Lawrence Wheeler, a professional musician, volunteered to play principal viola for the controversial Santa Monica concert conducted by the rightwing radio host, Dennis Prager. Here are his impressions, exclusive to Slipped Disc:
This week, I have been rehearsing and performing as principal viola with the Santa Monica Symphony for their fundraiser concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. I offered to do so in support of my friend Guido Lamell, music director and conductor of the orchestra. This decision was not intended to show support for the controversial guest conductor, Dennis Prager. While I am left of center politically, I believe in any person’s right to hold and express opinions, and I feel the liberal and conservative labels don’t allow for critical thinking on individual issues. In any case, I intend to give an objective account, free of political bias or agenda.
Guido Lamell is a violinist in the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is an excellent musician and an enthusiastic supporter of classical music. He assumed leadership of the SMS five years ago, following a split with the former conductor. Guido began with only eight musicians, and within a month he had recruited 60 musicians for a performance of Scheherazade. Then, as now, the SMS is a community orchestra comprised of amateurs, advanced students, and some paid professionals. While there is a core of 40 regulars, each concert requires filling in as needed.
The idea to ask Dennis Prager to conduct a piece on the annual fundraiser came from a member of the board a year and a half ago. Prager had previously conducted five orchestras and was a fan of classical music, particularly the works of Joseph Haydn. Lamell met with Prager to discuss possible repertoire, agreeing on a Haydn symphony. Lamell then polled the orchestra regarding their thoughts and feelings about having Prager conduct. At that time, no one objected. The logistics didn’t work out, so the idea was tabled for a year. When the orchestra was polled again, seven members said they would not perform if Prager conducted. In the final week before the concert, an additional three declined to participate. Lamell was able to fill all spots as needed.
In the weeks before the concert, Lamell worked with Prager on his conducting technique, and there were meetings with small groups of musicians. During the full orchestra rehearsals, Lamell offered suggestions and corrections to Prager. For his part, Prager was uniformly polite and respectful to the musicians. There were occasional conducting missteps, to be sure, but Prager worked very hard not to repeat them. He often thanked us for helping him realize his life-long dream to conduct a Haydn symphony.
The dress rehearsal had gone very well, and we were excited to play in the fantastic acoustics of Disney Concert Hall, which some consider the best in the world. By concert time, all 2,254 seats were sold. Lamell was greeted with enthusiastic applause before leading a spirited Marriage of Figaro Overture. The partisan audience gave a standing ovation to Prager, who then spoke about his lifelong love of music. The orchestra assisted Prager in presenting an energetic performance, highlighted by fine playing of a demanding French horn part. Following the complete symphony, Prager deconstructed a part of the last movement, which demonstrated to the audience how Haydn put the instrumental pieces together. He then took a microphone in hand and asked several musicians why they began studying music. These elements added educational and personal components to the concert.
Following intermission, Lamell led Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in as enthusiastic a performance as one is likely to hear. Minor technical imperfections hardly mattered, and the audience responded to the energy and passion on stage. For an encore, Prager returned with an accordion, and Lamell traded his baton for a bow and saw to perform “America the Beautiful.” The orchestra and audience joined in after the first stanza. This touch of kitsch was enjoyable, nevertheless.
Along with its supporters, this concert was not without its detractors and sincere objectors. Whatever one’s viewpoint, there is no disputing that it was a huge success as a fundraiser. This marked the first time a community orchestra has sold out Disney Concert Hall, and during the summer, as well.
Nathan Cole, First Associate Concertmaster of the LA Phil, and Assistant Concertmaster Akiko Tarumoto (pictured) have put together a board game of all the things that can go wrong when you’re preparing for the long-awaited big audition. Sample:
On the evening of the last concert, as you’re warming up onstage in your seat, the concertmaster walks by and hears you playing a few bars of Mozart 5 you’ve been having a little trouble with. He stops, interrupts his conversation with a colleague and introduces himself. Before you have a chance to be flattered at the greeting, he quickly tells you that he wouldn’t do that fingering you were just using and hastily demonstrates an alternative before exiting the stage…
Sakari Oramo has told the Times that BBC officials have demanded to see advance text of his speech at the Last Night of the Proms.
The intervention follows a furore caused by Daniel Barenboim’s anti-Brexit remarks early in the season.
It is an absurd over-reaction by a pair of bureaucrats Alan Davey and David Pickard, probably acting on orders from above. The pair of desk-jockeys know they should have vetted Barenboim, who is overtly political.
