“Musical investments almost always pay off. Just ask Vinay Parameswaran, the new assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra,” writes Zachary Lewis in Wednesday’s (11/29) Plain Dealer (Cleveland). “Years ago, the former percussionist and his family sunk six years and immeasurable effort into the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. Now, on the eve of his debut as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO), he and his young charges are reaping the rewards…. Said Parameswaran, … ‘It taught me a lot about being a music director.’ … He traveled abroad and … played symphonies by Shostakovich and Mahler [and] gained a profound sense of responsibility…. ‘I knew I wanted music to be part of my life,’ Parameswaran said…. From the moment he stepped onto the podium in Cleveland, taking the baton from Brett Mitchell, Parameswaran said he saw in COYO a group of serious artists, a group capable of great things…. ‘It’s gotten more exciting week by week, grabbing this music by the horns,’ he said. ‘It’s been a good reminder of why I wanted to be a musician in the first place.’ ” Parameswaran makes his Severance Hall debut on Friday with a program of Barber, Beethoven, and Prokofiev.
Posted December 1, 2017
