This week's concerts - what's your opinion?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Donato Cabrera on April 20, 2009 at 12:58am

ABOUT LAST WEEK...
These last few days have been a blur, to say the least! Relaying the chain of events in chronilogical order is an interesting story in and of itself...

On Tuesday (14 April) afternoon, around 12:30, I received a call from Gregg Gleasner, the Director of Artistic Planning, asking if I was still in San Francisco. I answered, “Yes. Why?,” and he informed me that their current conductor was ill and then asked if I was available to conduct the San Francisco Symphony...

I think I said yes before my mind registered the question and then I asked about the repertoire! It should’ve been the other way ‘round, I know, but you can understand my excitement! Luckily, it was repertoire that I had previously conducted and, at least, covered in the past. It’s been a few years since I was last immersed in the symphonic world, but I grew up with this repertoire and I was counting on the fact that getting in front of an orchestra such as the San Francisco Symphony is something that I look forward to...not the opposite.

However, Gregg called again and informed me that the conductor was feeling better and that the SF Symphony would like to hire me that week as a Cover Conductor....just in case. So, I went down to Davies Symphony Hall, picked up the scores, and watched the Tuesday afternoon rehearsal of Mozart’s glorious Symphony No. 38, the “Prague” symphony. I looked over the scores on Tuesday evening to reacquaint myself with them and had a sound night’s sleep.

I got on BART the next morning (I’m staying in Berkeley right now) and started heading in for the 10:00am rehearsal. Half-way there, my phone buzzed to inform me I had a new voicemail. I saw that it was Mr. Gleasner. I THOUGHT his message said that the conductor had cancelled for the morning rehearsal. So, I took the scores out of my bag and started to really pour over them, especially the Mussorgsky. I arrived at the hall at 9:45 thinking that I would run the Mussorgsky rehearsal in the morning but the other conductor would come in for the final rehearsal that afternoon. However, when I walked into the dressing room, I was informed by Mark Williams, the wonderful, new Artistic Adminstrator, that the other conductor had cancelled the ENTIRE WEEK AND I WAS ON!

So, with about 11 minutes before the dress rehearsal of the Mussorgsky, I was now going to be the Guest Conductor for the San Francisco Symphony in a program that included Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro Overture, Exsultate Jubilate, and his Symphony No. 38. The second-half was the orchestra showpiece, Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky and orchestrated by Maurice Ravel. If you’ve read this blog entry this far, you deserve a bit of information that is only mentioned here: The only piece I’ve ever conducted in performance was the overture...

As young conductors, if we’re lucky, we spend years covering and observing and learning from famous, competent maestri. I’ve covered all of the pieces on this program at least once and in the case of the Mussorgsky three times. But the opportunity to actually get in front of an orchestra, especially of the caliber of the San Francisco Symphony, comes once in a lifetime. It’s what you do with these “breaks” that matter. It’s the years of preparation that creates the self-confidence that orchestras respond to that matter. Somehow I mustered the guts to do the job and the willingness to lay it all on the line...I think it paid off!

▶ Reply to This

▶ Reply to This