Oberlin Orchestra Plays Christopher Rouse NY Premiere at Carnegie Hall
One night after an impressive performance by the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble at DiMenna Center, the Oberlin Orchestra delivered a knockout punch with a Carnegie Hall concert on Saturday, January 19, 2013. With many American orchestras in steady decline, we have to ask: why people just don’t seem to like orchestras as much as they used to? It’s easy to conjure images of a 106 year old audience member noisily opening a cough drop, a vast array of empty seats, the jaded face of a long-tenured violist shaping into a yawning “O.” Orchestra is a dying art form, and we might as well pull the plug, right? Well, maybe not. Anyone who was lucky enough to get a ticket to the Oberlin Orchestra’s sold-out performance at Carnegie Hall would have a hard time maintaining this view. The vitality of the Oberlin students, led by enthusiastic maestro Raphael Jimenez, earned them a standing ovation from an audience that didn’t know quite what had hit them.
Composer Christopher Rouse (photo credit: christopherrouse.com)
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