APPLETON, Wis. (WFRV) – Exotic forever, “Scheherazade” asks exactness of solo musician after solo musician, none more than the leading violin position. Early in the work, the concertmaster must live up to the meaning of “concert-master” and master a passage of shimmering purity. The notes are the first statement of quality in an orchestra. Success for the entire performance is at hand… or not.
Flash forward to the aftermath of the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra’s performance of “Scheherazade” Saturday night in Thrivent Financial Hall of Fox Cities Performing Arts Center: Conductor Kevin F.E. Sütterlin strides back to the stage in front of a standing ovation and places a bouquet of flowers in the arms of Yuliya Smead, the concertmaster.
Yuliya Smead has mastered not only that early passage but other prominent ones in the work that has been beloved by millions since Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov graced the world with it in 1888.
Yuliya Smead is surprised. She touches her heart and bows, turns to the orchestra and blows a big kiss and bows, then turns again to the audience and bows as cheers rise for her after receiving a hug and a whisper in the ear from Kevin F.E. Sütterlin.
Conductors rarely give bouquets to their concertmasters on stage, so this was a special sequence.
As applause and call-backs for Kevin F.E. Sütterlin continue, he acknowledges the orchestra as a whole. To single out the proud players who delivered precise solo moments – horn, flute, oboe, harp, bassoon, clarinet, cello among them – would have taken a long time.
“Scheherazade” is a sumptuous work – storytelling transformed to music, complete with breathless gallops of vivid notes.
And this was not a recording. This was living people and caressing and exciting sounds and seeing/hearing notes played in living color. “Scheherazade” seldom happens around here, so the effect was wholly invigorating, even with the presence of COVID-19 masking for the audience and musicians.
The evening opened with a statement of support to those struggling in Ukraine from Kevin F.E. Sütterlin (hard to hear from my seat in the last row because the microphone was not working). The musicians wore ribbons of blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukraine flag. Kevin F.E. Sütterlin quoted Leonard Bernstein as he did in the orchestra’s recent “On the Town” concert (my review). He invited the audience to stand for that nation’s national anthem.
The first half of the concert was explorations.
Louise Farrenc was visited in 1835, a figure of musical vigor and muscle.
Next came today of Jessie Montgomery, reflecting on sound-images of slavery with impressions of whips and chains and an aura of determination over a force applied.
Then came Samuel Coleridge-Taylor in a cinematic work as if from an adventure-and-romance saga, except this was before cinema in the late 1890s.
The varied and vivid works were excellently performed and led, but soon overshadowed by a memorable “Scheherazade.”
***
Program: “Spring Concert”
Conductor: Kevin F.E. Sütterlin
Part I
+ Louise Farrenc (1804-1875): “Overture No. 1, Opus 23, E Minor”
+ Jessie Montgomery (born 1981): “Soul Force”
+ Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912): “Ballade in A Minor, Opus 33”
Part II
+ Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908): “Scheherazade, Opus 35”
I. “The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship.” Largo e maestoso – Allegro non troppo.
II. “The Kalandar Prince.” Lento – Andantino – Allegro molto – Vivace scherzando – Moderato assai – Allegro molto ed animato.
III. “The Young Prince and The Young Princess.” Andantino quasi allegretto – Pochissimo più mosso – Come prima – Pochissimo più animato.
IV. “Festival at Baghdad. The Sea. Ship Breaks upon a Cliff Surmounted by a Bronze Horseman.” Allegro molto – Vivo – Allegro non troppo maestoso.
***
Musicians
– Violin: Yuliya Smead (concertmaster) Justyna Lutwo-Resch (associate concertmaster), Audrey Nowak (assistant concertmaster), Greg Austin, Catherine Bush, Jennifer Coopman, Graham Emberton, Megan Karls, Erik Leveille, Randy Manning, Kara McCanna, Alicia Mose
– Violin II: Danielle Simandl (principal), Angelica D’Costa (assistant principal), Bianca Balderama, Luis Fernandez, Dorothy Hollenbach, Caitlin Kirchner, Sarah Koenigs, Lori Murphy, Amir Rosenbaum, Mary Kate Smith, Isabel Sorebo, Jill Sousek
– Viola: Barb Beechey (principal), Ann Stephan (assistant principal), Corrina Albright, Jane Bradshaw Finch, Cheryl Konkol, Mary Ellis Moran, Steve Shani, Tara Stevenson
– Cello: Laura Kenney Henckel (principal), Charles Stephan (assistant principal), Adam Brown, Emily Gruselle, Nancy Kaphaem, David Veum, Heather Watney, Carrie Willer
– Bass: Susan Sullivan (principal), Emmett Jackson (assistant principal), Ann Boeckman, Scott Breyer, Ronna Swift, Mark Urness
– Flute: Linda Nielsen Korducki (principal), Beth Kinzel, Suzanne Bunker Jordheim, flute/piccolo
– Oboe: Jennifer Hodges Bryan (principal), Leslie Outland Michelic
– English horn/oboe: Leslie Outland Michelic
– Clarinet: Chris Zello (principal), David Bell
– Bassoon: Cody Hunter (principal), Sharon Peterson
– Horn: Bruce Atwell (principal), Katherine Ritter (assistant principal), Richard Tremarello, Andrew Parks, Dana Sherman
– Trumpet: Matt Granatella (principal), Rand Skelton, Marty Robinson
– Trombone: Tim Albright (principal), Roy Fine, Michael Clayville
– Tuba: Zachariah Dietenberger
– Percussion: Jim Robl (principal), Scott Elford (assistant principal), Marisol Kuborn, Colin O’Day
– Timpani: Terry Smirl
– Harp: Rebecca Royce
***
NEXT: “Laura Kenney Henckel, Cello,” April 9.
THE VENUE: Thrivent Financial Hall is the main theater of Fox Cities Performing Arts Center on College Avenue in downtown Appleton. The capacity is 2,072. The seating area is in the shape of a horse shoe, with three balconies following the shape. The stage is 60 feet across and 40 feet high. The décor features Veneciano plaster walls with dark-stained cherry wood. In the oval dome ceiling is a 65-foot-long chandelier that is reminiscent of the Art Deco era. The design includes ruby inserts in the opaque cream-colored glass. Flowing along the walls up to the chandelier are parallel metal pipes as if of a musical instrument. Flat walls in the front third of the hall are salmon colored, while red pleated theatrical curtains dominate the rest of the side walls. The white acoustic wing over the stage looks like the underside of a sci-fi spacecraft. The lobby area consists of lots of geometrics, glass and, on the ground level, a feeling of openness and spaciousness. The exterior of the gray building features gentle curves. A large glass skylight is reminiscent of a human eye.
THE NAME: Thrivent Financial has roots in a life insurance company that was chartered in 1902 as Aid Association for Lutherans, based in Appleton. The corporate name has been Thrivent since 2002.
