A Visit with Jerry Steichen, by Jack Truskowski
Thursday, April 7, 2011 at 8:32AM
Before the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra concert on April 2, I had the opportunity to meet with Maestro Steichen, the music director of the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra.
One of the things I was curious about was how he selected music for each concert of a concert season. For example, I was curious to know why he picked April in Paris as the theme for the April 2 concert. Mr. Steichen said that he selects music for a concert based in part on what interests him. He loves French music, which is why he centered this particular concert around French composers.
Another factor in selecting music is variety. Maestro Steichen’s goal is to perform a variety of music throughout each concert season. As a result, each concert is different and typically doesn’t have a connection to other concerts in the season. This ensures that each concert is unique, and that there will be something for everyone throughout the season.
The music for a concert season is selected many months in advance of the start of the season. In fact, the music for an entire concert season is usually decided by the December before the start of the next season. In fact, Maestro Steichen said that he is, “already thinking about music for the 2012-2013 concert season.”