Our next show

[Big RR]

I'm sure it is as fun to play as it is to listen to.

[Sue U]

I'm sure it is as fun to play as it is to listen to.

Fun? I dunno. Mozart is fun to play. Shostakovich 5 is a challenge both mentally and physically. It's nearly an hour of intense concentration (it's not traditionally intuitive) and pretty strenuous bowing, with a number of very difficult technical issues in execution. In fact, one excerpt from the first movement is a notorious viola audition requirement for many orchestras (there are a number of on-line tutorials with different approaches to playing it). But it's certainly rewarding to be a part of bringing this brilliant work to life. It's how composers are made immortal.

[BoSoxGal]

Sometimes the Universe is just plain cruel - like when you Google Shostakovich + BSO and you find out you've just missed an entire month long program on the works of Shostakovich.

Pages 16/17 for the full program - I'm sick at heart to have missed it all.

https://dgpuo8cwvztoe.cloudfront.net/up ... kovich.pdf

[Big RR]

Fun? I dunno. Mozart is fun to play. Shostakovich 5 is a challenge both mentally and physically. It's nearly an hour of intense concentration (it's not traditionally intuitive) and pretty strenuous bowing, with a number of very difficult technical issues in execution. In fact, one excerpt from the first movement is a notorious viola audition requirement for many orchestras (there are a number of on-line tutorials with different approaches to playing it). But it's certainly rewarding to be a part of bringing this brilliant work to life. It's how composers are made immortal.

I guess fun might not be the best word, but I usually find it more "fun" to sing challenging pieces than easier ones (although I enjoy singing both). But maybe the correct word is "rewarding".

I know I generally have problems with heavily syncopated pieces (much as I love jazz, I just don't have the "feel" for it), but when I put the work in to learn the piece, I do find the performance "fun/rewarding".

[Sue U]

Sometimes the Universe is just plain cruel - like when you Google Shostakovich + BSO and you find out you've just missed an entire month long program on the works of Shostakovich.

Pages 16/17 for the full program - I'm sick at heart to have missed it all.

https://dgpuo8cwvztoe.cloudfront.net/up ... kovich.pdf

Wow, that's a great line-up with what looks like a really good educational component. Shostakovich's politics and relation to the Soviet state are super-interesting context for his music.

[Burning Petard]

Vivaldi Four Seasons is my most unfavorite piece of classical music. I am sure there are many pieces that are much worse, but that one seems to be on every classical music radio station's top 40 list. When it comes on I change stations. I will even listen to Rap (music?) over that one. but that is why every radio has an off switch.

snailgate

[Sue U]

So I'm back playing with the Pops after taking a couple of seasons off (for work, life, etc.) and we opened our 2025-26 season yesterday with "Music of the Small Screen: Don't Touch That Dial." Honestly, I was skeptical of the program at the beginning of the rehearsal cycle -- TV music? -- but it worked well and the audience loved it (there was some kind of accompanying video projection, but it was literally over my head so I didn't see any of it). There were some really swinging TV theme songs back when people watched TV: Bewitched, Perry Mason, Mission: Impossible, The Avengers, The Fugitive, Man from U.N.C.L.E. -- even I Love Lucy had a certain charm. And then there was all the classical music used in the Merrie Melodies/Looney Tunes cartoons.

The really good news for this community arts org is that we had 810 in attendance (theater seats ~950), so a very good showing. Paid subscriptions for the season are now up to 356 (from 298 last year and 223 the year before) so our audience is growing steadily. We will sell out the holiday show for sure and we've added an extra concert to our season in February at a new (for us) venue in the next county over to try to reach a new audience. Fingers crossed for that one.

The Philharmonic opened its season the week before with a Broadway-themed concert with Max von Essen singing classic show tunes (we also did Gershwin's American in Paris and Bernstein's Candide Overture -- that was fun). Attendance there was a little over 1,000 in our ~1300-seat theater, so not quite the sold-out crowd we usually get but also not bad -- especially since it was a gorgeous day and the Eagles were playing the Giants and that's a lot of competition.

[Sue U]

The holiday concerts are behind us now and the season is shaping up quite nicely in terms of audience growth. The Philharmonic did two shows, one at our "home" venue (sold out, 1300 tix) and one at our expansion site where we are 6 months into cultivating a whole new audience base (about 650 showed up). Broadway soloist and Nashville recording artist (and former Disney Princess) Rachel Potter was our guest performer and was terrific.

The Pops Orchestra show scheduled this past Sunday afternoon had been sold out for weeks, but a snowstorm overnight Saturday into Sunday morning led the school district to close down the high school where we perform, so we had to quickly pivot and reschedule the show for Monday evening. We thought we'd lose somewhere between a third and half the audience due to the change. But despite the challenges, about 80% of the audience made the switch, and we had about 750 or so in the auditorium at showtime. Our featured singer (who is also an orchestra member and assistant conductor) rocked the house with her swinging rendition of Put One Foot In Front Of The Other, from the stop-motion animation movie Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (1970). After the show, the conductor told me, "I didn't know whether we were going to be playing to 80 people or 800, but it felt like there were 3,000 out there."

Of course, both orchestras played Leroy Anderson's Christmas Festival and Sleigh Ride.

Next up: for the Pops, A Century of Cinema (Feb. 1), a tribute to great music of the movies at a new venue for us, slightly larger and in more urbanized Camden County. Fingers crossed for this one as it's a test to see whether we can develop an expanded audience base for this organization as well. For the Philharmonic, it's Sibelius's Finlandia, the Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto and Shostakovich Symphony #5 (Feb. 22). I'm so looking forward to that.