First concerts in Lucerne
It’s late Saturday evening here in Lucerne and we just finished our second of three concerts here at the KKL. Friday night featured a reprise of our Opening Gala program, (read the review of the Gala program) with violinist Christian Tetzlaff performing the Stravinsky Violin Concerto. He played the work with his usual clarity, technical mastery, and expressiveness, and was followed by Dvorak’s 8th Symphony. The extremely well dressed crowd filed in for a sold out concert, and did not leave disappointed. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to take photos in the hall (very strict regulations here in Switzerland) ...but i was able to sneak one in.
MTT and the SFS performing at the KKL
Today’s concert began with the Ives (see sampled churchbells blog entry), and then pianitst Helene Grimaud grabbed the spotlight with an eminently elegant yet powerful rendition of the Ravel Piano Concerto. She was a little sunburned today, as she took a wrong turn hiking in the mountains this morning, and forgot to pack her sunblock. But hidden beneath the now slightly reddish movie star looks, Helene is an ardent nature conservationist, with a particular passion for wolves. In New York, she set up the 16-acre Wolf Conservation Center, an education center where wolves live and children come to study them. Helene explains a connection between her two loves, music and wolves this way, "people are afraid of what they don't understand, and what they fear they want to destroy. And, as with classical music, the best way to induce conservation is to get to kids." The second half of the program was the dazzlingly colorful Scheherazade by Rimsky Korsakov, and featured some really wonderful solo work by concertmaster Alexander Barantschik. After the concert everyone backstage was raving about his playing.
MTT with Helene Grimaud backstage after the concert
After the concert, Festival Director Michael Haefliger stopped by to congratulate MTT and the Orchestra. One is reminded that the Lucerne festival is quite a remarkable assembly of the world’s accomplished orchestral ensembles. Just in the past three weeks alone, we were preceded by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra and Vienna Philharmonic. This afternoon, in the Foyer above us, I attended a press conference by Mr. Haefliger, in which he boasted of record attendance figures for this Festival and announced next year’s orchestral lineup to the press corps. The Orchestras chosen for the 2007 Festival are: the Boston Symphony, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, and….drum roll please….. the San Francisco Symphony. Now that’s what I call the Big 5 !
Lucerne Festival Director Michael Haefliger congratulating MTT
Our engagement here this week is actually the first year of a three year residency at the Lucerne Festival. The SFS will return two more times in the next few years. And judging by three very sold-out concerts, local music lovers will be more than happy to join us for our special brand of music making.
In between the two concerts, the orchestra had the morning off. A few musicians took advantage of the glorious Alpine setting to go for a morning hike in the nearby peak of Rigi.
SFS musicians scaling the Alps. (l-r) Alicia Telford, Don Ehrlich,
Karen Gottlieb and Virginia Lenz
While they may try to enjoy the sights, tour staff remain constantly in contact with the hall and crew, to handle tour cargo and scheduling issues to ensure a smooth show. Tour Manager Joyce Wessling and Operations Director John Kieser setting up tour command central at 6000 feet.
MTT and the SFS performing at the KKL
Today’s concert began with the Ives (see sampled churchbells blog entry), and then pianitst Helene Grimaud grabbed the spotlight with an eminently elegant yet powerful rendition of the Ravel Piano Concerto. She was a little sunburned today, as she took a wrong turn hiking in the mountains this morning, and forgot to pack her sunblock. But hidden beneath the now slightly reddish movie star looks, Helene is an ardent nature conservationist, with a particular passion for wolves. In New York, she set up the 16-acre Wolf Conservation Center, an education center where wolves live and children come to study them. Helene explains a connection between her two loves, music and wolves this way, "people are afraid of what they don't understand, and what they fear they want to destroy. And, as with classical music, the best way to induce conservation is to get to kids." The second half of the program was the dazzlingly colorful Scheherazade by Rimsky Korsakov, and featured some really wonderful solo work by concertmaster Alexander Barantschik. After the concert everyone backstage was raving about his playing.
MTT with Helene Grimaud backstage after the concert
After the concert, Festival Director Michael Haefliger stopped by to congratulate MTT and the Orchestra. One is reminded that the Lucerne festival is quite a remarkable assembly of the world’s accomplished orchestral ensembles. Just in the past three weeks alone, we were preceded by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra and Vienna Philharmonic. This afternoon, in the Foyer above us, I attended a press conference by Mr. Haefliger, in which he boasted of record attendance figures for this Festival and announced next year’s orchestral lineup to the press corps. The Orchestras chosen for the 2007 Festival are: the Boston Symphony, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, and….drum roll please….. the San Francisco Symphony. Now that’s what I call the Big 5 !
Lucerne Festival Director Michael Haefliger congratulating MTT
Our engagement here this week is actually the first year of a three year residency at the Lucerne Festival. The SFS will return two more times in the next few years. And judging by three very sold-out concerts, local music lovers will be more than happy to join us for our special brand of music making.
In between the two concerts, the orchestra had the morning off. A few musicians took advantage of the glorious Alpine setting to go for a morning hike in the nearby peak of Rigi.
SFS musicians scaling the Alps. (l-r) Alicia Telford, Don Ehrlich,
Karen Gottlieb and Virginia Lenz
While they may try to enjoy the sights, tour staff remain constantly in contact with the hall and crew, to handle tour cargo and scheduling issues to ensure a smooth show. Tour Manager Joyce Wessling and Operations Director John Kieser setting up tour command central at 6000 feet.
posted by OT at 2:37 PM
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