“The Dallas Symphony deserves plaudits for the most interesting classical music event of last week: the ‘ReMix’ concert at Dallas Performance Hall in the Arts District,” writes Wayne Lee Gay in Tuesday’s (3/11) D Magazine (Dallas). “Symphony orchestras around the world are striving mightily to retain relevance and build new audiences, and this concert, performed on Friday and Saturday, represented a worthy local effort. The open, embracing design of the venue obviously contrasts with the deliberate opulence of the Meyerson, creating a more democratic aura, as did the free drinks and hors d’oeuvres, which patrons were allowed to carry into the hall. Informal lobby events before and after the concert”—tango dancing and demonstrations led by Dallas-area group Tango Amor—“influenced a festival atmosphere that underlined the significance of the main concert.… Stravinsky’s ‘Dumbarton Oaks’ Concerto … provided a scintillating curtain-raiser, followed by an entrancing performance of Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons (as arranged for violin solo and strings by Leonid Desyatnikov), with co-concertmaster [Nathan Olson] as soloist. Schumann’s ‘Spring’ Symphony picked up the seasonal theme and brought the full orchestra on stage for the first time, resulting in an audience-to-performer ratio of about 6:1.”
Posted March 12, 2014
