All righty then...
I began to write this in early March but somehow the mind never fully engaged. Too much to do, think about and take care of, I guess.
Let's go back to February. 3 Concerts with the wonderful Elgin Symphony, featuring Rich Ridenour on piano. I really love this Orchestra. Gershwin's Concerto in F, Warsaw Concerto and a number of Movie selections made this a fun concert. Next time, I have to get a car. I was in the hotel in Elgin, working on proposals and other fun things, and never got out during the day. Should have at least made the trek into Chicago but the weather was horrible and the room was warm and dry.
Went right from there to Tahlequah, Ok. for a Big Band concert with a local band and Brian Anthony, singing Sinatra. Band was from Tulsa and they played their butts off. Amazing the number of really fine players to be found all over the place these days, if you know where to look. Brian did a fun selection of Sinatra songs,and not just the usuals either. He does Pennies From Heaven and All I Need Is The Girl, among others. I made him do Skin and NY NY or we would have been run out of town. In the end, the audience loved him and the show and I really developed a fondness for the area. Right in the middle of the Cherokee Nation, it was a place I look forward to seeing again in the near future. Loved the people and the town.
Followed this up with a Bernstein Sondheim Tribute with the Santa Rosa Symphony. Songs from West Side Story, Sweeney Todd, Company, Candide, Forum, Night Music and more. Sarah Uriarte Berry and Eric Van Hoven. Both wonderfully talented singers who covered everything from Glitter and Be Gay to Getting Married Today and Maria to Little Priest. A lot to ask of two singers and these guys covered all the bases!
March found me at Carnegie Hall. playing drums on the Tribute To Judy Garland with the NY Pops.
A recreation of the 1961 April 23 comeback concert, it featured three Broadway singers, Ashley Brown, Karen Olivo and Heather Headley plus Lorna Luft. Lorna was really on, having flown all night from Palm Springs. Her renditions of The Man That Got Away, Come Rain Or Come Shine and Rock A Bye were really tremendous and gave the evening the jolt it needed. I thought the Pops played the music very well and our rhythm section of Jay Leonhart, Lee Musiker, Steve Bargonetti and myself had a ball playing together and making it feel good.
Two nights a Feinstein's with singer Jane Harvey along with Mike Renzi and Chip Jackson. Always great to play with Renzoid and Chip and I have years of road work together...just count it off and let us go. Jane did some of her Sondheim material and it was a challenge to play softly enough for her and still make it happen. Nice to see so many friends in the audience.
Next, back to Santa Rosa for two nights of Stayin Alive, a spot on sound alike Pops group from Canada covering the BeeGees musical canon.
Biggest audiences of the season! People dancing in the aisles, dancing in the balcony...even the cello section got up and danced! Hope to work with this group again!
Coming up...a Gala with Marvin Hamlisch in New Brunswick, NJ. Pops concerts in the future...Long Beach, Ca., Silicon Valley Symphony, California Symphony, Santa Rosa Symphony, Naples Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Southwest Florida Symphony and more to come!
Big Band gigs coming up...Buffalo, NY, Rochester, NY, Minnesota, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and more! Will keep everyone posted as to when, where, who, what and why!
Many symphony Orchestras are filing for Bankruptcy. The business model has to change folks. The marketing campaign has to change folks. We need to be relevant to our communities. The world is changing...we need not only to continue to perform the greatest music ever written but we also need to be thinking about how we can become an indispensable part of the cultural lives of where we perform. Got to do this smarter and better...I'd hate to think this would all be gone in 25 years...or that the Boards of these Orchestras were filing for Chapter 7 just to get out of paying pensions.
Oh well..
Until next time...
Berk
