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September 20, 2007
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Classical is back The first of four candidates for the job of conducting the Nashua Symphony will step up to the podium this weekend, starting what promises to be a season of discovery for the orchestra and the whole local classical music scene in southern New Hampshire as well. With the retirement of long-time music director Royston Nash last season, the Nashua group is giving four potential successors a chance to test-drive the orchestra, so to speak, before making a decision. Meanwhile, a new orchestra forming at the Palace Theatre in Manchester is scheduled to give its first concert on Sunday, Sept. 30. Other groups will soon follow with a crowded fall calender of concerts. Though the New Hampshire Symphony Orchestra ceased operations earlier this year and isn’t coming back, there’s still plenty of music being made locally. In Nashua, the first candidate to audition for the conductor’s gig is Jonathan Schiffman, who this Saturday will lead a program of surefire classical hits highlighted by Beethoven’s “dance to the music” Symphony No. 7 in A major, a work that starts off with a bang and never looks back. Also featured is Ravel’s jazzy Piano Concerto in G major with pianist Judith Gordon as soloist, and de Falla’s popular suite from the “Three-Cornered Hat” ballet. Schiffman, a 30-something rising classical music star, is a New York native who studied at Yale and currently lives in Paris, where he studies composition and leads a regional orchestra in Avignon-Provence. No stranger to the podium, he’s led orchestras all around the U.S. and is actively involved in promoting new music. The concert is Saturday, Sept. 22, at 8 p.m. at Nashua’s Keefe Auditorium. Tickets are $10 to $47, with discounts available through series subscription packages. Call 595-9156 or check out the orchestra’s nifty revamped Web site at nashuasymphony.org. It’s a busy time for the Gate City orchestra, which has been taking steps to move beyond its traditional Nashua base. With last season’s demise of the New Hampshire Symphony Orchestra, there’s a void to be filled, and Nashua is in a good position to make music elsewhere. To that end, the Nashua Symphony Chorus is embarking on a regional tour this month, performing New England-themed music in four locations over the next two weekends: Keene, Plymouth, Portsmouth, and Salem, Mass. The symphony also recently announced some sizeable grant awards totaling $34,300—no small potatoes in local classical music. The money will be used for additional staff and for initiatives such as the symphony’s “Ripple Effect,” which encourages students and local composers to collaborate with the symphony. • New kid on the block: The following weekend brings the first performance of a brand new orchestra based at Manchester’s Palace Theatre, one designed specifically to fill the void left by the New Hampshire Symphony’s demise. The Palace Festival Orchestra, led by local conductor Robert C. Babb, will launch itself into the classical scene with an all-Beethoven concert set for Sunday, Sept. 30, at 4 p.m. On the program: Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony No. 3, the overture to “Creatures of Prometheus (built in part on a similar tune from the symphony) and the composer’s early Piano Concerto No. 2 with local pianist George Lopez as soloist. Hopes are high at the Palace for the orchestra, which is made up entire of professional players and has scheduled an inaugural season of four concerts. Earlier this week, Babb said ticket sales have been good and continue to build, thanks in part to the Palace’s marketing heft. Tickets are $25 to $40, kids $15; discounts offered through subscriptions. Call the Palace box office at 668-5588 or visit palacetheatre.org.
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