The William S. Anderson Endowed Concert
Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969) Overture
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21
20-minute Intermission
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Symphony No. 3 in D Major, Op. 29, “Polish”
This Polish-themed event begins with Grażyna Bacewicz’s Overture, a gleaming piece of music brimming with hope and optimism that contrasts the time in which it was written: the German occupation of Poland in World War II. Then, after making an effervescent debut in 2014, pianist Spencer Myer returns to the stage to perform Chopin’s Concerto No. 2 in F minor. Upon its 1839 premiere in Warsaw, the work was hailed for its indescribable beauty and sublime nature. The concert closes with Tchaikovsky’s rarely performed Symphony No. 3, nicknamed “Polish” due to its rousing, folk-dance final movement.
Thank you to the following sponsors for their support of the 2022-2023 Masterworks Series.
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Halfway There
It’s February. Five months of performances behind us since the start of the DPAA season. Five months of performances ahead of us before our summer break.
Halfway there.
And I’m halfway through my off-the-podium stint recovering from my beginning-of-January prostate surgery. Thanks to everyone who’s shared prayers, good wishes, healing vibes, and get-well cards! The news is all good: successful surgery, a clean pathology report, a smooth recovery. During the second half of my absence, I’ll be focusing on getting physically ready to return to my normal schedule of rehearsals and concerts, with two circled dates on my calendar: my first rehearsal with the orchestra on March 6th and my first concert for you on March 10th.
What’s Up
In the meantime, conducting duties are in the capable (and very busy) hands of Associate Conductor Patrick Reynolds and I’m sitting in the Schuster Center enjoying concerts from your side of the auditorium. I’m working on getting my core strength back (conducting looks like it’s mostly arm-waving, but those core muscles get a real work out, too). I’m studying scores for the second half of the season (especially prepping for April’s big “double feature” of Rheingold with Dayton Opera and Peter Pan with Dayton Ballet in back-to-back weeks). I’m working with my DPAA colleagues as we put the finishing touches on our soon-to-be-announced 2023-2024 season of performances. And we’re starting work on planning the 2024-2025 season.
Sounds pretty busy, right?
Yup. But not as busy as your Dayton Performing Arts Alliance in the month of February!
February’s the shortest month of the year, but it’s often jam-packed with DPAA performances. And February 2023 is no exception! There’s a Young People’s Concert program, a reliving-the-80s Rockin’ Orchestra Series concert, Dayton Opera’s 100th birthday recital for Maria Callas, Dayton Ballet’s 85th anniversary repertory show, the young dancers of Dayton Ballet II in performance, and a Polish-themed DPO Masterworks Series program. Everything DPAA. Everywhere. All At Once!
Lessons Learned
I feel like I’ve learned some valuable lessons during my unplanned time away from the podium.
The first lesson is a line from a Joni Mitchell song that’s been echoing in my mind’s ear: “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone?” You bet! But that lesson isn’t just about the programs that I turned over to Pat Reynolds. It’s a bigger lesson everything that’s happened since the COVID shutdown.
We missed performing for you in the second half of the 2019-2020 season. We powered through the streaming-only and hybrid-performance phases of the 2020-2021 season, getting back to performing ahead of many other orchestras, opera companies, and ballet companies around the country and around the world. We were thrilled to return to something that started to feel like “normal” in 2021-2022. But now, midway through 2022-2023 it really feels like we’re all back in the rhythm. All of us onstage have been so excited to see you returning in larger and larger numbers and to feel your warmth and your enthusiasm. Joni Mitchell was singing about losing something you love forever. But we lost something we love AND NOW WE’RE GETTING IT BACK! Thanks to our players, dancers, and singers for keeping it together. And thanks to you for keeping us going and for coming back!
The second lesson I’ve learned is just how precious this thing we do is and how much it means to me. Missing my planned January and February rehearsals and concerts isn’t just about the music I’m not conducting. Sure, I love Sondheim. And I love doing Young People’s Concerts. And February’s Polish-themed program was designed as a musical love-letter to the Polish side of my family tree. But what I’ve missed the most is the everyday music-making with the Orchestra.
Rehearsing and performing is our job, but it’s much more than that. It’s a deep, magical, challenging, and rewarding interaction between all of us onstage (and between us onstage and you in the audience). Missing that interaction for a while makes me cherish it all the more.
The third lesson is how rewarding it is to be on the receiving end of the performing process. If I’m not conducting, I’m almost always in sitting with you in the audience (and sometimes sneaking in to listen to rehearsals!) But during this time when that’s my only direct connection to music and dance, I think I’ve gained a newer, deeper appreciation for how what we do onstage affects the audience, and how much it changes people’s lives for the better. I’ve always known that there are two sides to this strange and wonderful thing we do in the performing arts—what we do and what you experience. But I think I understand—and appreciate—that so much more now.
The final lesson is that missing a couple of months of scheduled concerts is probably good preparation and practice for that time in a few years when I eventually retire. It’ll be different. There will be a lot that I miss. But there will be new joys to experience. And most importantly, to paraphrase a line from another of my favorite songs, when I finally do retire, I know that life at the Philharmonic and the DPAA will continue to flow—within me and without me.
I hope you enjoy our playing-, singing-, and dancing-full month of February as much as I will. And I’ll see you again from the stage in March!