But Oramo, who is chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, is the least political of artists – despite his unfortunate taste in waistcoats.
‘To be honest I’m one of two covers for this particular concert performance, so I did learn and coach the whole role recently, but of course as a cover there’s lots and lots of sitting around, so in an effort to reduce my boredom (and learn the opera a little better) I asked to join the orchestra…’
Nice to be so diversified, but why did the soprano miss her cue?
‘She never received a call to stage. Our venue is a temporary outdoors setup and the dressing rooms are located far from the stage so the director is texting the singers their various calls. He simply forgot to text her at the top of Act 3.’
At the Marina Del Rey Symphony’s performance of Aida last night, the soprano went missing at a crucial entry. The conductor, Frank Fetta, yelled for someone to sing the part. Up stood Jennifer Lindsay in the orchestra, put her violin down – and saved the show:
Jen describes herself, to be fair, a ‘baby opera singer, part-time violinist’. She’s joining Opera Southwest as an apprenctice artist.
Good to have one of those in the orchestra.
Jen is on the right in this picture with the real Aida, Candace Bogan.
The performance was an open dress rehearsal for tonight’s show.
The Cleveland music director, in charge of Reimann’s lear at Salzburg, was asked about Salzburg’s Aida director and took the point further to include inexperienced conductors:
We live in a time in which not everyone who has achieved success should staged the coronation of his career at a major festival. They are always look for the original. I have my doubts as to whether this is the right way. Art comes from skill. And the craftsmanship is no longer much valued. Can you imagine a violinist or a pianist who does not master his craft?
Also with conductors? You can’t lead an orchestra without craftsmanship.
Do you know how many blenders there are? With a couple of tricks you can get quite far. Part of the craft is choosing tempi that do not put singers under stress. But today many of them just look and don’t listen. A show of energy by a conductor may bring nothing to the orchestra while enthusing the audience. For music, that is far too little.
Was halten Sie grundsätzlich von solchen Debüts, die es ja auch bei Verdis “Aida” mit Shirin Neshat gab?
Wir leben in einer Zeit, in der nicht derjenige, der überall Erfolg hatte, zur Krönung seiner Karriere bei großen Festspielen inszeniert. Man sucht immer das Originelle. Ich habe meine Zweifel, ob das der richtige Weg ist. Kunst kommt immer noch von Können. Und das Handwerk wird heutzutage nicht mehr so geschätzt. Können Sie sich einen Geiger oder einen Pianisten vorstellen, der sein Handwerk nicht beherrscht? Bei Regisseuren oder bei Dirigenten fällt man da aber oft rein.
Auch bei Dirigenten? Da kann man doch ohne Handwerk schwer ein Orchester leiten.
Wissen Sie, wie viele Blender es gibt? Mit ein paar Tricks kann man relativ weit kommen. Unter Handwerk verstehe ich auch, dass man Tempi so wählt, dass man Sänger nicht in Bedrängnis bringt. Aber viele Menschen schauen heute nur noch zu und hören nicht mehr. Eine energiegeladene Show von einem Dirigenten kann dem Orchester nichts bringen, aber dennoch das Publikum mitreißen. Um die Musik geht es da viel zu wenig.
British media have finally woken up to the romantic story, broken two weeks ago by Slipped Disc, about the Wigmore Hall greeter, Milly Forrest, who stepped up on stage when a singer withdrew.
Here’s the BBC News version:
It seems the viola falls, as ever, into the ill-defined zone between the violin (welcomed aboard) and the cello (buy an extra seat). From Rachel Roberts:
Support the arts, don’t fly with British Airways!
Had to pay 270.70 euros for a seat ticket for my viola in Dublin yesterday whilst traveling back from Kilkenny festival. My viola ‘needs to go in the hold’.
Sorry for this long post – it highlights incongruence within BA cabin baggage policy.
At the check-in desk the stewardess asks for viola to go in the baggage measurements basket- the dimensions of it are :
Height 56cm
Width 45cm
Depth 25cm.
The dimensions of my viola case are:
Height: 85cm
Max Width: 29cm
Depth: 16cm
Obviously it doesn’t fit ‘height-wise’ by 29cm although it’s way under the other measurements.
The time is 18.20 (flight departure 19.50) and I’m given 3 choices:
a) put the viola in the hold,
b) buy a seat ticket for the viola,
c) buy a different flight with a different airline with different cabin baggage restrictions.
