Submitted photo William McClain will lead the Columbus Symphony Orchestra Sunday.
Just a week after the Ethic Expo international festival downtown, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra launches its new season Sunday under the global-insired theme “From Columbus With Love.” New music director William McClain will lead the opening, cosmopolitan concert at 3:30 p.m. at The Commons.
“The season basically will be our musical version of a greeting toward various places around the world,” McClain said just before last week’s rehearsal.
This weekend performance highlights Finland, and Finnish composer Jean Sebelius, including his piece “Finlandia,” often described as rousing and inspirational on a range of websites. Wikipedia highlights the work as “evoking the national struggle of the Finnish people” against the censorship of Russia.
While the season’s programming criss-crosses the globe, the Illinois-based McClain has nearly been cross-crossing the country for recent performances. Four weeks ago, he guest-conducted in Savannah, Georgia. After that came a similar stint in Norfolk, Virginia, conducting Gustav Holst’s “The Planets.”
And days ago, he led the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra, which he serves as music director. All this is coming from a consummate conductor driving three-and-a-half hours from his home to Columbus for weekly rehearsals with the local ensemble expected to number about 50 musicians Sunday. He laughed when someone mentioned might need caffeine to get to Decatur safely after practices.
“Oh, believe me,” he said. “These (symphony) players definitely give off enough energy to the point that I’ll be just fine going home. … But the drives are really giving me a chance to calm, refresh and still myself, especially since my recent weeks have been a whirlwind.”
One of the elements about the weekend concert that McClain wants to focus on is a piece, “Othello Suite” by mixed-race British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
“Besides our sending greetings from Columbus with love, we also want to feature composers from under-represented groups, including African Americans and female composers,” he said.
Plus, Sunday’s compositions include more. Violinist Laura Andrews and concertmaster Philip Palermo, who has played with such national artists as Sammy Davis Jr. and Perry Como, will perform the first movement to Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Concerto For Two Violins.” A few years ago, the pair played another segment of that work.
Andrews mentioned that McClain already has earned respect in the rehearsal room.
“He’s very steady at the helm because he’s so very experienced,” Andrews said, lauding his commitment to excellence. “When he’s conducting, I feel just really secure. He leads right, and he’s always got it in his head how he wants to conduct us.
“Yet, the same time, he’s very nice.”
Andrews mentions the niceness because she and other players regularly applauded that same trait in former symphony conductor Josh Aerie, now pursuing other musical outlets in northern Indiana and nationally. Andrews pointed out that such an approach is huge when dealing with non-professional performers who work as everything from teachers to therapists.
But then, before McClain guided the local orchestra through his tryout concert in June, the college music professor clearly outlined his joy in teaching nonprofessionals, and his hope to lead an ensemble such as this one — one that attracts about 150 people to many concerts and 300-plus to its November holiday fare to kick off the holiday season here.
“I strongly believe,” he said, “that we’re already building on that June concert.”
About the concert
Who: The mostly volunteer Columbus Symphony Orchestra in the opening concert of its 102nd season “From Columbus With Love”
When: 3:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: The Commons, 300 Washington St. in downtown Columbus
Information: https://www.csoindiana.org
