The second half of the program featured a film by Jeff Thompson, documenting life on his father's citrus farm. The orchestra provided the soundtrack with Frederick Delius's Florida Suite. The modest string section occasionally slipped out of tune, but the overall presentation left a warm and fuzzy feeling.
The concert was woefully underattended; what this ambitious group needs is spin. Two premieres and a multimedia tribute to Florida's 500th anniversary should have been a cultural event.
Sunday to Tuesday I was back in Orlando celebrating my father's birthday with the extended family. There were several renditions of "Happy Bithday to You" – with harmony!
Wednesday was Die Fledermaus at the Sarasota Opera: Holy snap! A breakneck overture, and the entire night popped like a cork. It would have been easy to trot out a hackneyed war horse, but this production had new-car smell. The young American cast used intentionally broad melodramatic gestures to comic effect. Both dialogue and lyrics were performed in English (instead of a frequent 50-50 approach), which kept the singers engaged in the fun. Three hours of empty calories, but what a guilty pleasure.
Thursday I heard the Florida Orchestra in a sold-out morning coffee concert at Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg. It's a beautiful auditorium that allows the orchestra to play softly while still carrying to the balcony.
Sunday to Tuesday I was back in Orlando celebrating my father's birthday with the extended family. There were several renditions of "Happy Bithday to You" – with harmony!
Wednesday was Die Fledermaus at the Sarasota Opera: Holy snap! A breakneck overture, and the entire night popped like a cork. It would have been easy to trot out a hackneyed war horse, but this production had new-car smell. The young American cast used intentionally broad melodramatic gestures to comic effect. Both dialogue and lyrics were performed in English (instead of a frequent 50-50 approach), which kept the singers engaged in the fun. Three hours of empty calories, but what a guilty pleasure.
Thursday I heard the Florida Orchestra in a sold-out morning coffee concert at Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg. It's a beautiful auditorium that allows the orchestra to play softly while still carrying to the balcony.
One of the works, Kol Nidrei by Max Bruch, featured Lev Mamuya, a 17-year-old cellist from Newton, Mass. He was this year's winner of the Sphinx Competition and had a gorgeous, singing tone. The orchestra finished with a crowd-pleasing performance of Gershwin's American in Paris.
Saturday brought me to the Orlando Philharmonic. I think it was Zubin Mehta who said that Mendelssohn never wrote a sad note in his life. That may be true, but the Hebrides Overture is certainly one of his steelier works, depicting the seascape of northwest Scotland.
Saturday brought me to the Orlando Philharmonic. I think it was Zubin Mehta who said that Mendelssohn never wrote a sad note in his life. That may be true, but the Hebrides Overture is certainly one of his steelier works, depicting the seascape of northwest Scotland.
The looming wind and waves set the stage for Shostakovich's brooding Violin Concerto No. 1. There wasn't a lot of melody to grab on to, but soloist Cho-Liang Lin moved up and down the neck masterfully. He made convincing work of the he cadenza, which could have seemed like so much double-stopped sawing.
The second half of the program was Beethoven's 7th symphony, which is a study in dance rhythms. Conductor Joel Revzen maintained the rhythmic drive, whipping the orchestra into a galloping finale.
Postcript: Orlando's Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre, with its continual up-and-down flights of stairs, is not a very accessible venue. And without a center aisle, some ticketholders need to scooch past 30 or 40 other patrons before reaching their seats. The auditorium has the dry acoustics of a recording studio and would benefit from a good dose of natural reverb. Tear it down.
Postcript: Orlando's Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre, with its continual up-and-down flights of stairs, is not a very accessible venue. And without a center aisle, some ticketholders need to scooch past 30 or 40 other patrons before reaching their seats. The auditorium has the dry acoustics of a recording studio and would benefit from a good dose of natural reverb. Tear it down.
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