Indianapolis Shows

That was the advice given to me by a friend upon hearing that I would be conducting in front of a live audience of 63,000 people tonight.  Another friend of mine (this one is also a conductor) joked “Don’t screw it up, or your career will be over.”  The ISO and I are hitting the road tonight to perform in what is for us a pretty unusual (but exciting!) venue – Lucas Oil Stadium, about a mile away from our home at the Hilbert Circle Theater.  We’ll be playing the national anthem before the Colts-Patriots game, which is the featured game on Sunday Night Football tonight nationwide.  Go Colts!  Unfortunately, SNF rarely shows the national anthem on their broadcast (they tend to opt for Faith Hill’s prerecorded rendition of the SNF theme song instead).  But we’re all psyched anyway to get to play for such an enormous and passionate live audience, and one that certainly includes many people who have never heard the ISO live before.  This is actually our second performance at Lucas Oil Stadium, though our first at a game – we also performed there in August 2008 as part of the opening ceremonies for the stadium.

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite versions of the national anthem.  Glenn Donnellan, a violinist with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., made an electric “violin” out of a baseball bat, and wrote his own arrangement of the Star-Spangled Banner to play on it.  Enjoy, and see you at the game!
 

Our contest winner Lauren (and 1750 of her closest friends) had an unbelievable time at the concert last night. Lauren even had a chance to meet Yo-Yo after the concert! (See the picture to the right for proof.)

Here's what she had to say about the evening:

After much deliberation, we have chosen a winner.  Congratulations to . . .

(Imagine the drum roll . . .)

LAUREN ALAYZA!

Here's what she had to say:
 

Dear ISO, My name is Lauren Alayza, and I am a seventeen-year-old aspiring cellist. It is my dream to become a fine cellist, (as fine as Yo-Yo Ma!) and to play chamber music professionally someday. I have only been playing about five years, but I try my hardest to make it seem as if I have been studying much longer. I am not like most student musicians, in fact, I believe someone with my situation is rare and unusual to come by. A few years after I began playing cello, I was diagnosed with a debilitating rare condition, that is not completely diagnosed yet. It has been a great four-year struggle to deal with the infinite debilitating symptoms, including arthritis which is difficult to deal with for any musician. Despite my pain, extreme fatigue, and occasional depression, I make it to all my lessons and rehearsals every week, and I have noticed an intriguing ongoing pattern. After every cello lesson, I leave feeling the best I have felt that day. Cello lessons quickly became a sort of distraction therapy, an escape, if you will, to my other life; my feeble reality. When I practice and play my cello, I am quickly engulfed in music and concentration to produce the best sound I possibly can, and voila, before I even know it, I have forgotten all of my aches and pains! Because of this epiphany I have had with music and its healing powers, I have vowed to dedicate my efforts of cello playing and practicing to someday help others experience this wonderful phenomenon we call music. I want to see (and meet!) Yo-Yo Ma at the Hilbert Theatre this Thursday because Yo-Yo Ma gives me inspiration as a musician, and as a cellist. I have followed his music from Sesame Street, to the Inauguration of President Obama, to duets with some of my favorite rising musicians, like Andrew Bird. Yo-yo Ma is inspiring to me because he is so open-minded to: different genres of music, collaborating with new and rising musicians, and I am sure he would be open-minded about exploring the healing possibilities music can offer to the world today.

Enjoy the concert Lauren!  We hope it brings you much joy and inspiration.

We also have an honorable mention.  Because of his very clever poem, we're giving Matt and his wife two free tickets to attend Joshua Bell on November 13-14.  (That concert's also approaching a sell-out.)  Here's the poem:
 

There was once Matt trying to impress his mate,
He was quite the average fellow,
So he planned this fantastic date,
To see his wife drool over some dude on a cello.
Little did he know it was the Yo-Yo Ma show,
An evening at the Indianapolis Symphony,
And tickets are sold out! “On No!"
So please help Matt through your empathy.
Two tickets would surely make my night.
Hearing the Dvorák’s Cello Concerto in B Minor,
From Yo-Yo Ma would be quite the sight,
And would really make my date finer.

And finally we have great news for everyone who submitted a comment.  We're going to give you all a pair of free tickets to the premiere performance of Symphonic Hits on October 16-17 featuring Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony and piano powerhouse Garrick Ohlsson.  We'll email you all in a few days with the details.

Thanks to everyone who participated and keep on reading our blog!



 

It’s nice to have an announcement like this when a season is complete:

Headline: 

INDIANAPOLIS SYMPHONY SETS NEW ATTENDANCE RECORD AT MARSH SYMPHONY ON THE PRAIRIE

Copy:

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra announced that it set a new all-time attendance record of 107,281 for its Marsh Symphony on the Prairie season of outdoor concerts this summer, exceeding the previous mark of 107,245 set in 1999.  (We beat it by 36 people!)

