Keeping up with Yoav Talmi

Eileen Wingard

By Eileen Wingard

SAN DIEGO — Yoav Talmi, former conductor of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, performed his final concert with the Orchestre Symphonique du Quebec last May, 2011, after a 13-year tenure. He is succeeded by the French conductor, Fabien Gabel.

Talmi’s final concert included his own composition, De Profundis, a work in three languages for chorus and orchestra. At the event were friends and fans from Holland, San Diego, Germany and Israel where he held posts. Beloved by both the Quebec orchestra and the public, Talmi was named Conductor Emeritus of the Quebec Symphony and is scheduled to direct one of their concerts in 2013.

Meanwhile, he returned to North America to conduct the internationally acclaimed chamber ensemble,  Violins du Roy, in two concerts at the Palais Montcalm in Quebec in the middle of February and the Buffalo Philharmonic at the end of March 2012.

Of the Quebec performance, Richard Boisvert, Music Critic of the Quebec Sun wrote: “The sense of the measure, the balance, the fullness of sound, clarity of intentions. No doubt, this is the Talmi we know and love who was performing at the Palais Montclam, yesterday, as guest conductor of Violins du Roy. Talmi was back home in great shape and in full possession of his resources. The 22 strings were behind the maestro in a solid, unified bloc. We were delighted with 80 minutes of perfect music. As always, Talmi directed the entire program by memory. The conductor was greeted with a big ovation in which you could feel the strong affection…”

The program included Talmi’s transcription of Beethoven’s Razumovsky Quartet, op. 59, No. 2, the Serenade for Strings in E major by Dvorak, Two Humoresques by Sibelius, and The Snows of Yesteryear by Ysaye, featuring violin soloist Pascale Giguere.

In Buffalo, Talmi was again triumphant. He conducted the orchestra and chorus in Haydn’s “The Creation.” Herman Trotter, Music Critic Emeritus of the Buffalo News headlined his review: “A masterpiece, handled masterfully.” Describing the work’s beginning, “The incredibly visionary opening orchestral depiction of chaos was coldly chiseled from empty unison statements into well-drawn tensions and dramatic harmonic turns that burst, fortissimo, into blazing C major on the phrase, ‘And there was light.’” Trotter concludes, “Talmi kept the orchestral dynamics superbly controlled so that the voices could be clearly heard and understood.  It was a wonderfully conceived and delivered performance.”

Talmi will conduct a 17-concert tour in South America with the Israel Chamber Orchestra this coming summer-in August and September. He was a guest maestro at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico las February, conducting there Mahler’s “Das Lied von der Erde.”  Conducting students at Tel Aviv University are privileged to work with the veteran maestro who continues as Principal Conductor of the Israel Chamber Orchestra.

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