‘This anniversary is a time to appreciate where we are, but also look to the future,” says Hartford Symphony Music Director Carolyn Kuan, the 10th person and first woman to hold that position in the symphony’s 75-year history.
The season-opening concert, “Pictures at an Exhibition” — with works by Mussorgsky and Bartók — is Oct. 5 to 7, and imagery shown during those performances are part of a corresponding exhibit at the New Britain Museum of American Art, which has mounted a show from its collection corresponding to Mussorgsky’s 10 themes.
In recent years, the orchestra has been mixing things up a bit, performing with a beat boxer, taking its music to local breweries, playing John Williams’ live scores to “Star Wars” and “Harry Potter” films while the movies play on a 40-foot screen.
“Playing John Williams speaks to our goal of connecting with our audience and offering diversity,” says Kuan, who came on board in 2011.
“We not only welcome new works, we welcome new concert experiences. You feel a great responsibility when you lead a 75-year-old institution that inspires so many people.”
“There’s never been a more important time to make and share music. We can sit next to each other and have a shared experience of joy and beauty.”
Kuan is talking about the audience, but also about her HSO colleagues. She’s delighted that “our 75th season will feature many of our own musicians [as soloists], as well as special guests.”
The Courant talked with four HSO musicians about this landmark year: one of the longest serving members, the most recent member and a couple in between. They all honed in on similar themes: where the orchestra has been and where it’s headed, the orchestra’s place in a community, the connecting with new and younger audiences and the need for variety and diversity.
Cello Player: 48 Years
Carole Olefsky plays a cello that was made expressly for her. She also has one that will turn 100 years old in 2019 that was made in Padua.
“The sound of the cello is the most like the human voice,” Olefsky says. “It covers all the voices of the choir.”
She’s one of the HSO’s longest-serving members, now entering her 48th year with the orchestra. She’s played for four different music directors.
“Years ago we used to mainly play the classical warhorses. Now we do a lot more modern, innovative music. It’s more varied than it was when I began. There are more diverse audiences now. We did a klezmer concert. When we do ‘Pictures at an Exhibition,” we will have pictures from the New Britain Museum.” She never knows how some audience members will react. “One time at the Belding Theater, a lady told me ‘I loved the music, but I really love your shoes!’ Another man knew exactly what brand of strings were on my cello.
“We had a brawl in the audience one time. One man said he loved the Taverner concerto. Another man said he hated it, and they started fighting.”
Tuba Player: 33 Years
Stephen Perry has an unusual distinction at the HSO: He’s married to another member of the ensemble, violist Sharon Dennison. Perry’s now retired from his longtime job as a music teacher at Highcrest Elementary School in Wethersfield. He also taught at the Hartt School. In addition to the HSO, which he joined in 1985, Perry has played with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra since 1981.
“We’ve seen some big-time changes,” he says. “When I first came in, there was a lot of white hair in the audiences.”
Naming Bruckner and Mahler among his favorite composers, Perry also acknowledges the power and complexity of film composer John WIlliams, whose works the HSO has played live in a popular series of film screenings of the “Harry Potter” and “Star Wars” movies. “John Williams raises the bar,” Perry says. “He’s the modern-day Strauss.” (Williams’ score from “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope” will be performed Oct. 27, and “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” will be performed April 6.)
As for the orchestra’s future, “I think we’re on the cutting edge. There’s a big push to get out to the community even more, like bringing out chamber groups to play a winery. We’re the ambassadors. It’s really important to have a relationship with the audience.”
Violinist And Manager: 25 Years
Jaroslaw Lis is starting his 25th season with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. He’s also served as the orchestra’s personnel manager for the past 10 years.
Lis describes the challenges of playing John Adams’ “John’s Book of Alleged Dances” for an HSO “Intermix” concert at Hartford’s Onyx Spirits Company in February. “It has pre-recorded electronic instruments. You have to play with a pre-determined speed.”
“Carolyn has a very good handle on the role of the orchestra in the community. We’ve gotten closer to audiences. They don’t see us as elitist. Having alternative venues like Onyx, or Hog River Brewing Co., is very important: We are thinking outside of the box. It’s not about having enough people in an orchestra. It’s about having enough people who are versatile.”
Violinist: One Year
Yue Sun joined the HSO just a year ago, the symphony’s newest recruit. Born in China, she has been in the U.S. for a decade, and just this month received green-card approval to remain in the states. She received her master’s degree from the Juilliard School. Now she commutes to Hartford for rehearsals and concerts while studying for a doctoral degree in music at Stony Brook University in New York. Yue Sun’s CD “Passion,” which finds her playing new works by contemporary Chinese composers, was released in January in the United States this year.
Because some of the Western classical canon is still new to her, Sun finds the HSO repertoire “all quite challenging. There can be hard rhythmic patterns. Even the Broadway shows are not easy, since I am from another culture.
“I think the Hartford Symphony is going in a very good direction right now. We’ve kind of opened our minds. The variety of music is giving us a new approach to our audiences. I like this direction not just for the Hartford Symphony but for all other music ensembles. We need to have some attraction for the young generation.
“We do have people of all different ages in our audience, but they all have a young heart.”
Sun, who lists Prokofiev and Shubert among her favorite composers, is sorry she couldn’t play in the last HSO “Harry Potter” concert due to a conflict, and looks forward to performing “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” with the orchestra this spring.
Season Schedule
All concerts are at The Bushnell in Hartford unless otherwise noted.
Oct. 5 to 7: “Pictures at an Exhibition” (with works by Mussorgsky and Bartók).
Oct. 27: John Williams’ “Star Wars” score will be heard live alongside a screening of “A New Hope.”
Nov. 2 to 4: “Brass and Brahms.”
Nov. 30 to Dec. 2: “Tchaikovsky’s Firsts.”
Dec. 8: Accompanying Broadway star Leslie Odom, Jr.
Jan. 18 to 20: “Bach & Beyond.”
Feb. 15 to 17: The Mexico-themed “Latin Lovers.”
March 15 to 17: “Mozart Meets Klezmer.”
March 23: A “Let’s Dance” pops concert with guest dancers.
April 6: John Williams score of “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azbakan,” along with a showing of the movie
April 12 to 14: Vaughan WIlliams & Mendelssohn
May 3 to 6: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 (plus works by Jennifer Higdon and Benjamin Britten)
May 31 to June 2: Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto
The orchestra also ventures outside The Bushnell for three artful “Sunday Serenades” at the Wadsworth Atheneum, on Nov. 11, Feb. 24 and May 19. Summertime will be spent, as usual, at the Talcott Mountain Music Festival in Simsbury. For more information on the 2018-19 HSO season: 860-987-5900 and hartfordsymphony.org.
