In Thursday’s (2/4) Washington Post, Anne Midgette writes, “On Tuesday night at Strathmore, the BSO held the first part of a two-night event called ‘Rusty Musicians With the BSO,’ created by Music Director Marin Alsop as a way for the BSO to celebrate Strathmore’s fifth anniversary season. Anybody older than 25 who played an orchestral instrument and could read music could have a chance to perform serious orchestral repertory with the BSO players. … Alsop and orchestra members performed the same two excerpts—the finale of the Tchaikovsky Fourth Symphony and ‘Nimrod’ from Elgar’s ‘Enigma Variations’—four times in a row on Tuesday night, between 6 and 10 p.m., with four different groups of ‘rusty’ players. They will do the same thing on Thursday, with four more groups, in front of an informal audience (tickets are $10). By the end of the night, more than 400 amateur musicians will have gotten their taste of life with a professional orchestra. … To capitalize on the desire to play along, the BSO is following up on its Rusty Musicians experiment in June with an orchestral academy for adult amateurs. For $1,650—another revenue stream for an orchestra that needs it—participants will have an intense week of master classes, lectures and public performances with BSO members led by Alsop.”
Photo: Amateur musicians Daniel Ashton and Naira Darius played with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on Tuesday (2/2) night.
Credit: Tracey Brown
Posted February 4, 2010
