Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

I feel proud! The symphony orchestra of my town sounds great.

In the second night concert of the Mozart’s 250th birth date celebrations, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Maestro Bramwell Tovey, main conductor and the musical director of the orchestra, performed a bunch of most beautiful works by the genius, at the tremendous Orpheum Theatre.

The program started with The Abduction from the Seraglio Overture, which was followed by the incredible A Major Violin Concerto No. 5. This is the last one of the 5 concerti all completed in 8 months at the age of 19. It’s sometimes called “Turkish” because of the Turkish melodies in the finale. Soloist Joan Blackman, associate concertmaster of the orchestra, seemed to be a little bit nervous, and made a dozen of recognizable false sounds especially in the opening movement. I recalled a 1976 concert by Tehran Symphony Orchestra, performing the same concerto, in which George Mardirosian, Iranian-Armenian concertmaster of the orchestra played the solo part so smoothly and so perfect. Like many Mozart's solo parts, the whole work is emotionally hard to do, while it's not technically that much tough to play.

The second part started with Mozart’s selected arias, from The Marriage of Figaro. First prize winner of the prestigious Plácido Domingo "Operalia" Competition in 2000 and a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee medal, Canadian-Armenian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian was the soloist of this part. With an angel's voice coming from above, she made an impressive series of appearances in the 2003/2004 season, including return engagements at Chicago Lyric Opera and Los Angeles Opera as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, and at the Metropolitan Opera as Teresa in Benvenuto Cellini. She made a critically acclaimed debut at San Diego Opera as Leila in Les Pêcheurs de Perles and performed recitals and concerts in Toronto with Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Tafelmusik (a program of Cleopatra arias, which was recorded for her 3rd CD with CBC Records), Vancouver, New York, Minnesota, Atlanta and San Francisco.

And the Kochel 183 Symphony No. 25 was the last piece of the concert. Often called “Little G Minor” comparing to Symphony No. 40, it’s one of the most charming symphonies among the forty one. The main theme of the first movement is that used in the Milos Forman’s picture, Amadeus, at the opening sequence.