Andrew Logan of LoganArts Management kindly spent more than 20 minutes talking the BA line manager on the phone, trying to negotiate a possibility for my viola to come into the cabin with me, but to no avail. (Incidentally, at the adjacent check-in desk an elderly woman was becoming increasingly distressed with the BA check-in steward and after 5-10 minutes she was escorted away by three airport police, sobbing and saying she didn’t understand. Both stewards at my check-in desk and two more at the next desk were laughing and commenting under their breath about the overt distress of this woman.)
The BA senior staff member insists (in her phone conversation and to me) that it isn’t her individual choice not to allow my viola into the cabin and that she is simply upholding baggage rules that have been applicable for years. She asks me to prove that this rule hasn’t been in place for years and prints out and proudly brandishes the Internet page with the baggage size restrictions.
But on 26/6/17 I flew with BA from Cologne/Bonn to Berlin on 26/6/17, flight no. AB6506, and I took my viola with me into the cabin.
On 26/6/17 I flew BA from Berlin to Gothenburg flight no. AB8066, and I took my viola with me into the cabin.
On 3/7/17 I flew with BA from Gothenburg to London, flight no. BA0791 and I took the viola with me into the cabin.
I ask the BA member of staff if she would like her photo taken next to the baggage restrictions but she declines.
After all the discussion I buy a separate seat ticket for the viola which costs €270.70 as I need to be back for work in the morning. The queue for the extra ticket means the time is now 19.05 and I’m aware that boarding closes at 19.30. I go straight to security where there is a big queue.
Separate issue now: When I get to the front the security officer asks her colleagues ‘Will that thing break when it goes through the machine?’ I say ‘what?!’ ..she replies ‘sometimes the musical instruments break when they go through the machine.’ (That’s not true, is it?) I suggest that she doesn’t put it through the X-ray machine if she is concerned.
They ask me to pass the viola through the walk-through scanner and I hand it to the security officer on the other side. It beeps and he immediately whisks it away and starts to open the case and take out the viola. This viola is very valuable to me! When I get through the scanner I ask him twice if I can please do that but he ignores me. His colleague comes over and says that I CAN do it, and she also lets me hold the viola whilst she swabs it.
Back to BA: I’m through security, it’s 19.25 and the gate closes at 19.30. I run to the gate and get there just in time before it closes. I get my ticket and passport scanned (the steward doesn’t even notice that I’m carrying a musical instrument), and I head straight for the flight. As I’m about to get on the flight I realise that I’ve forgotten to get the €270.70 viola seat ticket scanned so I go back to the gate and get that ticket scanned by the steward who is now looking a bit confused.
By the time I get on the plane I am one of the last to board, but yes you guessed it – there is plenty of space in the overhead lockers. As you can see from the photos the viola fits fine into the locker and no-one complains or even mentions anything about it being there. I travel back with the viola in the locker. I also take a photo of someone else’s oversized bag that was in an overhead locker (looks like golf clubs)- I speak to the owner of that luggage and he doesn’t have to pay any extra money for it.
I also speak with the stewardess who is also Customer Services Manager for the flight; she confirms that there were 6 seats free in economy and 4 seats free in club class. (That means there are 10 allocations of cabin luggage not being used altogether.) She says that BA asks you to buy a ticket in case the flight fills up, but she also says she can’t understand why, with the timing being so close to take-off and 6 seats being free, I am forced to pay for an extra seat.
From this experience I’ve reached the following conclusions:
1. Airports and airlines (particularly British Airways and Dublin airport it seems) still have work to do in training their staff in routine procedures – and employees get away with aggressive / passive-aggressive, inflammatory behaviour.
2. There is such ‘flexibility’ within BA musical instrument cabin baggage rules that it still seems down to the discretion of individual line managers or cabin stewards whether or not musical instruments are allowed into the cabin on a flight. There is no formal policy or procedure that can be relied upon.
3. Musicians are discriminated against by British Airways and other airlines. Other customers have oversized luggage but don’t have to pay. BA is just the latest in my experience. United Airlines was another terrible experience.
4. This was a massive waste of a PR opportunity for BA to be seen as an airline that actually supports the arts. It’s hard enough for musicians and other arts professionals to survive in an increasingly harsh business and travel ‘climate’ without being discriminated against.
5. It’s humiliating to be asked by uniformed staff to put your musical instrument into a baggage gauge that anyone can see from 20 metres away it’s not going to fit into, just so that the staff member can say ‘oh look it doesn’t fit- you have to buy another ticket’
