Charlotte County Florida Weekly

Venice Symphony welcomes its final maestro in music director search




Conductor Troy Quinn. left, leads the Venice Symphony in “A Tribute to Music in Cinema.” Former Concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic Glenn Dicterow, right, will be featured in the Venice Symphony’s season finale. COURTESY PHOTOS

Conductor Troy Quinn. left, leads the Venice Symphony in “A Tribute to Music in Cinema.” Former Concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic Glenn Dicterow, right, will be featured in the Venice Symphony’s season finale. COURTESY PHOTOS

The Venice Symphony’s final concert, “A Tribute to Music in Cinema,” marks not only the end to an exciting season of concerts, but also the unveiling of the final candidate in its season-long search, “7 Concerts & Conductors: Finding Maestro.” And now, 164 candidates later, multi–talented guest conductor Troy Quinn will conduct the last notes of the Venice Symphony before it appoints its new music director this summer.

 

 

Maestro Quinn and the orchestra will present classic selections from the movies, including “Goldfinger,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Mission” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.” “Songs for Audrey” will feature Henry Mancini’s memorable music from three classic Audrey Hepburn films. For a special finale, the audience will get to choose from John Williams’ “Imperial March” from “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” or “Raiders March” from “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

 

 

A true 21st century maestro, Maestro Quinn spends as much time in airports as he might in the concert hall. He is music director of the Juneau Symphony, faculty member at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music and conductor of the Owensboro Symphony Orchestra in Kentucky. He has been living in Los Angeles for a decade, and he is active in the movie and television industry. He has appeared on “Glee,” “The Voice” and “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno, as well as working on the films “Storks” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”

 

 

Maestro Quinn, who is inspired by L.A.’s varied music scene, said he got into film and television from what he calls his parallel career as a singer.

“I started out as a singer and pianist as a kid, and worked my way into film and television as a background singer,” Maestro Quinn said. “It is an amazing place where you can perform Mozart’s ‘Requiem’ during the day and then sing on a television show at night.”

Although most of his work happens on the conductor’s podium today, his singing career opened many doors, including working with Barry Manilow, Josh Groban and Jennifer Hudson. One of his most memorable experiences was conducting an orchestra and chorus for the west coast tour of the Rolling Stones.

“The best training for today’s conductors is to diversify,” Maestro Quinn said.

He is as comfortable with a Beethoven symphony as he is with the music of film and pops. He grew up on film music, idolizing it, and it was through these cinematic scores that he gained a love and passion for the classical masters.

“The great appeal of film music is the universality of it,” he said. “It truly is the soundtrack of our lives.”

Joining Mr. Quinn will be acclaimed violinist Glenn Dicterow, who will perform John Williams’ themes from “Schindler’s List” and the first-ever live performance of the theme from the 1992 Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman film “Far and Away.” The main theme was recorded by legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman and then never performed again. Maestro Quinn asked John Williams if he could perform this work with the Venice Symphony.

“When I asked John if he would do it for me,” recalled Mr. Quinn, “Williams jokingly said, ‘No, but I’d do it for Glenn.’

“To say I am excited about bringing this program to Venice is an understatement. The movie music we are playing is not only iconic but universal in its appeal. I went deep into the studio archives to pull out some special things, including ‘Far and Away’ by John Williams. Having the world’s most famous orchestral violinist, Glenn Dicterow, will make this a concert to remember for years to come.”

Mr. Dicterow was concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic from 1980- 2014, soloing annually in each of his 34 years, and collaborating with music directors Zubin Mehta, Kurt Masur, Lorin Maazel and Alan Gilbert. “The Glenn Dicterow Collection,” a three-CD set on the New York Philharmonic label, surveys his career with the orchestra. Mr. Dicterow is no stranger to film music, either, having played prominent violin solos for “The Turning Point,” “The Untouchables,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin” and others.

Blurring that line between pops and classics is important to Maestro Quinn, who hopes to eradicate those lines by blending a wider range of music on one program.

“The more we can sweep away the rigid lines of programming, the better,” he said. “With so many regional orchestras having only one series, why not make these concerts the best in all symphonic music regardless of genre?”

Maestro Quinn has been part of three music director searches, having won two of them already. Audiences will have the opportunity to see and hear if he might win his third with the Venice Symphony. ¦

— Joseph Caulkins is a man fueled by a sense of adventure. A conductor for more than 30 years, a freelance writer, an experienced alpinist, and all-around Renaissance man, these diverse interests shape the quality of his music making, writing, climbing and life.

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