Who plays 53 gigs in 67 days? In the dead of winter? For $40 a performance? The Moscow State Radio Symphony Orchestra toured the United States beginning in Atlanta on January 13, 2010, trundled north by bus through New York and southern New England, and then plowed into the Midwest. Finally the performers were able to defrost their fingers in Arizona, Nevada, and California, departing from Los Angeles on March 22.
As they traveled, they paid out of pocket for three meals a day, unless, of course, the budget motels they stayed happened to offer free breakfast. Some days they traveled seven hours in the bus, and they got one day off every two weeks.
Russian Classical Music: Unusual Selections and Great Prices
With ticket prices as low as $10 and performance venues in many smaller towns, it might have been easy for the Russians musicians to perform the same program over and over. But no. During a pre-performance talk at the George Mason University Center for the Arts in Fairfax, Virginia, on February 13, music director Anatoli Nemudrov explained that there were at least five completely different programs and that no two would be alike from one performance to the next. (He was also amused by locals' horrified attitude to Winter 2010's unprecedented snowfalls, which, he remarked, was nothing unusual in Russia.)
In fact, that performance featured several pieces that are not often heard in this country. T. L. Ponick, music and theatre critic at the Washington Times, pointed out underperformed works by Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, and Khachaturian: “The evening led off with an energetic performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Overture to his tragic opera The Tsar’s Bride. Balanced between passion and melancholy and splashed with Rimsky’s shimmering orchestral colors, both his opera and the overture should be better known on this side of the Atlantic.” He also endorsed the selection of Tchaikovsky’s “Variations on a Rococo Theme,” Op. 33 and the “Lezghinka” dance from Aram Khachaturian’s Gayne Ballet, neither of which are orchestral standards stateside.
Tacos and Tchaikovsky
When Dean Corey, president of the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, got wind of the orchestra’s grueling tour, he decided that the least he could do would be to feed them. So Charo Chicken, a local Mexican restaurant, planned a “Fresh, Fast, Fire Grilled” meal of tacos, beans, and rice courtesy of the Philharmonic Society. According to the Orange County Register, the orchestra members will dine in a rehearsal room before the concert and after the sound check—a distinctly American version of unusual selections and great prices, and a memorable way to celebrate the end of a long—but excellent—adventure.
Frances Ponick - Independent book doctor, book coach trainer, authoring coach. Director of Publications at MENC: The National Association for Music ...
