Musicians of the Columbus Symphony
Alessandro Siciliani, conductor
Saturday July 26 08
Veteran's Memorial Auditorium
There was already a good buzz in the hall with the downstairs seating pretty crowded when Siciliani came out to conduct this concert by the Musicians of the Columbus Symphony. Then the audience roared and leaped to their collective feet. What followed was a high octane, terrific romp through Verdi and Rossini overtures leading to a majestic reading of Finlandia. I imagine there was little or no rehearsal.
Given the emotion of the evening, its worth saying again that the band played beautifully.
One audience member remarked to me, well these overtures are like Pops pieces and I said try playing them. The evening ended with Dvorak's 4th symphony. It danced, as did the overtures. I'd like to acknowledge the beautiful playing by David Thomas, clarinet, Steve Secan, oboe, Randall Herster, flute...hell by everybody.
And say what you will, the paying public still loves Siciliani
and he clearly still loves these musicians.
Well, we've had several evenings of great music. This shows the best of our local performing arts community and a strong response from its many supporters. With everyone working at their best, maybe people can stop giving each other the proverbial finger and save this orchestra, restore these artists to their jobs and get serious about a quality of life issue for the capital city.
