Davin Peelle's blog
In the past, the approach of Memorial Day weekend meant the season was officially over for all of us at the Elgin Symphony Orchestra. But no longer!
For the first time, the ESO has expanded its regular season past Memorial Day, with our final Classic Series concerts on June 2, 3 & 4. Our 2005-2006 Season will come to a close with a program full of some of the greatest stories told through music.
The centerpiece will be Rimsky-Korsakov’s symphonic masterpiece Scheherazade, featuring ESO’s concertmaster Isabella Lippi on violin. Under the baton of Music Director Robert Hanson, the concert will also include Mother Goose Suite by Ravel and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Dukas (better known as Mickey Mouse’s big number in Disney’s Fantasia).
The addition of the June concert takes the ESO’s Classic Series from a seven concert series to an eight concert series, making it our biggest season to date. It has been a long but thrilling year; we hope you can be there to celebrate its finale!
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Every year at this time when most Americans are frantically finalizing their tax returns, we at the Elgin Symphony are remembering the anniversary of our first concert on April 17th, 1951 (while also working on our taxes, of course).
Celebration is typically kept to a minimum in the ESO offices unless reaching a milestone year, but I did take the opportunity to look in detail at the framed program and photo on the wall from that first ESO performance.
What I found quite fascinating was the programming put together by the late conductor and founding Music Director Douglas Steensland; it was much like “the shuffle” effect mentioned yesterday in John Ryan’s blog, with snippets of works here and there from a wide variety of time periods.
The concert opened with Haydn’s London Symphony No. 104 (no surprise here), but they only performed the first and third movements. How often do we attend orchestra concerts in which only a portion of the symphony is performed?
There were several examples of “Classical Music’s Greatest Hits” throughout, with the Andante Cantabile from Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, J.S. Bach’s “Little” Fugue in G Minor, Gliere’s Russian Sailors’ Dance, “Great Gate of Kiev” from Mussorgsky/Ravel’s Pictures at an Exhibition … you get the idea.
But there were also some less predictable works: a Toccata by 17th century composer Girolamo Frescobaldi, and a string arrangement of an Air by 18th century English organist/conductor Jonathan Battishill. Additionally, collaboration with Elgin High A Cappella Choir in “Evening Prayer” and “Dream Pantomime” from Humperdink’s Hansel & Gretel rounded out the program beautifully.
Personally, I love hearing complete works start to finish rather than samplings; but am I typical? Probably not. Should orchestras occasionally open up again to more “shuffled” programming?
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In light of the recent headlines regarding the future of immigration in the U.S., along with the turmoil within the performing arts industry concerning the relevance of orchestras and classical music in today’s world, it is with great delight that I announce the details of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra's second annual festival, In Search of the American Dream, a month-long celebration of concerts and humanities programs exploring immigration and the American experience.
The festival includes a film series with the Gail Borden Library (Elgin), several educational events throughout the western suburbs, a live taping of the nationally broadcast radio showcase From the Top (as heard on 98.7 WFMT) featuring the Elgin Youth Symphony, an interactive symposium focusing on the life and works of immigrant composer Kurt Weill, and culminates in a collaboration with actors from Milwaukee Repertory Theater in ESO's Classic Series concerts May 5, 6 & 7.
In Search of the American Dream Festival is the second initiative in the ESO’s three-year Exploring Our American Voice project presented to the greater Chicago community with music and events uniquely connected to the American experience. This year, we explore why people come to the U.S., what they contribute to the U.S., and what affect the U.S. has on them.
The centerpiece of the In Search of the American Dream Festival Concert is Peter Boyer's Ellis Island: The Dream of America, an innovative work that brings elements of theater and multimedia into the concert hall. Actors from Milwaukee Repertory Theater will join the full Elgin Symphony Orchestra in this staged dramatic work portraying the lives of seven immigrants from disparate nations who came to America through Ellis Island from 1910-1940.
Boyer created the script based on texts from the Ellis Island Historical Project and composed the score to contextualize and comment on the spoken word. Photographs taken by Augustus Sherman, longtime Ellis Island employee are projected above the stage, telling their own story.
Also on the program is Ernö Dohnányi’s fitting American Rhapsody plus two works by American composers: Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s Sinfonietta No.1.
The Festival Concert is the seventh concert in the Elgin Symphony Orchestra’s eight part Classic Series and takes place on May 3, 4 and 5 at the Hemmens Theatre, 45 Symphony Way, Elgin.
I hope to see you at any and all of these magnificent events!
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As a follow-up to my previous blog entry (when I asked, "Is the music enough?"), I would like to discuss the NON-MUSICAL elements that go into making a great concert—meaning every detail of the concert experience besides what is happening on the stage. This includes anything from commuting to the concert, to ease of parking, to lobby congestion, ushers, pre-concert lectures, comfort of seats, temperature, program notes, bathrooms, food, drinks … I could go on forever.
