THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 17, 1995 TAG: 9507170067
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARK MOBLEY MUSIC CRITIC
DATELINE: BREVARD, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
When the Virginia Symphony wanted to move forward, it hired JoAnn Falletta to lead the way. Now Falletta is a candidate for the artistic directorship of another venerable southern institution, the Brevard Music Center.
Conducting a Sunday matinee concert featuring England's popular King's Singers, Falletta completed a weeklong visit to this Blue Ridge town. She inspected the lakeside camp where students have practiced scales and honed ensemble techniques for almost 60 years. She also met with faculty, volunteers, trustees, and the president charged with making the final selection.
The music center has blossomed from a small band camp into a seven-week, $1.6 million educational program and concert series, attracting more than 300 students and thousands of concertgoers each season. Yet while its alumni have joined some of the nation's top orchestras, it has not acquired the prestige of such related institutions as Interlochen in Michigan and Aspen, Colo.
Three years ago, longtime artistic director Henry Janiec told the board he intended to retire after the 60th anniversary season in 1996. The center's trustees began a search that whittled 200 applicants down to six semifinalists.
Exploratory trips to each candidate's base of operations yielded three finalists: former Louisville (Ky.) Orchestra music director Lawrence Leighton Smith; David Effron of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.; and Falletta. Smith already has appeared at Brevard and Effron arrives today.
``They bring with them a national image and national and international contacts,'' Brevard President John S. Candler said. ``They bring with them prestige that will make others in the music world sit up and take notice.''
Candler, the center's full-time chief executive, visited Norfolk in February. He said he was impressed by Falletta's musicianship, enthusiasm and professional relationships. ``The feedback from musicians, board, people in the community was all quite positive,'' he said. ``We liked her energy. We liked the questions she asked and the breadth of her interests.''
If selected, Falletta would be responsible for all artistic components of the festival. Faculty and students ranging from high school to college and beyond perform in three orchestras and two bands. Falletta would conduct the top ensemble, the Brevard Music Center Orchestra, and consult with the rest. A new wrinkle in her career would be conducting opera and musicals. This season's productions include ``Madame Butterfly,'' ``H.M.S. Pinafore,'' and ``South Pacific''.
The festival's mix of standard repertory, pops concerts and opera in English has been virtually unchanged for years. Candler said the new artistic leader would have latitude, but he noted that the existing formula has kept the center in the black since 1978. Falletta's concert with the Brevard Music Center Orchestra at the Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium was about potential, not immediate success. Mozart's ``Marriage of Figaro'' Overture and Tchaikovsky's ``Capriccio Italien'' were serviceable at best, lacking in consistency and style. It seemed as if Falletta was hemmed in by what the ensemble was capable of. The signal moment in Falla's ``Three-Cornered Hat'' Suite No. 2 was a cadenza by Virginia Symphony English hornist Philip Koch.
For their portion of the program, the King's Singers dipped into their prodigious recording output. They proved once again to be the standard to which all glee clubs aspire, with clean, light arrangements of folk and rock songs. The audience loved them, but the Beatles and Elton John numbers were bloodless, winking and stylistically ill-considered.
``I've had a wonderful time working with JoAnn,'' said William Zehfuss, the orchestra's principal trombonist. ``She's a fantastic musician and a really great person. I think everybody's been very supportive.''
The Brevard board will meet July 29 to hear the search committee's recommendation. Candler will make the final selection, and an announcement could be made a few days later. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
JoAnn Falletta
by CNB