http://www.stuartmalina.com/index.htmlStuart Malina Blog Entriesenenstuart@stuartmalina.comCopyright 2006 Stuart Malina2016-06-13T20:17:59-04:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Wed, 2 Jul 2008 16:15:39 -0400Stuart MalinaStuart Malinastuart@stuartmalina.comOrchestra, Conductor, Classical PodcastsDiscussion of the repertoire for Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra performances.cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2016-06-13T20:17:59-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/7713354cfdf1ac02a0ccd593da7d314f-134.html#unique-entry-id-134http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/7713354cfdf1ac02a0ccd593da7d314f-134.html#unique-entry-id-134
My son, Zev, graduated from the Londonderry School last Thursday. He'll start high school in the Fall. For the graduation ceremony, the students in his class were asked to give a gift of some sort to the school. Zev wrote a set of variations on the song that is sung every year at the Londonderry graduation, called "Praise Be". We made a recording of him playing the piece at our home yesterday, and I post it here, for those friends who wished to hear it.

(The theme of the introduction to the variations is another Londonderry song - from the school play this Spring - called "Show Me Your Talent".)

Enjoy!

Podcast]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2012-04-05T11:08:17-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/cd1b1961a0e38df09f9ac003477a9bac-125.html#unique-entry-id-125http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/cd1b1961a0e38df09f9ac003477a9bac-125.html#unique-entry-id-125Dick and I discuss the upcoming HSO Masterworks performance of Khachaturian's Spartacus Suite #2.


Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2012-04-05T11:07:19-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/7c438f9a686496b64e3c5b05e74a207d-127.html#unique-entry-id-127http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/7c438f9a686496b64e3c5b05e74a207d-127.html#unique-entry-id-127Dick and I discuss the upcoming HSO Masterworks performance of Copland's Billy the Kid.

Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2012-04-05T11:06:50-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/96cb65b2cf38b16a9462c57f36bf7414-128.html#unique-entry-id-128http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/96cb65b2cf38b16a9462c57f36bf7414-128.html#unique-entry-id-128Dick and I discuss the upcoming HSO Masterworks performance of Strauss' Don Quixote.
Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2012-02-26T13:47:54-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/e462fef515d15841833a3d18d27c4f5a-121.html#unique-entry-id-121http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/e462fef515d15841833a3d18d27c4f5a-121.html#unique-entry-id-121
Our God and God of our Ancestors,
To whom all life is precious and dear,
Bless our Founders Day Convocation today
With your gifts of wisdom, grace and peace.

O You Divine
Who create the world
With vibrating substance,
Help each of your creatures
To hear the music we make,
The personal truths we share,
The divine wisdom you reveal;
Open our ears, our minds and our hearts
That we may become better listeners
To the breathtaking cacophony of Your world.

Continue, please, to bless Lebanon Valley College
With wisdom, insight and prosperity.

Continue to bless all campus service organizations
Who contribute to the well being of the student body
And the greater Central Pennsylvania community
With the energy only college students seem to exhibit.

Continue to bless our honoree,
Maestro Stuart Malina and his family
With all that is good;
May he continue
To practice the gifts you grant
And inspire us to greater appreciation
Of the good vibrations
That fill Your universe
With Your songs.
The Bible teaches us
To Sing a new Song to God;
May Stuart Malina’s creativity
Be infused with Your energy
And reflect our divine purpose,
To draw near to You
Through our love and our actions.
May his family,
His fellow musicians
And his community
Continue to benefit
From his great love for people
And for music.

God, Bless the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
These United States of America
And all your creation, everywhere,
With Liberty and Justice,
So that we may wisely embrace
The truth of our diverse paths to each other
And to You.

Amen.
]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2012-02-22T21:13:38-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/df760260a71c788a4ff9314c9d3e7b07-120.html#unique-entry-id-120http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/df760260a71c788a4ff9314c9d3e7b07-120.html#unique-entry-id-120

Yesterday, I had the great honor of receiving Lebanon Valley College's Founders Day Award, for character, leadership and community contributions demonstrating the qualities of the College founders. It was a wonderful ceremony, beginning with a beautiful invocation by my rabbi, Eric Cytryn, and including a charming and beautiful piece for a cappella chorus by my colleague Scott Eggert.

Here are my comments upon receiving the award from Stephen MacDonald, President of Lebanon Valley College. I hope to soon include Rabbi Cytryn's words as well.



President MacDonald, members of the Lebanon Valley College faculty, staff and student body, family and friends –

I am profoundly honored to be receiving the Founders’ Day award today. Being recognized for one’s accomplishments is always gratifying, but to be a musician honored by Lebanon Valley College, which for many years has been a center not only of higher learning, but particularly and proudly of musical learning, is very special indeed.

It is also humbling to be surrounded by people of enormous accomplishments, in music and in every other field of learning, as well as by a student body that will be the next generation of movers and shakers.

More than anything, though, I am filled with feelings of deep gratitude. As proud as I am of what I have done with my life, I am crystal clear on the many advantages I have had – advantages that I had no part in creating other than sheer luck.

In Malcolm Gladwell’s excellent book, “Outliers”, the author examines the lives of many very successful people, ranging from professional athletes to Bill Gates, and finds that in most every case there were circumstances surrounding each one that enabled the person, with lots of hard work, to succeed.

My life has been full of those fortuitous circumstances. Starting with my parents, here with us today, who created an environment filled with love of the arts. Music in the home, concerts, ballets, operas, and plays were part of my upbringing, and gave me a love of music that led me to want to excel at it. They have been unwavering in their support of me, and there aren’t words enough to thank them for that.

I was raised in Scarsdale, NY, an affluent community with excellent schools, where students were encouraged to take leadership roles in ways that one rarely sees anymore. We were taught that we could accomplish amazing thing if we were given an extremely long leash. I was the music director for school and community musicals at age 13…. And I was not the only one. The directors, choreographers, set and lighting designers, and costumers were also kids. Many of them have gone on to big careers – some of them are giants in their professions.

I could go on and on – from my nurturing piano teacher to the woman my mom played tennis with who led me to my first professional orchestra job. The end result was that I found myself able to spend my working life making music – some of the greatest music ever written.

Over the course of my career, I have developed a few principles that have guided me. I thought today I would share some of them with you.

The first is that musicians will play well for you if they feel respected. I strive to treat the talented musicians in the orchestras I conduct with the utmost respect. This includes being prepared, being cordial, never insulting musicians publicly, being open to their musical ideas, staying humble, and always sharing the glory. The audience is applauding their work as much, if not more than mine.

Of course, this could easily apply to just about any profession – certainly any management profession – but it is often conspicuously lacking in mine.

Second, every audience is important. I have been fortunate to conduct at some of the most esteemed venues in this country. It is crucial, if one is to be a performing artist, to understand that the audience at the Harrisburg Forum is every bit as deserving of a spectacular performance as the audience at Carnegie Hall. And, believe it or not, they are every bit as sophisticated. When I conducted at Carnegie Hall, the experience was certainly exciting. What made the experience best, however, was having hundreds of family members, friends, and Harrisburg audience members there, cheering me on. Too many artists don’t get this – phoning in performances at the “unimportant” venues and saving it for the big cities. What a travesty. That is the death of art.

Third, I try to make whatever situation I am in into the perfect situation. It is so easy to constantly gauge your life by comparing it to others. I did this for many years. Some of my friends have had careers much more glamorous than mine. The grass was always greener. The change happened when I was able to really assess what was important to me. This came, not coincidentally, right about the time that I married my wonderful wife, Marty. Music, yes, of course is important. But certainly not as much as my family and the quality of our lives. As it turns out, the work maintaining the green grass on the other side of the fence takes an enormous toll, and the dandelions in my lawn are kind of beautiful. What I am most proud of in my work here in Harrisburg, as well as in Greensboro before that is the balance of my life. I have a great orchestra and a wonderful, sane family life.

Along a similar line, I believe that an audience wants its music director to be devoted not just to his job, but to his community as well. Ownership is the name of the game, and it’s very hard to create a sense of ownership for an orchestra in a community, when the leader of the orchestra shows little ownership of it himself. This is a time when many music directors are juggling multiple orchestras. While it is definitely not impossible for an orchestra to thrive under those circumstances, I feel safe in saying it has been a boon for the HSO that I have made my life there, not just my livelihood.

Finally, great music, performed enthusiastically and skillfully, speaks for itself. There is no need to apologize for great art. This is a hard one to remember. We’re living in a time when orchestras are foundering, and the word on the street is that classical music is dying with its aging audience. We are constantly looking for new ways to bring in audience – this is a necessity. But we cannot be messing with the product itself. My theory is get the people in the door and then give them a great performance.

The late, great choral conductor, Robert Shaw, said that every time you perform a piece of music, someone is hearing it for the first time and someone is hearing it for the last time. It is a powerful bit of wisdom. The first time hearer gives you an enormous opportunity. In fact, you will, by definition, never have the opportunity again. We must make the work come alive, we must in a sense make a case for the work’s worthiness. We want the listener to fall in love with the music. The listener who is hearing it for the last time presents us with a similar, but slightly different responsibility. Here, the performance must be worthy of all previous performances., somewhat of a culmination. As artists, we must keep that huge responsibility in mind. We owe it to the composer, and most of all we owe it to the audience.

Having said that, the concert experience needs to be a welcoming one. I always speak to the audience, at least briefly, to break down the barrier between performer and listener. I don’t want people to feel that the music is beyond them, or that the concert experience requires any advanced esoteric knowledge. It doesn’t. All it requires is an openness to the experience. And of course, a compelling performance. I am so fortunate to have an orchestra in Harrisburg where the members play every piece like their lives depend upon it.

The proof is, as they say, in the pudding. Things are going well for the Harrisburg Symphony at a time when many orchestras are failing. I cannot take all of the credit for this, but I do believe it all starts with an ethos throughout the orchestra of making orchestral music with passion and love.

I will end with a piece of music. I have selected a wonderful Prelude by Claude Debussy, called “The Sunken Cathedral”. In it, Debussy depicts a ruin of a cathedral, which comes back to life in its full splendor, only to once again become a nostalgic memory. In my mind this so beautifully describes the live concert experience, during which a work of art comprising a composer’s notes on a page comes to life in vivid majesty, but only for an instant, after which it is again nothing but a memory, albeit a joyful one.

]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2012-02-07T16:18:25-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/c4deca51470af43242a0b86f5026760e-129.html#unique-entry-id-129http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/c4deca51470af43242a0b86f5026760e-129.html#unique-entry-id-129Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2011-09-26T11:49:23-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/b350f9d00dd14a1aad1848f187fd7163-117.html#unique-entry-id-117http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/b350f9d00dd14a1aad1848f187fd7163-117.html#unique-entry-id-117
One of the HSO’s patrons wrote in to the Comments line the following:

I would surely appreciate your thoughts on how and why the individual programs are selected - what causes you to select a particular composer, combine that composer with one or two others and how and why you feel the specific pieces are compatible musically. Many thanks for enriching my life.

I couldn’t resist leaving in the last line. Sentiments like that mean a lot to me.

So, why did I put together Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody #2, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto #1, and Prokofiev’s Symphony #5?

The short answer is that the combination felt right. But the process is more involved.

Generally, when I’m putting programs together, I begin with one piece around which I want to build the program. Usually it is the symphony, or other large work (tone poem, large orchestral suite, etc.) on the second half of the program. Sometimes it’s the concerto, but much less frequently. In this case, it was Prokofiev’s 5th Symphony. We had last performed it in 2001. It is, in my opinion (and many other’s as well), one of the greatest 20th Century symphonic works. It is also an audience dazzler, and perfect for an opening night. It is a joyful, yet serious (and at times terrifying) piece, extolling the spirit of mankind. It uses fairly large forces, personnel-wise, so it left me a wide range of repertoire with which to pair it, without adding extra expense.

Despite it’s undeniable greatness, Prokofiev’s 5th Symphony is not a top 10 seller, along the lines of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony or the Mozart Requiem. So I wanted to pair it with 1) something very familiar and beloved, and 2) something with marketing clout.

Rachmaninoff is a “household name” kind of composer. His two most familiar and popular works are the 2nd and 3rd Piano Concertos, but we have recently performed both. I also feel that the 1st Concerto is a wonderful and under-performed work. I liked the pairing with Prokofiev - although they were both Post-Romantic Russian composers, Rachmaninoff was much more Romantic, and Prokofiev more Post. Also, we had had Daria Rabotkina the season before last, and I had loved the collaboration, so having her back was a no-brainer.

As for the Liszt… well, it’s a mad, fun romp through the fields of Hungary. The melodies are part of popular culture (what with Tom & Jerry, Bugs Bunny and the like). And yet, it is a terrific piece. Perfect to open a season in celebratory fashion.

So, that was my process. In retrospect, I think it worked out splendidly, and the orchestra and Daria played wonderfully.

If you’ve read this and enjoyed it, please let me know with a comment. One of the frustrations with blogging is you never really know if you are being read, or if you are a tree falling in the forest with no one around….
]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2011-05-09T16:19:27-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/4175fe4a18f8042c943d2c4d00b2ec06-130.html#unique-entry-id-130http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/4175fe4a18f8042c943d2c4d00b2ec06-130.html#unique-entry-id-130Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2011-04-12T16:20:58-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/757b2027b70ba5c05b5a93ceb29b58c6-131.html#unique-entry-id-131http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/757b2027b70ba5c05b5a93ceb29b58c6-131.html#unique-entry-id-131Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2011-03-21T13:09:15-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/abdaed07cf998570e3d2403c3cc18edd-132.html#unique-entry-id-132http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/abdaed07cf998570e3d2403c3cc18edd-132.html#unique-entry-id-132Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2011-03-21T13:07:42-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/221df312e7db2ed0b2581d8942f502d4-133.html#unique-entry-id-133http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/221df312e7db2ed0b2581d8942f502d4-133.html#unique-entry-id-133
Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2011-01-17T10:20:09-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/be89e3e2033c9fd66b564d1c7da81d1c-111.html#unique-entry-id-111http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/be89e3e2033c9fd66b564d1c7da81d1c-111.html#unique-entry-id-111stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2010-11-10T13:07:55-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/513acdd1206e7ca8eecb86a399ff9ec1-109.html#unique-entry-id-109http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/513acdd1206e7ca8eecb86a399ff9ec1-109.html#unique-entry-id-109stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2010-11-10T13:05:00-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/6282653c65bccdc3be86d6855f225c01-110.html#unique-entry-id-110http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/6282653c65bccdc3be86d6855f225c01-110.html#unique-entry-id-110
Click here to watch.]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2010-10-03T01:22:06-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/86d771ac5ccc719b157238f8ab7a6063-108.html#unique-entry-id-108http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/86d771ac5ccc719b157238f8ab7a6063-108.html#unique-entry-id-108stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2010-06-24T10:02:01-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/457c51a77a4b209833e16a49b2816758-107.html#unique-entry-id-107http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/457c51a77a4b209833e16a49b2816758-107.html#unique-entry-id-107
Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2010-05-23T10:50:04-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/19de2e1f773ac4fa22804825b7115ef2-106.html#unique-entry-id-106http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/19de2e1f773ac4fa22804825b7115ef2-106.html#unique-entry-id-106Thanks!]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2010-04-08T11:41:15-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/814c59fdd4ad578aca50b7a80097cc4a-102.html#unique-entry-id-102http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/814c59fdd4ad578aca50b7a80097cc4a-102.html#unique-entry-id-102Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2010-01-19T10:40:00-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/dfdc6727b20133be6491d24892102ea5-103.html#unique-entry-id-103http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/dfdc6727b20133be6491d24892102ea5-103.html#unique-entry-id-103
Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2009-09-17T11:26:00-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/73fe61c19e86e642b29a2e3ccdd654d4-104.html#unique-entry-id-104http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/73fe61c19e86e642b29a2e3ccdd654d4-104.html#unique-entry-id-104Semiramide Overture, Piazzolla’s Four Seasons in Buenos Aires, and Dvorak’s New World Symphony.

