The free talks Thomas Heuser delivers a few days before San Juan Symphony concerts are the best deal in town.
Called “Musically Speaking,” his lively presentations are peppered with telling anecdotes, musical selections and breezy overviews of an upcoming concert. If you haven’t attended this free bonus event before, join other music lovers at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Powerhouse Science Center. Symphony staff members put out a hearty spread of finger food and a cash bar supplements the festivities.
In a tight, well-organized hour, Heuser summarizes works on the upcoming program. He gives just enough biography to bring individual composers to life. Most importantly, he delivers a personable, jargon-free guide to the music.
If you go
WHAT: “Musically Speaking,” pre-concert lecture with Music Director Thomas Heuser.
WHEN: 6 p.m. Wednesday.
WHERE: Powerhouse Science Center, 1333 Camino del Rio.
TICKETS: Free.
MORE INFORMATION: Call 382-9753 or visit www.sanjuansymphony.org.
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WHAT: “Passion Meets Precision,” San Juan Symphony, Music Director Thomas Heuser, works by Perry, Bartók and Prokofiev.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. April 4, Durango, and 3 p.m. April 5, Farmington.
WHERE: Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, Durango. Henderson Performance Hall, Farmington.
TICKETS: Durango: single tickets range from $21 students to $64 adults.
MORE INFORMATION: Call 247-7567 or visit www.durangoconcerts.com.
The final concerts in San Juan Symphony’s 39th season take place the following weekend, April 5 in Durango and April 6 in Farmington. Titled “Passion Meets Precision,” the twin concerts combine one very short piece, a set of dances and a majestic symphony you will be glad to put in your bag of lifetime memories.
Opening the program is American composer Julia Perry’s “Short Piece for Orchestra.” It’s just that – a very short prelude to a substantial concert.
“Perry’s centennial was just last year, 2024,” Heuser said of this relatively unknown composer who is getting more attention at last. “She wrote this and ‘Study’ for orchestra in 1952.” Both showcase her skill with the orchestral palette, he added, allowing her to maximize an orchestra’s sound in a very short work.
Bartók’s Hungarian Peasant Dances will follow, Heuser said, rousing works brimming with energy and folk tunes. In both the Perry and the Bartók, Heuser said, student musicians will join the orchestra in the annual Side-by-Side collaboration.
“We feel that the Side-by-Side opportunity represents hope for the future of the Symphony and our society,” he said. Area students audition for the chance to rehearse and play with the orchestra. This year, 12 young people will sit side-by-side in various sections for the formal performances.
“We love using this concert opportunity to expose our students to a variety of musical voices and experiences,” Heuser said.
The student musicians also play in the San Juan Symphony Youth Orchestra whose spring concert is scheduled for 7 p.m. April 27 in the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College.
After intermission, the student musicians will filter into the audience to listen to the orchestra play one of the 20th century’s most significant works: Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major. Composed in 1944, the Symphony, Heuser said, came after the composer had survived “the tide of extreme censorship” during the bleakest years in the Soviet Union, what the Russians titled the Great Patriotic War.
“The Fifth Symphony is absolutely massive in scale and scope, but I so admire the cohesion of the score,” Heuser said. “Like a great novel, the Fifth Symphony is crafted so expertly that you cannot help by be carried along, like a story that keeps you turning pages. The resulting emotional payload is unbelievable.
“You feel Prokofiev’s ‘hymn to free and happy Man … his pure and noble spirit.’ Those feelings of freedom and nobility are palpable for the listener,” he said. “My feeling is that this will be a program that inspires our audiences to go home and seek out more music by these wonderful composers.”
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