·        Total season attendance of 107,281, the largest full-season crowd to attend the series.

·        Attendance Tops 100,000 Mark for Only 2^nd Time in 28-Year History of Outdoor Series

·        Single night attendance record for a Pops concert featuring the ISO with 8,145 people enjoying the Classical Mystery Tour Beatles Tribute program on Aug. 1

·        Second largest non-July 4 weekend attendance of 14,304 July 31-Aug 1, just missing the all-time record of 14,829 (Aug. 27-29, 1999 - Big Band)

·        Fourth largest single concert attendance of 12,291 on July 3

Although we are proud of our milestones, the Prairie season is more than just facts, figures and statistics. There are stories to tell. Here is just a sample of what occurred this season:

Happy Anniversary!

Symphony on the Prairie emcee Scott Hoke surprised Paul and Georgia Bradley when he announced from the stage on Aug. 29 that the couple was celebrating 80 years of marriage. Yes, that’s right. 80 years. The crowd roared and gave Paul and Georgia a standing ovation. According to a source, the young couple brought their own flask to toast to another 80 years.

I’ve Never Won Anything in my Life”

Our very own Tim Northcutt, associate director of communications, tagged Debra Fleetwood from New Palestine as our 100,000^th patron to enter the gates on Saturday, September 5.  Fleetwood received a certificate for two Value Packs (each containing 10 tickets) to the 2010 Series, a $100 Gift Card from Marsh Supermarkets, and the ISO will donate two seven-concert Lilly Classical Series subscriptions to a local charitable organization in her name. Her party was escorted to a reserved table near the front of the amphitheater where they enjoyed the concert by the River City Brass Band and a fireworks finale in this final weekend of the summer season (see photo below). According to Tim, Debra proclaimed that she had “never won anything in her life.”

Rented Heaters…in July?

One of the coldest evenings in memory occurred during the classical music concert weekend. Evening temperatures hovered around 58-60 degrees. The operations team ordered heaters for the musicians on stage…in the middle of July!

A Day in the Life (of a Faux Beatle)

Jim Owen, one of the two original members of the Beatles tribute band, Classical Mystery Tour, currently plays the role of John Lennon, though he hasn’t always been confined to John’s duties at the piano, guitar and microphone.  Up until the late 90s or so, he usually played the part of George Harrison.  When the Classical Mystery Tour group performed for the ISO in winter 2006 on stage at the HCT, Jim’s previous experience performing as George proved fortunate.  Tom Teeley, the current George Harrison (and the other original member of CMT), was leaving a local restaurant and slipped on a patch of ice and broke his right wrist the day of a concert.  Luckily, due to Jim Owen’s previous experience as George, he and Tom Teeley switched guitars during the performance so that the difficult electric guitar solos could be played more easily.  Tom has never forgotten Indianapolis.

Anything for You Dad

For our second concert at Prairie on June 26-27, excerpts from the Harry Potter books were read by narrator Constance Macy.  However, the excerpts did not come with the music. Conductor Alfred Savia’s own daughter, Julia – a self-proclaimed expert on the Harry Potter series – carefully studied the music excerpts her father had chosen and appropriately chose the script that would be read by the narrator during the show. 

Four Score and Seven Years Ago

Dean Dorrell, our Abraham Lincoln impersonator from the July 2-4 concerts, has been a frequent visitor to the Prairie stage.  Typically he arrives several hours before the concert, sits in his dressing room in his full Lincoln garb, and reads the latest biography on the President he so uncannily resembles.  Standing one inch taller than Abe, Mr. Dorrell also keeps a copy of many of Lincoln’s speeches in his top hat (as Lincoln did), and has nearly all of his speeches memorized.  He can be seen all over Midwest visiting schools, libraries, concerts and other celebratory functions honoring our 16^th President.  And he does this on the side!  Personally, he is a very quiet, gentle and generous man.  (See photo below – Dean Dorrell as Abraham Lincoln, moments before reciting the Gettysburg Address to a crowd of more than 10,000)

How Does He Do That?

Some audience members may have been to the Rockapella show and heard the amazing sounds coming from Jeff Thacher, the group’s “percussionist.”  What they may not have seen is how he makes these sounds.  He attaches two small microphones to either side of his vocal chords with surgical tape, and is able to create the low “bass-drum” kicks with his throat, without moving his lips.  Only then does he put a normal microphone to his mouth to make the more consonant, percussive sounds.  Quite often he can make two different sounds at once – one with his throat, and one with his mouth.