Podcast
]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2009-09-17T11:23:00-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/752f4a29981d454517bd2119d164c37b-105.html#unique-entry-id-105http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/752f4a29981d454517bd2119d164c37b-105.html#unique-entry-id-105
Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2009-04-14T10:53:00-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/27d1f1ab291f934ce77167a8462d4390-97.html#unique-entry-id-97http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/27d1f1ab291f934ce77167a8462d4390-97.html#unique-entry-id-97

Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2009-03-05T16:32:59-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/c81cef30031b04acef914e81e24b39cc-96.html#unique-entry-id-96http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/c81cef30031b04acef914e81e24b39cc-96.html#unique-entry-id-96three-day Artist-in-Residence stint at Highland Elementary School. My activities ranged from an assembly performance/presentation for the whole school to small workshop classes with each grade level to sessions each day with the chorus, orchestra and band. The culmination of the residency was a performance by each of the groups for the entire student body.

I think it was a big success. I had a great time. The kids were really fun to work with, and we had very good sessions. The final concert went well, and there was certainly great improvement day to day in the ensembles.

A few reflections on the week:

1) Teaching elementary school aged children is exhausting work. One simply cannot let up on energy for a moment, or you lose the kids. Keeping children interested is not just about teaching but also about engaging. I got home at the end of each school day absolutely pooped. This is not because the children were in any way badly behaved. Actually, they were remarkably well-behaved . It’s just hard work.

2) Teaching elementary school aged children is equally thrilling and rewarding. The kids were so willing to listen and try new things. They worked hard with me, and showered me with affection, both spoken and unspoken. At the end of the concert, many came up and hugged me, presented me with gifts, and thanked me for being there. Talk about feeling warm and fuzzy...

3) Teachers are the unsung heroes of our society. The dedication, skill, and plain hard work of the teachers I was exposed to was awe-inspiring. The music teachers, in particular, need such a high degree of patience, caring, and ability to teach this many children music on an elementary level. I am ready to collapse after just three days. These teachers do it every day, year in and year out. As a parent of young children, it is a perspective changing experience. I spent a good deal of the time there reflecting on my wonderful teachers growing up and how much I owe them. I point you to an earlier blog.

4) Music needs to be in our schools, and more of it. The teachers related many stories of troubled students who found self-esteem and discipline through music. Music programs enhance the rest of school work. I will not dwell on this, as there are many studies that show the power of arts programs to improve scholastic performance, but I wish more people understood what seems such a no-brainer to me.

I went in to this not knowing what to expect, and somewhat anxious about it. I’m very glad I did it. I could not do this all the time, but I enjoyed the week.

And I will miss the kids.]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2009-03-01T04:56:12-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/3f6ab76bbe3a339d7642320b59d688a5-95.html#unique-entry-id-95http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/3f6ab76bbe3a339d7642320b59d688a5-95.html#unique-entry-id-95
One of my dear college friends recently sent me an email, with the suggestion that I insert the phrase, “If I may say so myself” throughout my website. For example, “Maestro Stuart Malina is one of America’s most versatile and accomplished conductors.... if I may say so myself”, or “I thought the concerts were paced well, my banter was generally funny and interesting, the music was by and large well-selected, and the audiences seemed to have a rollicking time... if I may say so myself.” I think you get the idea.

His point is well taken, and I will gladly admit that this website is, in some not insubstantial part, self-promotion. Having said that, I do genuinely feel we are doing great things here at the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, and although much of the credit goes to the players, staff and volunteers, it would be false modesty to suggest that I had little to do with it.

Which brings me to this update. It’s been four months since my last blog entry. (I feel like I’ve entered a confessional!) In that period, the HSO has performed three Masterworks weekends and one pops weekend. Each has presented substantial challenges, and in each case the orchestra has performed spectacularly well. In fact, I would say that the already high level of the orchestra has ratcheted up a notch to something quite remarkable. And yes, I think I’ve done a great job too. (If I may say so myself.)

November’s masterworks concert featured our principal oboist, Alicia Chapman, playing Martinu’s charming oboe concerto. I’ve very much enjoyed presenting our players as soloists, as it shows our audience the incredible level of musicianship we have in the orchestra. Alicia sounded great. The concerto is an endurance test for the oboe, and like an athlete who has trained for the big event, Alicia came to town in great shape. Fun.

The second piece was the tricky one - Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht. This pre-twelve-tone, ultra-Romantic tone poem for strings, is, simply put, a bear to play. It’s just plain hard. I had never learned the piece before, and it certainly presents some conducting challenges. But those challenges would be meaningless unless the orchestra was up to playing the piece. I always come in to the first rehearsal for pieces like this worried that the players will not have done their preparatory work. This is terribly unfair of me, as the HSO always exceeds my highest expectations. In this case, the strings played lushly and passionately, producing a performance that many a higher-paid orchestra would be thrilled with.

The second half of the program was Beethoven’s 7th Symphony. This is my favorite of Beethoven’s symphonies, and that is saying a lot, as they are all amazing pieces. But there is an underlying vitality and spirit to the seventh that makes one glad to be alive and human. The piece requires of the orchestra great stamina and great ensemble. Coming off the less-familiar Schoenberg, the Beethoven felt very comfortable, and the orchestra allowed me to work it hard, particularly in the final movement, which had an intense drive to the finish. We all left the concert in high spirits.

The next concert was an even greater mountain to climb - Mahler’s Ninth Symphony. I have no difficulty proclaiming that this was the hardest piece I’ve ever studied, and as good as I thought my performance was (if I may say so myself), I also felt sure that there were layers of this piece that I hadn’t begun to discover. Every page presented challenges to both learning the music and conducting the music - pages upon pages of dense writing, and music with such intense profundity. It is a remarkable masterpiece. Mahler’s farewell to the world.

For the HSO, this was a watershed event. I think that this concert changed how the orchestra regards itself. Don’t get me wrong. Everyone who plays here knows that the group is very good, and that the experience of playing here is a most enjoyable one, but after this concert there seemed to be the sense that nothing was beyond our reach - indeed, there is nothing that we can’t play really well.

Everyone played at the highest level, and the performances were wonderful. My friend Dick Strawser sat in on all of the rehearsals, and noted that the orchestra in its first run-throughs sounded better in some cases than several of his recordings of the piece (high praise from a man whose opinion I very much respect. You can see his blogs about Mahler’s Ninth here). Audience members still thank me for this concert. And I am still feeling justifiably proud of myself.

A few weeks later we had a different sort of challenge. For our pops series, we did a concert version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe. The challenge here was putting together a rather complicated evening, with many different components, in a remarkable short amount of time. I’ve done several G&S shows over the years (I’ve been a fan my whole life - my parents were in a troupe when I was younger, and I was on the board of the Harvard G&S Society in college), and I have my group of regular performers, who are terrific (including my brother, Joel and my TV star cousin, Josh). This time there were several singers with whom I had never done G&S. The chorus was the ever-wonderful Susquehanna Chorale. To make a long story short, everyone was terrific. My approach to these concerts, and to the pops series in general, is that if we are having a genuinely good time on stage, then the audience cannot help but have a good time as well. The cast, the chorus, the orchestra, and the conductor had a blast.

There was some discussion afterwards about sound. We mike these performances in order that all the words are heard (the lyrics are at least equally as important as the music in G&S). Some audience members related how delighted they were with the sound, and how every word was crystal clear. Others complained that it was way too loud. I wonder if this is a function of the acoustic in the hall (it varies widely area to area, and sometimes seat to seat), or personal taste. Either way, it is of great concern to me, and worth constant revisiting.

The last concert I’ll write about today was last weekend’s masterworks performance. It included two centerpiece of the romantic orchestral repertoire - Smetana’ The Moldau and Rachmaninoff’s 3rd Piano Concerto (beautifully performed by Andrew von Oeyen) - and a piece I imagine noone in the audience had heard or heard of before - Erwin Schulhoff’s 5th Symphony.

Schulhoff was a Czech-Jewish composer during a time it was dangerous to be either Czech or Jewish. The Fifth Symphony was written in 1938, when the Nazis were about to invade Czechoslovakia. It is a work of unrelenting violence and intensity, ranging from the battle music of the first movement, through cries of anguish in the second movement, turbulence and drive in the third, and finally a struggle for humanity and goodness in the final movement. For the audience, it is entry into a profoundly disturbing world. For the orchestra, it is unceasing, relentless intensity.

I was a bit worried having programmed this work. How would the audience respond? Would the orchestra get on board with this exhausting and difficult piece of music?

The answer to the second question is easier. The orchestra, as always, played with remarkable commitment and skill, producing a worthy reading of this symphony.

As to the audience reaction, well, it varied. In my remarks from the stage at the concert’s start, I tried to put the piece into its historical context. I felt that it was necessary to know the circumstances in which it was written to fully appreciate the piece. (One patron wrote on my comments page that he thought great works of art should be able to be appreciated on their own merits without context. I’m not sure whether this is true or not, but I certainly believe that in some cases - particularly where a work of art is directly related to events happening around the creator - context is an enormous enhancement.) Some audience members hated the piece (or as one patron wrote “hated, hated, hated” it). Others loved it. Most, I think, were appreciative of the experience, and were not anxious to undergo it again soon.

Everyone enjoyed the Rachmaninoff.

I was pleased to be able to do pieces like these, with an orchestra like this, for an audience that is willing to listen. The most frequent comment I receive about programming is “Thanks for bringing these pieces to Harrisburg”. War horses are great - no one loves them more than me - but one must also challenge the ear. Not only does it hopefully develop new tastes, but equally important, it keeps the more familiar repertoire sounding fresh.

All in all, during these very uncertain times, it’s been a good winter for the HSO.

If I may say so myself.]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-10-27T10:56:33-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/a3a0a21105c6eeee429240372c1ac960-69.html#unique-entry-id-69http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/a3a0a21105c6eeee429240372c1ac960-69.html#unique-entry-id-69Movin’ Out tour. We have some new band members, and a new piano man (a young, talented guy from Boston, named Jon Abrams). Should be very busy, but a nice change of pace.

This past weekend, the HSO had its opening Pops weekend, An Evening of Epic Film Music. The weekend went extremely well. The audience was a bit smaller than usual on Saturday - probably attributable to the PSU-OSU football game combined with the third game of the World Series. This is the reality of the arts.... To be fair, if the Mets were playing in Game 3, and I had symphony tickets, I’d probably stay home too. The audience on Sunday was huge - almost sold out (many Saturday patrons exchanged tickets). Overall, it was a very good showing.

These pops concerts are particularly exhausting for me. Not only do I have to conduct what tends to be very dramatic, intense music, but also, I serve as host, stand-up comic, and in this weekend’s case, piano soloist. We did a fantasy for piano and orchestra on themes from Exodus, as well as less demanding piano and orchestra music from Forrest Gump and Chariots of Fire. There is also an added stress level, because of the limited rehearsal time combined with the length and variety of the program. I am indeed fortunate that the orchestra is so good. They never let me down. They also have great attitudes, laughing at my jokes, smiling, and allowing themselves to enjoy the performances. Don’t fool yourselves - this is not the case with many orchestras.

Having said all that, I myself had a great weekend. I thought the concerts were paced well, my banter was generally funny and interesting, the music was by and large well-selected, and the audiences seemed to have a rollicking time. The Harrisburg pops series is one of my biggest successes. When I arrived, audiences were dwindling and the board was ready to cancel the series entirely. Now, not only are sales great, but we have extended the series. Much thanks goes to our series sponsor, Capital Blue Cross, for their vote of confidence and continued underwriting. But the bottom line is, we are doing a good job of it, and for that I am justifiably proud.

The other fun part of this weekend’s concerts was the poster, which featured me as Moses, on Mt. Sinai, with the 10 Commandments in tow. I will get a copy, and post it on this blog - it’s one for the ages. (You can see some of the other pops posters, if you missed them, at my blog posts from 10/30/07 and 11/5/07).]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-10-05T23:03:01-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/0d0750825490a9e9432804354f07000c-68.html#unique-entry-id-68http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/0d0750825490a9e9432804354f07000c-68.html#unique-entry-id-68I lost my voice almost completely during the rehearsal period. I was fighting a cold earlier in the week, and the combination of a throat becoming sore with four rehearsals of speaking to the orchestra in a very dry room knocked my vocal chords out of commission. I imagine it was a bit strange for the audience when I addressed them from the stage at the concert’s start. (Of course, this weekend would be the one that the sound system at the Forum went on the fritz...) But even the discomfort in my throat couldn’t dampen my enjoyment of the concerts.
Particularly nice for me was getting to perform Brahms’ Double Concerto with two friends - Daniel Gaisford and Kurt Nikkanen. It is a tricky piece to pull off, and I felt they were terrific.
But, as usual, it was the orchestra that made the weekend. This was an emotional weekend for the orchestra, which was mourning the loss of our orchestra manager, Bill Schmieding. The spirit of mutual support combined with the usual excellence of playing and passion for music-making reinforced my conviction that I’ve found myself a very happy place here in Harrisburg.
]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-09-12T15:09:02-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/f0fad52b2133798a6f7b31f2d4ca8809-67.html#unique-entry-id-67http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/f0fad52b2133798a6f7b31f2d4ca8809-67.html#unique-entry-id-67
Bill had managed the orchestra since before I came to Harrisburg. He had been a violinist in the Tulsa Philharmonic, before turning to management. He had profound knowledge of orchestral repertoire, and brought a lot of great music to my attention.

No one knew the ins and outs of the Harrisburg Symphony like Bill. His job encompassed a wide range of duties, ranging from personnel management to stage management and artistic and technical administration. He made sure that there was a high-quality orchestra on stage every rehearsal and performance, as well as ensuring for everything else that went into a performance. Nobody outside of the orchestra world can understand how important a good manager is to the success of what’s on stage. We in the HSO were very fortunate to have Bill. I don’t really know how we will smoothly operate without him.

On a personal level, Bill was my friend. He was not always the easiest guy to be with. He was an unabashed curmudgeon and cynic, but had a good sense of humor about himself, and about others. He, like all of us, had his demons, but he kept them in check. More than anything (except his wife and daughter), he loved the orchestra. He took great pride in his work, and when the orchestra played well, he never crowed or waxed poetic, but you could see in his quiet contentment, enormous pride in a job well done.

Sadly, his health was his Achilles heel. We all had a sense that it would eventually get the better of him, but nonetheless, his death came as a terrible shock.

My condolences go out to his family. I will miss him very much.
]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-09-10T14:28:09-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/736279793b5f05d1f32fe55a0000a957-66.html#unique-entry-id-66http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/736279793b5f05d1f32fe55a0000a957-66.html#unique-entry-id-66
It was a remarkably fast-moving summer. I always approach the summer with grandiose plans to accomplish great things while the Harrisburg Symphony is off-season, only to find myself at summer’s end having accomplished little. This summer I took the opposite approach, and planned on accomplishing very little. Much to my delight, I was thoroughly successful.

