Boo! Boo!
A chorus of disapproval barreled across the dark auditorium in the moments before the PGSO began their most recent show. The voices were few, but they were loud and definitive.
The protest had nothing to do with music. The aggravation was over the announcement made by PGSO management last week that popular conductor Kevin Zakresky would not be the symphony's maestro any longer. Board chair Theresa Saunders gave an emotional explanation to the audience, reiterated in a letter published in Monday's Citizen that, simply put, the organization couldn't afford Zakresky unless he lived in Prince George. Although he was raised here, he resides in the Lower Mainland close to his other professional contracts.
It was an impossible impasse, said Saunders, and, reluctantly, there had to be a parting of ways.
Zakresky received an uproarious round of applause when he came to the stage, still tasked with conducting Saturday night's concert and also the next one coming up on May 10 to close the PGSO mainstage season. He diffused the room's emotions by getting down to the business of the show with professionalism and good humour.
It was an unusually affable concert. A PGSO program can often follow formal lines, with soloists and the orchestra exhibiting a ritualized, hyper-respectful personality. Saturday was set up to spotlight an opera soloist from the region and a violin soloist from the region. Both are young - Jessica Wise and Kiri Daust respectively - and both were intended by Zakresky to be examples of the levels attainable by local musicians if supported by their symphony orchestra.
This form of conversation - musical and literal - became relaxed, unscripted and refreshing.
For instance the audience learned a fun fact that Wise was delivered at birth by Dr. David Dahlstrom, who is one of the veteran cello players with the PGSO. She was raised in Quesnel with close family connections in Prince George: longtime PGSO and classical music supporters Dennis and Loretta Zral.
Wise and Zakresky got to know each other as youngsters in the Zral home where they would trade off playing piano and singing at gatherings for family and friends. It was Dennis Zral that first lobbied Zakresky to channel his educational pursuits into voice. He did and became a conductor in the process.
Wise, meanwhile, became a professional opera singer now living in Quebec.
Unlike many similar concerts, Wise came and went from the stage a number of times to sing throughout the evening (as opposed to a singular showcase of her voice). She also gave extensive information about the pieces before she sang them.
Daust was also given value-added stage time, with Zakresky dialoguing and getting the young rising star, plus other members of the orchestra, to give spontaneous sound tastes to the audience to help illustrate the interesting points of the pieces they were playing.
More of this shone through when Zakresky did an on-stage interview of up-and-coming composer Daniel Marshall just before the PGSO played the world premiere of his Indigo to Carmine, showing off this orchestra's willingness to feature new music alongside the classics, and to give a leg up to quality music personalities from outside the region, too.
Almost lost in these impressions, or at least taken for granted, was how splendid the orchestra sounded. It wasn't all rosy: their introductory fanfare by Jean-Joseph Mouret sounded bumpy and unprepared.
But in a way, it seemed to serve as a warmup and turn the appreciation dial up higher when they whirled through the rest of the night, and the word stamped deepest on the program was "diverse" - so many styles, so many changes in mood, but so finely portrayed.
OK, the night started with booing, and politically that was understandable. As an organization, you have to dutifully respect a passionately engaged audience that is moved to disagree with you. That's actually a really positive sign.
But when it came down to music, and so much local power put on display, it is also easy to see why the board wasn't terrified to stop throwing the ball so deep to import people, when they could clearly hand the ball off to local people instead. It is a sign of our community's growth and the PGSO's sustained culture of success that local people are in a position to win that kind of game.
The PGSO is on stage again on May 10 at the Columbus Community Centre for their annual Mother's Day Classic Assortment.
