By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Alain Trudel drives a Jeep Cherokee.
His main ride though is the Toledo Symphony.
This weekend he will start his second season since he took the wheel of the orchestra.
That he drives a Jeep is not accidental. He had his choice of any vehicle he wanted for his use in Toledo. He could have gotten a BMW. Trudel wanted a Jeep, because it, like the orchestra he conducts, is a product of Toledo.
“It’s about where we are and encouraging our community and just being part of it and celebrating what’s made here,” he said.
When it comes to the music made here by the orchestra, there’s no bigger fan than Trudel. The connection he felt in 2010 when he first conducted the orchestra as a guest has only grown.
On his first day back in town after the summer break last week, he fits in an interview with BG Independent, between taping a program for WGTE-FM and a meeting about a forthcoming Toledo Ballet performance with the orchestra. That evening he will lead the orchestra in its first rehearsal of the season — and invite season ticket holders in to watch.
Asked about his first season as music director, Trudel said: “It went above my expectations. The musicians really played their hearts out. What a great group of people.”
The TSO defines what an orchestra should be — “it’s the sum of what we do. Some orchestras, it sounds like 100 soloists. For us, they have the chops of soloists, but they want to play together. That’s really beautiful to see they just want to act as an artistic community.”
He singled out concertmaster Kirk Toth for having “an all star year.”
“He was our captain,” Trudel said. “I’m so happy because I asked so much of him.”
And associate concertmaster Tea Prokes was called in to perform “The Beatles Concerto” after the scheduled soloist was not available.
“The players are the stars,” Trudel said. He likened himself to the coach.
“The composer is the genius,” he added.
Then he’s taken aback when reminded that this weekend’s programs will begin with a piece he composed, “Rhea.”
The orchestral fanfare was composed for “the other TSO, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra” about 10 years ago.
“I was looking for something that had a lot of energy and that was celebratory and that is based around a woman,” he said.
Rhea was the mother of Zeus, and her arrival is marked with drums.
The fanfare has trumpets both on stage and positioned around the Peristyle. “When you talk about brass music antiphonal is the way to go.”
The other two pieces on the program are also connected to women. The Adagietto in the Mahler Fifth has been described as a lover letter to the composer’s wife, Alma. The Korngold Concerto is dedicated to her as well.
Trudel is excited about having Liza Ferschtman as the soloist for the Korngold. When putting the concert together both he and Merwin Sui, principal second violin and the orchestra’s artistic administrator, both found a video online of her performing the piece.
“I was looking for somebody who played freely but very muscular,” Trudel said.
Austrian Korngold is known for the movie scores he wrote after fleeing the Nazis and landing in Hollywood. But he wrote a lot of orchestral music. The violin concerto, which has feet planted firmly in both the film and concert worlds, is “one of the great ones,” Trudel said.
Selecting soloists to feature is like being a casting director, the conductor said. A soloist may play “impeccable Beethoven,” but not have the right energy for Shostakovich.
This season will feature pianist Olga Kern on Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto n Jan. 17 and 18. “She does the best Rach 3.”
The opening Masterworks program fits what Trudel strives to present in each Masterworks concert.
The Mahler is “something you know very well.” The Korngold concerto is “something you will discover that’s not new.” And “Rhea” is “something new.”
The orchestra’s president and CEO Zak Vassar has another way of putting it, Trudel said.
“There’s the piece that gets you into the concert and the piece you will talk about when you exit the concert. Those may not be the same thing.”
The season will feature even more collaborations with dance, and not just the Nutcracker.
Dancers will join the orchestra when it performs Stravinsky’s “Petrushka” on April 24 and for a multimedia production of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” on Feb. 14 and 15 that will also include singers from Bowling Green State University in the chorus.
Trudel will conduct the “Nutcracker” this year, part of his commitment to conduct on all the orchestra’s concert series.
The merger of the ballet and the orchestra under the umbrella of the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts has worked well. “We’re very, very pleased with the collaboration.”
The efficiencies gained by working together, and saving on administration costs, means more money can be put toward programming. Each entity maintains its own identity, he said.
While the alliance is still taking shape, other possible mergers may be possible. “Whoever joins with us will have their independence.”
That evening marked a milestone in the collaboration with another major artistic entity, the Valentine Theatre.
Last season, the orchestra moved its weekend Mozart in the Afternoon series to Saturday afternoons at the Valentine.
But the venue posed an acoustical problem for acoustic ensembles performing on its stage.
As Vassar explained that night the sound would dissipate into the fly space above the stage. During theatrical productions that’s where the scenery is stored. During a performance of acoustic music that’s where the sound goes to die.
So the Valentine has acquired a movable shell. The Valentine’s technical director Tim Durham was credited with the idea. The rounded panels surrounded the stage on the sides and above. When not in use they can be stored into the fly space.
This rehearsal marked the first time the orchestra was playing in the shell. Panels were shifted, and doors opened to try to tune the shell.
Th orchestra read through passages of several favorites before concluding. When played harp solo on “Dance of the Flowers” from “Nutcracker,” Toth leaned over and asked Trudel “is she mic’d?”
Before the open rehearsal started Trudel was on stage hugging and shaking hands, and sharing a laugh.
This was a scene even the most faithful of concertgoers don’t get to see very often. “We’re really letting you in our kitchen,” the conductor said.
This was a momentous occasion, Trudel said, and the orchestra wanted to share it with their friends.
“This is not my orchestra,” Trudel said. “This is Toledo’s orchestra.”
The shell will allow the Saturday series to evolve, and feature different ensembles playing a wider variety of music. Mozart will still be a part of the series, though maybe not every concert.
Trudel also wants to bring the orchestra to other, more informal venues, as when musicians staged a chamber music concert in the bar Fleetwood’s in downtown Toledo.
He’d also like to increase the TSO’s presence on YouTube. “My job is try to have as many people hear those fabulous musicians.”
