenge a growing
orchestra requires.
It's important for the orchestra to play different styles of music,"
she says. "As we grow, it is important for us not to play just
Tchaikovsky.
"The nice thing about Vivaldi is you have to listen really hard, and
it forces you to remain focused. With the other music, the melodies
just capture you and send you away, but with Vivaldi and chamber
music your ears have to be wide open. It's so intimate you're really
working as a team."
Littlejohn cannot recall the last time the orchestra performed
Vivaldi -- certainly not in the past decade since Mobile Symphony was
reconstituted. Same with Handel's Concerto Grosso.
The last performance of Vaughan Williams' "Fantasia" likely came
during the hurricane-delayed 1998-99 season under then-interim
conductor Jerome Shannon.
Because of the move and the Sunday matinee performance, there will be
no open dress rehearsal for the "Four Seasons" concert, says
Littlejohn.
Next week also brings the first of the orchestra's three composers in
residence. Kenji Bunch, the talented violist, composer and teacher,
will be in Mobile throughout the week for a series of educational
outreach programs and performances at area schools and libraries.
Mobile Symphony received a $150,000 grant from "Music Alive," created
in 1999, a joint program of Meet the Composer and the American
Symphony Orchestra League. Funds allow a three-year residency
project, beginning this season, with Bunch, Mason Bates and Kevin
Puts.
The residency offers each an opportunity to create a new symphonic
work and to interact with the orchestra on educational activities.
Mobilians are quite fond of Bunch, who enjoyed a two-week residency
in 2003 and returned for concerts in Fairhope and the University of
South Alabama, where he performed "A Bunch of PDQ Bach."
For Mobile Symphony the composer will produce a commissioned work,
"The Face of Mobile," to be performed during the orchestra's 10th
anniversary season, 2007-08.
Littlejohn says Bunch might join the orchestra next weekend during
Vaughan Williams' "Fantasia."
Speck describes Bunch as "a phenom," and superlatives seem to follow
the young composer wherever he goes. A superb violist, Bunch has
played with Yo-Yo Ma, and he has developed quite a following for his
bluegrass career.
Bunch will bring the "citified" sound of his group Citigrass to town
in June 2006 for the season-ending pops concert, "A Bunch of
Bluegrass."
"I don't know anything he hasn't been able to do," says Speck.
Bunch might well add to his list of accomplishments during BayFest,
where he hopes to take the stage and perform at least one tune with a
group he admires: Widespread Panic.