Niagara Symphony notes and then some!

I am wearing two hats while working this weekend:  first, my broadcast journalist's hat (that's the fedora with the business card tucked into the band) watching the news on the new Ontario Premier picked at the Liberal Leadership convention in Toronto tonight (Kathleen for the Wynne!); the other is the more sedate homburg while covering the arts beat as I do in this space on a weekly basis.

I will let the political pundits have at it for the discussions on the Liberal Convention this weekend; for my part, let's talk about the Niagara Symphony this weekend and what news they have been making as of late.  First off, let me say the Masterworks 3 concert Sunday afternoon at 2:30 promises to be an entertaining and challenging affair.

Guest conductor Earl Stafford will lead the orchestra through their paces in a programme that includes two of my favourite string works:  Grieg's delightful Holberg Suite, Op. 40 and the very familiar Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber.  Also on the programme are the Shostakovich Chamber Symphony, Op. 110a and the difficult and not often heard Clarinet Concerto by Aaron Copland.  The nso's Principal Clarinet, Zoltan Kalman will tackle the work and I have no doubt he will be up to the task.  He is one of the most accomplished musicians on the local music scene, so this promises to be an event.

Maestro Stafford has had a varied career, but is perhaps best known as Principal Conductor of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, a post he held from 1984 to 2009.  He has also worked with such musical greats as Oscar Peterson, Mel Torme, James Ehnes and Evelyn Hart, the long-time Prima Ballerina of the RWB.  Ah, Evelyn Hart...one of the women I had an incredible crush on years ago and it has never subsided!  But I digress...

Masterworks 3 also marks the launch of a new nso initiative:  they have made concerts more accessible to post-secondary students by allowing University and College students to now pay only $12 (plus applicable taxes and fees) to attend concerts by the nso, thanks to the generous support of inaugural sponsor, Scotiabank.  This is a great idea and hopefully a positive move toward attracting more young people to concerts by the nso; after all, they are the orchestra's future so best to nurture the relationship now rather than later or perhaps, never.

Tickets are still available at the box office at Brock by calling 905-688-5550, ext. 3257 or picking them up before the concert in person.  Should you go, be sure to keep an eye out for yours truly at my usual spot in the lobby before, after and at intermission of the concert, with a table full of great musical ideas available for purchase.  The holiday season may be over but you can certainly treat yourself to some great new music for the New Year!  If you don't see what you want you can always order through my website at www.finemusic.ca or directly by email at music@vaxxine.com.

One final note, and this came up in discussion at the recent Holiday Pops! concerts following my dissertation in this space last fall on etiquette in the theatre.  So an addendum here for the concert hall, and it comes following the orchestra's performance of the wonderful Beatlecracker Suite, a 10-minute compendium of Beatles tunes arranged in the style of the familiar Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Suite.  Since it is several movements long and each is as short as only a minute or more, a problem developed at the December concerts.

Generally speaking, Niagara Symphony patrons are pretty good at knowing when to - and when not to - applaud.  The general rule of thumb is only after a work; in other words, a three movement symphony for example, should only elicit applause at the end of the complete work, rather than after each movement.  The problem with the Beatlecracker Suite is people threw that rule out the window and applauded after each segment, thus elongating the work needlessly and frankly, breaking up the flow of the work.  So please, applaud if you wish, as much as you wish, at the end of the work, not during.

This has been a problem for orchestras since orchestras began playing music, actually, but can be taken to extremes.  I recall attending a concert at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto years ago, an orchestra from the U.K. if I remember correctly, and the audience was so earnest in their desire to make them feel welcome they applauded every chance they got, INCLUDING when a stage-hand came out between works to move chairs around on the stage for the next work - how embarrassing!  He actually took a bow to much laughter, but I often wonder what they thought backstage on that occasion.

Audiences can go the other way, too, of course.  I remember being in London at the home of the Royal Philharmonic back in the mid-80s when the great Sir Yehudi Menuhin played with the RPO and the audience actually hissed his performance!  Granted he was in the twilight of his performing career as a violinist at that point but really, does he deserve that sort of reception?  Of course not.  But audiences there are some of the most demanding in the world, I find, and that event has always stayed with me.

Some time later I was again in Toronto at Roy Thomson Hall and Menuhin appeared with his young orchestra as conductor this time, and he was treated with great reverence by the Toronto concert-goers which seemed very appropriate on that occasion.  So basically, use a little common sense and don't go overboard with the applause.  People on both sides of the footlights will, I suspect, appreciate it.

Enjoy the weekend!

January 26th, 2013.