This is not to say that nothing got done. I was actually busily occupied most of the time. Musically, I got through the HSO holiday pops concerts very well. In fact, I thought they were some of our best. I also played three concerts for Market Square Concerts Summermusic, with my good friends in the Fry Street Quartet. I always enjoy this week, but in the past I only played on one concert. The extra load was certainly exhausting, but a great pleasure.

The Market Square week was somewhat bittersweet this year. For many years now, the guest artists and the rehearsals have been hosted by Linda and Jason Litton. They have become very dear friends. Sadly, this past summer was to be our last with Jason. He had been diagnosed several months earlier with a brain tumor, and we knew that he was in his last months. He died this week, and I am very sad to have lost a friend whose company I always enjoyed. He was a gentle man (and a gentleman), smart, curious, and a true music lover - even though he really knew very little about music. He was a great wine lover as well - and he knew a lot about wine, and served me some of the best wine I’ve ever tasted. I feel so fortunate to have had a few opportunities to spend some quality time with him this past summer. He will be sorely missed.



The other musical activity that occupied my time this summer was arranging and orchestrating some tunes for the holiday concerts I will be conducting in Naples, Florida in December. I did some very good work on those.

But most of my summer was spent being a dad. I’m very fortunate to have two great kids, and further fortunate to have had the time to really enjoy their company this summer. They were involved in several different camps, and because my wife, Marty, has been working full time, I did a bunch of shuttling them around, as well as doing lots of dad-like activities.



Back in June, my parents celebrated their 50th Anniversary. To celebrate, we got our whole family together in the Poconos for a wonderful vacation at Skytop resort. We all had a blast. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen my parents happier.



We also got to spend two lovely weeks on Cape Cod with my parents. Their house sits overlooking a wildlife sanctuary marsh, as well as Cape Cod Bay. The view is incredible, and changes, like a series of Monet paintings, as the light of day shifts. We swam a lot, ate great fresh fish, and enjoyed nice family time.



Now, the new season has crashed down upon us. The kids are back at school, Marty’s begun teaching, and I have taken on a new project for the next four months. I am conducting and teaching conducting at Penn State for the first semester. The regular conducting professor, Gerardo Edelstein, is on sabbatical, so I have agreed to fill in for him. I go up Tuesdays and Thursdays, conduct the orchestra, and teach three graduate students. So far, it’s been very tiring, but very enjoyable.

So there you have it - my essay, as it were, on “How I spent my summer vacation.”


]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-09-10T13:24:28-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/6d9a15aef98f71798eb9ec7e84eb3ec3-94.html#unique-entry-id-94http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/6d9a15aef98f71798eb9ec7e84eb3ec3-94.html#unique-entry-id-94
Click on “Podcast” below to listen.


Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-07-02T14:38:21-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/28dd5bcadb3ca6fc9066b01a834a0572-64.html#unique-entry-id-64http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/28dd5bcadb3ca6fc9066b01a834a0572-64.html#unique-entry-id-64
Zac in traditional Chinese garb

Tianjin is a large city of somewhere around 15 million people (no one seemed to know for sure), 3 hours outside of Beijing by car. The city sprawls. Enormous complexes of apartment housing are everywhere. Construction is everywhere, from more apartment buildings, to skyscrapers, to a new subway system. Tianjin is abuzz with excitement right now, as the Olympics will hold events there this summer - soccer and ping pong. A new soccer stadium is up, and roads are being repaved, bridges renovated, and landscaping redone.

Tianjin is clearly not a major tourist city. There are a few museums, which have a decidedly pre-opening-up-to-the-West feeling to them. The biggest tourist attraction is the Ancient Culture Street, a vast market of art, clothing, souvenirs, and chachkees (is that how you spell the word? I don't think I've ever written it before). I made several visits there, as I love the whole bargaining thing. I wrote about it last year, when I went to China with Bob Cheung on the Symphony trip. Everything is negotiable. Zac bought a mah jong set for his wife, Helen, at a seemingly high end depatment store near the hotel. It was sold at the sporting goods department. On a whim, Zac made a counter offer to the listed price, expecting to get a laugh out of the salesman. Instead, he got a third off the price. Simply stunning!

The Tianjin Conservatory of Music has about 2500 students. About half study Western music, the rest traditional Chinese music. I had the pleasure of attending a rehearsal of the traditional Chinese orchestra. The music was very cool and beautiful, played by a sea of erhus of various sizes, zhongs, pipas, gongs, etc. My job this week was to play a chamber music concert with my Pittsburgh colleagues and to rehearse and conduct the (Western) orchestra, culminating in a performance on Saturday night. We performed the Mendelssohn Konzertstück for clarinet and bassoon (originally clarinet and basset horn), the second and thrid movements of the Brahms Double Concerto, and Dvorak's New World Symphony (#9).

The young musicians in the orchestra were of a wide range of ability. Some were quite excellent, others very weak. The most interesting thing about the conservatory orchestra is that the students have virtually no experience playing in ensembles. So things that American youth orchestras take for granted, like listening and sub-dividing beats, had to be taught on a daily basis there. The other surprising thing to me was that the students seemed almost completely unaware of how the music goes. Many of the section leaders in the orchestra were junior faculty members. This was certainly a big plus, particularly in the strings, where the faculty members had all studied in Europe or Israel, so they had a good grounding in Western music, tradition and convention. But the students had very little understanding of how one plays in an orchestra. The thrust of their studies was solo repertoire, with orchestra being almost an afterthought. Strange, given that the bulk of those few that will make successful careers will be playing in orchestras....

Me with String Faculty

I did feel a very nice rapport with the students, and the work was very satisfying. But this was clearly a process-driven week. The concert went very well, given where we started, but I would have been just as happy only rehearsing, as that's where the most work got accomplished.

The conservatory faces many challenges. Music is very expensive, and hard to come by. This might explain the lack in chamber music programs. I was amazed to hear, after our chamber music concert, that we were probably the first performance in Tianjin of the Brahms Horn Trio! The other big challenge is that so much of the curriculum is prescribed by the powers that be, so very little discretion is allowed for designing an effective program for the students. We discussed all these things at length with the faculty members who hosted us.

Outside of the musical experience, which was fascinating, the most lasting impression is of the truly unbelievable hospitality shown us by the conservatory and its representatives. The conservatory is not wealthy, to say the least, and this trip was a very expensive one for them to pay for. But on top of all that, we were treated like kings and queens. Every lunch and dinner (breakfast was an outstanding buffet at the hotel) was a multi-course banquet of the most delicious Chinese food I have ever had. The beer and liquor (a very strong Chinese schnapps) was always flowing. Just when you thought you couldn't eat another morsel, five more courses would come out, and then more. I have fallen in love with Sichuan cuisine. The peppers in Sichuan food are indescribable - they are not really hot, but they awaken and highly stimulate every taste bud on your tongue. It's an amazing feeling.

We were driven around town and shown the few sites. We were always greeted with ebullient affection. Despite the fact that most of those we spent time with could not speak any English (Hong Guang and Adam speak Chinese and the Secretary of the Conservatory, Hu, as well as the trumpet professer, Chen spoke some English), the camaraderie and fellowship was powerful and delightful.

With Chen

Zac, Hu, and Wu

At one of our banquets

There was a steady flow of gifts, too. Gifts from our hosts, from the faculty, even from some of the students. And not junky gifts either. Lovely works of art, and tea, and crafts. Again, generosity is the name of the game. They do hospitality like I've never seen before.

Two particular occasions are worth special mention. The day before we left, Michael, Nancy and I were invited to have lunch with the bassoon professor. We called him "Money", because his name, Yuan, is the same as the Chinese currency. He and his wife share a lovely, if a bit small, two-bedroom apartment a few blocks from the conservatory. Neither speaks any English, so we had an excellent translator with us. He and Nancy have known each other for a few years, and she is clearly a very important friend to him - there are photos all over of the two of them together. What made the visit so special was the incredible warmth we felt from the two of them, as well as the delicious meal Money's wife provided. We found out that she had been cooking for two days in preparation. And of course, they had several lovely gifts for us.


Mike, Nancy, and Moneys

The other occasion came directly afterward. We were picked up at the apartment by Hu, the aforementioned Secretary, Liu, the Director of Orchestral Studies (and oboe professor), and Wu, the Communist Party overseer of the Orchestral Studies Department. (We had laughed all week at the collection of names - Hu, Wu, Liu, and Stu (they actually called me a multi-syllabic version, Suh-too). All three had been at every meal we had eaten all week, and were each lovely people. They were very secretive about where we were going. It turned out that we went fishing. I had never been fishing before. What fun. It was in the middle of the city, at a private pond reserved only for esteemed party members. I caught eight fish. Don't be too impressed, as it was pretty clear they stocked the pond with so many fish that they were seemingly dying to get caught. After fishing, we took the fish to a restaurant specializing in cooking fish, and they used them in preparing our meal. Yum.

Wu, Liu, Nancy and Mike
Catch of the Day

It was a very different kind of trip from the one last year. Last year, I was a tourist, and saw some unbelievable things that I will always remember. This time it was a working and living trip, meeting people who care about the same things I care about, making music together, and forging bonds of friendship that, despite the fact that I was there only a bit more than a week, will remain strong even if it's many years before I see them again.

Nancy and Hu]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-06-28T16:18:09-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/5c11d14c867999edacd669faa789c9e7-63.html#unique-entry-id-63http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/5c11d14c867999edacd669faa789c9e7-63.html#unique-entry-id-63
So, here I will go on record promising at least to try harder. Now that the summer camp season has begun, there should be more opportunity.

As always, I welcome (nay, request.... nay, beg for) feedback, so I know that someone, somewhere is reading what I have to say. For those who have written, my eternal gratitude.

So keep tuned...]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-06-28T15:56:36-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/f53b2a593b6006ba506db46605dec89c-62.html#unique-entry-id-62http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/f53b2a593b6006ba506db46605dec89c-62.html#unique-entry-id-62
After a bit of searching, I found a polling plugin (JS Kit Polls), and I was up and running.

So, what do you think? Should it stay or should it go?

For your polling convenience, I have included pictures of me with and without the beard. Remember, the one sans beard is from a few years ago, so there will probably be a bit of wear and tear...



For your polling convenience, here is a link to the polling page. Of course, you can also click on the word "Poll" in the column to your left.]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-05-15T12:51:59-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/d051a36828138be3d79bb1236e926142-60.html#unique-entry-id-60http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/d051a36828138be3d79bb1236e926142-60.html#unique-entry-id-60
Last weekend was the final Masterworks concert of the HSO 2007-2008 season. It's hard to believe that the year has flown by so fast.

The program was an insane one for an orchestra that does not play together regularly: Copland's Appalachian Spring, Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, and Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.

As usual, the orchestra exceeded my high expectations. They were well-prepared, they worked hard and efficiently in rehearsal, and they performed with incredible abandon and energy. This was my first performance of the Stravinsky, and I was very proud of my efforts on this beast of a piece.

The Sunday performance also taught me a lesson that I have taught many times: mistakes are a part of performance, and generally are unimportant in the large scheme. We had a few big errors in the Stravinsky on Sunday, all simple lapses in concentration, but certainly conspicuous to anyone who knows the piece. One of these errors led to another, much more conspicuous one early on in the piece. No need to mention who the players were. Suffice it to say that they are all some of the most consistent, well-prepared, and talented members of the orchestra, who, other than these few isolated spots, performed magnificently throughout the weekend (and on crazily difficult parts). They simply made mistakes, as we all sometimes do.

I will not lie and say that the mistakes didn't bother me. Of course they did. In the moment, I felt peeved and a bit frantic (there was some in the moment damage control to be done).

What surprised me was that several audience members who attended both performances said that the Sunday performance had even more energy, and more powerful an overall impact, than the Saturday night performance. Fancy that.... all those things I've said a thousand times about mistakes not being important, turned out to be true.

Mistakes are a part of live performance. I have never done a mistake-free performance of any kind. One of the great benefits of conducting is that the mistakes are inaudible and usually rectified by the musicians. In chamber music I mess up all the time. Sometimes the audience just doesn't know it's happened. More frequently, they just don't care that much. Live performance is about so much more than just all the notes being perfectly played.

But we do come pretty close most of the time.....

Anyway, it's been an amazing season, with some very memorable performances. I'm happy to have some time this summer to recover and regroup, but I give myself only a few weeks before I start getting excited about starting up again in the fall.

I'm off to China this weekend - joining a small group of players from the Pittsburgh Symphony to be in residence at the Conservatory in Tianjin. I'll be conducting the student orchestra and playing some chamber music with my esteemed colleagues. It should be fun, and I'll write about the experience soon.]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-04-10T22:54:53-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/6112f0ced86a9c8b7cb7b3480d22f41e-59.html#unique-entry-id-59http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/6112f0ced86a9c8b7cb7b3480d22f41e-59.html#unique-entry-id-59Dona nobis pacem and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. It was a wrenching, emotionally overwhelming weekend for me. To begin with, the music itself is so powerful, particularly the Vaughan-Williams for me (believe it or not), with its crushing anti-war message. To follow this with the Ninth Symphony was a lot of emotion for one concert.

But so much more was going on. One of the HSO's cellists, John Zurfluh, died a week before the concert weekend. I do not want to go into much detail, but his illness had a profound effect on the orchestra, and his death was very difficult. It is always tough to make memorial dedications before concerts - this one was particularly hard.

There were a few other internal issues going on in the orchestra. Again, I don't want to get into them here. But the sum total of this was a highly charged performance. I have to admit, I don't remember much about Saturday night, other than the intensity of the experience. Sunday was much more lucid, and I was very proud of the performance. The reaction from the audience was tremendous. Admittedly, one expects that from Beethoven's Ninth. But the Vaughan Williams was equally well received.

I would be terribly remiss if I did not take this opportunity to praise the chorus - a combination of four choruses, the Susquehanna Chorale, Messiah College Concert Choir, Messiah College Choral Arts Society, under the direction of my friend and frequent collaborator Linda Tedford; and the Alumni Chorale of Lebanon Valley College, directed by Gregg Mauroni. Gregg has just taken the reins of the Alumni Chorale - Pierce Getz, their long-time conductor, died last year. This combination choir was absolutely superb - and on a most demanding program. I am spoiled to have such singers and directors at my disposal. Bravo to them all.

The orchestra, as always, was magnificent. I love making music with them.

All four soloists were terrific.

But for me the heros of the evening were the composers. To write music of such power, that says so much about the human condition, and has such potential to move an audience, is a miracle.]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-03-25T10:49:19-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/4f3d494d9f8168c10dffdeea458dec1c-58.html#unique-entry-id-58http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/4f3d494d9f8168c10dffdeea458dec1c-58.html#unique-entry-id-58Dona nobis pacem. I've decided, based on my studies, not to do a podcast on the piece.

So what happened to cause this decision?

I started weeping while studying. This doesn't usually happen to me. The process of studying for me is usually fairly cerebral. I do, of course, think a lot about the emotional content of the music, but, again, from an intellectual standpoint. The true emotion generally comes out later, in rehearsal and performance.

But for some reason, this piece got to me today. I don't know if it's Walt Whitman's moving poetry, the heart-wrenching, gorgeous music that Vaughan Williams provides to illumine it, or the sad timeliness of the piece's theme given this week's news (4000 Americans and countless Iraqis dead), but whatever it is, the resulting work of art packs a powerful punch.

Dona nobis pacem was composed in the early 1930's, on the eve of World War II, when Europe would destroy itself. The piece, for chorus, two soloists and orchestra, is on the one hand a prayer for peace, and at the same time, a pondering of the horrors of war.

