Brava, Maestra!
On June 1, the St. Paul JCC Symphony played a great, surprising concert under the baton of their wonderful conductor, Marina Liadova. It was a gift to the audience.
The program was carefully and masterly constructed in a way that the audience could enjoy a mix of classical and contemporary pieces, as well as a good balance between familiar composers, such as Felix Mendelssohn and Camille Saint-Saëns, and lesser-known names like Erich Korngold, Joseph Joachim and St. Paul JCC member Albert Biales, former chair of the music department at St. Catherine University.
Paulina Marrell, a 16-year-old pianist, brilliantly played the opening of Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto at the beginning of the concert. A special treat for the audience members who emigrated from Russia was an Overture by Isaak Dunaevsky, and the orchestra played it with a lot of energy.
Another wonderful surprise was to hear Biales’ composition, “The Reflections on Theater Installations by Marc Chagall,” which was illuminated by pictures of Chagall’s installations on a large screen.
But the most interesting surprise was at the end of the concert when famed virtuoso violinist Adam Han-Gorski played a show piece by Saint-Saëns.
We are grateful to Marina Liadova — a conductor with a radiant smile — for giving us an evening of a wonderful entertainment. We wish her many creative successes and hope to come back for more concerts.
Falina Avrutin, St. Paul
(American Jewish World, 7.8.11)
