Two pre-Thanksgiving concert feasts

Eileen Wingard

By Eileen Wingard

SAN DIEGO–Conductor David Amos chose, for the opening concert of the season, Nov. 17, familiar and beloved repertoire which both the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra (TICO) members and the audience could thoroughly enjoy.The concert opened with Tchaikowsky’s Little Russian Symphony. From the opening notes of the solo French horn intoning a melancholy Russian folk tune, the musicians embraced the warm themes and executed the symphony’s challenges with confidence. The first violins, although few in numbers, played with security and good intonation. Particularly impressive was their opening passage of the last movement.  

In the second half of the program, Violinist Hernan Constantino was soloist in Bruch’s Concerto #2 in G minor, a work brimming with beautiful melodies. The last movement is full of rhythmic fervor. The talented violinist gave the concerto an admirable reading, bringing the audience to its feet in a well-deserved ovation. Constantino is one of San Diego’s most active and influential musicians. The Phillipine native not only plays in the San Diego Symphony and in Orchestra Nova, but is also one of the city’s most respected violin pedagogues and is a seasoned conductor who has recently taken over the directorship of the Young Artist’s Symphony, one of several youth orchestras in the county.

Two nights later, six young professionals presented an unusual program on the UCSD campus to benefit the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.  It was called a Shuffle Concert, a cross between a concert and a game show. Each listener was handed a printed program with a different number on it.  The program consisted of a few selections under fifteen different categories. On an electronic device, a number was selected and the person whose program had that number chose the next piece to be performed. Once a selection was selected under a given category, no others from that category could be chosen. In this way, the performers ensured that the concert ran the gamut, as ours did that night, from Baroque (Vivaldi’s Adagio and Allegro from the Sonata for Oboe and Continuo) to Pop/Rock (The Sting’s The Shape of My Heart for Soprano and Ensemble) to Classical (Spohr’s  Sei still mein Hertz from German Songs for soprano, clarinet and piano) to Opera (Mozart’s Deh Vieni Non Tardar for Soprano and ensemble) to Jewish Themes (Williams Schindler’s List for violin and piano), to Children’s Corner (Menken’s Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid for soprano and piano), to Jazz, Broadway, Spotlight, 1900-1950, Impressionism. Three categories were not chosen.

The musical selections plus the game element lasted for over two hours without intermission, so the audience was more than satisfied. The performers, Mary Mackenzie, soprano, David McCarroll, violin, Moran Katz, clarinet, Linor Katz, cello, Jessica Pearlman, oboe and Eliran Avni, piano founder of the group were all gifted young artists with impressive accomplishments. The women were attractively attired in contrasting colored gowns and all six musicians performed with a high level of musicality. Works for the entire ensemble by Piazzola bookcased the evening. 

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Wingard is a San Diego based freelance writer and former violinist with the San Diego Symphony.  She may be contacted at eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com