Enough is Enough!

"Possibility of some accumulating snow this weekend."
Normally I would react to words like these the way any 5 year old does, even though I'm far from being that young anymore: with great joy and anticipation. I am an avid skier, and one of those people that just can't get enough snow. I always find it magical the way snow transforms any landscape into something so clean and pure (at least for a short while, here in the city). But it's almost April in Baltimore people! I have already had a run or two outside, in shorts and short sleeve shirts, and have reluctantly given up any dreams of doing just a few more runs in a neighborhood ski resort. Enough is enough! Daffodils need to come up unhindered, tulips don't need to fight through the the white stuff to display their rainbow colors, and forsythia won't be happy to have its sunny flowers weighted down by a blanket of white.

Whether it happens or not, the BSO is playing some sunny pieces on the first half of its concerts this weekend. Another of our favorite guest conductors, Yan Pascal Tortelier, is leading us in the elegant Valses Nobles and Sentimentales by Ravel as well as Grieg's melodious and very romantic Piano Concerto with my fellow alumnus from the Cleveland Institute of Music, Orion Weiss as a soloist. The second half displays the orchestra in Lutoslawski's powerful and very unique-sounding Concerto for Orchestra. Don't miss it!

-Ivan Stefanovic

A Swiss Mr. Bean

"To vibrate this note would be inappropriate," says the conductor, managing to very effectively convey to the orchestra musicians his desire to have us do away with most of our ingrained Romantic traditions when playing Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, written before the title "Romantic music" was even uttered, and in an era when the technique of vibrato was used very sparingly.

"Violas can be more expressive, I know that, because I am married to a violist," he says, making a viola joke on the spot.

"Count like you count your money," he quips, displaying his true Swiss roots (with a German accent and an Italian name) after some wind players miscounted the measure he wanted to restart with.

These are quotes from the BSO's Tuesday morning rehearsal with one of our most beloved guest conductors, the immensely funny and likable Mario Venzago. They may portray an almost childish personality, full of humor and joy of life, but may also sound a bit insincere. However, while Mario has the entertainment capability of a stand-up comic (and one with a very charming accent), he is anything but insincere. He is a very serious musician, one that dives very deep into every note, phrase and movement of every piece he rehearses and performs, and emerges with a net-full of the richest musical expression that is backed up by years of exploring music at the highest level. And he manages to do it all with an unending smile and flair that always puts the orchestra in the best of moods. When someone is that much into music, one can't help but get involved with them, and go to great lengths to please them, even if one doesn't necessarily agree with every musical idea.

"This sounds like acne," he says of some unwanted accents in a lyrical phrase that the cello section just played.

"You now go to sleep, true artists need sleep," he tells the winds as he is about to spend time rehearsing some bumpy passages in the strings.

"Trumpets are 40, no, 42% too loud, he specifies, again drawing on the background of his native country, where I remember the Alpine trains having a timetable that looked just like that (13:34, 13:59, 14:07), and actually managed to adhere to it!

"If you play it like this, I have to go to court," he mocks, with gratitude, when the brass manages a sound he asked for that is nowadays rarely produced in Beethoven's Fifth outside of the so-called Performance Practice ensembles, the ones that include as much of the techniques from the composers' era as possible.

I have known Mario since I was 14, as a young violinist representing my native country of Yugoslavia on two successive European Youth Orchestra Summer Tours, which were both based in Switzerland, and during which he was our Assistant Conductor. He hasn't changed one bit, and that's a good thing.

Come and enjoy his musical artistry in concert this week, with Schubert's Fifth and Berg's beautiful Violin Concerto with Baiba Skride as a soloist.

P.S. Oh, and if you don't know who Mr. Bean (a.k.a. actor Rowan Atkinson) is, check him out as he conducts a band playing holiday carols.

