Amos, Zelickman wield batons in June 28 performance of Jewish Community Symphony

The upper strings scurried up and down the fingerboard, setting the scene of wild frenzy as the brasses entered, depicting supernatural creatures in a demonic dance on Bald Mountain. The witches and spirits finally dispersed with the sounding of chimes and an ethereal melody, played by the clarinet. A flute solo followed, reflecting the rays of the rising sun.

Modest Mussorgsky’s tone poem, Night on Bald Mountain, orchestrated by Nicholas Rimsky-Korsakov, was the opening number of the Jewish Community Symphony’s June 28 matinee concert at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center under its founding conductor, David Amos.

This was followed by Fredrick Delius’ The Walk to the Paradise Garden, an intermezzo written for the composer’s opera, A Village Romeo and Juliet. Robert Zelickman, the orchestra’s assistant conductor, directed this work, which featured the woodwind section and was strongly influenced by Wagnerian harmonies.

The first half of the program concluded with the Children’s Suite, a short, three-movement work, written by Arkady Luxemburg, a Moldavian-Jewish composer who moved to Israel at the end of 1990, working as a performer, composer and teacher, then five years later, settled in San Diego. This selection was written in Israel for a Children’s Chamber Orchestra. The strings played the suite, “Boker Tov,” “Yom Tov,” and “Erev Tov,” with light-hearted grace under the direction of Zelickman.

Following intermission, Stephanie Weaver Yankee, piano soloist, performed Beethoven’s brilliant Piano Concerto No. 5, “The Emperor.” David Amos kept his orchestral forces intact, carefully accompanying the soloist and articulating the tutti passages with conviction. Particularly beautiful was the orchestral introduction of the slow movement with the blended string entrance followed by the woodwinds before the piano entered.

Weaver Yankee was impressive with her first movement cadenza and her last movement’s lilting rondo theme. She plays with the self-assurance of a seasoned artist, yet she works as an administrator. Currently, she is the Executive Director of the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus.

The next concert of the Jewish Community Symphony will feature Rabbi Hanan Leberman as tenor soloist. This will be the Orchestra’s summer pops concert and will take place Sunday, August 16, at 3 p.m. at the Lawrence Family JCC.