By Eileen Wingard
SAN DIEGO — Conductor David Amos, fresh from his recent recording sessions with the London Philharmonic, opened the Nov. 17th TICO concert with a rollicking rendition of Kabalevsky’s Colas Breugnon Overture. This was followed by TICO’s principal clarinet, Joseph Stein, taking center stage, performing the Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra by Bernhard Crusell, a contemporary of Beethoven. Crusell was a clarinetist himself, and knew how to exploit the possibilities of his instrument.
Robert Zelickman, former faculty member at UCSD, and co-director of the Second Avenue Klezmer Ensemble, mounted the podium to conduct this work for his current student. Although Stein is an academic cardiologist, music has been his lifetime avocation. His training has included summers at Interlochen Music Camp and studies with Jerome Sowell, clarinetist of the Chicago Symphony.
The first movement of the Crusell Concerto flowed with attractive themes and challenging technical passages. The second movement showcased Stein’s lovely tone and well-shaped phrasing. The finale, marked Alla Polacca, was a lilting dance movement. TICO, under Zelickman’s direction, gave the soloist excellent support throughout the performance.
After intermission, the modern dance troupe, isadoraNOW, performed dances choreographed by their director, Elyssa Dru Rosenberg, to the five movemEnts of Ferde Grofe’s Grand Canyon Suite: Sunrise, Painted Desert, On the Trail, Sunset and Cloudburst. Shauna Tyser was a statuesque Mother Nature, and Ayssa Junious as Water, Susan White as Wind, Anita Von Kalinowski as Fire, and Melinda Michelle Gafford as Earth, all danced with agility and grace. Elyssa Dru Rosenberg, as the Human, was expressive in her movements. Particularly charming was the way the dancers portrayed the donkey in the third movement.
Director Rosenberg, a fourth-generation Isadora Duncan dancer, is the Chair of the Isadora Duncan International Symposium Outreach Committee. She has taught master classes and given workshops in Isadora Duncan’s technique and history at schools and universities throughout the United States. This was the first time in TICO’s 42-year history that the orchestra has paired with a dance troupe, and it proved to be a most successful venture.
TICO is to be applauded for featuring the talents within its ranks and in our area. At the next TICO concert, January 31 at the First United Methodist Church of Chula Vista and Tuesday, February 2, at Tifereth Israel Synagogue, two San Diego teens will be soloing with the orchestra, Ilana Hirschfeld, fifteen-year-old violinist, and Jonathan Sussman, now a freshman at USC, on viola. They will perform Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante. The concert will also include Beethoven’s Symphony #8.
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Wingard is a freelance writer and former violinist with the San Diego Symphony. She may be contacted via eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com