My guess is that the vast majority of our audience has not heard this work before, and I want them to experience it unencumbered by pre-conception, analysis, or pre-concert musical snippets.

It should be a memorable evening.]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-03-19T16:26:02-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/9d75c6d585c77c2bc185114ac620c25f-57.html#unique-entry-id-57http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/9d75c6d585c77c2bc185114ac620c25f-57.html#unique-entry-id-57
You think I'm a little proud?

]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-03-14T11:43:52-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/36734683ebb96c04c9e38aaddd77578d-56.html#unique-entry-id-56http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/36734683ebb96c04c9e38aaddd77578d-56.html#unique-entry-id-56
Odin Rathnam (HSO Concertmaster) and I did a small chamber music program for autistic children at the Capital Area Intermediate Unit. There were about 25 kids, ranging from very high to very low functioning autistic, along with some family members and therapists.

The idea for this concert (as well as sponsorship) came from Marilynn Kanenson, who had sponsored the Stuart & Friends concert earlier in the week. At last years S&F young person's concert, there were a handful of autistic children in the audience, who were noisy in their appreciation of the music. This didn't really affect us on stage, but it certainly was a distraction for the other students there. After the concert, Marilynn and I discussed the prospect of doing a designated program for autistic and other challenged children.

Among the many extreme challenges that parents of autistics face is finding activities with comfortable environments for their children. We wanted to create a thoroughly friendly environment for the kids, one in which they would feel comfortable expressing themselves - physically and even audibly - during the performance, without fear of shushing or curious (or even angry) stares.

Interestingly, the group this morning was extremely engaged, and thoroughly polite. There were one or two spontaneous vocal outbursts from a couple of the lower functioning children, but even they listened attentively.

Two vignettes:

1) There was one boy, I'd guess about 11 years old, who started out the concert with his sweatshirt hood up and his fingers in his ears. As the concert progressed, he became quite engaged (yes, the hood came down), and ended up participating in discussion more than any of the others, asking some very good questions as well.

2) Another boy, a couple of years older, and not nearly as highly functioning, listened intently for the whole show. At the end, he made a beeline to Odin and his violin. Odin is great with kids, and spent a good five minutes with this one child, showing him how to rosin his bow, allowing him to play some sounds on the fiddle, and letting him help put the instrument and music away. The boy then came to the piano and his therapist asked him to tell me what they had learned about in music class that week. He told me "ostinato" and proceeded to play a simple ostinato pattern on the piano's black keys, and in perfect rhythm!

We don't know a lot about the workings of these young minds, or how music can benefit young people on the autism spectrum. But it is absolutely clear to me that the children who heard us play can certainly appreciate the concert experience, possibly in an even greater way than more "mainstream" kids. Our mission as musicians should be to bring great music to the widest range of audience possible, and in environments in which they feel able to enjoy the experience. As such, we should be doing more of what we did today.

]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-03-12T22:19:08-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/fff90fc3f375ecfce682c66c7a62e2da-55.html#unique-entry-id-55http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/fff90fc3f375ecfce682c66c7a62e2da-55.html#unique-entry-id-55

After a day of almost complete R&R, I am finally recovering from a very tiring week. An exhausting Masterworks weekend, a challenging Stuart & Friends program last night, and for most of last week, my wife Marty was sick with the flu. Thankfully, Marty is feeling a lot better. And the concerts went very well.

Stuart & Friends is a chamber music concert I do each year with members of the orchestra. It gives me a chance to work in a different way with the players and to give our audience members a more intimate and personable concert experience. I strive, as host, to keep the atmosphere relaxed, upbeat, and fun, while playing some beautiful music for them.

One lovely aspect of this concert is that it is sponsored by my friend Marilynn Kanenson in memory of her husband, Bill, who was president of the HSO's Board of Directors for my third and fourth year here. He was my first friend in Harrisburg, and a dear man who I miss very much. Marilynn's support has allowed Stuart & Friends to grow and develop an audience.

We had a very nice crowd at the Whitaker Center last night, and, as usual for me, I programmed a really hard concert for myself. I like to challenge myself in these concerts. This year I played Stravinsky's Suite Italienne with Fiona Thompson, the HSO's Principal Cello, Mozart's fiendish sonata in A Major with HSO concertmaster Odin Rathnam, and the the three of us joined with HSO Principal Viola Julius Wirth for Brahms' 2nd Piano Quartet (also in A). And we basically have a day and a half to put it all together.

I don't know what I was thinking.

It all went very well, but boy are my hands tired today...

Chamber music performances are a bit strange for me. Conducting is essentially a macrocosmic experience. You're concerned with grand gestures, leaving the detail work to the musicians. If your palms get sweaty, or your mind wanders for an instant, generally (not always, but generally) it doesn't affect the performance all that much. When you're playing the piano, on the other hand, it can mean a musical train wreck. Every little detail is evident. This is both terrifying and exhilarating. There was one moment toward the end of the third movement of the Brahms - we'd already navigated (and rather successfully) about 30 minutes of intense wonderful music - when someone started coughing in the audience. Had I been conducting, it would have had absolutely no impact. In this moment of the Brahms, though, I was jumping back and forth from one end of the piano to the other, and that little distraction threw me for an instant. Not disastrous, but I was a bit miffed at myself for that instant of thinking, "Oh... someone's coughing."

The other side of that coin is that actually playing the music is pretty cool. Don't get me wrong. I love conducting, and it's an amazing thrill. But I would not want to ever give up playing. The chamber music repertoire is so rich, and the experience of crafting the music, moment to moment, with colleagues and friends is so indescribably gratifying, that it would feel like an incomplete musical existence without it.

]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-03-11T14:12:24-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/52340afe148819fbef7e8a3ea57edbdd-54.html#unique-entry-id-54http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/52340afe148819fbef7e8a3ea57edbdd-54.html#unique-entry-id-54
Percussionists: Adrian Stefanescu, Barry Dove, and Glenn Paulson
Timpanist: Peter Wilson

]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-03-10T19:34:52-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/a50e6d9f1effbbeab2f5d7f77bfc0701-53.html#unique-entry-id-53http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/a50e6d9f1effbbeab2f5d7f77bfc0701-53.html#unique-entry-id-53
1) Wow, what a terrific piece Jennifer Higdon's percussion concerto is. Gripping from the start, evocative throughout, and a thorough examination of the wide range of expression percussion is capable of. This is not just a big drum jam session - there is as much tenderness as bombast.

2) Wow, what a tremendously talented musician Chris Rose is. I honestly don't know how I can adequately describe the magnitude of his accomplishment. I knew he was good, but I never could have imagined the polish, the unabashed virtuosity, the musicality, and the utter mastery of this incredibly difficult concerto. He rocked the Forum.

3) Wow, what a great percussion section the HSO has. Jennifer's concerto is a virtuosic display for not not only the soloist, but also for the three percussionists and timpanist in the orchestra. They were all simply amazing - which fills me with great pride.

4) Wow, the audience in "conservative" Harrisburg, PA can respond with not just enthusiasm, but with exultation for a great work of new music performed brilliantly. Virtually the entire audience was on its feet instantly following the final downbeat.

5) Wow, the Harrisburg Symphony can play anything, and well. This was no light-weight program. Every piece on the program is a killer, from the intensely difficult Walton Partita for Orchestra to the concerto (Jennifer does not let the orchestra sail through her concertos), to Ravel's La Valse (not only a technical workout, but stylistically tricky as well), to Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol. We rehearsed very hard, and the orchestra, as always, showed up to play. This orchestra is a conductor's dream.

6) Wow, nice guys (or gals) do not always finish last. When I was at the Curtis Institute of Music (too many years ago), Jennifer Higdon was a composition student. She was a charming, down to earth, sweet person. She is now a superstar composer, and every bit as lovely as she was when we were kids at school. It was wonderful having her in town for the weekend, and she was so generous with her time, attending rehearsal, appearing at WITF for a live "Composing Thoughts" with John Clare, and doing pre-concert lectures and post-concert talkbacks with me. In all of this she was a bastion of energy and joy, forthcoming and good-natured. At the same time, Chris Rose is an equally lovely and unassuming guy, as easy-going and sweet as he is talented. What a pleasure!

This is the kind of concert that leaves me exhilarated and exhausted. They should all feel this good.

]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-02-28T13:23:39-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/5a173e5c042258f327b6931f79516f11-93.html#unique-entry-id-93http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/5a173e5c042258f327b6931f79516f11-93.html#unique-entry-id-93

Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-02-27T13:22:37-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/bc1aaf6d840ce93c492ff684ce60a01b-92.html#unique-entry-id-92http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/bc1aaf6d840ce93c492ff684ce60a01b-92.html#unique-entry-id-92the Sound Exchange, where you can hear the instruments demonstrated by the Philharmonia Orchestra (use the menu on the left to navigate).


Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-02-26T13:21:18-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/38f6cf0ca74302e7a8c52e7e0e7716c8-91.html#unique-entry-id-91http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/38f6cf0ca74302e7a8c52e7e0e7716c8-91.html#unique-entry-id-91

Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-02-21T13:52:45-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/88a315deb918d1b98390c3d480543e3f-49.html#unique-entry-id-49http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/88a315deb918d1b98390c3d480543e3f-49.html#unique-entry-id-49Rounds for String Orchestra, Mozart Violin Concerto #5 and Mendelssohn Symphony #3. A few thoughts:

1) I tried using classical seating for the strings this time. I figured that with the slightly smaller string section and the classical/early romantic repertoire (Mozart and Mendelssohn), it would make a good experiment. I for one was very pleased. Particularly in the Mendelssohn Scottish, thre are so many instances where it's absolutely clear that he was writing for this configuration, with frequent stereophonic effects. I also found that the second violins played with more confidence. Interestingly, so did the violas, who are normally on my right. Maybe they needed the comfort of being between the firsts and the cellos. Whatever the reasons, I thought it worked, and I will not hesitate to use this seating when the occasion warrants in the future (probably the next time will be in April for Beethoven's 9th Symphony).

2) Augustin Hadelich, who played the 5th Mozart Violin Concerto, was nothing short of spectacular. One needed only watch the players in the orchestra, and the utter respect they were telegraphing, to know that we were listening to a master. And at the ripe old age of 23! He plays with such unassuming grace, while at the same time with such energy and abandon. It was simply perfect Mozart. I hope Augustin has the kind of brilliant career he deserves. Nice person too.....

3) What a lovely change of pace for the orchestra. We usually perform the big repertoire of the later 19th and 20th centuries - pieces that take you on emotional roller coaster rides. As stormy as the Mendelssohn Scottish Symphony is, it is serene, tuneful, delightful, and relatively light. Not that it is easy - in some ways, the music is even more difficult than the big romantic works because it is so transparent and there is no place to hide. But it is certainly comfort food for our audience's ears. I'm so glad I programmed it, and that we used a smaller ensemble.

4) David Diamond's Rounds for String Orchestra should be played more. It is an exuberant, interesting, and decidedly American piece of music.

5) The orchestra played wonderfully. I know I've said this many times, but what a lucky conductor I am to have such a talented, and nice, group of musicians to work with.

I have a lot on my plate now. Several new pieces for me on the next concert, and then a very quick turn around to Beethoven's 9th, and Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem (also a first for me). Add to that another ambitious Stuart & Friends concert (Stravinsky Suite Italienne, Mozart K. 526 Violin Sonata, and Brahms A Major Piano Quartet) in between and you have yourself a busy conductor/pianist.

Back to work!

]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-02-03T22:05:11-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/a45be3161e4b883dd0610512a15955f8-48.html#unique-entry-id-48http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/a45be3161e4b883dd0610512a15955f8-48.html#unique-entry-id-48
What a great football game. A cliff-hanger to the very finish. They should all be this good.

Congratulations to the Giants. An amazing finish to the season, and denying the Patriots their perfect season at the same time. Great day in sports.

]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-02-03T12:52:41-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/446079556bbfcdd6f5ed83607253eee4-47.html#unique-entry-id-47http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/446079556bbfcdd6f5ed83607253eee4-47.html#unique-entry-id-47
First, my pick for the Super Bowl. Giants over the Patriots, 23-21. Now, understand, I know very little about handicapping football. I like watching the games, but I'm not a fan, like I am of baseball and the New York Mets (more on them later). But the Giants are from New York (okay, New Jersey, but close enough), and I have an irrational dislike of the Patriots. I generally root for the underdog, thus my prediction.

It's been a very big week for the Mets. They finally landed Johan Santana, one of baseballs best pitchers. After the ignoble and depressing finish to last season, the Mets' faithful needed good news in the off-season. Interestingly, the Mets have gone from the expert's pick for third place in the Eastern Division to the pick to seriously challenge the American League powerhouses in the World Series. I think this is hogwash. But, it's nice heading into the new season with a great deal of optimism.

While we're on sports, how about Tiger Woods? The man is over the top great. He seems to always find a way to win. I said before that I generally root for the underdog. One exception is golf. I always root for Tiger.

On Tuesday, Our friend Marilynn took me and the kids to an open rehearsal of American Ballet Theater's production of Sleeping Beauty at the Kennedy Center. It was beautiful. Gorgeous costumes and sets and wonderful dancing. Unfortunately, in act three, the dancers were almost entirely marking. Not much happens in the third act - the prince has already kissed Princess Aurora - it's mostly just set dances. My son, who was on my lap, leaned over about halfway through, and said, "Dad, this is kinda boring." He was right. Not much excitement in watching the bluebird walk back in forth on the stage and throw up his hands. Next time, we should probably go to a performance.

Two nights later, more dancing. I went to see Movin' Out in York, PA. This is the latest incarnation of the show - the non-Equity production, produced by Troika Entertainment. Twyla Tharp directed it herself, and I, with the invaluable and expert help of David Rosenthal, put the band together. I went a few weeks back to see it in Reading, at a beautiful but accoustically challenged theater. It was a bit discouraging, as the sound was very muffled. In York, I thought it sounded great. It also gave me a chance to see both of the tour's piano men - Matthew Friedman (who I saw in Reading), who's performance was very familiar, as he did the first national tour as well; and Kyle Martin, who I hadn't seen do it since we opened in Atlantic City last summer. At the time he was a bit green, and just getting used to the in-ear monitering system. Lots of potential, but not quite there yet. On Thurday, I thought he was terrific. Totally comfortable, energetic, charismatic - everything we hoped for when we hired him. And the band sounded great. As for the dancing, I was very impressed. They cast is doing a wonderful job of keeping the energy up. The story telling is clear, and the dancing impressive. I'm really proud of this show.

That's it for now. I'm ready for more Advil.

]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2008-01-28T05:34:57-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/9e7b70198d68d7d4ccf6e1272892b51d-46.html#unique-entry-id-46http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/9e7b70198d68d7d4ccf6e1272892b51d-46.html#unique-entry-id-46
Ah well, it is my cross to bear.

This was a most enjoyable weekend's work. We performed our second Pops series concerts, "An Evening with Rodgers and Hammerstein", aided by three wonderful Broadway stars, Melissa Errico, Gary Mauer and William Michals, and the splendid Susquehanna Chorale, with whom I've developed a lovely working relationship. Both concerts were sold out - we have often come close, but rarely has every seat literally been sold. The ambiance was electric. Of course the orchestra came through with flying colors, on what was actually a rather difficult program.

And the music is gorgeous. Some of the most beautiful music ever written. Admittedly, I am a sucker for classic musical theater, but this is as good as it gets. Not a bad song in the bunch, and many wonderful songs were not included.

