Season’s Program Looks Remarkably Traditional : Schedule: Built around a solid Romantic-Classical axis, this year’s lineup includes just a bit of 20th-Century fare.
What distinguishes the program for Ventura County Symphony’s 31st season from past programs is that it looks so traditional. The Romantic-Classical axis is firmly in place, and the program has all the requisite markings expected from an orchestra outside an urban center.
It wasn’t always thus. Founding maestro Frank Salazar insisted on creating a balancing act, slipping a surprising variety of 20th-Century works into programs otherwise well-stocked with more conservative, popular concert fare.
“I feel a debt to the 20th Century,†Salazar said recently.
Judged by the standards of most symphonies--and probably many a subscriber--Salazar specialized in lobbing curveballs at the walls of the Oxnard Civic Auditorium.
The sparse 20th-Century contingency on this year’s list includes Stravinsky’s “Firebird Suite,†that lovable and perfectly accessible pre-â€Sacre du Printemps†ballet, and the world premiere of “Scherzo†by Ventura’s own composer, John Biggs.
Reportedly, plans are under way to build a separate contemporary program next year. But for the moment, the new Ventura County Symphony is on the fast track straight down the middle.
Oct. 3: Subtitled “Music Power,†the opening concert begins with a Wagnerian blast, with the overture to “Die Meistersinger.†Then comes the “Firebird Suite,†Debussy’s “Nocturnes†and Respighi’s “Pines of Rome,†all of which adds up to a picturesque package.
Nov. 7: Biggs’ new orchestral work, to be conducted by the composer, will open the second concert. Conductor and music director Boris Brott’s brother, celebrated cellist Dennis Brott, will be the protagonist in Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E Minor. The Symphony No. 2 in D Major of Sibelius will cap off the Romantic evening.
Feb. 6: “Amadeus Meets Haydn†is the cheeky handle for the third concert, the by-now annual meeting of the Symphony and the Ventura County Master Chorale. Burns Taft, the intrepid head of the chorale, will conduct the combined forces in Mozart’s grand “Requiem.†The Symphony’s assistant conductor, Gregory Fried, will make his conducting debut with Haydn’s “Miracle Symphony.â€
March 6: Brott will return to Oxnard for a concert under the heading “Soiree Francaise.†Debussy’s “Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune†is always a timely call-to-spring, and Franck’s Symphony in D Minor will close the program.
But the highlight will be Saint-Saens’ Violin Concerto No. 3 in B Minor, as performed by eminent violinist Glenn Dicterow, who hails from Southern California but is the concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic. Dicterow has been heard in these parts recently with the Conejo Symphony and this summer at the Music Academy of the West, and his return is welcome.
April 10: Rossini’s 200th birthday will officially be celebrated in Ventura County when Brott conducts a concert version of the perennial favorite, “The Barber of Seville.â€
May 8: What begins with Wagner ends with Beethoven. The season’s closer brings “Two Fifths of Beethoven,†with the “Emperor†piano concerto, performed by Anton Kuerti, and the beloved Fifth Symphony.
In short, there will be a lot of 19th-Century music rattling the rafters in Oxnard this season. Equal time will have to come later.
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