Recommendations for the Holiday Season

The infrequency of my blog entries the past few weeks are indicative of the usual December crush of concerts, recommendation letters, grading and family activities.  Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I generally write about 40 letters of recommendation for students applying to graduate schools.  This year was no exception.

I have reflected a bit this Holiday season on Christmas music I really like.  While many people, especially musicians, grow weary of familiar Christmas pieces over time, I rarely do.  This year, I have marveled at how beautiful I find the carol “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.”  I was singly it with great enjoyment last week when it came on the car’s Sirius radio.  Though I conduct Handel’s complete Messiah several times a year, there are always new perspectives and wonders to find in such a great work.  It is also such a pleasure to hear and perform excellent new arrangements of familiar pieces.  One of the reasons I listen to Sirius Pops at the Holidays is to collect programming ideas for the future.

I’m writing this on a plane on way to my family’s annual Christmas escape to Arizona.  I’m hoping the stash of Swedish bread from Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood makes it safely through the checked luggage to Christmas dinner.  Meanwhile, I’m hoping that all of my friends from the Elmhurst Symphony and elsewhere have wonderful Holidays!

Giving Thanks

It seems an appropriate time of year to count blessings and give thanks. So, here are some things (in no particular order) for which I regularly give thanks:

• My Family and Friends Who Love Me
• The Opportunity to make so much of the music I have always dreamed of doing.
• Working with the wonderful musicians of the Elmhurst Symphony and so many other excellent ensembles.
• Learning from so many brilliant colleagues and friends.
• Living in a great city.
• Being in good health and being able to play squash and run.
• The fact that Steve Nash plays for the Phoenix Suns (Go Suns!)
• Handel’s Messiah
• The IPhone on which I’m writing this blog!

I have a great deal more to be thankful for than this, but I’ll save them for another time.
Happy Thanksgiving!

A Celebration of Youth

The next ESO concerts on November 21 and 22 are a “Celebration of Youth.”  We’ll start with an energetic work called “Celebration: Symphonic Dance for Orchestra” by Paul Basler.  This is a very exuberant piece that people always like on first hearing.

The next piece will be Schubert’s lovely Symphony No. 8 (“Unfinished”). After not conducting it for a while, I have really enjoyed coming back to this work.  Given the elegant themes and spacious phrase structures of this music, it is always hard to imagine that Schubert was in his 20’s when he wrote it!

Our soloist in the epic Cello Concerto by Dvorak is twelve-year old Johannes Gray, undoubtedly one of the most gifted young musicians in the country.  Johannes is the son of Brigitta Gray, who is my daughter Stephanie’s violin teacher.  The Gray’s are a beautiful and highly musical family.  The Dvorak concerto is really more like a symphony for cello and orchestra.  Our audience will be amazed by the talent of our highly youthful soloist!

Tomorrow morning I will visit and work with the Orchestra at Glenbard East High School in Lombard.  Their new conductor Timothy Fawkes has been most gracious in providing this chance for me to meet these young musicians.  We hope they will avail themselves of the opportunity to hear Johannes Gray and the ESO in Biester Auditorium on November 21.

My own pursuits at youthfulness were of mixed success this past week as I ran the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon last Saturday.  They say all marathons are 26.2 miles, but they certainly all don’t feel the same!  Having aggravated an Achilles tendon after four squash matches the previous weekend, this marathon just felt very long.  I came in at 4:12, a tad disappointing after a 3:54 finish in Chicago last month. At least they played “The William Tell Overture” at the start.  That was only part of the race that felt good to me!

Music Committees

When I wrote my dissertation back on the topic of Orchestral Programming, one of the questions I asked the 20 American music directors I interviewed concerned their feelings about working with Artistic Advisory or Programming Committees. A number of music directors dislike working with such groups because they feel their abilities to act as the artistic leader is somehow hindered or questioned. I was reflecting on this issue yesterday because I happened to meet with music committees for both the Elmhurst Symphony and the Apollo Chorus on the same day.

My own experience with Music Committees has been very positive. Invariably, I find the input of a group of people with vested interests in the programming and success of the organization strengthens the process. I have never had a problem with exerting my artistic vision and creativity for the ensemble. Sometimes committee members offer great ideas I would had not considered. In any event, budgetary realities are usually a much bigger challenge than differences in opinions or musical tastes.