There's an honesty about Rodgers and Hammerstein that is almost disarming. The poetry and naive optimism of Hammerstein's lyrics combined with the simple yet effusive joy of Richard Rodgers music leaves the listener (and performer) with a smile and often with goosebumps. This is feel good music at its best. Some might say it's corny, but I'll take that brand of corn any day.

To get to perform this music is extremely satisfying. Even worth losing a few nights' sleep.

]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-11-12T13:20:09-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/14253dff788461af682eb39627c0a76a-90.html#unique-entry-id-90http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/14253dff788461af682eb39627c0a76a-90.html#unique-entry-id-90



Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-11-05T14:24:21-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/d25f832b77526e41aa8a7fab854e1fa6-44.html#unique-entry-id-44http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/d25f832b77526e41aa8a7fab854e1fa6-44.html#unique-entry-id-44The Sea Hawk, and Robin Hood). Second, when there is no featured act we are presenting, so much more responsibility falls on the conductor as host and entertainer. For this one, I also played the piano and the accordion, and I sang some of Rawhide. Not that I'm complaining... frankly, I had a blast, and seemingly so did the audience.

The orchestra again exceeded my already high expectations. To put this program together with so little rehearsal time was nothing short of heroic. Add to that the humor and energy they brought to the stage. That is what sells a pops concert. If the orchestra and conductor are having fun and the music is well chosen and well performed, you cannot go wrong.

Nice crowds again for both shows, particularly Sunday's matinee.

My favorite moment: on Sunday, when I played the accordion solo for The Godfather Suite, Odin (our concertmaster) and several other string players got up and put dollars into the accordion case. A few pieces later, when Odin had a schmaltzy solo in The Green Leaves of Summer, I stopped conducting and threw a couple of dollars at him. Classic. ]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-11-05T14:21:19-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/0aa5b2c45932af213c4d90e4c2c4bed7-43.html#unique-entry-id-43http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/0aa5b2c45932af213c4d90e4c2c4bed7-43.html#unique-entry-id-43

]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-10-30T17:50:34-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/43743e08ea66543355d6777c5de4b82d-42.html#unique-entry-id-42http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/43743e08ea66543355d6777c5de4b82d-42.html#unique-entry-id-42Swashbucklers and Gunslingers concert this weekend. Our Marketing Director, Kent Wissinger, created this, and it's created quite a sensation in Harrisburg. It seems like a lot of people want to have signed copies to frame and hang in their homes. Figure that....



There are already posters done for the remaining two concerts, but I don't want to scoop Kent. The concerts are An Evening of Rodgers and Hammerstein and Stay Tuned: The Golden Age of Television. Use your imagination and you'll probably come close. I'll post those soon.]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-10-29T17:00:52-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/2b81e2559611644462ccd4c77e36042e-41.html#unique-entry-id-41http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/2b81e2559611644462ccd4c77e36042e-41.html#unique-entry-id-41Carnegie Hall concert come and gone. Again, it was a thrilling experience, and again, there were a few hundred friends and patrons from Harrisburg at the concert.

Let me start with that. How cool is it that 200 Harrisburg Symphony patrons made the trip to NYC to see me conduct at Carnegie Hall? It certainly give me a fuzzy, warm feeling inside. And people wonder why I like it here....

I took the train to NY on Wednesday afternoon, affording me several uninterrupted hours of work time. I stayed Wednesday night with my dear friends the Azenbergs, who conveniently live a block away from Carnegie Hall. I watched the ball game, couldn't sleep (sadly, par for the course), and went to rehearsal on Wednesday morning, the start of a very long day. The rehearsal was in the auditorium of the Jewish Community Center on 76th Street. Nice facility. Rehearsal was vigorous, focussing mostly on the Korngold violin concerto (with Pip Clarke), and the Enescu Rumanian Rhapsody #1. Neither is your typical pops piece, and there was much to work on. The orchestra and staff was extremely warm and welcoming, a fact I very much appreciated.

After rehearsal, James Johnson, the NY Pops Executive Director, and I met Ruth Henderson, Skitch's widow for lunch. Skitch of course was the founder and only director of the NY Pops up until his death in 2005, at the age of 87. Ruth is younger, and vibrant, intelligent, driven, warm and wonderful. It was great hearing her stories and getting to know this amazing woman (James aptly decribes her as a "force of nature").

From there it was on to the Pops offices, where I was to give a conducting lesson to the winner, at auction, of a chance to conduct the Pops at my concert. he was conducting the "Star Spangled Banner," which as it turns out, is not the easiest piece of music. It has stops and starts. Yikes! Mike Appling, the conducting student, had just the right combination of eagerness, humor, rhythm, and a bit of moxie. We worked for a while and thn it was time to move on.

Off to Michael Feinstein's house on the East Side, to go over his set for the concert. Michael lives in a gorgeous townhouse, which at present is a work in progress. Some rooms are not yet done, but the piano room, where we met, was beautifully decorated, with great art on the wall. One wall was a sort of shrine to George Gershwin, whom Michael clearly holds dear to his heart (he had worked closely with Ira Gershwin in his younger days). When people ask me what Michael Feinstein is like, my response is that he is as warm and charming in person as he is on stage. I really liked him. And I love the way he performs the American songbook. He knows this repertoire like few others anywhere. What fun for me.

After our meeting it was back to the West Side for dinner and a show. My old friend Aaron Sorkin has a new show in previews on Broadway (at the Music Box Theater), so he invited me to come see the show and I suggested we meet for dinner, as we haven't had the chance to visit in an age. He and I went to Scarsdale High School together and did lots of shows when we were younger. We met two other friends - Jeff Gardner, also of Scarsdale, who is currently producing a headed for Broadway production of a musical version of the film Grumpy Old Men, and Rob Jones, a friend of mine from Harvard, who became friends with the rest when we were all living in NYC in the late 80s. So it was a most enjoyable dinner. What I love about this kind of old, dear friend is that time passes, but the friendship doesn't change. It's a beautiful thing. It was doubly nice that we were to see the new show, and Aaron was coming the next night to Carnegie.

The show, The Farnsworth Invention was terrific. Beautifully written (I don't think anyone writes dialogue better than Aaron), beautifully acting and expertly directed and presented. I get very emotional when my friends do cool, great thins, and the show effected me anyway, so I was a bit "verklemmt" at the end.

Jeff walked me back, and I spent another mostly sleepless night.

Friday was spent preparing: In the morning, I spent some time tginking about what I wanted to say at the concert. Certainly the most important part of that was a tribute I was to give for John Griner, the Chairman of the board of the NY Pops, who just died a month ago. John was a special man, and I wanted the words and sentiments to be just right. I also wanted to make sure I had my ideas straight for the rest of the first half of the show. I generally do not like to memorize words - it tends to come out rigid that way. So I fill my head with possibilities and ideas, and speak off the cuff. It's something I think I do pretty well.

My wife Marty arrived in the early afternoon, and we went to the hall together. I went up to the Maestro's suite, a bit less overwhelmed than the last time, but nonetheless very excited. Rehearsal was okay, but I knew that in some ways we could have used more time, and we'd be flying a bit by the seat of our pants. This is par for the course, I think. Certainly I feel most of the time that I could stand another rehearsal, especially with difficult repertoire, but the happy news is that the orchestras generally kick it up a notch (to quote Emiril) and come through in the concerts.

This was no exception. The concert went very well. I felt pleased with my conducting and the orchestra's playing. The audience responded well to my banter, and seemed to have a great time. Michael Feinstein was splendid. I saw a bunch of family and good friends at intermission and after the show was over. It's great having that kind of support.

After the concert, there was a lovely reception where I got a cance to meet some patrons of the Pops. There is nothing like a good schmooze after a long night's work.

Of course, I didn't sleep much....

So what is it with this insomnia? I wish I knew. My mind simply races. It does make things tugh sometimes, being really tired. Ah, well... I've learned how to cope with it.

So now it's back to work here in Harrisburg. No rest for the weary. And it's more movie music. Swashbucklers and Gunslingers. Should be fun.
]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-10-12T13:40:02-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/bfdfc1363fb18f4c623f03227c082b22-40.html#unique-entry-id-40http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/bfdfc1363fb18f4c623f03227c082b22-40.html#unique-entry-id-40
A few reflections:

1) The orchestra is really good. It's such a pleasure to be reminded of that every time I take the podium. The Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra is a dynamic, exciting, and talented bunch of players, and I am lucky to work with them. We had a fair numbers of substitutes in the orchestra this time. For those new to this concept, the players of the HSO, like most of the orchestras in our region, have a minimum requirement of concerts to play, beyond which they have total flexibility. this allows us to have the caliber of players that we regularly put on the stage. Of course, the only way this can work is if we have subs of the same high level. Luckily, as this opening night proved, we do. The repertoire was difficult, and in the case of Tchaikovsky's 2nd Symphony, somewhat unfamiliar. Rehearsals were upbeat and the results exciting. I will not soon forget the feeling on Sunday afternoon of pushing the accelerando at the end to its furthest limit, and the orchestra seamlessly following. Ah, the pleasure of conducting a responsive group!

2) Karen Gomyo, who played the Dvorak violin concerto with us, is a splendid violinist. She is an intensely gifted musician, but her playing is never self-indulgent. She simply makes every phrase gorgeous, and she is a delightful young woman who is easy to collaborate with. I can't wait for the next time.

3) What a difference 550 new subscribers makes! The orchestra ran two promotions: half-price subscriptions for new subscribers to the entire series, and $27 season tickets (in designated seating areas) for students and their families. Needless to say, they have been rather successful (and continue to be). This is not just a good thing for our balance sheet, although it certainly helps. These extra audience members actually make the concert a better experience, both for the players and for the audience. There is a "critical mass" of audience members (at the Forum I'd say it's about 1300) beyond which it feels like a full house. We are finally there, and the entire ambiance of the concerts is better. I certainly felt it. I imagine everyone there did as well.

4) The "talkback" sessions after the concerts are picking up steam. We had fairly large groups staying after both performances to ask questions of me and Karen, and reflect on the concerts. This is our third year doing these, and they are always enjoyable. For me, it's a chance to unwind, and an opportunity to have face to face time with our audience. For the attendees, it's a chance to get some new insight into the musicians and what makes us tick. Those of you who have never attended them should consider giving it a try.

That's all for now. I again ask that you send comments and questions - let me know what you think.]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-09-30T13:18:45-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/7d73ed1c43eb7a194ce75fe196fb310d-89.html#unique-entry-id-89http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/7d73ed1c43eb7a194ce75fe196fb310d-89.html#unique-entry-id-89
Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-09-28T13:13:13-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/e2dd14c3c8d6452cda366c46bac5cb7a-88.html#unique-entry-id-88http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/e2dd14c3c8d6452cda366c46bac5cb7a-88.html#unique-entry-id-88
Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-09-27T13:10:54-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/85082804f96528129199f825ecc2afb1-87.html#unique-entry-id-87http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/85082804f96528129199f825ecc2afb1-87.html#unique-entry-id-87
Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-07-16T11:23:53-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/1d35b9a0118b7206ea1ad39d8d4f083b-34.html#unique-entry-id-34http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/1d35b9a0118b7206ea1ad39d8d4f083b-34.html#unique-entry-id-34
The first is my billboard, up this entire past season in various well-traveled locations, and the subject of much teasing from my friends here.



The second is my life-sized cardboard cut-out, made to help advertise the HSO raffle this past year, but kept for other potential uses in the upcoming season. If you think I got a lot of grief from the billboard, it was nothing compared to the flack generated by this:



It can be somewhat odd to be a local celebrity. It must be really strange in the larger markets. I remember when Movin' Out opened in NYC, and there was a building-sized photo of Michael Cavanaugh up in Times Square. That must have been intense and pretty cool for Michael. Then I think of the real mass-market celebrities like the sports, TV and movie stars, who see themselves everywhere, and have no aspects of their lives to themselves. At what point does it cross over the line between fun/cool and horrible/invasive? Tough to say, but I'm certainly glad that most people don't have any desire to know what conductors do when they are out of their tails.

My kids loved the billboard, though...]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-07-11T14:32:38-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/b3e7e45d8a47d70220b1d5bab3208bdf-33.html#unique-entry-id-33http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/b3e7e45d8a47d70220b1d5bab3208bdf-33.html#unique-entry-id-33
I met Earl Mays in 1991, when I went to Charleston, SC to be the Assistant Conductor of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. Earl was already a living musical legend in Charleston, having led the band program at the Citadel for many years, and having written several excellent pops arrangements for the CSO. Over the years, I've conducted nearly all of Earl's arrangements, premiered many of them. Earl was a magnificent orchestrator - he really understood how to write for symphony orchestra. I always felt he was particularly good at brass orchestration, and when he had the luxury of a sax section, his "big band sound" was second to none. I remember him telling me that he spent most of his arranging time working out the segues (the way one tune merges into another). They always turned out interesting and seamless. Even after I left Charleston, I continued to play his music - some of his charts, like the "Big Band Blast" and "Hooray for Hollywood", I could probably lead in my sleep. When my brother, Joel, and I created our "Las Vegas Legends" show, I asked Earl to write charts for the second half of the show - all of the Sinatra tunes. This may be the best work I saw Earl do. Tasteful, brash, swinging and fun.... what a great arranger!

As brilliant a musician as he was, he was equally a gentle, avuncular man. We became very close friends. I loved being around Earl, and after I left Charleston, we stayed in very close contact. He was planning to attend my Carnegie Hall debut last winter, but his health prevented him from making the trip. He would have really loved that...

I will miss Earl. Knowing him enhanced my life and contributed to my growth as a musician. I will continue to perform his wonderful music, and I know he will be on my mind whenever I program a pops program or perform big band music.

I've known Marjorie Katzman for only seven years. I first met her husband Ron, who was one of the committee that brought me to Harrisburg, was previously chairman of the HSO's Board of Directors, crafted my initial contract, and continues to serve on the Board and contribute pro bono legal advice to the HSO (the value of his donation of time and expertise has been immeasurable). He is one of a handful of real heroes of my tenure with the HSO.

Marjorie was much more behind the scenes during my time here. She had served her time in the spotlight - chairman of the Board, president of the Symphony Society - and in recent years was the chairperson for several fund-raising events. And that was just her activities for the HSO. She also was a volunteer for several other worthy organizations, and served earlier as a missionary abroad. She was the kind of person who would come through whenever you needed her - generous in every way. She was also an extremely warm, kind and sharply intelligent person.

Marjorie was no pushover. Her mind was always working, and when she had an idea, she would be heard. Luckily, her ideas were usually good, and always at least provocative. More importantly, they always came from a deep love of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra. She really liked music, but she loved the HSO, and was one of the people (like Ron) who I knew would never allow the orchestra to fail. Every organization needs those supporters. In fact, if I could clone Ron and Marjorie Katzman and create a symphony board and auxiliary, it would be pretty hard to beat.

Harrisburg is a lesser place for having lost Marjorie. She devoted her life to two things: raising a family and doing good things for others. We need more people like that.

My deepest sympathies go out to Earl's and Marjorie's families.]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-06-28T13:35:42-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/0f45f840715f45667d2d29255ed9e489-32.html#unique-entry-id-32http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/0f45f840715f45667d2d29255ed9e489-32.html#unique-entry-id-32
I was home from China for a day. It was supposed to be two days, but as I said earlier, we had to spend the night in Chicago because United Airlines would not hold our flight for 10 minutes (!) - and there were 21 of us! Unbelievable. Far be it from me to try to understand the workings of the UA think tank. I will say that the customer service folks at United were very pleasant and helpful. A silver lining on a rather gloomy cloud.

