Keeping in mind the importance of programming architecture across a season let alone at this five year mark for me serving as Music Director, why end the season with the ethereal notes fading away as Faure’s Requiem quietly floats off to heaven? Why not, like last year with Beethoven’s Symphony #9 or the year before with Orff’s Carmina Burana with a huge, mighty blast? This Sunday’s concert will begin with a heralding flare of Shostakovich’ s Festival Overture highlighting our strong brass, nimble woodwinds, precise percussion and as ever, hard working strings. The tuneful Schubert Symphony #8 will conclude the first half, though it has no conclusion with only two movements in existence it is known as the “unfinished”.

But returning to Faure’s Requiem, I found it most enlightening that he composed it “…for nothing, for fun if I may be permitted to say so!” he tells us. Begun in 1885, he worked on many different versions tinkering with it over a fifteen-year period. His Requiem, unlike Mozart’s emotionally dramatic or Brahms’ humanistic approach, is about peace and delivering the souls of the faithfully departed. Certainly music can wash away the dust of everyday life from the soul, but to glimpse into heaven- while still here on earth? It might just be possible for the pure of heart while listening this Sunday. As the German philosopher Fredrich Nietzsche pointed out “The Kingdom of Heaven is a condition of the heart- not something that comes upon the earth or after death”. So the concert and season will conclude with a time of reflection, tranquility and comfort- undoubtedly in these most uncertain times for us as a nation and worldwide, we could all use a little solace right now.

I certainly hope you will join us at the conclusion our season Sunday at 4:00 PM as we gather the forces of the choir, vocal soloists and orchestra of the Bremerton Symphony Association. The preconcert chat beginning at 3:00 PM will be the kick off to the new season with brochures for 2008-2009 hot off the press and subscriptions sales available. Hope to see you, at the symphony!

Fauré: Requiem Mass
with Concert Chorale; Laura Loge, soprano; David Borning, baritone
Schubert: Symphony #8, “Unfinished”
Shostakovich: Festive Overture

In honor of Armed Forces Weekend, tickets for Active Military personnel are being offered for only $5! Just show your ID when you come to the concert to buy or pick up your ticket at Will-Call. Call the Symphony office to purchase tickets: (360) 373-1722.

Bremerton High School Performing Arts Center
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Main Floor Show with Dinner $90; Main Floor Reserved $60; Loge Reserved $45; Balcony Reserved $30
Contact the Admiral Theatre for tickets, (360) 373-6743

Sponsored by: Kitsap Credit Union

For almost five years I’ve nearly always conducted the Bremerton Symphony Association’s concerts. We have had some time with our Assistant Conductors- Gary Dahl and John Falskow, we auctioned off the podium once to Barbara Burzynski, but by and large it’s been yours truly up there. This Saturday, we are changing course a bit for our conductor’s choice concert titled “British Invasion” where I am delighted to share the podium with our first guest conductor in half a decade, Dr. David Osbon from London, England.

Just a bit of background, about two years ago I received an unassuming CD recording the mail with a small note encouraging me to listen to the works. Keep in mind, I regularly get recordings of soloists, composers and promo materials and it really takes something special for me to pay attention to them. In David’s case, I put on the recording to give it a “test run” and I enjoyed it, listening to all of the excerpts. Then I began to imagine, could the BSA present this music in the future and bring it to life here? Those that have followed the orchestra of late, know that I try to program creatively, but I am always interested in a balanced diet of appealing music. I have to say I am not heavy into new music programming for the BSA audience, though I have done plenty of new and contemporary music in my past.

With David’s music, I thought we could enjoy the best of both worlds- new music, written by a living composer who could also serve as a guest conductor. So, I started an email relationship with him to try to discover if we might be able to work something out such as a “podium exchange”. The idea here would be we could program his music here in Bremerton, he would join us to conduct on the second half and I’d be there for the first half. In exchange, we’d do something similar with his University of London: Kingston Orchestra in England. Much to my delight, we were able to work out and exchange.