-Ivan Stefanovic

Celestial Events

I happened upon a bit of news that the International Space Station (ISS) was, once again, visible in the evening sky over Baltimore. I have seen it many times, and it is an amazing sight, to look up at the night and see an object brighter than any other one can see (other than the Moon), moving as fast as a plane, directly overhead. If no one told you that it wasn't a plane, you'd immediately know it, it's that different. And then think of the several men and women from different countries up there, looking down through their little porthole-like windows, sleeping upright, or drifting outside of the Station, connected by a tether, it makes it that much more magical. Last night was even more special, since the Space Shuttle Discovery was visible on the same trajectory just before the passage of the ISS, on its way to a last-ever landing on Earth about noon today (photo below copyright NASA).


For those of you interested in finding out about the fly overs (and if you have kids, you should be-they find these really special, as my three boys do), read the weather blog by Frank Roylance in the Baltimore Sun, or find his blog on the Web (right after you read mine of course (: ).

Now you're asking yourselves what this has to do with music or the BSO. Well, absolutely nothing. But it sure is nice to look up at the sky every once in a while, with a purpose or without. We spend too much time looking down at our important (we think) every day happenings, forgetting that we're part of something much larger.

Check out our Pops concerts this week on Thursday (Strathmore), Friday and Saturday (Meyerhoff) at 8pm and Sunday (Meyerhoff) at 3pm. They're entitled a Celtic Celebration: Music of the Emerald Isle, conducted by the ever-entertaining Jack Everly, and are sure to send you dancing on your way home (or at least up to the garage). You might even want to look at the night sky while you're at it.

-Ivan Stefanovic

The Dangers of Play

Dear blog readers, I took a break last week, as I was on a break. I took my yearly trip with the family to Killington, Vermont, for five days of intensive skiing. Skiing is one of my life passions, and is something I am good at, other than playing violin. Many people ask me if it may be too risky and dangerous for a professional violinist to careen down intermediate slopes at highway speeds or double-black diamond ones with icy moguls. Well, it could be, but when one has a passion, one pursues it. Or at least that's how I look at life.

It is so dangerous playing Mozart's Magic Flute. I am writing this at 11:40 p.m. on a bus on the way back from Strathmore after our first performance of this incredible piece of music, and we're no where near half way home. My back is hurting a lot more than it was after skiing Ovation with my two older sons twice, a double-black diamond slope in Killington with a 45% pitch at the top, laced with a combination of moguls, ice, patches of fresh snow, and a few rocks thrown in for good measure. At least then I could stop and stretch whenever I wanted to. Tonight, after another endless yet out-of-this-world beauty of a slow movement, one in which especially Second Violins end up suffering as our bow arms are constantly hovering over the lower strings, all I could do was put my arms down for a few seconds before it was time to continue. There were times when pain was so unbearable that I thought I'd let out a sound that Mozart didn't call for in his score. But all that was worth the pain (at least that's what I'm saying now that I'm somewhat supported by a semi-comfortable bus seat, and able to move when I want).


The music and the story this week don't, of course, need to be advertised, but what makes this production special is that the singers, every one of them, are of such high quality, with both their singing and acting. I strongly encourage every one of your to hurry and get yourselves and your loved ones some tickets for our leftover performances in Baltimore for this Saturday or Sunday. You'll laugh, cry, cheer, and be very entertained, and we can this prove ourselves that we actually don't need special effects (though there is a bit of fake thunder and a few cool lights (: ) to enjoy a very special evening.

It's almost midnight, and the bus trip is almost over. Time to drive home and stretch a taut back before hitting the sack.

-Ivan Stefanovic

A Reaction to Bruckner

As reactions to Bruckner's music go, there are two main camps: those that love him and those that hate him. I am in a third camp.

Bruckner was a troubled man. He struggled with life in general and relationships in particular. Those with his fellow human beings and those with God. And it shows—his music consists of seemingly unrelated sections: a listener will be subject to an almost John Adams-like series of chord professions that don't seem to go anywhere or serve any purpose other than to progress chords, just to have that halted, somewhat abruptly. What often follows is a gorgeous, Mahler-like section of beautiful heart-felt melodies, just to return to the wondering music of almost minimalist qualities.