After that one day, I was off to Atlantic City, to serve as Music Supervisor for a fourth production of "Movin' Out", at Harrah's casino at the Marina. The work was hard but very enjoyable. I think the company is very good. This production will be in AC for 10 weeks, and then tour the country and Canada, playing a lot of the smaller venues that the First National tour could not play. The band sounds great, our two piano men, Matthew Friedman (who did it on the first tour) and Kyle Martin (who is new to the show) are both excellent, and it was lots of fun collaborating with David Rosenthal again on the music and of course with Twyla Tharp.

The thing that struck me most about the two weeks or so in AC was the joylessness of the place. You walk through the casino and see hundreds of people at slot machines, and no one is smiling! Very strange.

Great outlet shopping, though.

After my AC adventure, I returned home for "Daddy Camp". My wife Marty is the Director of the Massage Therapy program at Harrisburg Area Community College. She was heading into the last week of her program's first seesion, so it made sense (especially after my virtual absence for the previous month) that I take the kids on a week of adventures. We had a great time. Monday, we drove to New York City to see an open dress rehearsal of the American Ballet Theater's production of Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" with our friend Marilynn Kanenson. I don't know if there is any prettier music out there. And the dancing was beautiful. Tuesday, we went to Baltimore's Port Discovery Children's Museum, a marvelous educational playground for kids. We were met ther by my sister-in-law Nancy and her two children, and spent the next two nights with them in Northern Virginia, while during the day we did the Washington, DC thing, visiting several Smithsonian museums and the main monuments. Friday we capped off the week with a visit to Hershey Park. We had an absolutely perfect day, and had a blast.

I love my family, if you haven't guessed yet.

So now it's back to work. In the next few weeks I have three programs - two with orchestra and one chamber music (see Upcoming Events...). Then I get some real vacation with the family at my parents' Cape Cod house. It should be just in time.

Be back soon.]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-06-28T09:12:22-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/3bfb313f1df6832e554dfbe1a466c585-31.html#unique-entry-id-31http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/3bfb313f1df6832e554dfbe1a466c585-31.html#unique-entry-id-31
It's summer, and I'm at Barnes and Noble Bookstore with a venti coffee of the day, a spinach and artichoke strata, and my laptop. My daughter Sara is doing a one-week tennis camp about 25 minutes from my house. It starts at 9 and ends at 12, so the issue has been: do I go home in between and work, or stay out near the camp for the three hours. Today I chose the latter, and I am taking advantage of this chunk of time to update my hopelessly lagging blog.

It's been quite a busy stretch since the season ended in May. I should say a word about that last concert first. We premiered a new trombone concerto by Scott McCallister, played brilliantly (and I do not use the term lightly) by our Principal Trombone, Brent Phillips. What thrilled me was not only the piece, an excellent addition to the repertoire - beautifully structured, varied in content, perfectly orchestrated, dazzlingly difficult for the soloist, and audience friendly without dumbing down to anyone - but also the incredible and spontaneous response from our audience. This was no obligatory standing ovation, but rather the sincere expression of elation at the presentation of an exciting, gripping, and visceral new work. (My friend John Clare has an excellent interview of Scott at Composing Thoughts.) This was followed by a performance of Rachmaninoff's 2nd Symphony, in which the orchestra showed once again that it can hold its own with some of the elite orchestra's out there. A great experience, and one that left me optimistic about the future of the HSO, and profoundly grateful to be here at this point in time.

The next day was the wedding of one of my oldest friends, Jeff Gardner, in NYC (I've known Jeff since kindergarten!). A whirlwind trip, but one I would not have wanted to miss.

Jeff and Federica

The next day I left for China. This was a tour, organized by Bob Cheung of Harrisburg, to benefit the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra. I was the supposed draw, although I think the trip itself was enticing enough on its own. I call it the "It's good to be Stuart Malina China tour." The trip spanned 12 days, including 2 full days of travel (actually, there was an extra night, as we missed our Chicago connection coming home...), and there were 33 of us in the group.

I will not make this a travelogue, but suffice it to say, the trip was amazing. The highlights for me:

1) The Great Wall. What can I say? I went to China expecting the Great Wall to be incredibly cool, and it far exceeded my expectations. It boggles the mind to think of how this structure was actually built. We had to take a gondola to the wall, and then exhausted ourselves walking the relatively short span we covered. How did the workers do it, carrying enormous stones? Even without the Wall, the natural scenery was gorgeous. We had a spectacular clear day at the Wall - apparently very rare, but it was very hot - certainly into the 90s. Amazing.



2) The Terra Cotta Warriors outside the city of Xi-an. I know... predictable. But, again, I was unprepared for the vastness of this archeological discovery. To think that three peasants were trying to dig a well, and they found this.



3) The China Conservatory in Beijing. Not the Beijing conservatory, but the one in Beijing that has a focus on traditional Chinese musical instruments. We were given a private tour, and a performance by eight young virtuosos of instruments like the pipa, the erhu, and the hammer dulcimer. It was unbelievably inspiring, and the music was soulful and stirring.

4) The silk embroidery masters at Suzhou. Again, an amazing thing to see great artists at work. The embroideries were expensive (far beyond my wallet) but so beautiful, and the ladies who were creating them were inspiring.



5) The Chinese garden, also in Suzhou. I want to retire there (I fear that plan A - Charleston, SC - will be too expensive)....



6) The whole shopping experience. It makes you crazy, and you always feel like you're being ripped off, no matter what price you end up with, but I like the bargaining game. By the way, the Chairman Mao watch I bought the first day (35 yuan, down from an initial asking price of 180 yuan - $5, down from $26. I was immediately told I shouldn't have paid more than 20 yuan - $3) still works.

7) The people. It sounds trite, but we are all indeed very much the same. The Chinese people were by and large extremely welcoming, friendly, warm, and generous. I should add that the folks on the trip, most of whom I had never met before the first day, were great travel companions. To a person, I look forward to seeing them again.

I've left out so much. There wasn't much I didn't enjoy. Bob Cheung did a brilliant job of organizing and leading the tour. The local guides were for the most part wonderful, and at the worst very good. The pace was literally blistering, but that allowed us to cover the amount of ground we did in a very short time. And although I did miss my family terribly, I was able to see them and speak to them daily, from the other side of the globe, on my laptop. iChat is absolutely incredible!

I was happy to return at the end of the trip. But I wasn't home for long.

To be continued.....]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-04-15T07:19:39-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/c3bc44d4b62690d72e852716e16d7a23-72.html#unique-entry-id-72http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/c3bc44d4b62690d72e852716e16d7a23-72.html#unique-entry-id-72Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-04-14T07:21:54-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/a4247814d2107ca02aefe43ad80be063-73.html#unique-entry-id-73http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/a4247814d2107ca02aefe43ad80be063-73.html#unique-entry-id-73Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-04-14T07:13:25-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/c5e119091273e639f817e650132d1f18-74.html#unique-entry-id-74http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/c5e119091273e639f817e650132d1f18-74.html#unique-entry-id-74I talk about this intimate musical love letter by the great German opera composer.
Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-04-05T22:19:30-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/806414697448d098455281113ecd7edb-26.html#unique-entry-id-26http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/806414697448d098455281113ecd7edb-26.html#unique-entry-id-26Dick Strawser, friend, radio personality, and avid blogger (I happily admit, I read "Dr. Dick's Blog" every day) emailed me today. The bulk of the letter was in reference to the passing of our mutual friend Pierce Getz (which I will get to shortly), but he ended by asking if I was ever getting back to blogging. Indeed, it has been two months almost to the day since my last posting, and that was an apology for not having posted the previous three weeks. Ah, the shame of it.

Well, Dick, here I am, back in the saddle. It's 10:30, I just finished a spirited game of Mexican train dominoes with my extended family (all staying at my house this week for Passover), and I'm ready to attempt a condensed version of the last few months of my life.

First, a word about Pierce. Pierce participated in several of the most personally satisfying programs I have conducted in Harrisburg. He was the organist when we performed Saint-Saëns' 3rd Symphony, as well as for every other piece with organ we performed. He also directed the Alumni Chorus of Lebanon Valley College, which participated in every choral work the HSO has presented in its Masterworks series since I have been here, including "Carmina Burana", Mozart's Requiem, Beethoven's 9th Symphony, and a most memorable Mahler's 2nd Symphony. He was a musician of profound talents, who made a significant difference in the musical life of Central Pennsylvania. But what I think about when I remember Pierce is his humanity. He was a deeply generous, highly spiritual, and gently dynamic man, who devoted his life to teaching, inspiring, and sharing his passion for music. I attended his memorial service yesterday, and the message from the overflowing crowd was clear: Pierce was as beloved for being a great human being as he was for being a great musician. I will miss his sense of humor and his warmth. I'm very sad to have lost a friend and colleague, and my deepest sympathies go out to his wife Gene and the rest of his family.

So what have I been doing since mid-January? Well, I guess the best strategy is just to go event by event.

The last weekend of January was the HSO's performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's "HMS Pinafore". This was a particularly fun week for me, as it brought together many friends as well as family for the shows. Of the seven leading actors in that performance, I have known three for over 40 years, and two more for over twenty. We put together a two hour operetta from scratch in two days - a testament to the talents of these performers (and the orchestra). What made it especially great for me was sharing the stage with my brother Joel and my cousin Josh. Joel and I have done over 15 pops shows together since I started as a professional conductor and he has never been anything but extraordinary - he is simply one of the most versatile and charismatic performers I know. Josh (star of television's "West Wing") and I had not performed together since 1987, when he was Moonface Martin in a production of "Anything Goes" that I musically directed at Yale. His family and mine lived 5 minutes from each other when we were growing up, and this was a treat for me to have him here. He is great on stage, and had me laughing out loud several times during the performances. Add to the mix my friend Jeff Gardner, who I have known since kindergarten, and is a veteran of numerous Broadway productions; Jonathan Rabb, who sang with Joel in the Yale Whiffenpoofs, is now a successful novelist, and knows Gilbert and Sullivan as well as anyone I know; Ilana Davidson, who I met at Tanglewood in the late '80s, and sings like an angel; Tracy Bidleman, who had participated in two previous G&S shows here; and Damian Savarino, a Harrisburg resident, with a gorgeous baritone voice; and you get one happy Stuart. What was my plan for throwing the show together? To allow my talented cast free rein to do whatever they could to make the audience enjoy itself. And they did so with great flair. You may see performances of "Pinafore" with fewer rough edges, but I doubt you'll find many that were more fun to watch. The other very satisfying aspect to the weekend was that we had nearly sold-out houses. Maybe it was Josh's star power, but whatever the reason, it makes a big difference, trust me.


Jonathan Rabb, Josh Malina, Ilana Davidson, Joel Malina, Sonja Bontrager, me, Tracy Bidleman, Damian Savarino, and Jeff Gardner

February 9th was my Carnegie Hall debut with the NY Pops. The program was all-Gershwin: the overture from "Girl Crazy", "An American in Paris", and "Rhapsody in Blue" (with me conducting from the piano) on the first half, and Maureen McGovern singing Gershwin songs on the second half. What can I say? It was an unbelievable weekend for me. The concert went very well, and I enjoyed my time with the orchestra very much, but what will stick in my mind for the rest of my life was the feeling of walking onto this august stage and being greeted by an audience largely comprised of friends and family. 275 people came from Harrisburg alone, 40 college friends came from all over the country, almost my entire family (aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, and then some) was there, even a large group from Greensboro made the trek. I could go on. I have always considered myself a lucky man. But being blessed with so many people who love me is something I will never take for granted, and having so many of them there to support me and share in my moment is an indescribable feeling. So I won't even try to describe it.



My favorite Carnegie Hall moment? Walking in the stage door, introducing myself to the house manager, and being sent up to the Maestro's suite, where there are pictures up of many of the great conductors who have used that very room and a bust of Toscanini (it looked like marble, but it was fake....). When I used the rest room, I actually was musing over what other greats had shared the facility over the years.



That, and when my parents, wife and kids came back after my performance. My dad has said for a long time that every time he and Mom attend operas and concerts in the great venues of New York City (and he attends quite a few), he pictures me coming out for a bow. That night it was me.



The February Masterworks concerts featured Mozart and Beethoven. The treat of the weekend was working with Markus Groh, a German pianist of great talent. His performance of the Emperor Concerto, on the old Baldwin at the Forum (he had deemed the Steinway we rented unfit - and I had to agree with him), was really special. Again we had wonderful crowds, and the comments I got in the days following were glowing. One patron said it was the best concert he had ever been to, another said that her one complaint was that the concert ended. Obviously, we cannot perform only Mozart and Beethoven, but equally clear is the undeniable fact that their music still speaks to our audience and sells tickets as well.

At the end of February, I went to NY for auditions for a new production of "Movin' Out". The first national tour had closed in January, and I thought that the marvelous journey had ended. Not so fast, Malina. A second national tour will go out in June, starting in Atlantic City. The show will be pared down a bit, but Twyla Tharp is directing the dancers, the lighting, set and costume designers are the same as the original production, and of course, I will be overseeing the music. So my hunch is it will be pretty darn good. So here we go again! (By the way, the auditions were pretty much a bust.)

The March Masterworks in Harrisburg featured the First Symphony of Sibelius, as well as the Four Sea Interludes from "Peter Grimes" by Britten and Saint-Saëns' 2nd Piano Concerto with the incredible Pascal Rogé. Two things about this concert. First, the Steinway was completely overhauled before the first rehearsal, only to have the sustain pedal break after the first movement during the first performance. A lot was made of my getting down under the piano in a vain attempt to fix it, but truly, what was I going to do, just stand there helplessly and let our stage crew (wonderful guys, but piano technicians? I don't think so) handle it? Anyway, the Steinway was rolled off, and our old friend the Forum Baldwin was rolled on. Pascal was not just patient, he was absolutely delightful. After the five minute pause, he came back out and played the second and third movements on this fairly out-of-tune piano that he had never played on before. What a testament to this man's character. Although the Sunday performance was certainly more refined, I will forever remember that Saturday night, and Rogé's grace.

The second aspect of the weekend that was noteworthy for me was the reaffirmation of Sibelius' greatness. The First Symphony is a terrific piece, and many of the orchestra players had never performed it. Several of them thanked me for programming it. I have to admit that I was disappointed with the audience size. I thought that surely bringing a pianist of Pascal Rogé's stature to Harrisburg would bring people in. Sadly, it did not seem to be the case. Not empty houses but certainly on the smaller side, especially given the successes of the previous few concerts. What particularly irked me was hearing of a bunch of audience members who left at intermission. Were they afraid of Sibelius? Did they know how passionate and mushy-gushy a piece it is? Ah well, in the end, they purchased the ticket, but in the end it was their loss.

The end of March was our last pops concert of the year - Bravo Broadway, featuring Doug LaBrecque and Cristianne Noll. They had sung with us two seasons ago, and were a huge sensation, and they certainly did not disappoint in their return (back by popular demand!). Again, the houses were nearly sold out - I think it might have been completely sold out on Sunday. Of all the successes here in Harrisburg, the pops series might be my greatest. A few years back, the board of the symphony was on the brink of canceling this series. I made an impassioned plea, and we turned it around. A lot of thanks needs to go to Capitol Blue Cross (particularly Jim Mead and Anita Smith) for their vote of confidence and financial support. I will certainly accept much of the credit. But I must also mention how amazing this orchestra is. We have little rehearsal time for these concerts, and the music is generally very demanding. They have never let me down - not even one sub-par performance - and they do it with a smile. I've always believed that if the performers are having a good time, the audience cannot help but have a good time as well. This orchestra bears that up.

