Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Next To Normal
Fort Smith Symphony starts season outside
Like the assistant director of a play, the managing editor of a newspaper or the pitching coach on a baseball team, the concertmaster of an orchestra “serves a vital leadership role,” says Er-Gene Kahng, concertmaster for the Fort Smith Symphony.
Her job, she explains, includes “making executive decisions about musical logistics and communicating decisions and processes throughout the preparation and ultimate performance of a concert.”
“Concertmasters spend quite a bit of time bowing the strings parts of music before rehearsals begin; once rehearsals begin, concertmasters are often called upon to assess/solve problems of ensemble that may arise by serving as an additional pair of ears to the conductor; during rehearsals and performance, non-verbal communication/ cueing from the concertmaster is also key in making sure all the ensemble performers understand the flow of the music and can perform together as a true team,” she explains. “The concertmaster needs to make sure no one feels left behind during the process from start to finish.”
This year, the Fort Smith Symphony’s season opener will be unlike anything the orchestra has done before. Titled “Pops on the Border,” it will include tunes familiar not just to fans of symphonic music but to movie buffs as well — not unusual for music director John Jeter to choose. It will be presented outdoors on the grounds of the U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith — not the orchestra’s first time outside. There will be two performances on the same evening — which is different.
So is the fact that musicians must be stationed six feet apart, which means keeping the number playing at this performance around 60, Jeter says. “It is a full complement of musicians and complete instrumentation with a smaller string section.”
But most unusually of all, all of the musicians will wear masks — even those who play wind instruments — and brass players are getting used to having fabric covers over the bells of their instruments.
“It was a lot of work,” Jeter says of the process. “We put health and safety absolutely first — looking at what orchestras are doing in Europe and reading research taking place all over the world — to put together what we feel is a safe, socially distanced concert season.
“Our musicians want to perform live music, and our patrons want to hear live music,” he adds, “but we know it has to be within the parameters that make it as safe as it can be.
“It has been quite an emotional and challenging year for everyone, so we thought it would be most appropriate to choose a fun concert of light, upbeat popular music” for the season opener, Jeter goes on. “In light of very strong subscription tickets sales for the past five months, we wanted to keep our 2020-21 season programming as similar as possible to when we first announced it in March, [so] we essentially moved our originally scheduled February pops concert programming to our season opener to cover all of the bases. The music is a varied program including selections from ‘My Fair Lady,’ ‘Cinema Paradiso,’ ‘Downton Abbey,’ ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ ‘Lord of the Dance,’ ‘Les Miserables’ and more.”
As concertmaster, Kahng will have the solo — the “Love Theme” — in “Cinema Paradiso.”
“Composed by one of my favorite film composers, Ennio Morricone, what is so special about this love theme for me is that it really expands and explores the meaning of love,” she muses. “Most people think of love themes in a kind of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ sort of way, but those who are familiar with the film know that Morricone’s music wholly encompasses the protagonist’s love of his adopted father figure (Alfredo), the protagonist’s love of film-making, the love of his childhood sweetheart, as well as his love and nostalgia for his Sicilian hometown. Throughout the film, the music amazingly conveys themes of innocence/ experience, memory, love and nostalgia and this specific love theme is similarly rich, multilayered and complex.
“This is not my first live performance since covid-19, but it is no less special,” she adds. “I can’t wait to see my friends and make music together again.”