Hartford Symphony Orchestra opens summer season with a splash

by Kory Loucks
SIMSBURY-Conductor Carolyn Kuan certainly got our attention Saturday with her debut at the Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s Talcott Mountain Music Festival in the midst of a mid-summer night’s thunderstorm.

Not that Kuan, HSO’s music director-designate, had any say in the weather, but she definitely has a flair for the dramatic.

The outdoor concert series, in its third year, is held at the field right next to Talcott Mountain close to down-town Simsbury, and attracts people from all around the region to our own little version of Tanglewood in Massachusetts.

Before the concert, Allan and Judy Daninhirsch of Bristol said they haven’t missed a performance since the festival started and recommended that others come and enjoy music under the stars.

“It’s a great way to relax and you don’t have to get dressed up” to enjoy the orchestra, Judy Daniahirsch said, adding that she also likes the fireworks display behind at the end of each performance.

And it isn’t just the music that brings people to the event. Before the concert they have crafts for children to make including flute pipes out of plastic straws and decorative pinwheels.

Danka Jara of Wethersfield said she and a group of family and friends from Hartford and Andover get together with the kids and have a great time. They even set up a playscape for the little ones to play in before the performance.

When her 5-year-old son, Adam, found out the first performance was canceled, she said he cried. His 7-year-old brother, Alex, said his favorite part of coming to the concerts is dancing to the music.

“I love to be outside in the summer,” Lucia Pandolfo of Hartford said. She brought some wine, dessert, an umbrella, and bug spray.

The first piece Kuan conducted was the overture to Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet.” About half way through the moving and romantic performance, the skies opened up and the rain poured.

I don’t know exactly how much rain fell, but my plastic cup had about two inches of water in it when the rain finally stopped about half an hour later.

At least half the audience disappeared, which is a shame, because once the skies cleared the performance continued.

Scott McIntosh on trumpet was featured in Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Concerto in E-flat Major for Trumpet and Orchestra.” He had a slightly bumpy start, probably to do with the wet weather, but once he warmed up, McIntosh sounded clean and crisp.

Next Kuan led the orchestra in Felix Mendelssohn’s “Incidental Music to ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’” with entertaining and quirky narration by Radio Host and columnist Colin McEnroe.

The rain had stopped by the time the fireworks went off, and they were spectacular, lasting at least 20 minutes, and they were a perfect ending to a dramatic evening.

The beauty of an outdoor concert is the unexpected, such as the scent of flowers and grass in the humid summer air, the birds in the background chirping before the sunset, and then crickets joining in the music once it was dark.

This is the first of five Friday night outdoor concerts in July. Next up is “Celebrate America” July 1, followed by “Big Bad Voodoo Daddy” on July 8; “The Music of Michael Jackson,” on July 15; and “A Symphonic Surfin’ Safari” on July 22.

Single tickets range in price from $20 to $45 and are $5 for children under 13 years old. For more information call their box office at 860-244-2999 or visit their website at www.hartfordsymphony.org.

Kuan was simply marvelous, possessing a flowing, graceful, exuberant style, and guiding the orchestra to a full, unified, and ultimately moving performance. She exuded an undeniable humanity and largess that was evident throughout the night. Even after the show, she came into the audience and as the few remaining waterlogged patrons were packing up their soggy belongings, she asked how they enjoyed the show.

If this first performance is any indication of what the future portends, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra under Kuan’s confident direction, will be reaching new heights in the years ahead.