Author Archives: Robbie

ASO: Emmanuel Villaume with Andrew von Oeyen

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Emmanuel Villaume’s conducting style as he lead the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra last night seemed to be heavily influenced by Tai Chi and he complemented his hand signals with very loud breath cues. I thought it was really annoying and found him more distracting than any coughing or whispering or seat kicking that I heard the entire evening. It was enough that I’m not likely to give him another shot if he’s programmed again in the future.
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The Merian Ensemble: ASO Pre-Concert Chamber Concert

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I was originally planning on attending the Saturday performance of the ASO, but Thomas Søndergård is conducting again and I just don’t like his work. I ended up holding off on donating the ticket back, though, so that I could attend the chamber concert of the Merian Ensemble that was scheduled to proceed the ASO’s Thursday performance. The Merian Ensemble is dedicated to bringing the works of women composers to audiences and, even though they’ll be staging a more fleshed out program on the 17th at the Schwartz Center, I wasn’t going to turn down a chance to hear a program of music that I’d never heard before.
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ASO: Thomas Søndergård with Blake Bouliot

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I decided to leave at intermission rather than suffer more of Søndergård’s soulless Sibelius. I love Sibelius when played well, but played poorly his work can be terribly boring. I’d say that I was disappointed, but my expectations weren’t high given that this wasn’t the first time that I’ve heard him with the ASO and the two times that have occurred since I started keeping this journal were also fairly poor performances. Two and a half concerts worth of my time is enough; I’ll not be using my ticket for next week’s performance featuring him on the podium even though the program is really interesting.
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Atlanta Ballet: Heart/Beat

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I was disappointed by the poor turnout for Atlanta Ballet’s Heart/Beat program last night. I think that Atlanta Ballet has tended to stage narrative pieces for their February program in the past to maximize ticket sales with the St. Valentines Day boost but this year they went with a mixed repertoire show featuring one piece from each of the three decades of the millennium so far.1 I’m sure turnout will be higher next weekend with V-Day being on the day of the Friday performance but I normally don’t go to the V-Day weekend performances2 and the earlier showings have usually had better turnout. Hopefully next weekend will make up for it.
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Atlanta Dance Collective: Raw

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I’ve not been to as much concert dance this season as in the past: that along with chamber music has kind of fallen to the wayside as I’ve attended more dramatic theater or otherwise have been too busy or tired to make it to shows. As such, I was pretty happy when I noticed that Atlanta Dance Collective’s Raw was being staged on a random Friday that I had free and also was being staged conveniently close to where I lived at the Atlanta Dance Academy (TADA). It was a nice evening of dance featuring four pieces by five choreographers.
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ASO: Karina Canellakis with Itamar Zorman

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I don’t think it would be hyperbolic to say that the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s performance conducted by Karina Canellakis was the best performance of the Leonore Overture No. 3 that I’ve ever heard live in concert. It was vibrant, vivacious, exciting, dramatic, and a lot more fun to listen to than most of the performances that I’ve heard. It felt very fresh and the orchestra was very together, creating a sharp and clear sound that really brought the piece to life.
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ASO: Robert Spano with David Coucheron

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I debated whether or not to go to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s concert last night. I’m still in the mourning period for my mother and, according to tradition, I’m supposed to avoid listening to music. However, doing so was starting to make me feel like a prisoner to my grief and, besides, there are a few other rules that I have set aside due to practical concerns. The concert was very good so I’m glad that I did go.
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