Steinmetz Hall lets orchestral music hit new heights
Wednesday night was the first time the public was able to see — and hear — the new Steinmetz Hall in its acoustic setup. Please forgive me if I offer my analysis in a highly technical term of the criticism trade: Wow.
We’ve been told for years how Steinmetz Hall, the newest venue at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, would provide world-class sound quality for unamplified performances. And in its concert-hall debut, featuring a night of Tchaikovsky by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from London, it delivered.
It was a night of firsts beyond Steinmetz Hall’s debut as a classical-music concert hall: This week marks the first time the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has held an arts-center residency in the United States; the orchestra will perform through Jan. 26 with guest artists including Jennifer Hudson, Lyle Lovett, Audra McDonald, Leon Bridges and the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park. And it’s the first time the Royal Philharmonic has performed with dancers from the Royal Ballet.
The first performance in Steinmetz Hall took place a few days ago, so in case you are confused by my phrase “concert-hall debut,” let me explain. The state-ofthe-art venue is engineered so it can transform from a traditional theater with a proscenium, curtained stage to an acoustically balanced concert hall. The walls actually move to make this happen; the back of the theater glides forward on hidden train tracks.
As a concert hall, the architectural details are even more inviting, with the wood and coppery balconies now visible all the way around the space. And the circular ceiling detail is complete.
And now back to that sound quality. It bears repeating: Wow.
Tchaikovsky provides multiple opportunities for all sections of the orchestra to shine — and each had its moments during the program.
One of the most thrilling moments was when I heard the horns in the “Capriccio Italien.” I couldn’t see them among the dozens of musicians but I could pinpoint exactly where their sound was coming from. Hearing orchestral music with that degree of precision has been hard to come by in Orlando.
The lower-register instruments, too, drove home how this was a newly elevated listening experience. Tuba, trombones, double basses — the drama they bring to music such as “Marche Slave” could be heard with clarity and resonance; no longer just the muddy rumbling heard through amplification in lesser spaces.
Under the direction of Barry Wordsworth, shining brass opened the proceedings with a ringing fanfare introducing the Polonaise from “Eugene Onegin.”
Ballet fans also had plenty to excite them.
Six principal dancers from the Royal Ballet, joined by two guest artists, performed movements from Tchaikovsky’s bestknown ballets, “Swan Lake,” “Sleeping Beauty” and “The Nutcracker.”
The most beautiful aspect of the ballet performances, beyond the lifts and leaps, was the delicacy and grace of the landings across the board.
For the “Swan Lake” segment, Ryoichi Hirano and Sarah Lamb displayed gorgeous technical precision but the weakest emotional connection of the four pairs. Brooklyn Mack, a former Orlando Ballet principal dancer, and Risa Mochizuki let athletic fireworks in the Black Swan pas de deux.
In the “Bluebird” pas de deux from “Sleeping Beauty,” Charlotte Tonkinson and Francisco Serrano had lovely synchronicity and were as perfectly flittery as the bird-calling woodwind musicians were delightfully fluttery.
For their part, Mayara Magri and Matthew Ball executed a series of athletic lifts with artistic flair as the “Nutcracker” Sugar Plum Fairy and her prince.
Speaking of “The Nutcracker,” harpist Susan Blair earned a well-deserved ovation for her lush interlude leading into the “Waltz of the Flowers.” And you could hear every string blend into a seamless whole.
A rousing “1812 Overture” concluded the program, again showcasing how each instrumental group could be clearly denoted, working in beautiful tonal tandem with the others.
I have to say it one more time.
Wow.
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