“The celebration of Syracuse Symphony Orchestra’s 50th anniversary season begins its reunion phase,” writes Melinda Johnson in Thursday’s (10/28) Post Standard (Syracuse, New York). “Fabio Mechetti is the first former SSO music director to return this season. Mechetti served as associate conductor from 1989 to 1993 before becoming music director in 1993. He left the SSO in 1999 for the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in Florida, where he continues as its music director. Mechetti will conduct Calvin Custer’s ‘Anniversary Fanfare,’ Dvorák’s Violin Concerto in A minor, and de Falla’s ‘The Three-Cornered Hat’ this weekend. He last performed with the orchestra in February 2000. … Mechetti explains his score-free preference. ‘Whenever I can, I try to conduct from memory … because I feel more involvement with the musicians if I am not looking at the score,’ he says in his Portuguese-inflected English. … He welcomes the opportunity to present Custer’s piece because of their friendship. Dvorák’s violin concerto, he says, may not be as well known as other concertos by the composer, but it is ‘equally beautiful.’ Guest violinist Augustin Hadelich will perform the concerto.”
Posted October 29, 2010