The members of the Music Committees I work with often have a good feeling for the predilections of our audience members and the musicians themselves. I consider programming to be an art unto itself. Given that I try to pour all my imagination and knowledge into formulating season offerings, it is also very nice to have a whole group of people who have bought into the plans for the year before they are presented to the rest of the organization as a whole.

Monumental Music & Marathon

Stephen Alltop, Music Director

Well, two significant events have come and gone: The first ESO concert in the beautiful new Elmhurst Christian Reformed Church (October 18) and the    Chicago Marathon.  The ESO concert was such a joy! Great to hear the orchestra in the warm but clear acoustics of the church.  Wonderful to see a full and very appreciative audience!  A special pleasure for all of us was hearing the two piano soloists Sophie Luo and George Lepauw collaborate in a very special musical performance of a Brahms Hungarian Rhapsody as an encore (how fitting for our “Rhapsodies in Blue” theme).  Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony is one of his most difficult, especially the first movement!  Given the short amount of time to adjust to the new space, I felt the orchestra did extremely well and played with a great deal of heart.  I feel so fortunate to work with them.

The Chicago Marathon was a chilly affair this year:  33 degrees at the start.  That actually is much better for long distance running than the 88 or 89 degrees of the past two years. I think due to the cold, I had muscle cramping near mile 21 that made me worry a bit about finishing.  Fortunately that went away after I walked for a few seconds.  This was my fifth marathon and my fastest time so far (3:54, 2 minutes better than my Indianapolis run in 2007).  Due to terrible parking snafus by the City of Chicago, I ended up having to walk an additional 5 miles that day (boy did it feel good to get off my feet that afternoon!)  Interestingly, my older brother David also ran a marathon in Napa Valley on October 11 and also ran 3:54!  Similar genes I guess.  He did beat me by 13 seconds.  God willing, I’ll run the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon in a couple weeks and see if I can take at least 14 seconds off my time : )

Music and a Marathon

Stephen Alltop, Music Director

Fall is always an exciting time of year: new faces, new projects and new possibilities. I always love starting a new season with the Elmhurst Symphony. I could happily conduct Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony every day of my life. With its jubilant outer movements, rollicking scherzo and soulful second movement, this symphony feeds every part of my soul.

While I am looking forward to the ESO performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 on October 17th, I’m counting on that music to help me in next Sunday’s Chicago Marathon (I usually think through pieces I love on long runs). If the weather is good, I’m hoping to better my previous best marathon time of 3:56. We’ll see!

Share the Music!

Welcome to Our Blog! The Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra is finally jumping on the social networking bandwagon. We created this blog, otherwise known as Share the Music, as a place for our fans to come together and retrieve more information on the Elmhurst Symphony. Dr. Steven Alltop, Music Director, and other musicians will be posting on topics specific to their role in the Orchestra as well as providing helpful tips and information to musicians and young students looking to make music a career.

That’s not it! Not only do we have Share the Music, but we’re also now on Facebook, Twitter and Eventful. Be sure to become our fan or follow us to stay up to date with the Orchestra. You may even learn about upcoming events or receive special discounts and promotions to a performance.

About ESO
The Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra is a non-for-profit organization comprised of professional and volunteer musicians who supply the western suburbs of Chicago with quality symphonic music and a seamless end-to-end experience. With the support of the community and the hard work of its volunteers, the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra has continued to perform the necessary tasks to provide the funds to make music programs affordable to everyone.

The origin of the community’s organized musical activity goes back to the 1920s and has evolved over the past 50 years. From 1959 to 1961, the Elmhurst Community Orchestra became the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra and was led by John Lazic, its first Music Director. The first performance of the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra was November 19, 1961.

Today, our dedication to providing quality symphonic music is enhanced by pre-concert lectures on the background of the featured music. We’ve also expanded enormously with the leadership of Dr. Steven Alltop who is now in his 15th season as the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director.

2009-2010 Season
Starting this season, the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra is now performing in a stunning new concert hall at the Elmhurst Christian Reformed Church. This state-of-the-art facility has improved amenities that heighten every aspect of our performances, making the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra experience comparable to those of other premier symphonic organizations, but for a more reasonable price. With a collection of exciting programs entitled “Monumental Music” and a variety of rising stars, the 2009-2010 season is sure to be spectacular.