This weekend brought an exhausting, but enjoyable set of concerts to the Schnitzer Concert Hall. There were three major set changes which taxed the expert stage crew (and probably the patience of the audience) to their limits, but considering all of the chairs and stands which needed to be moved around, they did a speedy job.
We began the concert on a somber note, with a performance of a portion of the second movement from Beethoven’s Third Symphony in honor of Assistant principal bassist Ken Baldwin, who succumbed to cancer two weeks ago. A vacant stool (which had been designed by Ken himself) draped in white roses marked his familiar place in the orchestra. Saturday’s performance was tough, especially knowing that Ken’s wife Jeannie and their four children were in the audience.
The highlight of the concert for me was the piece for string orchestra by Osvaldo Golijov, Last Round, which felt great to play – everyone seemed at the top of their game. If you were at Sunday night’s performance, and thought that Jun Iwasaki’s solos seemed especially impassioned and well-executed, it may have had something to do with the fact that his former teacher, Bill Preucil – concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra – was in attendance. I’d definitely sit up and play my extra-special best if my teacher were in town!
Sunday also brought the sad news that cellist Bert Phillips, founder of the Lake Luzerne Festival, former cellist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and most likely the sole reason that Heather chose the cello as her profession, died from lymphoma earlier this month. Cancer is taking such a terrible toll among people that we know and love – it seems to be spreading so quickly and early for some – and it’s leaving us both at a loss to find any meaning or comfort in these good people’s untimely deaths.
