I’m sitting in O’Hare International Airport, on a layover, waiting for my flight to St. Louis. I’m heading out for a couple of days of upkeep rehearsals for the Movin’ Out tour. We have some new band members, and a new piano man (a young, talented guy from Boston, named Jon Abrams). Should be very busy, but a nice change of pace.

This past weekend, the HSO had its opening Pops weekend, An Evening of Epic Film Music. The weekend went extremely well. The audience was a bit smaller than usual on Saturday - probably attributable to the PSU-OSU football game combined with the third game of the World Series. This is the reality of the arts.... To be fair, if the Mets were playing in Game 3, and I had symphony tickets, I’d probably stay home too. The audience on Sunday was huge - almost sold out (many Saturday patrons exchanged tickets). Overall, it was a very good showing.

These pops concerts are particularly exhausting for me. Not only do I have to conduct what tends to be very dramatic, intense music, but also, I serve as host, stand-up comic, and in this weekend’s case, piano soloist. We did a fantasy for piano and orchestra on themes from Exodus, as well as less demanding piano and orchestra music from Forrest Gump and Chariots of Fire. There is also an added stress level, because of the limited rehearsal time combined with the length and variety of the program. I am indeed fortunate that the orchestra is so good. They never let me down. They also have great attitudes, laughing at my jokes, smiling, and allowing themselves to enjoy the performances. Don’t fool yourselves - this is not the case with many orchestras.

Having said all that, I myself had a great weekend. I thought the concerts were paced well, my banter was generally funny and interesting, the music was by and large well-selected, and the audiences seemed to have a rollicking time. The Harrisburg pops series is one of my biggest successes. When I arrived, audiences were dwindling and the board was ready to cancel the series entirely. Now, not only are sales great, but we have extended the series. Much thanks goes to our series sponsor, Capital Blue Cross, for their vote of confidence and continued underwriting. But the bottom line is, we are doing a good job of it, and for that I am justifiably proud.

The other fun part of this weekend’s concerts was the poster, which featured me as Moses, on Mt. Sinai, with the 10 Commandments in tow. It’s one for the ages. (You can see some of the other pops posters, if you missed them, at my blog posts from 10/30/07 and 11/5/07).

It was another excellent opening for the Harrisburg Symphony. Nice houses, warm reception, and really fine playing by the orchestra.
I lost my voice almost completely during the rehearsal period. I was fighting a cold earlier in the week, and the combination of a throat becoming sore with four rehearsals of speaking to the orchestra in a very dry room knocked my vocal chords out of commission. I imagine it was a bit strange for the audience when I addressed them from the stage at the concert’s start. (Of course, this weekend would be the one that the sound system at the Forum went on the fritz...) But even the discomfort in my throat couldn’t dampen my enjoyment of the concerts.
Particularly nice for me was getting to perform Brahms’ Double Concerto with two friends - Daniel Gaisford and Kurt Nikkanen. It is a tricky piece to pull off, and I felt they were terrific.
But, as usual, it was the orchestra that made the weekend. This was an emotional weekend for the orchestra, which was mourning the loss of our orchestra manager, Bill Schmieding. The spirit of mutual support combined with the usual excellence of playing and passion for music-making reinforced my conviction that I’ve found myself a very happy place here in Harrisburg.