Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra

Last week I had the opportunity to perform the first movement of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra!  It was a really great experience, especially considering I have never performed the Mozart concerto with an orchestra before.  Philip MacKenzie, the executive director of the orchestra, organized the performance and invited me to join them for their Family Fun Concert on October 26, 2013.  Everyone in the orchestra was so nice and welcoming.

Beverly Everett was conducting the concert.  She is an active conductor, composer and performer as well as the Music Director of the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra.  She was a smooth conductor and easy to follow, and it was a lot of fun to play under her.

The Bott family, a local family involved with the orchestra, hosted us.  They were very kind and accommodating, and they had a very nice home.  They even went so far as to play legos with my five year old brother, Morgan, who drove to North Dakota with us.  The orchestra, as well as being so kind as to ask me to play the Mozart with them, also asked me to play the clarinet part in Peter and the Wolf, which was really cool!  The clarinet plays the cat in Peter in the Wolf, and it is an enjoyable piece to perform.  Terry Dullum, a journalist with WDAZ News, narrated Peter and the Wolf and did a wonderful job.

To add to all their generosity, Beverly Everett, the guest conductor, invited me back to North Dakota in March to play the whole Mozart clarinet concerto with the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra, which she conducts!  I am really excited to play an entire concerto for the first time with an orchestra.

The whole experience was both fun and instructive.  I learned a lot, and I'm really glad and grateful to all the people who spent the time and effort to organize this wonderful weekend.

Burt Hara Plays Mozart and Bruckner is Introduced to Two Kids from Chicago

Last month, I went to Minnesota to see Burt Hara play the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the Minnesota

Photo by Nate Ryan LLC

Orchestra in a lock-out concert put on by the musicians themselves, since the board of the Minnesota Orchestra refuse to pay for any concerts this year.  This concert was unlike any concert I've attended before.

I'm from Chicago.  Our Chicago Symphony Orchestra has an enthusiastic audience.  We regularly give our orchestra multiple standing ovations.  We applaud for the principals.  We applaud for each section.  We cheer, some of the older people say "Bravo," and we share a communal excitement for the music and the musicians that we love.

I'm used to standing ovations at classical music concerts.  But the audience's response to the concert on April 25 was beyond anything I've ever seen.  There were so many standing ovations that I couldn't count them.  The scope of the emotion of the audience was tremendous, and it was amazing to be a part of all that. I cried.  I couldn't help it.  The music was beautiful, but the community was inspiring and heart-rending, especially considering that the Board of the Minnesota Orchestra is trying so hard to destroy the music, the musicians, and the community of the fans who love their orchestra.  This even showed me first hand what a musical community is.

Now for the music.  Mr. Hara's interpretation of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto was amazing.  I have waited too long to review this concert to be as specific as I should about his performance.  It was hard to write anything, because my emotions were too present, too strong, and my words couldn't possibly do my feelings justice.  Mr. Hara's Mozart was sweet, technically perfect, and musically evocative.  He told a beautiful story that is as strong today as it was 222 years ago when Stadler shared Mozart's genius with his audience.  Mr. Hara deserves his reputation as one of the best clarinets in the world.  He is really something special.

Onto the Bruckner.  I was not familiar with Bruckner.  I'd never heard a single one of his compositions live or on recording.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was impressed.  Often with a complicated symphony, you need to hear it a few times to sort out what is happening in the music and to truly appreciate it.  The Minnesota Orchestra's presentation was the best introduction to Bruckner anyone could have.  The music made sense to me and touched me from the first notes.  The clarinet and horn solos wove through the entire symphony tying themes and ideas together with a beautiful sense of one uniting idea.  I loved it.

I want to see more Minnesota Orchestra concerts, but I fear that the Board is destroying this institution forever, and denying everyone the ability to hear this amazing music.  After a year of being locked out, the musicians are being forced to take jobs elsewhere to support their families.  The orchestra is dwindling and will never be the same.  And that makes me terribly sad.