Venice Symphony expands musical styles and programs for 2022-23 season
Music Director Troy Quinn and the musicians of The Venice Symphony learned some lessons this past season as they returned to live performances after offering prerecorded programs during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s like getting a recharge, a full pack of blood. This is our life energy, to have audience response, not just us making music in the hall,” Quinn said. “It put everything in perspective for us not take this incredible connection between audience and musicians for granted. It’s been affirming in what we’re doing. Without listeners, we’re just making beautiful music.”
Arts Newsletter: Sign up to receive the latest news on the Sarasota area arts scene every Monday
New play commission: Hermitage Major Theatre Award winner thrives on collaborative process
Recording small groups of musicians in the concert hall for later online viewing changed the focus to something more technical.
“The energy of a live performance can be lost. It can’t be recreated,” Quinn said. “As a conductor, I benefit from that energy between audience and musicians. I’m kind of the conduit if you will.”
The 2021-22 season that recently ended with a concert featuring pop and Broadway singer Linda Eder, featured a series of programs that had been postponed a year because of the pandemic. Now Quinn has put together a lineup for 2022-23 that highlights the growth of the orchestra since he took over in 2018. In 2020, he signed a contract extension that keeps him on board through the 2027-28 season.
“We have expanded our concert season and our offerings and our services for the musicians,” Quinn said. The pandemic “forced us to look at where do we want to be in five or 10 years and how do we get there. This is the opportunity now for reassessment. We’ve doubled into growing this orchestra into a regional jewel.”
All but two of the programs will feature three performances of each concert.
Return of a summer favorite: Sarasota Music Festival plans season season of renewal
Dancing into the season: Sarasota Ballet announces season of firsts, new dancers
Changes in personnel over the years have allowed Quinn to broaden the scope of what the orchestra can play, and hopefully what audiences will appreciate.
“Everything we’re playing, people are enjoying,” he said. “If we build it and present it in an exciting and engaging way, the music speaks for itself. There were all kinds of rumblings when we decided to do Mahler’s first symphony, a 56-minute piece, but the approach I try to bring and the orchestra brings is exciting and engaging and a little bit outside the box.”
That can mean concerts accompanied by visuals, projections and lighting effects.
“I think at this point, we can program Schoenberg and it will be received fairly well. I even hope to do ‘Rites of Spring’ one year,” he said. “There are few orchestras in Florida that are as versatile and capable in multiple genres.”
The new season will open Nov. 18-19 with a program dubbed “Tchaik Strikes!,” featuring Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in D Minor, accompanied by Mikhail Glinka’s Overture from “Ruslan and Ludmila” and Paul Hindemith’s “Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes by Carl Maria von Weber,” which was later used for a ballet by George Balanchine.
In December, the orchestra will join once again with Sarasota’s Key Chorale vocal ensemble for a Holiday Season Spectacular, Dec. 16 and 17, featuring traditional fare such as “Joy to the World” and “Sleigh Ride” alongside music from the movies “A Nightmare Before Christmas” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
Jan. 6 and 7, the symphony will present “Night at the Museum,” featuring Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” along with music from a variety of museum-related movies, including the Indiana Jones movies, “The Da Vinci Code” and “Night at the Museum.” Concertmaster Marcus Ratzenboeck also will perform a Camille Saint-Saens’ “Danse Macabre.”
“Cinematic Romance” on Feb. 3-4 will feature music from great film love stories, such as “Casablanca” and “Gone with the Wind.” Guest violinist Sandy Cameron will perform Danny Elfman’s “Edward Scissorhands Suite,” the love theme from “Cinema Paradiso” and the tango from “Scent of a Woman.” The program also will feature the ensemble’s premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances” from “West Side Story.”
The orchestra will pay tribute to multiple Oscar-winner John Williams in “The Movie Maestro” Feb. 24-25, featuring music from such films as “E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial,” “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” “Star Wars” and “Lincoln.”
Harpist and vocalist Orla Fallon, an original member of the group Celtic Woman, will join the symphony for “A Celtic Celebration” March 17 and 18, a program featuring popular Irish folk tunes, Percy Granger’s “Molly on the Shore,” music from “Riverdance” and Charles Villiers Stanford’s Symphony No. 3 in F Minor, known as the “Irish” symphony.
The season concludes with Jim Walker, former principal flute of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, performing Mozart’s Flute Concerto in G Major. The program includes Henry Mancini’s “Pennywhistle Jig,” Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” music from Tchaikovsky’s “Sleeping Beauty” and William Walton’s “The Wise Virgins Suite.”
Quinn said the programs are a sign of growth that Venice area audiences are responding to.
“The community is rallying around this orchestra,” he said. “Part of that is the artistic growth, but the other part of its is the pride of what we’re giving to the audience. At the end of the day I want to create these transformative experiences.”
The Venice Symphony
The orchestra performs at the Venice Performing Arts Center at Venice High School, 1 Indian Ave., Venice. Season subscriptions and packages with discounts are available now. Individual tickets and online sales will begin Aug. 15. More details: 941-207-8822; thevenicesymphony.org.
Follow Jay Handelman on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Contact him at jay.handelman@heraldtribune.com. And please support local journalism by subscribing to the Herald-Tribune.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Venice Symphony expands music styles and programs in 2022-23 season
