Symphony sets sail after choosing Hirokami for helm
After several years of turmoil and declining resources, the classical-music community settled into a period of recovery in 2006.
Some long-standing questions were answered: Who would become the seventh music director of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra? Who would be its new executive director? And would Opera Columbus survive its second near-death experience in 25 years?
After a three-year search, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra hired the last conductor to audition here, Japanese maestro Junichi Hirokami. Tony Beadle, manager of the Boston Pops, was then named executive director, giving the orchestra a new team and clean slate at the top. And Opera Columbus did survive, thanks to a full-court press in fundraising and reductions in staff and productions.
Neither organization has truly solved its problems, however, and how orchestra and opera will fare is among the questions for 2007.
Mozart ruled the concert hall, as musicians everywhere celebrated the 250 th anniversary of the Austrian composer’s birth in Salzburg.
His music brought out the best from the Columbus symphony in concerts led by an assortment of maestros, including Hirokami, former Music Director Alessandro Siciliani, former principal guest conductor/music adviser Gunther Herbig and Russian superstar Vladimir Spivakov.
The renditions were as different as the temperaments and talents of the performers, and served as a reminder of how great music can be experienced through a variety of approaches.
The Downtown music scene welcomed a new kid on the block — a big one: St. Joseph Cathedral dedicated its $1.8 million Grand Gallery Organ.
Chamber Music Columbus drew crowds to several programs and seems to have cornered the youth market, with ample help from a partner, the Chamber Music Connection. The Columbus Association for the Performing Arts attracted a huge crowd to hear legendary fiddler Itzhak Perlman, and ProMusica sold out its gala with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.
No Three Tenors came calling, but divas Renee Fleming and Dawn Upshaw appeared. Fleming may have the bigger name, but Upshaw’s performance was more impressive.
Some great artists didn’t live up to their names; both Perlman and pianist Richard Goode treaded water in unengaging opening works, only to reach Parnassus later in their performances.
On her last full-scale tour, Barbra Streisand appeared in Columbus for the first time.
In tandem with the crossover quartet known as Il Divo, Streisand filled Value City Arena with fans who hung on every note and mostly ignored the diva’s political commentary.
