Nick's Notes

Recently a number of orchestras have delved into opera.  True a number of mid-size cities have orchestras that already play opera.  Take Nashville and Louisville, for example, in our region.  But these orchestras play opera as the "hired" orchestra for an established opera company.  In this case, the Nashville Opera and Kentucky Opera, respectively.  But what about orchestras that perform opera on their own...

 

Some examples include the recent Opening Night performance of La Boheme in a semi-staged version with the Atlanta Symphony.  The idea of a semi-staged version of opera is quite intriguing.  Many orchestras have taken this route.  In Lafayette last season we performed the opera Cavalleria Rusticana with the excellent Bach Chorale Singers and soloists from Indiana University.  We performed with minimal staging and no props. 

 

In November, I performed the opera Madame Butterfly with the Owensboro Symphony and Kentucky Opera to great effect.  Like the performance in Lafayette, the orchestra was onstage, but we also had props, makeup and costumes:  pretty much everything except the actual sets.  People in the audience liked the set up very much.  They felt that the orchestra was an equal partner in the production, rather than being relegated to the "pit" as they normally are in opera.  This is something I'd like to try in Lafayette, as we have a sophisticated and educated audience as well as Metropolitan Opera simulcasts...

 

My opinion is that this type of production/collaboration is the wave of the future for orchestras and choruses eager to do opera.  Without the sets opera in much more affordable, plus, as I witnessed in Owensboro- people like to see their hometown orchestra, too!

 

NICK

The LSO has a mission to enhance the cultural life of the region.  We hope to expand the ways we achieve that goal by collaborating with other area arts groups, adding to our educational offerings, and performing in other cities and towns in the area.  Let me know if you have any ideas!  Many orchestras perform with local choruses (like we do with the Bach Chorale Singers and Purdue Glee Club) and theater groups (we hope to work with the Civic Theater of Greater Lafayette),  as well as ballet companies (another idea here...) and other groups.   Working together not only helps to expand audiences, it also is an important public relations tool.

In the educational arena we hope to partner more with local schools, perform more in local schools and find new ways to encourage students to attend LSO performances and rehearsals.  We also want to know what local music educators would like to see the LSO do to help them.  This is a work in progress...

Our most recent outreach event was to add a concert at the Amphitheater.  We hope to expand this to a series in the summer.  We also want to perform in other area locations.  We have performed a Cushion Concert in Frankfort and hope to do this again. Crawfordsville and Resselear are also possibilities for future concerts.

Lastly, our 60th Season in coming up and we want to have some special events and concerts to help celebrate this milestone.  Please pass on your ideas to me, or one of our staff members.

See you at the Long Center!

Maestro Nick

Click on this link to see pictures from our Kazoo Marching Band and other fun activities!

PALS Camp Report 7-1-09.pdf

Although we in the orchestra field mostly perform music of deceased European composers, we often also include music of American composers, both living and no longer with us.  This is the case for the LSO March 28th Concert.  Music of William Schuman and Peggy Stuart Coolidge may be unfamiliar to listeners.  Both were active in the 20th Century and wrote music based on historical events.  Schuman's New England Tryptich chronicles, in music, the Revolutionary War period, using themes of the great American composer William Billings.  Billings was a choir director in Boston and his music helped to urge citizens on to freedom from oppression.  It has a rugged character but is boldly expressive. Peggy Stuat Coolidge was one of the few American women writing orchestral music in the mid-20th Century who actually had her music performed and recorded.  Pioneer Dances tells the story of the  
early pioneers who trekked across the USA and landed in the Midwest.   
Her music reminds us of Copland and Gershwin and is tuneful and rhythmic.  Our feature work in this concert is the Indiana premiere of Quiet Heroes by Chris Brubeck.  Brubeck, both a jazz trombonist and composer, is the son of the legendary Dave Brubeck.  His broad canvas, Quiet Heroes, chronicles the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima and features the great American actor Wilfred Brimley.  It will be an exciting and inspiring evening!

Maestro Nick

We have begun sending Jo Gelfand and Amanda Baer, two LSO string players, out to Lafayette/West Lafayette area classrooms to start our new program called Strings Attached.  Here is an email from Jo describing their first experience:

I just thought you'd like an update on our very first Strings Attached program. Amanda Baer and I went to Oakland School this afternoon, and worked with Mrs. Wells' 3^rd grade class (22 students - more or less. They kept moving and were hard to count!)

