Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Magic In The Music
SoNA celebrates Halloween with haunting tunes
On the program are compositions titled “Danse Macabre,” “Devil’s Dance,” “The Curse of the Black Pearl” and “Hedwig’s Theme” from “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”
It’s the first-ever Halloween concert for the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas, and it’s all about the magic.
“I will say that I love all of the music on this program,” enthuses Lawrence Loh, the guest conductor. But “if I had to pick one, I would very slightly favor Paul Dukas’ ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.’ It’s one of the first pieces I heard as a kid because it was in the movie ‘Fantasia.’ I can’t hear this music without visualizing Mickey Mouse and all of the trouble he gets into during this music!”
Loh, music director of Symphoria in Syracuse, N.Y., came to the podium relatively late — his senior year in college. But he’s a hot ticket as a guest conductor — San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle, Baltimore, Calgary and the National Symphony, to name just a few — and an old friend of SoNA’s Paul Haas.
Described by Arts Knoxville as bringing an “artisan storyteller’s sensitivity… shaping passages with clarity and power via beautifully sculpted dynamics,” Loh describes himself as a Star Wars geek who has conducted numerous sold-out John Williams and film music tribute concerts. He’s in demand for film screenings with live music and has led the orchestra for “Black Panther,” “Star Wars” (Episodes 4-6), “Jaws,” “Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Jurassic Park,” “Casablanca,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Singin’ in the Rain” and others.
“Conducting was not even on my radar until my senior year of being an undergraduate,” Loh explains. “I took my first conducting courses randomly as an elective with Professor Donald Hunsburger at Eastman, and it was like a light bulb turned on in my head. It was such an amazing feeling to be in front of musicians, and guiding them through a piece through my gestures and rehearsals. So the transition from loving music to conducting was really done through curiosity — I’m glad I took that first class!”
He adds that “Paul Haas and I were both at the Aspen Music Festival together as young conducting students back in the day, and I have heard so much from him about the exciting work that’s happening with SoNA. I can’t wait to bring this fantastical concert to life with the amazing musicians of the orchestra.”
Loh says he fell in love with music as a child taking violin lessons from his mother.
“I remember other kids coming to the house, playing their instruments, and waiting for it to be my turn,” he says. “Music has always been a part of my life, so I think I loved it before beginning lessons, but I can comfortably say when I was around 3, I became obsessed with music!”
He plays piano and clarinet and has studied voice, but “it’s an amazing sensation to conduct a great orchestra as a guest conductor, especially when it’s a program that you really feel passionate about — which is the case with my upcoming program with SoNA.
“It’s challenging because there is an enormous amount of preparation,” he adds, “but I know it will be worth it! I hope [concertgoers] feel inspired about the experience of hearing a symphony orchestra perform live. There’s nothing like it! And the best would be for them to say to themselves ‘I want to experience more!’
“I hope the audience comes in costume, too!”