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The Bakersfield Californian Thursday, October 13, 2011
Eye Street Editor Jennifer Self | Phone 395-7434 | e-mail jself@bakersfield.com
Index Media Music Jam .................................... 25 Arts Alive .................................................. 26 Safe Halloween ........................................ 27 Dust Bowl Days Festival .......................... 28 Geeks vs. Zombies .................................. 29 The Lowdown with Matt Munoz ............ 30 Sweeney Todd.......................................... 32 Calendar .............................................. 36-37
Symphony looks great at 80 Born in Depression, orchestra resilient in tough times BY SUSAN SCAFFIDI Contributing writer
O
n the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra — a period of cutbacks and tough concessions for most arts organizations — conductor John Farrer is humbled when he considers that times were even worse when the symphony was formed. “I’ve often thought about the courage of the people who started an orchestra in the midst of the Depression,” he said. The Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra was formally organized in 1932, emerging from a community orchestra night class in the Kern County Union High School District. Except for a hiatus during World War II, the orchestra has continued, first performing at the East Bakersfield High School auditorium, then the Harvey Auditorium at Bakersfield High School, then finally, the Civic Auditorium, now known as the Rabobank Theater. “This orchestra has been around awhile, and it’s a tribute to this community that it has been,” Farrer said. While looking back on that history, Farrer is also looking forward to the 2011-12 season, which starts Saturday evening. The main attraction is a performance by pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii, the co-winner of the 2009 Van Cliburn piano competition. The other co-winner, Hoachen Zhang, performed with the BSO last year. Tsujii created an international sensation, not just because of his unprecedented tie with Zhang for the gold medal, but because he has been blind from birth. Farrer, who attended the 2009 competition, said Tsujii earned his medal. “Before he performed, he told the judges he wanted no consideration for his blindness,” Farrer said. “The judges told him there would be none.” Since the Van Cliburn competition, Tsujii has been performing world-wide and recording the major works of the piano repertoire, including the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 in c minor, which he will perform at Saturday’s concert. The 21-year-old
RODGER MALLISON / FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
Nobuyuki Tsujii performs during the semifinal round of the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas.
Opening Night at the Bakersfield Symphony When: 8 p.m. Saturday Where: the theater at Rabobank Convention Center, 1001 Truxtun Ave. Admission: $34 to $50; fulltime students half price Information: bakersfieldsymphony.org or 323-7928
Tsujii, a native of Japan, made his performance debut at the age of 12 at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall and at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City. “Nobu is a miracle,” Farrer said. “He plays just exquisitely.” “We’ve been negotiating for a couple of years to make this happen,” Farrer said. “I’m just delighted about this.”
The orchestra will perform the “Carnival Overture” by Antonin Dvorak, and “Porgy and Bess: A Symphony Picture” by George Gershwin, arranged by Robert Russell Bennett. This is also the week the Bakersfield Symphony will present its semi-annual Children’s Concerts, one of the few activities outside of the subscription season that has survived budget cuts. A partnership between the BSO and the Kern County Superintendent of Schools, the program introduces grade school students to orchestral music by demonstrating how the instruments work, and performing a variety of music. The fall concert program includes the Overture to Mozart’s opera “Le Nozze di Figaro” (“The Marriage of Figaro”), Leroy Anderson’s “The Waltzing Cat,” a patriotic singalong and John Philip Sousa’s
“Stars and Stripes Forever.” While the Children’s Concerts have remained on the orchestra’s schedule, Farrer notes the considerably leaner calendar for this year. The cutting of the New Directions, chamber music, Academic Decathlon, Holiday Pops and Patriotic concerts has enabled the BSO to stay in the black. Farrer said that for now, those events will remain off the calendar so the orchestra can be around for decades to come. “My approach is that we should assume for the purposes of operating our business that the economy will stay pretty much the same,” Farrer said. “And if it improves, that will be a very pleasant surprise.” Farrer said if and when economic conditions improve, events can be restored. “The orchestra is a resource of
‘Californian Radio’ Call to win free tickets to the upcoming Billy Idol concert and the Dos Equis Comedy Jam, both at the Fox Theater, and passes to tonight’s Cal State Bakersfield barbecue on today’s “Californian Radio” hour, with host Jennifer Self. Self and music writer Matt Munoz will welcome Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra conductor John Farrer and Aaron Perlman, weather caster at KBAK-TV, Channel 29. The show airs from 9 to 10 a.m. on KERN radio 1180 AM. To call in with a question or comment, dial 842-KERN.
highly trained, dedicated people,” Farrer said. “And we should be using them.”