Well, that brings us pretty much up to date. I know I glossed over quite a lot, but, hey, I'm back.

See you next week with some podcasts on Wagner and Prokofiev!]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-02-06T09:28:11-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/ae2a2fd808748c49da88f8a64a2eec68-25.html#unique-entry-id-25http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/ae2a2fd808748c49da88f8a64a2eec68-25.html#unique-entry-id-25Just a short posting to say I'm sorry I've been so lax in my blogging. It's been a busy time, between preparations for HMS Pinafore (which, if I may say so myself, was a tremendous success) and preparations for my Carnegie concert this Friday.

I will be back soon - hopefully with some podcasts for next week's Masterworks program. If I cannot get those done in time, then certainly soon thereafter!
]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-01-17T14:21:18-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/693e72edc4eeed66c3c68ac82a6cb579-24.html#unique-entry-id-24http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/693e72edc4eeed66c3c68ac82a6cb579-24.html#unique-entry-id-24How and when do you decide what pieces are going to be played for the performances?"

Well, when is a lot easier to answer, so I'll do that first. We generally begin planning our seasons in earnest in August of the previous year (ie 14 months before the season opener). Ideally, I have a rough draft by mid-September and a final draft by early January.

How I decide is a bit more complicated. I'll try to give a general overview, but keep in mind that every rule has exceptions.

I start by making a list of all the pieces that I'd like to do. This is akin to the "kid in a candy shop" phenomenon - "ill have three of these, one of those....." Sometimes I'll even page through Daniels' "Orchestral Music" for ideas. Daniels is the essential reference guide for orchestral repertoire - a vast, if certainly incomplete, list of pieces, listed by composer, with timings and orchestrations (what collection of instruments are required by the composer). A typical Daniels listing looks like this:

Ravel - Daphnis et Chloé: Suite No. 1 12'
optional chorus
4[1.2/pic2.3/pic1.afl] 3[1.2.Eh] 4[1.2.Ebcl.bcl] 4[1.2.3.sarr] - 4 4 3 1 - tmp+6 - 2hp cel str perc: bd, cym, sd, tri, tambn, tamtam, glock, crot, windmachine
Contents - Nocturne; Interlude; Danse guerrière
mvt durations: 5' 3' 4'
Durand Kalmus

What does this mean? The first line in the piece's title and duration. The second states that you can do the piece with or without a chorus. The third line is the orchestration, divided in orchestral groups - first the woodwinds, then the brass, percussion, and the strings. So, to translate the listing above, "Daphnis" requires: 4 flutes, 2 doubling on piccolo (meaning they play both instruments in the piece) and one playing alto flute; 3 oboes, the third of which plays english horn; 4 clarinets, one playing Eb clarinet (the high, shrieky member of the family) and one playing bass clarinet; 4 bassoons, with one playing sarrousophone (similar to a contrabassoon); 4 french horns; 4 trumpets; 3 trombones; 1 tuba; 1 timpani player; 6 percussionists; 2 harps; celesta (the bell-like keyboard instrument used in the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy and Mr. Rodgers' Neighborhood); and a string section. The fourth line says which percussion instruments are used: bass drum, cymbals, snare drum, triangle, tambourine, gong, glockenspiel (bells), crotales (pitched mini-cymbals), and wind machine. The next two lines state the names of the movements and their respective durations. The last line list the publishers.

Anyway....Daniels sometimes gives me ideas for programming, as well as pieces that I might want to listen to, particularly more contemporary works. I listen to unfamiliar music quite a lot. Our Executive Director, Jeff Woodruff often will recommend pieces for me to listen to, and lend me the CDs. I also get suggestions from orchestra players and some patrons.

So I make my long wish list. Then I generally pick seven "centerpiece" works around which I will build my programs. These are generally symphonies or longer orchestral works, but sometimes concertos. I look over the history of Harrisburg Symphony performances. If the piece has been played within the past few years, I discard it for now. If it's been many years (or decades) since last performed, I will prioritize the piece.

Then I try to match the large pieces with other works to make programs. I keep in mind what artists I have promised appearances to or which ones I would like to work with, as well as concerto repertoire that I think will suit them. I try to balance old with new, realizing that the period from, say, 1800-1915 will get the bulk of the season. I try to balance nationalities, so the season isn't too American heavy (rarely a problem) or German heavy (often a problem). I try to keep the choices interesting and exciting for the orchestra. And last but not least, I try to make each concert marketable, so generally at least one of the pieces is a big-selling perennial audience favorite.

How do I match pieces? Well, I must admit, I do it much more based on my gut feeling of what will work well together than on theme programming or motivic similarities. I do think about key relationships, ie you wouldn't want to do three pieces in C Major. I also think about pacing - a slow opener should probably not be followed by a ponderous concerto; emotional content - an intense symphony, should not follow an equally intense first half; and old/new relationships - a very avant garde piece probably should go with something a bit more traditional.

This seeming arbitrariness is why I am so often surprised and tickled by relationships between the pieces I program together, like the falling thirds in this last week's concerts. Maybe there is a sort of instinctual genius lurking deep below the surface, after all!

So now I have a seven concert season. Now comes the painful part. It must fit within the orchestra's budget. So I go back to Daniels and figure the orchestra size for each concert, adding up personnel, and comparing the totals with the current season's. Inevitably, the numbers are way too high (generally too much Mahler, Stravinsky and Strauss). So it's back to the drawing board for the second cycle.... then the third and fourth, and so on.

When I have a season that I feel is at least pretty close, I get together with Jeff Woodruff and Bill Schmieding, our operations manager. We discuss my plans in depth, look for weaknesses in the programming, find that the season is too expensive for our budget (if there is one certainty in all this, it is that the season will be too expensive) and make many changes. Then I go off and further refine. We meet several more times. Then I get together with the Artistic Advisory committee of the Board of Directors of the HSO, made up of board members, staff, and musicians from the orchestra. The committee meets twice a year, once to go over proposed programming, and once to assess the past season and propose ideas for the artistic future of the HSO (including, but not only, programming suggestions). I do not need their approval - they are simply there to advise - but the input is invaluable, and it's rare that I leave a meeting without some new, terrific ideas.

Jeff, Bill and I meet some more, and eventually we declare ourselves done, and the brochures are made.

The process for pops is a bit different and I'll discuss that in my next blog.

]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-01-15T12:22:55-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/44ad6ada14148db61c12aec47e9a7d97-23.html#unique-entry-id-23http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/44ad6ada14148db61c12aec47e9a7d97-23.html#unique-entry-id-23
I am so pleased to be receiving comments on the concert and on the podcasts. I thought it might be nice to address some of the issues, and answer some of the questions I have been posed.

First, as far as sound quality is concerned, I plead "guilty as charged". I basically use the built-in microphone on my iMac G5, and play on the Yamaha upright piano in my office at home. I have just today downloaded some freeware software, called "The Levelator", which supposedly will help even out the levels of my voice and the piano. I will also look into purchasing a higher quality mike to record into. The podcasts are very much a work in progress, and I promise to continue to try improving the sound quality, and the content.

A glossary of terms is an interesting idea, but I think others have already done it better than I could. What probably would make more sense is an accompanying list of applicable terms that could be looked up using either one of the online music dictionaries or a book of musical terms. I will list some suggestion below, with links to the web pages:

Online:
Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary: http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/ (special thanks to Sean Schultz!)
Music Dictionary: http://library.thinkquest.org/2791/MDOPNSCR.htm
Dolmetsch Online: http://www.dolmetsch.com/musictheorydefs.htm (this one also includes many links to other more specific music dictionary websites)

Books:
The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music (the best small volume)
Belwin Pocket Dictionary of Music (there are actually many such volumes, any of which will give you very short definitions of common music terms)

The last thing regarding the podcasts is that I am now accessible through the iTunes store, so those of you who listen on ipods can subscribe to my podcasts by doing an iTunes store podcast search for "Stuart Malina" and pressing the subscribe button.

I'll be back soon with another posting to address some of the questions you have posed.]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-01-09T13:58:58-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/1a9a10b3c34b31a9e1d3dc039736bb23-22.html#unique-entry-id-22http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/1a9a10b3c34b31a9e1d3dc039736bb23-22.html#unique-entry-id-22
Which brings me to the next point...

I very much want your feedback. If you prefer, leave it anonymously. This is the only way I can continue improving the page. Do you like the content? Is the recording quality too poor? Is the piano clangy? Am I too professorial? All responses are good responses.

Many thanks!

Stuart]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-01-09T07:25:05-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/f5d6e49cb6e2713f545577b819ae9661-75.html#unique-entry-id-75http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/f5d6e49cb6e2713f545577b819ae9661-75.html#unique-entry-id-75Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-01-09T07:20:24-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/b6d0b8234d00c07883a3deb15b8a5d4a-76.html#unique-entry-id-76http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/b6d0b8234d00c07883a3deb15b8a5d4a-76.html#unique-entry-id-76Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2007-01-09T07:17:37-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/e71c6ac401c77c71939873f51c97b77a-78.html#unique-entry-id-78http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/e71c6ac401c77c71939873f51c97b77a-78.html#unique-entry-id-78Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2006-11-20T09:18:26-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/ba9aeb487d873f81c19ff5091fbaee90-18.html#unique-entry-id-18http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/ba9aeb487d873f81c19ff5091fbaee90-18.html#unique-entry-id-18
It was quite an honor. The list of alumni from SHS is long and distinguished. My co-honorees were amazing and impressive. I couldn't help but feel that my award was premature - I am proud of my accomplishments, but I am a work in progress, and I hope the next 40 years brings greater achievement and accomplishment. This is the third year the Scarsdale High alumni group has been selecting distinguished alums, and the thought that I am in the first 36 blows my mind.

The weekend was lovely. On Friday, I had an opportunity to meet with some students, and observe what they are doing in the classroom. Walking through the school - up and down the stairwell, in the music tower, around the grounds - brought back very distinct memories of being younger. I don't have memories of high school often, so this was pretty cool. The music faculty at the high school is clearly doing a fabulous job. The students speak of them with reverence and admiration, and the creativity of method in teaching kids music is very impressive.

Saturday was the big event. We were each introduced and given a chance to say something to the fairly large gathering of parents, teachers and friends. All but two of us were able to attend (the two absentees were Carolyn Strauss, the President of programming at HBO, and Eve Ensler, who wrote "The Vagina Monologues" - they had good excuses!). Some of the themes were shared by many of us - the support of teachers and parents, the encouragement to pursue our dreams, the high quality of our education (I still feel that I got a better overall education at Scarsdale High than at Harvard College). But the variety of personal stories and journeys, from the STEP student from Mississippi, who now teaches in Arizona, and serves as advisor to the Gates Foundation; to the near high school flunk-out who is now a distinguished playwright and one of the world's preeminent scholars on Shakespeare; to a man who has devoted a lifetime to helping at-risk kids through his own charity, Jimmy's Boys; to one of America's pioneers in forensic medicine; artists, journalists, historians, philanthropists.....what an august group to be a part of!

One of the themes of my short talk was how grateful I am to the teachers who have invested themselves in me - completely, and selflessly. Many of them are well-aware of my gratitude. Some are no longer with us, and I regret never telling them. Shame on me.

So... to Mrs. Brenneman, Ms. Fahey, Mr. Minard, Mrs. Spiegelman, Mrs. Spillman, Charity Bailey, Mrs. Goodman, Mr. Ladensack, Mr. Kaye, Mr. Baron, Mr. Maloney, Ms. Silver, Mr. Haseltine, Mrs. Cantor, Mr. Husted, Mr. Lokietz, Mr. Feig, Ms. Oksner, Dr. Mantz, Msgnr. Reid, Mr. Ehret, Dr. Albright, Ms. Simon;

...Reuven Grodner, Benjamin Yablock, Avi Schwartzmer;

...Tison Street, Lewis Lockwood;

...and of course, Baruch and Drora Arnon, Otto-Werner Mueller, Keiko Sato, Michael Friedman, and Edward Aldwell;

...and to the many others whom I have sorrowfully omitted due to nothing other than my own dotage:

Thank you.]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2006-11-12T23:41:42-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/1e246432b237f68fb88083f106ea65ed-17.html#unique-entry-id-17http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/1e246432b237f68fb88083f106ea65ed-17.html#unique-entry-id-17
I came into the weekend with some nervousness. Nielsen's 4th Symphony - "Inextinguishable" - is a very difficult piece, to play and to conduct. It was my first go at it, and I knew that the same would be true for most of the orchestra. Add to that that the piece is a challenging one to listen to, not because it is not a great work (it is undeniably), but because long sections of it are dark and intentionally unpleasant. Of course, the work is ultimately about the triumph of the human spirit over the greatest adversity, so it ends in unbelievably majestic fashion, but the journey is often rough. Furthermore, it takes an excellent performance to get the piece across. How would the orchestra play, and how would our audience respond? And how would I do? (Yes, even conductors face self-doubt at times...)

Well, I will leave assessment of my own performance to others, but I can with all honesty say that the orchestra played gloriously. The rehearsals were especially hard work. The first run-through of the symphony on Thursday was a mess, and even Friday night we were all still at sixes and sevens with one another. But Saturday morning suddenly things began to click, and by Saturday night, the orchestra seemed to really get the piece. And this orchestra played (as they always do) with total commitment and passion. The piece flew by for me, which is usually a good sign. And the audience response was very strong and sustained (although I know that the length of the ovation was perpetrated by less than everyone present). Today's (Sunday's) performance was at least as good, and I feel probably even better than the night before.

I knew the first half of the program would be a big hit. Poulenc's "Suite française" opened, with its quirky yet tender neo-Renaissance flavors. The winds and brass were wonderful both in individual playing and in ensemble. And "The Four Seasons" is money in the bank as far as audience reaction, even with a mediocre performance, and Odin Rathnam and the strings gave a beautiful reading. The Harrisburg audience loves Odin, and the response to the Vivaldi was deservedly thunderous.

The success of the Nielsen, I believe, speaks to the universality of his theme and also the similarity of the world we live in to the world he lived in. Like Nielsen in 1914, we are in a very volatile world capable of great violence and inhumanity. Indeed, there is a constant specter of the possibility of the world annihilating itself. The inextinguishable human spirit is a very powerful image in times like these.

In the end, though, it is the brilliance of the work itself that carried the day. I have truly enjoyed getting to know this work in my studies of it. I'm very glad to have it in my repertoire, and I'm honored to have been able to conduct it.

Especially with an extraordinary group of musicians like the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra.

On a side note, we had a group from the Harrisburg Young Professionals at the concert today. I had a chance to socialize with some of them after the concert. I was pleased at their reaction to the program - again, overwhelmingly positive. So much energy is devoted in the professional orchestra world to attracting younger audiences. My interaction with the members of HYP only reaffirmed what I have always believed. The way to build the audience of the future for orchestral music is to get young people in to the performance hall once and give them something to be excited about. And what could be more exciting than beautiful, stirring and thought-provoking music performed passionately. These are intelligent, sophisticated people, some of whom have simply not come to orchestral concerts before. I grant you that some will not like it. But many undoubtedly will, and they will return. And some of those might just get hooked.