The second, slow movement of the Sixth Symphony, which we are playing with Maestro Juanjo Mena tonight and Sunday at the Meyerhoff as well as Friday in Wye Mills, is particularly bursting with gorgeous melodies. But the last couple of minutes of the Symphony are, again, searching chord progressions that, well, don't seem to end in any tangible result of that search. It doesn't seem that he ever answers many of the questions he poses in his music. Come and join us, and see if you can find the answers for him.

-Ivan Stefanovic

Four Seasons

Last week, during the snow, I saw enormous flocks of Canada (aren't you so proud of me not incorrectly calling them "Canadian"?) Geese, flying mostly South. It made me wonder if the little creature, that would otherwise never see even a second of fame judging from its looks, came out of the ground last week and didn't see its shadow because of the many TV cameras and people blocking the sun's rays from reaching him. Now I am thinking (and so is one of the long-term meteorologists that I follow-yes, I am a weather enthusiast!) that he was right, the back of the winter will be broken before we know it!

I absolutely love all four seasons for what they are (and not just Vivaldi's or Piazzola's which we are playing later in the year :) and really love a good snowstorm, so I am a bit upset that we may not get any more, though the last one, despite its measly foot or so, was rather impressive. As you can imagine, I was extremely happy with last year's prolific winter, so I guess I shouldn't complain. The saving grace may be that I am lucky enough to get a week off next month and head north, to Vermont, for a family ski trip, where they have been buried for weeks. However, when I return after five days of hardcore skiing (I've been skiing as long as I've been playing violin, it's a big passion of mine), if it has to be spring, let it be. That means the bike and the electric scooter come out of the garage (I use them for commuting), and a return of jogging outside without having to dodge black ice. That's my newly discovered passion, ever since BSO decided to do a fundraiser called BOLT for BSO and I ran in the Baltimore Half-Marathon as a result. And it won't be long before we runners start complaining about the humidity. As I said, I love all seasons!

Long Live the Spring!

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-Ivan Stefanovic

Three BSO Orchestras! How can this be?

Dear readers, BSO is giving you several options for entertainment this week. We have split not only into two, but three orchestras with three separate programs. Crazy huh? I am participating in two of them. Beethoven: A Musical Hero, concerts for kids of different ages on Saturday at 11:00 am and Appalachian Spring, featuring our very own Madeline Adkins as soloist in the Bruch Violin Concerto, in Frederick on Friday at 8:00. There's also a part of the orchestra that's playing in a SuperPops program with Jack Everly and the Capitol Quartet titled Big Band Hit Parade at Strathmore on Thursday at 8:00 pm and at the Meyerhoff on Friday and Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sunday at 3:00 pm.

I haven't heard the Pops program, but I can still vouch for the quality and entertainment value, as our standards are always high...but you knew that already:) The Beethoven program, which we already may have played for some of your children (they came in their yellow school buses on Wednesday and will again Friday), is a great overview of Beethoven's life, with him being presented by a great local actor Toni Tsendaes, as adult Beethoven, as well as two pianists from different stages of his life. It's a great and entertaining story, narrated as always by the eloquent Rheda Becker, and featuring excerpts from some of Beethoven's best music. So, bring your favorite kids (they don't have to be your own;) and treat them to something special (something that doesn't take 30 seconds in the microwave or features all manners of weapons) that will stay with them and make them think.

The Frederick concert, as I mentioned, features our fantastic Associate Concertmaster Madeline Adkins in Bruch's romantic Violin Concerto, as well as beautiful Mozart's 40th Symphony, one of the first pieces I ever played with the BSO (20 years ago), as well as Copland's oh-so-American-sounding Appalachian Spring, in a 13-player version, all conducted by the energetic Carolyn Kuan. And don't forget to arrive early and have a meal at one of Frederick's many tasty establishments all just steps from the hall.

Hope to see you at any or all of these, you won't regret you came! And if you do make it out, I would love to hear what you thought.

-Ivan Stefanovic