So last fall, we packed up (kids and husband in tow) and went to London to share a concert with European premieres of “He-Dog the Oglala Sioux” and “The Migrant Worker’s Prayer and Dream” by Patrick Stoyanovich, present masterclasses and get to know their student body in the music department. We had a marvelous time and I only got “stuck in a bind” (like the Grinch coming down the flue) one time when in rehearsal discussions began after I’d say, “…start at the sixteenth note” and they all said, “…you mean the semiquaver?” When we met in London, I asked David why he sent me his CD; he explained that he had seen me conduct at the American Symphony Orchestra League’s National Conference in Cincinnati, OH in 1996. He remembered me because I had done some new music with the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra. I didn’t meet him at that time, but eleven years later, I am experiencing the great fortune to get to know this extraordinary man and his music.

This time round, Dr. Osbon is on this side of the ocean with his “Nelson Overture” and “Symphony #2”. During the rehearsals this week and at the preconcert chat on Saturday before the concert, I’m sure he will be sharing with us the inspiration for these works, how they are put together and give us insights into their content and expression. In addition, he has a very colorful and impressive biography that I am hoping he will elaborate on when we speak in front of the audience. I am most excited about this program because we have a live composer who is conducting his music, a rare opportunity indeed. What would it have been like to see Beethoven conduct Beethoven or Stravinsky conduct Stravinsky or Mahler by Mahler? If I were you, I’d be curious to hear this new music by a living composer.

We’ll also enjoy other works by British composers such as Britten’s “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra”, narrated by Oxford trained Bernard Jacobson and the stunning sublime work for two string orchestra and solo ensemble Vaughan William’s “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis” (used recently in the movie “Master and Commander”). Needless to say, I hope to see you – at the symphony!

Conductor’s Choice Concert
Saturday, April 19, 2008 | 7:30 pm

Britten: Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
narrated by Bernard Jacobson
Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Osbon: Nelson Overture and Symphony #2
guest conductor: David Osbon

Bremerton High School Performing Arts Center
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Liszt, Strauss, and Dvořák: Elizabeth Stoyanovich, conductor, Jeffrey Fair, horn, Bremerton Symphony Orchestra, Bremerton Performing Arts Center, Bremerton, WA, 22.3.2008 (BJ)

So treacherous an instrument is the horn that according to one of its greatest players, Barry Tuckwell, you don’t say that a horn-player had a bad day; if nothing goes wrong, you say he had a good day. Appearing as guest soloist with the Bremerton Symphony Orchestra, Jeffrey Fair had a very good day indeed.

The young virtuoso is assistant principal horn with the Seattle Symphony. “Assistant principal” is number three in the pecking order (coming after the principal and the associate principal). But number three in what may well be the finest orchestral horn section in America (or perhaps anywhere) is no mean assignment, and Fair demonstrated his remarkable musical and technical gifts with a performance of Strauss’ testing First Horn Concerto that was as close to immaculate as any I can recall. His tone, commandingly forthright when the music required it, also encompassed many seductively delicate nuances; his phrasing was eloquent; and there was not a single spectacular cracked note of the kind you almost expect in a horn concerto, while the only note that momentarily threatened instability was instantly repaired in the most impressive fashion.

The Bremerton Symphony partnered Fair with punctuality and gusto. After intermission, the soloist demonstrated his commitment and good nature by sitting in with the horn section for Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony, but the regular members of the group were not outdone, all of them playing solidly and well. The orchestra, indeed, sounded in excellent fettle here and in the rousing performance of Liszt’s Les Préludes that opened the program, and even the strings, despite somewhat depleted numbers due apparently to the rival claims of the Easter holiday, achieved considerable tonal sheen and a generally excellent accuracy of intonation.

Elizabeth Stoyanovich’s five years as music director have clearly produced remarkable improvements in the standards of this largely amateur ensemble. The artistry of William Ferman’s clarinet solos in the Dvorák, and the warm tone of the cello section led by Michael Burkland in the recapitulation of the slow movement, were two among several features of the performance that might have been envied by some professional orchestras I have heard, and the conductor’s interpretation of what may be (with the possible exception of the Sixth) Dvorák’s greatest symphony compellingly blended poetry with energy and power.

Bernard Jacobson