]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2006-11-06T07:36:08-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/38904d423b72b298782330d5b62e6e24-79.html#unique-entry-id-79http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/38904d423b72b298782330d5b62e6e24-79.html#unique-entry-id-79Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2006-11-06T07:08:55-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/64e2e2e22200787f57fa9772c955a546-80.html#unique-entry-id-80http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/64e2e2e22200787f57fa9772c955a546-80.html#unique-entry-id-80Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2006-11-06T07:00:15-05:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/363990b767b010b147fe38ba95d744a2-82.html#unique-entry-id-82http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/363990b767b010b147fe38ba95d744a2-82.html#unique-entry-id-82Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2006-10-25T07:49:23-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/19ebc87694ef02e5aef65383f65ac833-86.html#unique-entry-id-86http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/19ebc87694ef02e5aef65383f65ac833-86.html#unique-entry-id-86
Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2006-10-19T23:46:55-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/14c7b0bb6c383ead4b9ee16e6833c0fb-12.html#unique-entry-id-12http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/14c7b0bb6c383ead4b9ee16e6833c0fb-12.html#unique-entry-id-12
My Dad said yesterday that there is nothing like watching baseball if it's a close game and you care about who wins. I think it's the sheer length of time between pitches that makes games like the last two tantalizingly painful, almost unbearable to watch. Tonight, my pulse was racing the whole game (maybe this should be explored as a substitute for cardiovascular workouts...hmm...). In one particular stretch - when Endy Chavez incredibly caught Scott Rolen's home run ball over the fence - my emotions went from dejection to exultation in about 5 seconds. I experienced this before - most notably in the 10th Inning of game 6 of the '86 World Series (yes, I was at the game - one of the great moments of my life). But we'll save that discussion for happier times.

Anyways... the Mets' great season is over, and I have to hand it to them, they made a good run at it, especially given that two of their starters were injured, and unable to pitch. Having said that, hats off to the Cardinals, who shut down the Mets' powerful lineup. In the end it was the lack of offensive production, not weak pitching, that cost the Mets this last game.

I hope the Tigers sweep. I know it's petty, but I'll allow myself this last base wish before closing the book on the 2006 season.

My heart clings to those immortal words, sung by Robert Merrill in the final moments of the orchestral cult classic, Brooklyn's Baseball Cantata, "Just wait 'till next year comes!"]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2006-10-09T17:55:43-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/0c2ed38d066adf0106cd57c10aeb70b1-10.html#unique-entry-id-10http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/0c2ed38d066adf0106cd57c10aeb70b1-10.html#unique-entry-id-10
First of all, I thought the orchestra played beautifully. I cannot remember an opening concert that went as smoothly and pleasantly from first rehearsal to final performance. The orchestra came ready to work, was in a good collective mood, and everyone played their hearts out.

Second, as always, I enjoyed working with Jeffrey Biegel. This was our eighth collaboration and he never disappoints. We gave the Billy Joel "Symphonic Fantasies for Piano and Orchestra" a very good reading. Many in our audience thoroughly enjoyed the piece, some did not at all - this is to be expected with un-tried and true repertoire - but at the very least, they heard an excellent rendition on which to base their judgement.

Third, the crowds were good. There is a certain number of audience members - I would guess about 1100 - at which point the Forum feels full. Below this point, it doesn't feel empty, but certainly un-full. Both performances this past weekend felt nicely full. It makes a big difference to us on the stage. (Of course, I'd be thrilled to see no empty seats....)

I feel we are off to a very good start. It definitely helps that the repertoire was well-known to the players. This adds a certain comfort level to the preparation. I'm interested in seeing how things go from here. Next month, we tackle the magnificent "Inextinguishable" Symphony #4 of Nielsen. I would not be surprised if the majority of the players have never played it before. Our audience is in for a sonic treat, plus I know that everyone will love Vivaldi's Four Seasons with our concertmaster, Odin Rathnam, playing the solo - and yours truly playing the harpsichord.

Anyhow....onward and upward!]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2006-10-03T07:39:23-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/1d461aa648158fca3e023baadd5d4419-85.html#unique-entry-id-85http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/1d461aa648158fca3e023baadd5d4419-85.html#unique-entry-id-85Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2006-09-27T07:38:10-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/3ad1af7f223db26f8545a62ecc5084d1-84.html#unique-entry-id-84http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/3ad1af7f223db26f8545a62ecc5084d1-84.html#unique-entry-id-84In this podcast, I discuss the Pennsylvania premiere performance of the piano man's latest opus.
Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2006-09-27T07:37:07-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/676eb77edb1b468829f039f11654f28c-83.html#unique-entry-id-83http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/676eb77edb1b468829f039f11654f28c-83.html#unique-entry-id-83Podcast]]>cleanstuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2006-09-20T12:41:16-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/52b11e99156561bd46d5682266ed0df0-6.html#unique-entry-id-6http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/52b11e99156561bd46d5682266ed0df0-6.html#unique-entry-id-6
I had a great time. I got to see many dear friends. It brought back a lot of happy memories of my time with that orchestra. The reception I got from the players and patrons was overwhelmingly warm. The music making was relaxed and fun. Dmitri is charming and lovely.

One of the highlights of the week was a chamber music program on Friday night with Dmitri and several of the GSO musicians. The subscription series are on Thursdays and Saturdays, and they always perform chamber music with the guest artists in between. I performed the Mozart Kegelstatt Trio (for piano, clarinet and viola), as well as the Dvorak Piano Quintet, which I had performed earlier in the summer with the Fry Street Quartet. The concert was at UNCG's School of Music recital Hall. What a beautiful facility. I was very envious. Again, the concert was a joy, giving me the opportunity to make music in a more intimate environment with some very dear friends, as well as with Dmitri, a world-class violinist. (An interesting note: Dmitri was unable to bring his Stradivarius violin with him from London, due to airline restrictions, so he ended up borrowing a violin from Sam LeBauer, a doctor friend who luckily owns a Galliano fiddle. Dmitri made the most of a less than perfect situation - it's not easy to suddenly work with a different instrument - and played beautifully.)

I must admit that I arrived in Greensboro with some nervousness. How would the orchestra sound? What would working with Dmitri in this role reversal (last time he was soloist under my baton) be like? Would the orchestra be pleased to see me? How would I play (I don't perform as a concerto soloist often)?

I am pleased to say that my apprehensions were unfounded. The orchestra sounded terrific. Dmitri was a gem. It felt just like the good old days with the players. And, yes, I think I played very well.]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2006-09-10T04:04:29-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/400799e4f7042257deedb8c7007a54d8-5.html#unique-entry-id-5http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/400799e4f7042257deedb8c7007a54d8-5.html#unique-entry-id-5
I had the pleasurable experience of attending the opening concert of Concertante last night at the Rose Lehrman Auditorium at Harrisburg Community College. The program featured a quintet by Boccherini, a world-premiere sextet by Lowell Liebermann, and Elgar's formidable Piano Quintet, with pianist Anton Nell. My wife, Marty, turned pages for Anton (she looked great). I sat with two of my favorite people from Public Radio WITF John Clare and Dick Strawser (Both of them have interesting blogs, the links for which are on my links pages).

The playing was excellent. There is something special about a group of first-rate musicians who have played together regularly for many years. The ensemble is refined. Timing is so crisp and uniform. This is a terrific group.

I particularly liked the Liebermann Sextet. It was haunting and moving, accessible without being banal, and quite lovely. It did end rather abruptly, almost as though the composer ran out of steam. But this didn't detract from what was a superb premiere. The players poured their souls into it, and the audience clearly reacted.

What struck me in the car ride home was something that I've heard from many of my friends about attending my concerts - that their enjoyment of the concerts is greatly enhanced by knowing me personally. Anton Nell (a marvelous pianist who can play anything, and well) and I collaborated a few years back on Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto and made a nice personal connection. One of Concertante's cellists Zvi Plesser and I collaborated on a cello and piano recital last year and have become good friends, and I have met and chatted with Concertante violist Rachel Shapiro on numerous occasions.

Now, I consider myself a fairly discerning and knowledgeable music listener, and I would think that the music itself would be the sole criterion for my enjoyment of the concert. But knowing these performers added tremendously to the concert experience for me. I'll even go further in saying that knowing the other players would have made the concert even better. It's not that I felt nothing from those I didn't know and something only from my friends - that an gross oversimplification. Rather, I was able to get an extra level of enjoyment from the players I knew. I could see their familiar personalities reflected in the music. Most importantly, their performances enhanced my existing understanding of them as people - I got glimpses of new parts of their souls. And I felt pride in knowing them.

This is not news to me, no thunderbolt epiphany. In fact, it is one of the guiding principals of my approach to music making and to music directorship. The more the audience knows me as a person, the better they will enjoy my work as a musician. This is one of the reasons I always talk to an audience onstage before performing, and why I love doing the talk-backs after our HSO concerts. These sorts of concert enhancements chip away at the separation that is always somewhat present in a concert setting. For the same reason, I generally don't mind the interruptions at dinners out and the encounters with patrons at the grocery store. It all goes toward strengthening my relationship with my audience.

One last reflection on the concert. There should have been more people there. I am always baffled and saddened by the lack of audience support that many arts groups get here in Harrisburg (particularly chamber music). The music is easily on a level with what one would here in the great performing venues of the world - in fact, this concert is being repeated at Merkin Hall at Lincoln Center in NYC. The audience size last night was respectable, but should have been much larger, especially given the added attraction of a world premiere by a major composer.

Maybe the players should talk more....]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2006-08-18T13:32:28-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/23a98442b68752120b90f5ede2dc75eb-4.html#unique-entry-id-4http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/23a98442b68752120b90f5ede2dc75eb-4.html#unique-entry-id-4
On Wednesday morning, I had Odin Rathnam (concertmaster of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra) and Daniel Gaisford (world-class solo cellist) over for an ad hoc chamber music party. We read for about two and a half hours, and covered some spectacular repertoire - we played through the Brahms B Major Trio, the Dvorak "Dumky" Trio, and the two Mendelssohn Trios. Whew! It was quite a work-out.

It brought to mind a few observations.

First, playing chamber music is unbelievably rewarding. This tidbit of knowledge is self-evident to musicians, and hard to explain to non-musicians. The repertoire is so rich, but the experience of creating a performance with colleagues makes it all the more rich. It is so important to me to have these experiences, if for no other reason than to remind me of the feeling of interdependency and mutual respect. It guides my approach to conducting as well. I find that the more I foster respect and interdependency in the orchestra the better the musical result. Ideally, orchestral playing is no more than an expanded version of chamber music with a guide.

Second, I am so fortunate to have colleagues like Odin and Daniel. These are musicians of the highest caliber, who not only play fantastically well, but also are a load of fun to be around. They listen and react in their playing (the most important attributes in chamber music), they have boundless energy (I think we could have easily gone another several hours, were it not for other responsibilities), and they revel in the spirit of collegiality. There was never judgement attached to what we did, just fun and love for music.

Third, and I know I say this all the time, I am unbelievably blessed to routinely have experiences like this. I say this not from a place of arrogance, but of gratitude. Playing great music with great musicians who are also great people, whether it's in my living room or at a concert hall, is an extraordinary adventure, and something very few people get to do. I am one lucky son of a gun to get to do it all the time.]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2006-08-13T11:11:00-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/0227244e28095330416a20688d117d8a-3.html#unique-entry-id-3http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/0227244e28095330416a20688d117d8a-3.html#unique-entry-id-3
For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, the Torah is the five books of Moses. The Hebrew words are painstakingly written onto parchment and wound onto two scrolls. Each week at Saturday morning services, a section of the Torah is read, so that in the course of each year, you get through the entire thing, only to rewind the scrolls and start again. In addition to the words, there are notations which indicate the melody that goes with the words. This is called the trope. (There are many internet sites about trope. Those of you who are interested in seeing and hearing trope might check out "Ellie's Torah Trope Tutor" at www.ellietorah.com.)

Here's the hitch: while the Torah you read from has the Hebrew letters, it does not have the vowels or the trope. These must be memorized. And without vowels, several different Hebrew words might look the same. And further, mistakes in the text are not allowed, and are corrected on the spot.

Needless to say, a lot of preparation goes into this, and the pressure is really on.

So why would I want to do this?

Well, first of all, I think the music is lovely. The melodies for each notation are remarkably simple, but when strung together, they make a beautifully flowing sing-song.

Second, the process of learning the portion is meditative and soothing. As my knowledge of biblical Hebrew is rather limited to say the least, it almost feels like an ever-expanding mantra. I do one sentence, then add a sentence, then do both together, then add a third, etc. I do not meditate, but this feels what I would imagine meditation would feel like. (Maybe I should try meditating...)

Third, the Torah reading is my favorite part of the service, and I enjoy being an active participant. There is something about the experience that connects me in a palpable way with my father, my grandparents, and their parents and grandparents back through hundreds of years. Whether you believe that the words come from God or not, these exact words have been chanted in a similar way for thousands of years. I find it a very powerful and meaningful experience.

What I find very interesting and a bit confusing is that I get very nervous reading the Torah. Needless to say, I perform for and speak to much larger audiences all the time and don't get nervous at all; and the congregants at my synagogue are supportive, non-judgemental and delighted that I am doing this at all. So what's that about?

I don't know....I guess it just speaks to the fact that we all have comfort zones, outside of which we get nervous. That's all.
]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2006-08-08T13:04:18-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/04cd1a7dd0490a00643822080281195e-2.html#unique-entry-id-2http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/04cd1a7dd0490a00643822080281195e-2.html#unique-entry-id-2
This naturally got me thinking about "classical" music (just so I can avoid using quotes all the time, I'll use "classical" in its widely accepted meaning, rather than just the music of the late 18th and early 19th centuries). Could the same thing be true? It certainly is what many critics of contemporary music say: that one needs to have knowledge of music to appreciate the music that has been written in, say, the last 100 years or more. I find that thought preposterous, but then again, I have never had the experience of hearing music without an underlying knowledge of musical theory and syntax. Is it possible that a listener needs to understand music to enjoy, say, a piece by Schnittke?

I think not. There are clearly many levels of appreciation, but I think at base level, music is, or at least should be, open and democratic. Interestingly, the same holds true for science. What better proof than my enjoyment of these lectures. I certainly will never understand the complexities of quantum theory, let alone string theory, but I do basically grasp it, and I see the beauty in it. I imagine that for many people the idea of discontinuity, one of the foundations on which quantum physics is based, is extremely uncomfortable, so much so that most will avoid quantum physics entirely. But for those who are willing to take this leap of conceptual thought, a whole new world emerges, and the rewards are well worth it.

Similarly, there is much strangeness and often unpleasantness in the language of contemporary classical music. But for those willing to see past the surface strangeness, great rewards await.

Just a word on the Teaching Company. I endorse their product wholeheartedly. For those interested in learning more about great classical music, I highly recommend the courses taught by Robert Greenberg of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. they are not only informative, but they are also often riotously funny. I have also very much enjoyed the course on contemporary Jewish philosophy. Perhaps the most extraordinary part of the Teaching Company is their customer service. I ordered at one point a long survey of the Great Thinkers. Over the course of over a year and a half I tried to get absorbed in it, but to no avail. I called the Teaching Company customer service line, and they gave a choice of a full refund of the cost or a credit toward other courses. Quite amazing....]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2006-08-04T14:16:58-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/c906a54b74ce54333343c23e87ad65f4-1.html#unique-entry-id-1http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/c906a54b74ce54333343c23e87ad65f4-1.html#unique-entry-id-1
I have nonetheless added a page devoted to a laundry list of positive reviews of my work.]]>stuart@stuartmalina.comBlog and Podcasts2006-08-02T20:22:07-04:00http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/be3851d26544213fdadd8454ce219915-0.html#unique-entry-id-0http://www.stuartmalina.com/blog/files/be3851d26544213fdadd8454ce219915-0.html#unique-entry-id-0]]>