Three Degrees of Separation

Larry O’Brien, the current leader of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, performed with the band in the 60s, when Ray McKinley was the leader.  Ray played with Glenn Miller in the Air Force band and acted as its unofficial leader after Miller disappeared in December 1944. 

It’s Still the 21^st Century, You Know

Glynnis Campbell, the wife of America’s bass player Rich Campbell, is a published novelist (under the pseudonym Sarah McKerrigan) with 10 books on the shelf so far in her career.  She concentrates on writing fiction set within historical contexts, usually taking place between 1100-1500 England and Scotland.  She studies the culture, music and even clothing fabrics to make sure that her stories don’t contain any anachronisms.  She delves herself into the time period so that it’s nearly second-nature to her.  That is, according to her husband, until her cell phone goes off.

Happy 09.09.09!

Recently, ISO double bassist Brian Smith, was interviewed for a video project about the importance of arts in our community. After providing a brief answer to the question, “What argument would you make to those in non-artistic professions to support the need for the arts in society,” Brian spent some more time thinking about it and provided the following thoughts.

I was asked recently what argument I would make to those in non-artistic professions to support the need for the arts in society (the assertion by some being that the arts have no real significance in our community). I mean, it's just another form of entertainment, right?  My answer at the time was that the arts, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in particular, provide not only an entertainment option, but an avenue to explore the emotional and philosophical aspects of our world in a way that other mediums don't allow. If we do our jobs onstage well, performances will take on a life of their own for every audience member listening and each will react differently, based on their own experience, in a personally meaningful way. I believe this is absolutely true, but there is more to the story.

The arts are everywhere in each of our lives, whether we recognize them or not. Consider for a moment going to a movie that contained no music, a wedding with no first dance, or even just turning on the radio and hearing nothing but static. There would be no plays, movies, or TV shows without actors, no sculpture or painting to enhance our homes and workplaces without artists. The arts permeate every part of our lives. They can inspire, console, frighten, and uplift. The arts are like a language that we all speak, and without knowing why, can affect us profoundly. As a musician, I know first hand the benefits of studying an art form. Music can teach us many valuable lessons applicable to other parts of our lives. One lesson of critical importance deals with problem solving and abstract thinking. Have you ever wondered why you can listen to the same piece of music played by multiple performers and have dramatically different experiences? It is due in large part to the fact that each performer must make choices and solve problems in a way that is unique to them, thus creating a new and different interpretation of the work. Among other things, performers must decide for themselves how a piece should paced, phrased, and presented. Then they must figure out a way to achieve that vision. In other words, they have to solve a myriad of problems that will likely involve techniques that they are comfortable with and the integration of new ideas that may be unexplored for them to that point of their development.

To continually progress as an artist, you must, to coin an overused cliche, "think outside the box" as often as possible. Another part of being a musician is, just like mom used to say, learning to play well with others. Most musical performances require collaboration with other artists, whether it be with a large ensemble like the ISO, or a solo recital which usually requires accompaniment of some kind. Communication and compromising skills are essential in these settings and one must learn them quickly if they wish to have success on stage. But the most beautiful and engaging part of any artistic endeavor is the opportunity for people to create and express themselves in unique and personal ways. So often in our formative years we are told to study academic subjects such as mathematics, science, and grammar. While these subject matters are crucial in all our lives, students have far fewer opportunities to explore their creativity and how it may help and impact them in other parts of their lives. Perhaps more than anything else, this is the most important reason why everyone should support the arts.

This video will be shown at the Arts Council of Indianapolis’ annual Start with Art luncheon on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009.

May 10, 1999 was a Monday, and I remember it fondly. Not only was it the birthday of a dear friend of mine who ended up not accepting my mild romantic affections a few months earlier, but it was also the day I would be meeting the first of dozens of celebrities I would come to know over the next decade, and without a doubt one I would never forget.

With a dark blue cello case strapped tightly against his shoulders, Yo-Yo Ma stepped off the plane in Louisville, Kentucky. He approached me, warmly shook my hand and said, “Hi! I’m Yo-Yo Ma!” To all those who have ever wondered after seeing his interviews and TV specials, let the truth be told: Yes, he really is that nice. From the moment he stuffed his multi-million dollar cello into the boot of my crowded Mazda sedan, he wanted to hear only about me – even down to how big my farm was in southern Indiana, and by the end of the day he affectionately referred to me as “40-acre boy.”

