The Symphony of the Americas' Holiday Spectacular was replete with musical sweet treats and surprises. Played before two enthusiastic audiences on Sunday afternoon and Tuesday evening at the Broward Center's Amaturo Theater, the concert found the ensemble in peak form under the batons of artistic director James Brooks-Bruzzese and guest conductor Alessandro Sicilian. The keyboard duo of Dunlap and Pennington joined in providing holiday cheer, both musical and comedic.
The suite from the film Polar Express by Alan Silvestri opened the program with masterful and deft mood settings ranging from lush and tender to rhythmic and assertive. Brooks-Bruzzese drew luminous string timbres and vibrant wind and brass salvos in glistening succession.
Siciliani is the former music director of the Columbus (Ohio) Symphony and a well traveled opera maestro. He comes by his operatic affinities naturally, both from his Italian heritage and his father Francesco Siciliani, former general director of Milan's legendary La Scala opera house. Rossini's William Tell Overture may be a familiar and iconic concert staple but it is also a masterstroke of tonal painting, describing sunrise, a storm , a shepherd calling his flock and a cavalry charge amid the mountainous Alps. The warm tone of Iris van Eck's cello solo set the mood for Siciliani's intense reading. His innate feeling for the flow and pulse of Rossini's miniature came through in every bar, illuminating the storm in thunderous strokes. Exquisite shaping of flute and English horn solos was prelude to the clarion trumpets of the finale, Siciliani ratcheting up the excitement. Johann Strauss, Jr's Die Fledermaus Overture was led with subtlety and aristocratic grace by Siciliani, the waltzes effervescent and fizzy.
Dunlap and Pennington are splendid musicians and great entertainers. Pennington's chrome piano (with lighting on the bottom) and Dunlap's Wersi keyboard are as much an extension of their creative personalities as utilitarian instruments for concertizing. Pennington is like lightening g on his keyboard while Dunlap's electronic model combines the sonorities of both organ and orchestral instruments. It can simulate percussion as well as strings, wind and brass choirs and even choral voices. With a large video screen bringing close-ups of the players and their instruments, their performances were both eye filling and ear catching. Particularly delightful was the duo's traversal of the French carol Sing We Now of Christmas. A rhapsodic version of Greensleeves, a martial God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman and delightful variations on My Favorite Things made a great solo medley. Joined by the orchestra, fleet fingered renditions of Hark the Herald Angels Sing and Good King Wenceslas framed a soft, mellow Silent Night.
Unaccompanied versions of Mel Torme's Christmas Song (warm and lovely) and Jerry Herman's We Need a Little Christmas (from Mame) preceded Leroy Anderson's Sleigh Ride, the duo adding their own magic to the original orchestral score. Soon to be featured in their own PBS special, Dunlap and Pennington are naturals for the symphonic pops concert circuit.
Between these divertissements, Brooks-Bruzzese and the orchestra celebrated Christmas around the world with an international medley culminating in a rousing Go Tell It on the Mountain. The Journey Through the Snow from Tchaikovsky's score for The Nutcracker is some of that holiday perennial's most eloquent music. Brooks-Bruzzese's broad, noble shaping of the melodic line took flight through rich and lustrous string playing and a stalwart brass and percussion battery.
Eduardo Maganallas' swinging version of the Jose Feliciano classic Feliz Navidad introduced Santa and Mrs. Claus with holiday greetings. The wit and orchestral flourish of R. W. Smith's Jingle Bells Forever, replete with salvos of Handels Hallelujah Chorus and standing piccolos and brass a la Stars and Stripes Forever, brought the concert to a festive close. The entire program was delightful and the best holiday concert yet from the Symphony of the Americas.
The Symphony of the Americas season continues February 10, 2015 at the Broward Center's Amaturo Theater with Dvorak Totem featuring cellist Yehuda Hanani playing Dvorak's Cello Concerto in B minor. For tickets and information - 954-335-7002 www.SymphonyoftheAmericas.org.
