SFS Symphomaniacs conquer the Met Orchestra; among them Elbert Tsai, Russ Deluna, Donato Cabrera, Oliver Theil and on the right, MVP Mark Inouye, at DeWitt Clinton Park
Interesting statistics: For the 16th time in Michael Tilson Thomas’ 19 seasons as music director, San Francisco Symphony traveled to New York for appearances at Carnegie Hall last week. (The orchestra strike last March prevented No. 17.)
The 34 SFS concerts in the venerable hall make them probably only the second most frequent of out of town guests, behind Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony.
Much as we respect some public relations professionals, allowing them to write column items is just not the thing to do. There is an exception here, however, having invited SFS Director of Communications Oliver Theil (and frequent tour correspondent) to speak of music and softball. Here are excerpts from his much-appreciated (and only slightly biased) reportage:
Carnegie and MTT/SFS teamed up two years ago for a high profile Mavericks Festival and while these performances did not include blending vegetable smoothies next to sopranos on typewriters, these two concerts did not disappoint. [In re.: during the performance of John Cage's Song Books.)
Wednesday night’s concert featured the New York debut of Steve Mackey’s Eating Greens, alongside Jeremy Denk as soloist in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25, Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No.3 and Copland’s Symphonic Ode.
SFS keyboardist Robin Sutherland with cabin crew of Emirates, the orchestra's official airline
The concert was broadcast live around the country, syndicated on NPR’s Carnegie Live radio series, the first in this year’s series. The concert recording is archived both on NPR and KDFC.
The orchestra’s second performance was a moving account of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9, a work with which a young MTT made his debut with SFS in 1974. Almost four decades later, this work and this composer remain central to the artistic partnership that MTT and the musicians have built in that time.
Between these performances at Carnegie, the musicians and staff of the orchestra continued an SFS touring tradition, taking the field in slow pitch softball against fellow orchestras around the world. In the past few seasons, the San Franciscans have soundly defeated the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and most recently, an impressive win on the road in Tokyo against the Tokyo Philharmonic.
On a glorious fall day in New York’s Dewitt Clinton Park, the SF Symphomaniacs took on the Metropolitan Opera orchestra, cheered on by fans who heard about the game on NPR and New York Times social media feeds.
Instrument trunk No. 76 backstage at Carnegie Hall: name that tune
The Met Opera orchestra soon found out why SFS has gone undefeated in recent years: Besides solid performances on the stage, especially in the offstage trumpet calls in Leonore #3 and beautiful solos in Mahler No. 9, principal trumpet Mark Inouye also has the chops on the baseball diamond, named the game’s MVP, belting two home runs and playing flawless shortstop in the 18-7 win over the Met.
The winning S.F. lineup card read: principal trombone, principal trumpet, principal percussion, English horn, communications director, French horn, Resident Conductor, violin, and Tour Manager. While it’s not quite Posey and the Panda [allow Theil a nostalgic reference to the Giants Who Were], it’s good enough for tops in the orchestra world. Rumor has it the team is thinking of taking up cricket for appearances in London in March. You can see the video of Mark’s first home run on the orchestra’s Facebook page.
After its Carnegie appearances, the orchestra performed two concerts to enthusiastic students on college campuses, at the Universities of Illinois and Michigan. In Champaign-Urbana, SFS was greeted by a sold-out house at the Krannert Center, a hall that was featured in many CSO/Solti recordings.
The orchestra’s final stop featured a performance of Mahler’s 9th in Ann Arbor, Michigan, presented by the University Musical Society. Over 3,300 appreciative fans filled Hill Auditorium for a rousing performance and demanded five curtain calls. Several musicians also gave master classes at the Univ of Michigan music school before heading home.
