{"id":196,"date":"2015-10-06T07:45:14","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T11:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.courtneylewis.com\/blog\/?p=196"},"modified":"2015-10-06T13:13:43","modified_gmt":"2015-10-06T17:13:43","slug":"opening-week-has-arrived","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.courtneylewis.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/opening-week-has-arrived\/","title":{"rendered":"Opening week has arrived"},"content":{"rendered":"

Autumn is here and it\u2019s with great excitement that we are beginning a new era at the Jacksonville Symphony. Last week I was in New York for the opening of the Philharmonic\u2019s season. In a fortuitous coincidence, I assisted Alan Gilbert as he conducted Beethoven\u2019s Symphony No. 7, the same inexorable masterpiece with which we will showcase the Jacksonville Symphony this weekend in a series of free community concerts.<\/p>\n

\"Razor<\/a>
Razor shortage at David Geffen Hall. New York Philharmonic season opening: assistant conductor Joshua Gersen, music director Alan Gilbert, assistant conductor Courtney Lewis.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We start at the St Augustine Amphitheatre on Thursday night, move to the sleek new Unity Plaza at 220 Riverside Avenue on Friday, and open the doors of Jacoby Hall on Saturday. As part of the Year of the River celebration we\u2019re beginning these concerts with Smetana\u2019s impassioned hymn to one of Bohemia\u2019s great rivers, the Vltava. The music begins at the river\u2019s source \u2013 a bubbling stream \u2013 and follows its course through woods and meadows, alongside a country peasant wedding, under ruined castles as mermaids swim in the moonlight, before arriving with great grandeur in the city of Prague. En route, the river hits the St Johns rapids. I couldn\u2019t resist.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll also perform Gy\u00f6rgy Ligeti\u2019s rabble-rousing Romanian Concerto<\/em>. Written in 1954 in Hungary, this tour-de-force bristles with energy and showcases the gypsy-fiddling skills of our concertmaster, Philip Pan. I\u2019m looking forward to seeing smoke rise from his bow!<\/p>\n

All three concerts are absolutely free and a great way to check out the Symphony in a relaxed environment. Don\u2019t miss them.<\/p>\n

The following weekend is the moment we\u2019ve all been working towards for the past eighteen months: the beginning of our first full season together. We\u2019re rolling out the red carpet and throwing a grand celebration at Jacoby Hall over three nights: Friday, Saturday and Sunday, October 9, 10 and 11. The music is jubilant too, beginning with John Adam\u2019s thrilling fanfare for orchestra, Short Ride in a Fast Machine<\/em>. Written in 1986, Adam\u2019s once compared the experience of the music to a white-knuckle car journey: \u201cYou know how it is when someone asks you to ride in a terrific sports car, and then you wish you hadn’t!\u201d If you think you don\u2019t like contemporary music, this irresistible piece might convert you.<\/p>\n

We continue with Haydn\u2019s Symphony No. 90. Ever the joker, Haydn loved to play tricks on his audience. I\u2019m not going to give the game away but I can assure that his pranks work just as well today as they did in the 1700s, and this symphony contains some of his best.<\/p>\n