That evening he presented a recital with pianist Jeffrey Kahane at the Palace Theatre in downtown Louisville in an unforgettable program: J.S. Bach’s Sonata in D major for viola da gamba BWV 1028, plus a set of “New” Goldberg Variations, a work comprised of six movements by various contemporary composers – Christopher Rouse, John Corigliano and Peter Schickele, among others – that were bookended (as in the original) by the evocative Aria from Bach’s own BWV 988 Goldberg Variations of 1741. The second half of the concert was the 30-minute Sonata in G minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 19 of Rachmaninoff, which was truly the musical highlight of the evening.

The dinner afterwards was even more memorable.

Even though the reservation was made well in advance, our post-11 p.m. arrival in the foyer at Vincenzo’s Italian Restaurant (complete with Yamaha grand piano) did not make us a welcome party. At first, no one could be found in the restaurant, so Yo-Yo bolted into the kitchen (with his cello still strapped to his back). I soon followed only to find him in front of the preparation sinks apologizing profusely to Vincenzo’s wife, who was livid that she had been waiting so long for such a small party. With some hesitation, her annoyance eventually abated and the one remaining waiter began to bring cold appetizers and wine. Yo-Yo helped the waiter and served us before seating himself. 

Nearly two hours later (and after the final cask of grappa had been consumed), we packed up our things and began to head out. Yo-Yo continued to thank the owner’s wife for her patience; after all, she had catered to our every detail and I noticed she was physically exhausted, but still appreciative of our gratitude. Yo-Yo noticed this too, and after whispering in Jeffrey Kahane’s ear and giving him a smile and simultaneous nod, he unpacked his cello in the foyer as Jeffrey sat down at the piano. The couple performed exclusively for her – from memory – the Andante from Rachmaninoff’s Sonata. By the end of the 6-minute movement, she was reduced to tears. The next twenty minutes were spent watching this woman shower Yo-Yo and Jeffrey with adoration.

The heart of this man is truly made of gold. It is without a doubt that he shows it everywhere he goes. When you see his beaming face accept an audience’s applause, or watch as he smiles at the orchestra and its conductor following a raving performance, you know that it is genuine. He is a gift to today’s musical world, and those of us attending his return to the Hilbert Circle Theatre with the Indianapolis Symphony in October 2009 (after a 13-year hiatus) should soak up every moment. He will touch every heart in the hall, and will make it an evening to remember, as it did for me a decade ago.

And even though I never won the heart of my dear friend that year, she did receive an anonymous birthday gift in the mail a few days later – an autographed CD of a world-famous cellist that simply read: “Happy Birthday, Eliza. Love, Yo-Yo.”

This past weekend was the Indianapolis Symphony's world premiere of Irving Berlin: From Rags to Ritzes. It was a celebration of one of America’s most prolific song-writers starring Ashley Brown, Hugh Panaro, Tony DeSare, James T. Lane and NaTasha Yvette Williams. There was also a creative staff that consisted of David Levy, Stage Director, Fred Barton, Orchestrator & Arranger, Chad Zodrow, Stage Manager, and Clare Henkel, Wardrobe Designer. And of course, the performance was conducted by the brilliant Jack Everly, who also orchestrated and arranged several of the pieces and along with Producer, Ty Johnson, developed the idea to begin with. 

Rehearsals for 4 of the cast started in New York two weeks before the premiere. And while Ashley was still in Chicago performing 8 shows a week as Mary Poppins, she was also learning every piece of music that we sent her, and making time for costume fittings in between shows. Needless to say, we were keeping them busy long before their planes touched down in Indy. Once everyone was assembled together, we hit the ground running with 8 hour rehearsal days, followed by four rehearsals with the orchestra, all culminating in 4 performances. We didn’t have long to bring all the elements together, and changes in music and staging were occurring right up until the last minute, but because of the hard work of the orchestra musicians, music library and cast and the devotion of the creative staff, the performances were amazing and well-received.

One of the many highlights from the performance was during Ashley & Hugh’s duet of the romantic song “Always.” They started out by asking if anyone in the audience was celebrating a long-time anniversary, and several audience members yelled out everything from 20 years together to 50. Then Hugh would invite one lucky couple on to the stage for a dance with the orchestra… now, we had a hard time getting a couple to agree for various reasons (stage fright, foot injury, etc.) but eventually a couple would say yes and got to enjoy a dance on the Symphony Center stage with the orchestra playing and two leading Broadway performers serenading them.  The last performance was especially touching as the couple had been married 66 years… to each other!

All in all, it was a successful weekend on many fronts: the cast was splendid to work with and were some of the hardest working people in show biz, the music was soaring and exceptionally orchestrated, and the costumes were colorful, exciting and captured the era of Berlin perfectly. To quote Berlin himself, “The costumes, the scenery, the make-up, the props! The audience that lifts you when you’re down… There’s no business, like show business.”