July 21, 2026

July 21, 2026
 
It is always a joy for me to do a program with the fabulous Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. Not only do I enjoy hearing them several times each summer, but many members have become good friends over the years, and some also teach the students who play in the Music School Festival Orchestra. It is a closely-knit musical community.
 
Tuesday night we did a program of two works, Christopher Theofanidis’s Rainbow Body and Beethoven’s Eroica (Symphony No. 3). Chris’s work has become quite a hit in the orchestral world since its composition in 2000. It has an immediate and visceral impact on the listener. He bathes us in indescribable beauty in the opening. He takes us on some soaring rides that feel as if we were flying. Of course, there are moments of conflict and tension, you can’t have a good story without conflict, and a resolution to the conflict that is among the most joyous moments in music, literally with people cheering at the wave after wave of climaxes.
 
Yes, sometimes people use the word “literally” when they don’t really mean “literally” but here, they are literally cheering. Chris writes in the score that the players are to cheer at the high points. When preparing this work, I always wonder if I will need to coax the cheering out of a perhaps reserved or shy group of players who are not accustomed to vocalizing in the orchestra. There was no coaxing needed from the CSO. The embraced the challenge and took it over the top to great effect.
 
It has been my experience that musicians universally recognize that the opportunity to perform Beethoven’s Eroica is truly a special one. So many players in the CSO mentioned that very thing to me either before or after the concert. These are musicians who play hundreds of concerts and rehearsals a year, so when a well-worn work like Eroica still gets them excited, that does say something. It is a monument in music, and how lucky we are as performers to recreate and share such a masterwork. I felt especially fortunate to do so with the wonderful CSO.
 
NEXT UP
 
July 27, 2026
 
Chautauqua Institution
Music School Festival Orchestra
Students from the Chautauqua Opera Conservatory
Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater
 
8:00 p.m.
 
DEBUSSY         L’enfant Prodigue
POULENC        Les Mamelles de Tiresias
 
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