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By David Amos
 SAN DIEGO—One of the greatest pleasures which I derive from leading an orchestra is the process of selecting the musical material for the next season being planned. It is virtually like being a child in a toy store; there is everything you have always loved and looking forward to perform and interpret, ready for you to choose.
There are, of course, built-in limitations: The ability of the musicians, the time we have to prepare for a particular concert, and of course, music which pleases the audiences and intrigues them sufficiently to attend the concerts. With community orchestras, you have the additional element of selecting music which gives satisfaction to the musicians. After all, they are volunteering their services, unlike professionals, who generally are pleased to play whatever is given to them.
But, there is one aspect to community orchestras which the professionals simply do not have: The luxury of time. Orchestras for pay have a limited time to rehearse the music for their next concert. Usually, three rehearsals. Granted, their technical ability is far superior, but so much of the interpretation of the music many times can not be crammed into a few days. The meaning of the music has to mature, grow, and be understood. Under the hands of a capable leader, community orchestras can give unusual and very artistic renderings of familiar works, which by definition, the professionals may not have time to develop.
Also, community orchestras can afford to be more adventurous in the repertory they play. The financial risks are less, and there is a growing audience with appetite for the fringes of the repertory.
Keeping all these elements in mind, the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra (TICO) has prepared an exciting season, full of variety, color, familiar favorites, worthy introductions to the repertory, a humorous concert, a very serious one, and a roster of outstanding guest artists.
All concerts are on Tuesday evenings at 7:30 p.m., except for the summer pops concerts; the first on July 18th, 2010 at the Allied Gardens Recreation Park will be at 7:00 p.m., and the season’s finale, at its home at Tifereth Israel Synagogue, on Sunday, July 25, at 3:00 p.m.
On November 17, 2009, guest conductor Jerome Summers, coming from Canada, will lead TICO in music by Carl Maria Von-Weber, his rarely heard Turandot Overture and March. He will accompany guest clarinetist Marian Liebowitz in Von-Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No. 1, and film composer John Williams’ Viktor’s Tale, from The Terminal, which starred Tom Hanks. Maestro Summers will conduct his own arrangement of Anton Bruckner’s Adagio from the Quintet in F Major, Ronald Royer’s Canadian Celebration Overture, and will conclude the concert with Paul Hindemith’s colorful and jazzy Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes by Von-Weber. Hindemith was one of the composers whose music was banned by the Third Reich.
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The February 2, 2010 concert should provide plenty of laughs, when we will hear the lighter side of famous composers. Mozart could not resist composing a piece where he pokes fun of lesser composers of his day, and lets all the stops out in his Musical Joke. Haydn was a serious court composer, but his sly humor was openly revealed in the second movement of his Surprise Symphony, when he wanted to make sure that the members of royalty did not fall asleep during the playing of his symphony. The French composer Jacques Ibert wrote his Divertissment with the Keystone Cops on his mind; this work is best described as “quality slapstick”. Peter Schickele (aka PDQ Bach) is a master in finding comedy out of serious classical masterpieces, and this is evident in his Unbegun Symphony. Did you know that Rossini composed a song for two sopranos who only sing “Miauuuuuu”? Yes, it’s the Cat Duet.
And to conclude this evening of high-brow comedy, there is a precious piece by the German-English composer Franz Reizenstein. After escaping Nazi Germany, he settled in England, and was commissioned to write a “Concerto to End All Piano Concertos”. With TICO’s own Sylvia Hartman at the piano, you will recognize hilarious quotes from favorites by Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Gershwin, and a few other surprises.
The March 23, 2010 concert will feature two soloists: The outstanding soprano Delynn Ketcherside, who will perform operatic arias, and the orchestra’s concertmaster, Juanita Cummins, who will premiere a new violin concerto by Jeannie Pool. TICO will play Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture, and Sir Edward Elgar’s popular Enigma Variations.
The June 8, 2010 concert is a weighty program, starting with the Symphony No. 3 by Johannes Brahms. Guest violist Karen Elaine will perform two strong Hebraic works, King David’s Lyre by the Israeli composer Hanoch Jacoby, and her own transcription of Ernest Bloch’s touching Nigun. The program will conclude with a world premiere of an historic work, From The Diaries Of Adam Czerniakow by Arnold Rosner. The narration is extracted from the secret diaries of the Jewish man who was the administrator of the Warsaw Ghetto, taking orders from the Nazis on the control and “relocation” of the ghetto’s Jewish population. This promises to be a composition that will move, impress, and educate, with its strong message and emotional impact.
In contrast, the July 18 “Concert in the Park” will feature lighter music, Broadway, Film, marches, polkas, and TV music.
The season ends with guest conductor Shelly Cohen, “Mr. L.A. Pops”, who will bring to us his usual delightful mix of old favorites, sing-alongs, and show music. Mr. Cohen was the assistant conductor for 30 years of the NBC Tonight Show Band, which starred Johnny Carson and bandleader Doc Severinsen.
To purchase individual concert tickets, become a season subscriber, a patron (with season ticket packages), or obtain group discounts, go online at http://www.tiferethisrael.com/TICO, or call the Tifereth Israel office, (619) 697 6001.
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