In finding and retaining patrons, I believe that arts administrators are often too caught-up in what’s happening on the stage. Does this really make sense when some of the greatest performing arts organizations in the world struggle to fill their halls? Isn’t it more likely that there are other inhibitors within our control that keep many from coming to our concerts?
At the Elgin Symphony, we recently assembled a Concert Experience Task Force made up of selected staff and Board of Trustees members to specifically address these concerns. The idea is that we entrust our music director, musicians and artistic department to produce a great musical experience for the audience; thus it is our responsibility to make sure that nothing outside of the music gets in the way of it. We conducted audience surveys at our fall concerts and will then be conducting focus groups for some of our single ticket buyers in order to try and address potential areas of concern. I will keep you informed of the results.
We can also learn from each other: From the perspective of those of you who are arts administrators, what has your organization tried doing to improve the non-musical concert experience? Were there noticeable results? As an audience member, what aspects of the concert, aside from the music, are important to you? Have you ever found yourself skipping a concert with a program or artist you really like because there would be too much hassle based on your previous experiences? Any feedback will be helpful to all of us.
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In the live classical music industry, there is a lot of discussion about using alternative concert formats as a way to attract and retain new audiences. These alternatives include anything from offering free martinis, to collaborating with actors or dancers, to projecting images or film footage above the stage, to hand held PDAs that provide measure by measure commentary, and the list can go on.
One such performance I recently attended was one of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s new Beyond the Score performances, in which the first half of the concert consists of a theatrical, multimedia, excerpt-filled tour of the background, historical context and anatomy of a piece (in this case, Shostakovich’s 4th Symphony), and the second half is a straight performance of the piece. Not only was I riveted through the whole concert (which doesn’t mean much because I can be such a nerd when it comes to music and history), but the whole audience was packed and they loved it! On the other hand, there is nothing easier than simply performing Beethoven’s 9th to fill the whole hall with excited patrons, as we have sold-out three consecutive nights for this weekend at the Elgin Symphony. Quite frankly, a great orchestra presenting a great work makes a great concert, doesn’t it?
This presents a dilemma. What should we, the orchestra, be doing with our concert formats? Is the traditional overture-concerto-symphony structure with seated audience and musicians in black and white good enough? Or, has it lost its relevance in a time of multi-tasking our entertainment? What types of alternatives should we be experimenting with? Should all orchestras be trying new things? When have we gone too far and forgotten about the music itself?
I would love to know your thoughts …
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This is the first time I have ever written a blog entry. So please bear with me while I start with the basics of why I’m here … Why do I care so much about classical music?
I am currently Director of Marketing & Public Relations for the Elgin Symphony Orchestra. (This is not a career one stumbles upon; but we can discuss how that came about some other time.) As the nature of the job title suggests, I spend every day trying to convince as many people as I can to experience live classical music for anywhere from the first to the nth time in their lives. Obviously, I must think there is something special about this whole business.
Working for the ESO has been a continually fascinating experience for me. The greater Chicago area has both a vast pool of incredibly talented musicians as well as a high demand for stellar performing arts. On top of that, the western suburbs have been experiencing a period of unprecedented growth for the past decade. All of these factors have come together to build one of the premier regional orchestras here in Elgin, just 40 miles west of Chicago. In a time when there is so much talk about a supposed decline in Classical music, it is thrilling to see how the performing arts choices keep expanding!
Frankly, I enjoy quite a broad spectrum of musical genres. If we played the “What’s on Davin’s iPod?” game, it would likely be a challenge to find the thread that binds all of the genres and artists together into the world of music that I love. A scroll down my playlist will reveal a plethora of styles, from U2 to Metallica to Prokofiev – and I’m currently looking for some good Bluegrass bands to download.
Music has to affect me in at least one of three ways -- either emotionally, intellectually or historically. Some music is simply an outlet of emotional expression; other music strictly appeals to the “music nerd” inside, whether it be a clever meter change or unexpected cadence; some music perfectly captures a window in history that helps us better understand the progression (or degradation) of humanity. Most music I like has some combination of the above.
I think what makes classical music so unique is that no other genre better balances those three elements. Think about your favorite symphonic work: the passion it stirs in you, its composition exquisitely designed, refined and meticulously written down to be performed for generations to come, yet its time and place in history distinctly reflected in each performance. There is nothing quite like it.
I’d like to use this inaugural blog to start a dialogue on what makes classical music so compelling, along with discussing what ESO is up to. I’m eager to hear your thoughts on the subject and look forward to our conversations.
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