In a two-month experiment set to launch with Saturday’s Joshua Bell gala concert, the Toledo Symphony hopes to help its audiences see the music it plays more clearly.
In what is being called TSO in HD, roving cameras will capture members and sections of the orchestra as well as principal conductor Stefan Sanderling and guest artist Bell in action. The images will be simulcast on two big screens flanking the Peristyle stage at the Toledo Museum of Art.
The symphony has tried out the technology in select performances in seasons past. Last year’s performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at the Huntington Center, with the arena’s visual equipment adding close-ups of performers to the total experience, drew praise, symphony president Kathy Carroll said.
“The surprising response from people who have listened to the orchestra for decades made a huge statement to us,” she said.
For that production, Bob Bell, symphony president emeritus, worked from a van parked outside Huntington Center, directing cameramen inside.
Bell will return to the same job this year, although not in a van. He said he has been working with WGTE manager Marc Hathaway and others to plot positions for two remote-controlled eyes-in-the-sky above the stage, plus one roving cameraman.
According to Bell, 400 different shots are planned for the sold-out gala.
Like the symphony itself, Bell, Hathaway, and his staff have been rehearsing the event. “We are making a template of shots planned,” Bell said.
Are the instrumentalists likely to be distracted?
Sanderling, who learned how to time his orchestral cues for the slight delay of the camera feed during the Beethoven event, said, “I actually don’t think that filming the orchestra does have an effect on players.”
Carroll tapped a group of donors she calls “The Producers,” who supported last spring’s production, to underwrite this year’s two-month experiment. She says Mike Thaman, CEO of Owens Corning and a former symphony board president, was especially enthusiastic about TSO in HD.
Although the filming process is often used for on-air broadcast, marketing manager Ashley Mirakian said this Saturday’s effort will play only inside the Peristyle.
However, “The goal of ours in the future is live streaming,” said Mirakian, noting that issues with broadcast rights and technical decisions must be resolved first.
TSO in HD will be used through February and March for a variety of concerts in the Peristyle.
During the 8 p.m. Feb. 6 and 7 Classics Series VII concerts — “Rhapsody in Blue & Ansel Adams: America” — the audience will be able to more closely observe guest artists Storm Large, singer, and Thomas Lauderdale, pianist, in action. An additional wrinkle will be a large visual display of Ansel Adams photographs on a screen at stage rear, behind the performers.
For tickets and information, call 419-246-8000 or visit www.toledosymphony.com.
● Bowling Green State University will welcome violinist Noah Bendixi-Balgley and violist Randolph Kelly to campus next week. Both soloists hold principal positions in prestigious orchestras: Bendixi-Balgley is the newly appointed concertmaster of the world-renowned Berlin Philharmonic; Kelly is principal viola for the Pittsburgh Symphony.
They are to perform with the BG Philharmonia at its 8 p.m. concert Feb. 7 in Kobacker Hall of the Moore Musical Arts Center.
Under the direction of Emily Freeman Brown, the soloists will perform Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat Major for Violin, Viola, and Orchestra. Also on the program will be music by Carl-Maria von Weber and Paul Hindemith.
Bendixi-Balgley formerly was concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, where he made musical friends across the city. He’s a laureate of the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels, and a first prize winner at international music contests in Paris and Italy.
Kelly has been principal violist with the Pittsburgh orchestra since 1976, as well as a popular performer on stages around the world. In 2000 he premiered a work by Samuel Adler, a much-lauded composer who lives in Perrysburg.
Advance tickets are $3-$7 at 419-372-8171 or www.bgsu.edu/arts. At the door, all tickets are $10.
● Soprano Margaret Barron will perform a program celebrating Black History Month at 3 p.m. Feb. 8 in the Toledo Museum of Art Great Gallery. The program is free.
● The Musical Arts Series in Port Clinton will present soprano Carol Dusdieker and pianist Margarita Denenburg in a 7:30 p.m. recital Feb. 7 in Firelands Presbyterian Church, 2626 E. Harbor Rd., Port Clinton. Their program will be a mix of art and comic songs and jazzy musical theater, including works by French composer Nadia Boulanger.
Both performers are on the Heidelberg University faculty and have earned plaudits around the United States and abroad. Tickets are $15 at the door, with students admitted free. A reception will follow the performance.
● Monday Musicale announces its free February concert, at 1 p.m. Monday in Epworth United Methodist Church, 4855 W. Central Ave. Performers will be soprano Jodi Jobuck, clarinetist Lesli McCage, flutist Beth Strbik, organist Nancy Russell, and pianists Heidi Clausius and Sr. Mary Krista Benda.
● Members of the Voices of Harmony, a barbershop chorus, will once again deliver live singing valentines on Feb. 13 and 14 in the area.
Four-part quartets will even deliver a rose and personalized card for a more harmonious holiday experience. Cost for this service is $40. For $10 you can order up a live-over-the-phone greeting, particularly nice for those far away.
Orders are being taken at 888-741-7464 or thevoicesofharmony@gmail.com.
Send News of Music items to svallongo@theblade.com at least two weeks ahead of the event.
First Published January 29, 2015, 5:00 a.m.
