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December 20, 2007
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He’s everywhere! If you haven’t bumped into Robert C. Babb, you haven’t been attending many local concerts. The Nashua-based conductor, always a busy guy, has been up to his stick in local engagements lately. Already this month, he’s led six performances of the Nutcracker ballet at the Palace Theatre in Manchester (in his own reduction of Tchaikovsky’s score), followed by last weekend’s Nashua Symphony’s holiday pops cabaret concert. On Sunday, Dec. 16, he’ll conduct another holiday pops program, this time for the Granite State Symphony, a Concord-based group he helped found in 1994. Then he’ll finish out the month on Monday, Dec. 31, with a New Year’s Eve concert of the Palace Festival Orchestra, another ensemble that he helped found following the demise of the New Hampshire Symphony Orchestra this past season. And that’s all in addition to another long-term gig (more than a quarter century now) of leading the Southeastern Philharmonic Orchestra on Cape Cod, plus a crowded teaching schedule and just generally going about the time-consuming business of trying to make classical music in southern New Hampshire. It’s a lot to keep up with, but it’s nothing new for Babb, whom I first encountered while attending Nashua High School in the late 1970s. Even then, Babb, a substitute teacher, was involved in local music, serving as music director for a variety show in which I was involved and for which I wrote some music. Three decades haven’t changed a thing. Today, Babb maintains the same electric-socket intensity he’s always brought to anything involving music. Hang around him a little, and you quickly get the impression that nothing matters more. Hang around him a little longer, and you begin to feel that way yourself. And I think that’s one of the most important things a music director can bring to the local classical scene. Yes, what happens on the podium is crucial. But what happens off the podium is equally vital — the handshaking, the conversations, the morning breakfast meetings and discussions and general tub-thumping that help create a desire in a community to bring people together to hear music played by a live orchestra. I’ve heard Babb’s work on the podium many times, most recently with the Granite State Symphony over the past five seasons. He’s the real deal — there’s always a great deal of crackling energy, and he’s capable of inspiring musicians to play their hearts out, whether for familiar classics or new music. But off the podium, Babb is equally impressive as a classical music advocate. He’s instinctively capable of walking that fine line between “maestro” and the guy next door. As a local guy who’s called southern New Hampshire his home for most of his life, he’s uniquely qualified to bridge the gap between orchestral music and the general public in this part of the world. With all this in mind, it’s something of a shame that he’s never had a chance (until this month’s pops concert) to lead the Nashua Symphony, the orchestra in the community he calls home. Now that it’s finally happened, let’s hope more opportunities will come Babb’s way to make music in his hometown and, really, anywhere else in the area. If you’d like to hear Babb’s work, the Granite State Symphony Orchestra’s holiday pops concert is Sunday, Dec. 16, at 4 p.m. at City Auditorium in Concord. Tickets cost $18 ($16 for seniors and students) and are available online at gsso.org, at The Pompanoosuc Mills store in Concord, or by calling 226-4776. Later, Babb will lead the Palace Festival Orchestra in “A New Year’s Eve Gala Concert” on Monday, Dec. 31, at 6 p.m. at the Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester. Ticket costs: adults, $36 to $40; seniors $33 to $40; children $15 to $40. For info, visit palacetheatre.org or call the box office at 668-5588. Looking for local CDs: For a future column, I’d like to get my hands on as many CDs of performances by local classical musicians or ensembles as possible. Know of any? Send word to jrapsis@hippopress.com.
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12/6/2007 Music on a small scale
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