When we first went in, the students were all sitting quietly at their desks, with their hands folded. Needless to say, the peace didn't last long! We started out by asking the students if they knew why we were there. They did - obviously, Mrs. Wells had prepped them well for our visit! They were extremely excited, yet well behaved. We talked for 15-20 minutes, and started by asking them questions about what they thought it was like to play in an orchestra, what was their favorite instrument, did they play an instrument, etc., etc. We then talked about our own personal experiences (playing in an orchestra, playing in a pit orchestra, and meeting celebrities - and I brought out the picture of myself with Chewbacca from the John Williams concert. The kids LOVED it!) One of the girls had brought a picture of her grandmother, who had sung with a band back in the 50s - I'm guessing from the clothes and the car that it was the 50s - and we talked about having music in your life for a long time. I asked the students how old their mothers were (the first answer was 41) - and I told them I'd been playing with the LSO almost as long as their parents had been alive, and they asked me when I started playing viola (answer: 4^th grade)! Then Amanda told them that her violin was three times as old as their parents (and we did the math to figure out how old her violin was). We kept the conversation going by asking questions, calling on the students for answers, and then sharing our own experiences. Keep in mind, this whole time they haven't seen the violins yet - Amanda and I had lined them up in their cases in the hallway. I then showed them a YouTube video of "Nuttin But Stringz" that was taken from a British children's show. In addition to the Escobar brothers playing, there are lots of graphics and kids dancing to the music. I talked about how the younger brother started playing violin when he was 8, and his got his brother interested. They both studied at Julliard and recently took 3^rd place on "America's Got Talent." (I think they should have won, but....) By this point, the kids were really getting excited. When I asked them if they'd like to try playing the violin, the unanimous response was a rousing "Yes!"

We had the students line up in a single file at the door, and quietly go out in the hall to pick up a violin, and bring them back to their desks. At this point, the students were almost vibrating with excitement. We opened the cases together, and they took the violins out, but them under their chins (most of them got it right the first try) and we showed them how to pluck the strings. (Note for future presentations: Tune the violins BEFORE taking them into the classrooms!) We then got them pressing their fingers down on the strings to change the pitch. We let them play that way for a while, and then I started hearing "Jo - when can we use the sticks" so Amanda and I showed them how to hold the bow and rub it across the strings to make "music." It was at this point that the principal came in and started snapping pictures. We let the kids play their hearts out, and circulated throughout the room, giving help, tips and pointers as needed. We really just turned the students loose and let them go. (The principal likened the sound to a hornet's nest.)

We finally wrapped things up about 10 'til 2, and had the students pack the violins back into the cases. Several of the students really wanted to keep the violins, but I told them I had to visit more classes next week, and I'd need all of them! Then, one little girl yelled "Jo - you can't go!" and ran up and threw her arms around me. The next thing I knew, I was in the middle of an immense group hug. What an incredible, spontaneous moment! (Amanda, the smart one, had snuck out in the hallway. I'm not sure she saw me disappear under the press of all 22 students!)  Mrs. Wells came to my rescue, and herded the students off to the library.

We had another class of 39 students today at Murdock Elementary with the same results.  It's great to hear that our programs are spreading the joy of music to the students!

Melissa Boeckman
General Manager, LSO

It has been a hot topic on the airwaves lately - at least those that serve the classical music business - whether to play popular holiday music at classical concerts during the "Holiday Season".  Some say yes, some no.  We have tried both with the LSO.  In my experience, audiences like to have a Sing-a-Long or Messiah excerpts, Nutcracker excerpts,etc.  What do you think?  The other option is to have just classical orchestral music with no specific holiday focus.  Possibly the best answer is a little of both...

Happy Holidays to all in the meantime...

Maestro Nick

Welcome to Nick's Notes on the LSO website! This is my first blog...I hope you enjoy it! People often ask me: is movie music "serious music"? I say yes! In the early days of the movies composers like Walton, Korngold and Hermann wrote stirring orchestral scores, which were often finely crafted and and intricate. Prime examples include scores for Captain Blood by Korngold, Henry V by Walton and Hermann's Vertigo, which the LSO performed excerpts from last season. All of these scores stand up to much of the ballet music and symphonic music of the 20th Century. They deserve to be heard more often in concert halls. When the L.A. Philharmonic opened Disney Hall a few years back, Maestro Salonen chose to include music by Hermann on the opening program. He also recorded music from Psycho, Marnie, North by Northwest and Vertigo, among others, shortly thereafter. While sweeping symphonic scores were popular prior to 1960, they began to fade away in the next two decades, often replaced by pop/jazz/rock scores. John Williams changed that with the first Star Wars film in 1977. Who can forget the opening theme at the beginning of the first film? It is said that Williams used the theme of Born Free (backwards) as an inspiration...who knows. What is important is that George Lucas asked Williams to write an orchestra score based on tonal and traditional sounding orchestral music for the first three movies because he felt it would sound more "familiar" to people than more complex or contemporary music. The rest is history... We had a ball at our recent John Williams concert.  Check out the pictures posted below!...I look forward to hearing from you! Next month our topic is: Why should we be "mad about opera"? Maestro Nick

   

Nick's Notes are casual monthly installments of the LSO's activities straight from the Maestro. I will be discussing everything and anything pertaining to our orchestra. Please feel free to write in or make your own posts!

Maestro Nick