Beacon concert will celebrate Broadway

In a rarity for classical music ensembles, the Hudson Valley Symphony Orchestra will feature a saxophone soloist for its program of Broadway arrangements at Beacon High School on Feb. 22.

The orchestra recruited Jerry Vivino, a member for 25 years of the house bands for Conan O'Brien's late-night shows, to sit in, although the headliner will be Hugh Panaro, who played the lead in Phantom of the Opera on Broadway more than 2,000 times.

Panaro will indeed sing "Music of the Night," along with songs from Chess, Jersey Boys, Les Misérables and The Wizard of Oz. In addition, the orchestra will perform instrumental arrangements of selections from Evita, Wicked, Chicago, 42nd Street, On the Town and The Music Man.

This is the Poughkeepsie-based ensemble's second recent concert in Beacon. It performed Messiah in December and returns in May to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of French composer Maurice Ravel with a program of his Ma Mere l'Oye Suite (Mother Goose), Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 107, John Adams's Short Ride in a Fast Machine and Elgar's Enigma Variations.

Founded in 1932, the orchestra began as an independent entity but partnered with the Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie in 1999 after tough times. Over the years, its programming dropped from 12 concerts and 130 school visits annually to three concerts, says Executive Director Rachel Crozier. Last year, it became a nonprofit and is again operating independently.

The Pete and Toshi Seeger Theater at Beacon High School is one of the few venues in the Hudson Valley that can accommodate a full symphony orchestra, says Crozier, who plays second violin. In addition to the guest soloist and saxophonist, about 60 musicians will fill the stage, including two substitutes who live in Beacon, Eva Gerard (viola) and Adrienne Harmon (violin).

Crozier praises the auditorium's acoustics: "The sound is warm, and it carries throughout the hall," she says.

André Raphel, who last year became the symphony's principal conductor and artistic advisor, assembled the program. Raphel, who previously worked with the New York Philharmonic and the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra in West Virginia, seeks to recreate the versatile sound heard on original cast albums from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

"Hearing Broadway material performed by an orchestra is going to be sonically superior to attending the show itself because, no matter how good the pit musicians are, you're getting a lush performance with so many more instruments," he says.

One challenge for the future of classical music is its aging audience. "The way we talk about it needs to shift," says Crozier. "Classical is for everyone, and we want people to be comfortable."

Mixing things up, like offering a holiday choral work, providing accompaniment for a silent film and rolling out a pops or Broadway program, help orchestras engage with larger audiences, says Raphel.

"Movies would be much less engaging or emotional without the background music, which is usually recorded by a full orchestra," says Crozier. "Just as music makes movies better, people can enhance their days by making classical music part of the soundtrack to their lives."

Beacon High School is located at 101 Matteawan Road. Tickets are $55 ($68 reserved seating, $38 seniors, $15 students, children ages 5 and younger free) at hudsonvalleysymphony.org.