Nordic Licorice Stick

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Redwood Symphony’s artistic director, Eric Kujawsky, knows how to get professional soloists to play with his all-volunteer orchestra: persistence. “Eric has been chasing me for years,” says Michael Corner, the principal clarinetist at Symphony Silicon Valley, “and we’ve never been able to find a date that worked, until this year.” But the constant e-mails finally paid off, and Corner makes his debut with the Redwood Symphony this month, playing Danish composer Carl Nielsen’s clarinet concerto.

With the economic downturn taking its toll of gigs, even the established Corner, who also has his own studio and plays shows (among other things), found himself with some extra time. He didn’t know the conductor, but knew about the Redwood Symphony, now in its 25th season. “I knew of their reputation for doing interesting programming and, from my perspective, doing interesting concertos.” The subtle Kujawsky offered him a plum too good to resist. Nielsen’s concerto is a lot of fun, says Corner. “It’s got a lot of emotional depth to it, and it’s famous for having 12 gazillion notes. But some of the lyrical sections are really moving.”

As an added attraction, Corner says, “I’ve never done the piece. I would be scared to death, never having performed it, to go in on one dress rehearsal and then do it in front of an audience. We’ve already had two rehearsals with Eric and the group, and we’re going to have two more and then the dress — way more than you normally get. So this a great learning experience for me, too.” Soloist and orchestra seem to be settling in together. “The orchestra made huge progress between the first and second rehearsals,” Corner reports. “They had a couple of rehearsals before I arrived, and now, with the soloist, they’re hearing what the piece sounds like, and I think it’s going to be a real good concert.”

For Kujawsky, landing his soloist is all in another day’s work. The directors of the Bay Area’s volunteer ensembles have so much more to worry about than the notes in the score. They’re constantly beating the bushes for players (as with most amateur orchestras, string players are perennially a priority), handling dozens of details, from finding scores to setting rehearsal schedules, and of course helping to scare up funds to keep the organization going.

Yet, in the end, Kujawsky can take pride in taking his players to unusual territory. Alongside the Nielsen concerto, the orchestra is presenting Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony — in Gustav Mahler’s edition, with his emendations and retouched orchestrations. The orchestra gets things going with Nielsen’s Nordic neighbor Sibelius and the popular Karelia Suite. It’s no small compliment that the concert’s audience won’t realize the extra hours that the delightful lineup cost.