She's 'phenomenal': Acclaimed cellist to close Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra season

In addition to being the title for the first movement of Hector Berlioz' "Symphonie Fantastique," with which the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra will close its last performance of the 2022-23 season, "Reveries & Passions" serves as an apt summary for the night's repertoire, and its guest artist.

TSO Music Director Adam Flatt has worked with internationally-acclaimed cellist Allison Yoshie Eldredge in a couple of other settings, and describes her as "phenomenal."

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"I feel fortunate that we're able to get her" for what will be a high-energy concert, Flatt said. "She performs with a mix of grace and a hot kind of passion, in her playing and her delivery.

"She's a charismatic artist, and is going to light the place up."

The place is the Moody Concert Hall on the University of Alabama campus, at 7 p.m. Monday. As TSO Executive Director Natassia Perrine closes her first full year with the symphony, among the things she's learned is that there's always more to learn.

"I thought Adam chose the title 'Reveries & Passions' because of (Eldredge) and her playing," Perrine said, before recognizing it as the subtitle for opening movement in the Berlioz.

"My former music history professors will cover their eyes when they read that part," she said, laughing.

Eldredge, a prodigy who studied with Yo Yo Ma and Harvey Shapiro, performed as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at just 12 years old, and with Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic at 15. Awards rolled in, including first prize in the national Bronislaw Kaper Award Competition, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and "Young Artist of the Year" honors from Musical America, in 1989, when she also cut her debut album, with Hans Vonk and the Royal Philharmonic.

She's soloed with the world's greatest orchestras, studied at the Pre-College and College of the Juilliard School, and serves on the cello faculty of New England Conservatory Preparatory School, Boston String Academy and Altschuler Summer Music Institute. Eldredge also maintains private studios in Boston and Connecticut, is artistic director of Young Talent Chamber Music, and founded the Foulger International Music Festival, and Maestra ― Women in Music.

Monday she will be featured on Joseph Haydn's "Cello Concerto in C Major." The evening will begin with Samuel Barber's "Overture to 'The School for Scandal,'" followed by Eldredge and the Haydn, and closing with the five-movement "Symphonie Fantastique."

"She has a real passion for education," Perrine said, much like the executive director herself, who in her first full year on the job made increasing educational outreach and student attendance part of her mission. Eldredge has agreed to a joint Q&A with Flatt after a Monday rehearsal, open to students at the Tuscaloosa Magnet School.

"So not only will they get to meet their conductor, but they'll get to see and meet an international musical artist," Perrine said, to help further students' understanding of art music, and the folks who create it. "I'm thrilled when we can light up some pathways like that."

Eldredge will also visit David Duff's classical music show at 9 a.m. Monday on Alabama Public Radio (91.5 FM), where she'll play and speak about her work. Those wishing to visit more can enjoy the pre-concert Cheers 'n' Chat event, sponsored by the TSO Guild, held at 6 p.m. in the Moody's Choral Opera Room. For a $15 admission, guests can enjoy hors d'oeuvres, and hear talks by the artists.

The evening's opening number is based on the comedic play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, satirical, bold and fanciful, so Barber "tries to play that up by switching up the dynamics, switching up the tempo," Perrine said. Then will come the Haydn, long considered one of the greatest cello works of the classical era, with three movements all in sonata form.

"Symphonie Fantastique," one of the most important and well-known works of the early Romantic period, has been described by famed composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein as the first musical expedition into psychedelia, not simply because it's thought the French composer was using opium at the time, but because the work evolves through five surreal journeys.

"... Berlioz tells it like it is," Bernstein wrote. "Now there was an honest man. You take a trip, you wind up screaming at your own funeral."

"Reveries and Passions" begins with Berlioz's infatuation with an actress, who he became obsessed by. That's followed by a ball, and a pastoral ("Scène aux champs/Scene in the Fields"), leading to "March to the Scaffold," and concluding with "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath."

"(Berlioz) is just going crazy with love," Perrine said. "The music truly is fantastic.

"For someone who may not have been to a symphony before, this would be a really cool one. And it's a really powerful way to end the season."

How to get tickets

Tickets are $30 to $40 general admission, and free for all students. For more, see www.tsoonline.org, or call 205-752-5515.

Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at mark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Tuscaloosa Symphony hosts cellist Allison Eldredge to close season