Yesterday I attended an Organ Concert and a Piano Concert. At two different venues. Tonight I'm going to the Symphony and tomorrow I'm attending the Opera.In this city it's easy to do this. The Organ concert was free. Well it is to "pensioners" (seniors). A designation for which the ticket booth lady was polite enough to ask me if, rather than just assuming, that, I qualified.
And the Piano Concert and the Symphony Concert each cost less than $1.50. No that's not a typo. Well what about the Opera? OK that was more expensive. But just relatively. It still cost less than $5.00. And these fares are for some of the best seats in the house!
Why so cheap? Well the long answer is for another day. I started to look into this and got sidetracked. What I found was fascinating, but I'll develop that in another post. I'm still figuring it out.
But, what I need to tell you is that it isn't really "cheap". Not at all. The correct word is "inexpensive". The "quality" is world class. So the value is extraordinary.
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Now I have to interrupt this narrative as it is time to go off to dinner and then the symphony.
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OK I'm back again from the symphony. It was wonderful. Music I've never heard before. Contemporary classical music which I really liked. Modern classical music has never sounded as good to me as the old masters. Until tonight. I don't know if I'm changing or whether it was the music. But it was marvelous.And it was all by Ukrainian composers. And all the musicians were Ukrainian. I need to see if I can get CDs or DVDs of this music while I'm here in Ukraine.
The orchestra was excellent. The Lviv Academic Youth Symphony Orchestra. Mostly young musicians as you'd expect. With just a few grey hairs where needed, I guess.
The conductor was a young guy with incredible energy and the most rapid movements I've ever seen by a conductor. He had one particular movement I've never quite seen before. A very rapid flick with his left hand to get the hair out of his eyes. A movement not so needed by older conductors I suppose.
So I decided to take a video of his conducting. But just as I did the music slowed and the great rapid movements were gone and then the piece was over. So I decided I'd take a video after the intermission.
But, alas. He didn't return. The second half was conducted by a much older conductor. Don't get me wrong. some of my best friends are elderly. Including. some might say, me. Although I don't much see it that way :).
The older conductor's movements were as slow and as understated as the younger's were rapid and dramatic. And yet there was no doubt that the musicians and the music were just as responsive to the older conductor. Sometimes as they say "less is more". Or maybe in this case "less is no less".
As I walked home I found myself saying "I envy the young conductor (particularly his need to flick the hair out of his eyes :). But "I am proud of the older conductor" with his ability to get as much out of life in a way which is possible and more appropriate for him.
When I got home I decided to check out the conductors in the program brochure. The young guy's name was Natalia Ponomarchuk.
What? Natalia? Could that be?
Thinking the conductor I saw was a last minute substitute not shown on the program and not Natalia, I checked her(?) out on the Internet. And yes indeed it was her conducting. How could I have been so mistaken?
In my defense, I'm arguing that anyone could have made the mistake I made. And I was in the very back of the hall in the balcony. So I didn't see her from the front as you'll see her in video below. Here's a picture of her from the Internet. Could be a young guy right?
Well actually I picked this picture out of all the others which would not allow such a mistake as I made. She's clearly an attractive woman.
The other big (biggest?) reason for my mistake, maybe, was that I wasn't expecting to see a female conductor. This is an example of seeing what you expect to see. Even if, like me. you pride yourself as having an open mind.
In the world of classical music, female conductors are very, very rare. Look at any symphony orchestra and you'll see lots of women. But, not on the podium.
In fact At the end of 2014, music listings website Bachtrack reported that, in a list of the world's 150 top conductors only five were women.
So I checked further on the Internet and found that this young conductor is one of the most sought after in Ukraine. And she's conducted orchestras all over the world. In Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Italy, Poland, Russia, China and Mexico.
But, I note, not North America. Or the USA. So this gives me an idea.
The first woman to become Music Director - (Main Conductor etc.) of a major US symphony orchestra is Marin Alsop. And the orchestra? The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In my home town. So when I get back home I'm going to see if I can lobby Marin Alsop to invite Natalia Ponomarchuk to be a guest conductor.
Not that I have much clout to achieve this. But, I am a loyal attendee and do go to all the concerts.
More importantly. I believe Natalia Ponomarchuk is a unique talent. One of the most interesting I've seen and heard. And while no music expert, I have seen a lot of conductors over the years.
The opportunity to have this Ukrainian artist make her US and North American debut in Baltimore is unique. An opportunity too good to pass up IMHO.
And it seems a natural to me for Marin to want to support a fellow (if I can use that word) woman conductor. I imagine Natalia would be delighted to accept.
It also strikes me that this would also be a unique opportunity to give recognition to a fine representative of Ukraine, a country striving with great courage to achieve freedom and independence as vividly portrayed in an incredible new film documentary "Winter on Fire".
I regret not taking that video of Natalia when I saw her perform. But here is one I found of her on the Internet.
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