A world-renowned oboist, Gordon Hunt has developed an active conducting career, having led orchestras in Sweden, Denmark and South Africa, among others. On Saturday, he will conduct Redlands Symphony Orchestra at Memorial Chapel on the University of Redlands campus as the third of three candidates to audition to replace conductor Jon Robertson.
“Conducting is a very complete way of making music,” Hunt said in a recent interview. “In many ways, it is the deepest way to make music. It gives the complete palette of colors at one’s disposal. With only one instrument, the player is very limited.”
Hunt serves as principal oboist of the Philharmonia Chamber Orchestra of London and London Chamber Orchestra and appears regularly as soloist with international ensembles.
“After years of making music on the oboe, conducting is a liberation,” Hunt said. “It means not having to make music myself, but rather in a different mode. The orchestra is not an extension of myself, it’s completely different. As a conductor, I’m not making a sound, I’m not feeling that physical sensation one feels when playing an instrument. So, without the physical contact with the sound, I must find other ways to experience the sound the musicians are making.”
So sad. Not surprising, but still sad. It appears our very wealthy area isn’t willing to support things like the arts. I’m not sure if that will ever change, and it’s so frustrating.
The deeply troubled Silicon Valley Ballet has finally danced its swan song.
The leaders of South Bay’s major resident dance company, which has long danced on the brink of financial ruin, confirmed today that the troupe is closing its doors. Despite a successful do-or-die fundraising campaign last year, the ballet was unable to stay afloat. The shutdown impacts an estimated 32 staff members and 32 dancers, although the ballet school will likely continue to operate under new management.
“It’s very, very sad. This is very hard for me,” said a tearful Millicent Powers, co-chair of the Ballet San Jose board. “All I wanted was for this company to stay alive but in reality it’s a miracle that we lasted this long. We need to do the right thing for our artists, which is to let them go and audition for other things.”
San Jose Ballet Artistic Director José Manuel Carreño brought star power and strong leadership to Silicon Valley Ballet, but the company could not overcome
San Jose Ballet Artistic Director José Manuel Carreño brought star power and strong leadership to Silicon Valley Ballet, but the company could not overcome its financial problems and has announced it is closing. (LiPo Ching/staff archives) ( LiPo Ching )
The cash-strapped ballet, which was founded in 1986 as the “San Jose Cleveland Ballet” and teamed up with New York’s famed American Ballet Theatre in 2012, has faced many huge financial obstacles in recent years. Some programs flopped at the box office. The loss of a key donor, John Fry, CEO of Fry’s Electronics, who has donated more than $20 million to the troupe in the last decade, was a major blow. Other obstacles, including a big tax bill and thorny personnel issues, piled up and the ballet could not dig itself out from under.“You fight one battle after another but can you win the war? How long can we keep doing this?” said Powers. “There’s so much heart here, if it were possible to make this happen, we would do it. But we just ran out of runway.”
I read it here.
Update
More news sources, some with a bit more or different information:
SFGate
Dance Magazine
KQED Arts
Do you have your tickets yet?
with intoxicating rhythms,
literally breathtaking melodies,
and a whole lot of fun.
Music by Vivian Fung, Pablo Furman, Brent Heisinger AND
bits and pieces of 40 of the many works premiered by SJCO stitched together by
composer Michael Touchi for a grand musical journey!
Featured work:
Oboe Concerto by Pablo Furman (premiere)
Sherry Sylar, associate principal oboist, NY Phil
Saturday March 12 at 8 pm
Sunday March 13 at 7 pm
Trianon Theatre, 72 N 5th St Downtown SJ
www.sjcotickets.org
Sherry Sylar
