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| The New Philharmonia |
By their very
nature, community orchestras are welcoming places where musicians of all levels
can come together to play a wide range of repertoire. But the New Philharmonia
has maintained a tradition of presenting concerts that consistently meet professional
standards.
Celebrating its
twenty-fifth anniversary this season, the Newton-based orchestra balances high caliber performances with community engagement by continuing to build upon
its founding principle—it is, first and foremost, a musicians’ ensemble.
“It was the
musicians who started the orchestra, and it is the musicians who are actually
the soul, the core, of the orchestra,” said conductor Francisco Noya in a
recent phone conversation from Argentina. “It’s a very special thing.”
Those musicians—many
of whom hold degrees in music from prestigious institutions—strive to make every
performance gleam with polish and precision. Such a vision stemmed from the
orchestra’s first director, Ronald Knudsen, who initiated an exacting standard
that continues today.
At 75 members
strong, the New Philharmonia has tackled some of the heftiest works in the
repertoire. Past seasons have featured them in Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5,
Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3, and Mahler’s Symphony
No. 5, a work the orchestra, under Noya’s direction, revisits in concerts this
weekend.
“Mahler 5 is a
stretch for any orchestra,” Noya said. “But we come to it with a desire to play
at the highest possible caliber.”
“I think the
orchestra is rising to the occasion,” added the orchestra’s executive director
Adrienne Hartzell. “It’s a little different kind of challenge these days, but I
think people are really excited about it and they have high hopes that it will
be a successful weekend.”
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| Francisco Noya |
Though much of its
programming has revolved around orchestral favorites, the New Philharmonia has
delved into little-heard works. In the 2011-2012 season, the orchestra
performed Edward MacDowell’s Piano Concerto No. 2, which featured Frederick
Moyer as soloist. Nearly a decade prior the ensemble offered a real curio in
Ernö Dohnányi’s Variations on a Nursery
School Song, which spotlighted pianist Jonathan Bass.
The New
Philharmonia has also ventured into new music, and this spring it offers the
world premiere of a work by England-based composer Tom Vignieri.
“The thing with
this group is that . . . you’re not just playing Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and the choral repertoire,”
said Hartzell, who performs as the orchestra’s principal cellist. “You actually
play the real legitimate orchestral pieces. For me, that’s been great.”
The New
Philharmonia also continues to offer programs aimed at families and children—one
of Knudsen’s original initiatives—in an effort to build and maintain
audiences. The annual family concerts involve performances by members of the
Boston Ballet School and feature student groups from around the area. Members
of the orchestra even venture into the public schools to coach young
performers. “Definitely for a community orchestra, that’s a pretty bold thing
to do,” Hartzell said.
Like Hartzell, some members of
the orchestra have performed professionally before moving onto other careers.
Bruce Falby, the orchestra’s principal flutist who will be the featured soloist
in Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 1 this weekend, performed in South America
before switching to law. He is now one of the most successful litigators in Massachusetts.
And in Noya, the orchestra
has found a conductor with a similarly vast professional experience. “One of Ron’s concerns
in his last days was that the New Phil have a replacement conductor who had
experience conducting professional groups because he didn’t want the level to
drop dramatically,” Hartzell said. “Francisco has taken over that same kind of
attitude [that Ron shared].”
Local critics have
noticed the level of musicianship that the New Philharmonia brings to its
performances. This past March, Jonathan Blumhofer wrote in the Boston Classical Review that, “The NPO is a
community orchestra, but it’s an uncommonly good one. The ensemble possesses
many of the hallmarks of a professional group: a rich blend of voices, strong
principal players, stable intonation, and – not least – the collective stamina
that seems to build over the course of a work.”
“Trying to impose
those professional standards on a community group has been sometimes a real
challenge,” Hartzell said. “But generally people roll with the punches.”
"We had orchestra association
meetings here in New England for a few years, and people asked, “what kind of
attendance do you get?” In those days we would get ninety percent attendance at
every rehearsal. And they were like, “how do you do this?” But people really
wanted to be there,” she said.
That commitment has
enabled the orchestra to perform at a level uncommon for many community groups.
“I don’t want to hear people walk out of here saying it was a pretty good
concert for an amateur orchestra,” Noya added. “I want people to walk out of
here saying it was an amazing concert—period.”
Francisco Noya will lead the New
Philharmonia in music by Mozart and Mahler 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday
at the First Baptist Church in Newton Centre. newphil.org
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