Ridgefield Press review of Symphonie Espagnole

RIDGEFIELD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA – Saturday, April 6, 2013

Reviewed by Courtenay Caublé

Billed as “Symphonie Espagnole” and replete with the aurally enticing intermingling of lyricism and rhythm of “Spanish” music by composers who weren’t Spanish, last Saturday evening’s performance by the Ridgefield Symphony was arguably the crowning jewel of this season’s classical RSO programs. Maestro Gerald Steichen’s offerings included Emmanuel Chabrier’s Espagña, Alberto Ginastera’s Molambo from Estancia, Ernesto Lecuona’s Andalucia Suite, Maurice Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole, and Édouard Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole, with the young violin virtuoso Chad Hoopes as soloist. In addition, nineteen young dancers from the Ridgefield Civic Ballet provided visual enhancement for the energetic rhythms of Ginastera’s Molambo.

Maestro Steichen and the orchestra were in fine form throughout the evening, but especially in the program’s first half. With its songlike melodies and dancing rhythms enhanced by Steichen’s sensitive control of nuances and balances and by outstanding sectional playing, Chabrier’s Espagňa was a perfect choice to open the program.

The second half was enriched by what has become the RSO’s commendable collaboration with other local arts organizations, including The Ridgefield Guild of Artists, The Ridgefield Conservatory of Dance, and the Ridgefield Civic Ballet. The RCB’s brightly dressed young dancers, along with the lively artwork behind the orchestra, provided a wonderful visual enhancement for the rhythmical Ginastera Molambo, and the inclusion of promising young Western Connecticut Youth Orchestra musicians in the performance (an annual practice that has become yet another commendable way of enhancing this fine organization’s worth in the Ridgefield community) provided another dimension for audience appreciation. This concert’s fine young WCYO performers were violinists Gavin Belok, Tahlia Cott, Natalie Marks, and harpist Dana Tufariello.

Eighteen-year-old violinist Chad Hoopes’s age can’t be cited as an apology for any artistic shortcomings, because he doesn’t have any. His performance of Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole called forth unprecedented applause at the end of each of the concerto’s first three movements and an entirely merited standing ovation (along with multiple bravos) at the end. With excellent support from the orchestra under Maestro Steichen, whose exceptional skill working with soloists, whether vocal or instrumental, has become expected, Chad played with an artistic understanding of the music he was playing that defies argument, a corresponding and sensitive control of nuances, articulation and phrasing, flawless intonation, and a technical mastery that brought it all together. He had obviously made Lalo’s music his own and was therefore able not just to play it, but to communicate its essence as well. One of my knowledgeable guests at the concert commented that she would go “just about anywhere” to hear him play again, and I think that I would too.

News Times: RSO blends art forms with a Spanish accent

Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra music director Jerry Steichen had a lot of help cooking up a cultural paella, combining music, dance, paintings and sculpture Saturday at Ridgefield High School. "Symphonie Espagnole" was the theme of this fiery evening with a Spanish twist.

Read the full review on NewsTimes.com

Newtown Vigil

Members of the RSO were honored to perform at the prayer vigil for Newtown, CT on the evening of December 20 at the Ridgefield Community Center.  Andy Woodruff, cello and Kevin Callaghan, bass did a beautiful duet, and Ed Wojtowicz, clarinet, played a lovely and haunting "Amazing Grace."

The community center was lit in green and white, the colors of Sandy Hook Elementary School for the vigil.

Review: A Night at the Opera, December 1, 2012

RIDGEFIELD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA – Saturday, December 1, 2012

Reviewed by Courtenay Caublé

    The entertainment level of last Saturday evening's Ridgefield Symphony concert at the high school's Anne Richardson Auditorium could make a good case for serving up "A Night at the Opera" as an annual Ridgefield treat.  Lyric soprano Yunah Lee and tenor William Joyner joined Maestro Steichen for the occasion in a varied program of theatrical music by Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Francesco Cilea, Alfredo Catalani, Hector Berlioz, Charles Gounod, Scott Joplin, Gian Carlo Menotti, Gilbert and Sullivan, Emmanuel Chabrier, Franz Lehar, Richard Strauss, and Jules Massenet.
    With the sort of well-managed readings we have come to expect from him, Maestro Steichen led his musicians in six orchestral selections, including contrasting overtures to Verdi's Nabucco and Scott Joplin's Treemonisha, and evoked particularly fine playing in the Rakoczy March from Berlioz's La damnation de Faust, the Danse slave from Chabrier's Le roi malgre lui, and the Moonlight Interlude from Richard Strauss's Capriccio, with its lovely horn solo beautifully played by Sara Della Posta.
    Yunah Lee is a delight for both eyes and ears, with an engaging stage presence and a warm, solidly supported and focused lyric soprano voice that she manages with sensitive control from her lowest to her highest notes.  Tenor William Joyner's voice is also warm, well managed, and focused, particularly in its middle range, and both artists underpinned their musical performance with impressive dramatic skill, especially in their Tosca and Manon love scenes; and their individual arias were fine as well, with particular kudos for Mr. Joyner's handling of “Federico's Lament” from Cilea's L'Arlésiana and Lehar's “Du bist meine Sonne” and Ms. Joyner's impressively different moods in Menotti's wistful "Steal me, sweet thief" and Lehar's rather naughty "Meine Lippen sie küssen so heiss."
    All in all it was top-level entertainment, capped by a memorable duet encore -- Leonard Bernstein's lovely "Tonight" from his Broadway hit West Side Story.

Review: John Williams Movie Night, October 13, 2012

RIDGEFIELD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA – Saturday, October 13, 2012

Reviewed by Courtenay Caublé

Ridgefield Symphony Music Director Jerry Steichen proved once again last Saturday evening at Ridgefield High School’s auditorium that in addition to his current primary role in Ridgefield as a skilled and sensitive “classical” conductor, he is also a first-rate entertainer and master of ceremonies, possessing a quick wit, impressive timing, and a natural charisma. The occasion was the RSO’s second concert this season and the first of its two evenings devoted to popular music, this time featuring selections by John Williams, unquestionably the most prolific and successful film score composer of all time. Drawing on a wide range of selections from the scores of films like Jurassic Park, Star Wars, ET, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the Harry Potter films, MC and Conductor Steichen and the orchestra were joined by tenor Greg Mills for a program focusing on both the artistry and the remarkable variety of John Williams’s music.

With uniformly fine playing by the orchestra and informative and often amusing comments about Williams and his music by Steichen, the whole program was first-rate entertainment. High points were aplenty, though. Although better amplification of Greg Mills’s excellent voice would have been welcome, his lyrical and dramatic deliveries of “Somewhere in My Memory” from Home Alone, “For Always” from Artificial Intelligence, and perhaps best of all (standing in for Lois Lane) the moving “Can You Read My Mind” from Superman were both dramatic and beautiful.

“Joy Ride”, featuring a solo jazz trio with Paul Cohen (saxophone), Dave Smith (vibes), and Kevin Callaghan (double bass) was also outstanding, and the evening’s pièce de résistance was the Theme from Schindler’s List, with the RSO’s wonderful concertmaster Jorge Avila’s warmly sensitive (and flawless) solo playing calling forth a spontaneous standing ovation. A special additional treat was the guest appearance of the Ridgefield Playhouse’s Executive Director Allison Stockel, winner of this year’s Golden Baton Award, who, baton in left hand, did a fine job leading the orchestra in the selection from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Ridgefield is fortunate to have a professional quality musical organization like the RSO, capable of both edifying and entertaining out audiences with fine music of all kinds, from Bach and Beethoven to John Williams and beyond.